Finishing Polish After Body Shop - Jet Black BMW

[///austinl]

I had my Jet Black 750i hood and bumper repainted. The shop did good work for the most part. The part that isn't perfect is the buffing job. There is some haziness I can see in parts of the hood plus some buffer trails/holograms in bright sunlight. My guess on the haziness is that they didn't finish with a finer polish.

I figure if I take it back they will do more of the same so I figured it would be best to have the detail guy I use hit it with finer finishing polishes.

They said no wax for 90 days but polishing is fine. The paint was baked.

For Jet Black, which would be best--M9 or M205? Would it be best for my detail guy to try M9 first? Is it fine to have him do that work now or should I wait 90 days to be safe?

Figured I would ask the experts. When I picked the car up, the body shop owner told me I could bring back the car for a final buff at the end of summer but I figured my guy will do way better work.

This is my daily driver so it needs to look good but not be show car finish.

[smack]

Re: Finishing Polish After Body Shop - Jet Black BMW

Hi, welcome to MOL.

They are right in that you need to wait 90 days for the paint to fully cure before you can wax it.

You can polish it during the cure time and I would choose M205 with a polishing pad such as the W8207 on a DA to remove the buffer trails. I would also take it a step further on this Jet Black BMW and do a second round of polishing with M205 on a finishing pad (W9207) to really bring out the gloss. During this time of curing I would use M34 as your protection and Quik detailer as it is body shop safe. After this window of curing time has passed you are free to use whichever wax you want.

[greg0303]

Re: Finishing Polish After Body Shop - Jet Black BMW

I could never finish hologram free on Jet Black paint with rotary buffer and aggressive liquid. That color just shows everything. Just in case if on your 750i the holograms are too deep for complete removal with D/A + M205 then the next step would be to use Ultimate Compound with polishing pad.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Finishing Polish After Body Shop - Jet Black BMW

Welcome to MOL!

It's important to keep in mind that the body shop did not use "BMW Jet Black paint" in the sense that it's the same paint the car left the factory with. Odds are, the resprayed areas will behave differently than the factory paint, and potentially quite a bit differently. The chemistry used in body shop, aftermarket paint is totally different than that used in the OEM spray booths. OEM paint is sprayed long before final assembly and is baked at pretty high temps for a fairly long period of time. When a body shop "bakes" a paint, it's at far lower temp for less time, precisely because the paint chemistry is totally different. If a body shop were to use the exact paint that the factory used (ie, they walked into the paint shop of the BMW factory and walked out with a couple gallons of paint) they could spray it, but they could not cure it simply because they could never introduce the necessary heat. Essentially, that paint would never cure.

That said, why not let your detailer do his thing and make the decision about which product to use to remove the body shop induced marring? Hopefully you trust him enough to do the job right in the first place. We do, however, side with the above comments regarding use of M205 as it's among the most advanced and high tech finishing polishes on the market and there's a good chance that your detailer is already using it.

[///austinl]

Re: Finishing Polish After Body Shop - Jet Black BMW

Guys,

Appreciate all of the helpful feedback. I'll let my detail guy make the determination as to what product to use. Just wanted to make sure we use the right thing and don't cause anymore issues. I do trust him. He's been doing work on our family's cars for years and never messed anything up. I did want to ask this time simply because I know Jet Black can be a tricky color from what I've heard.

[smack]

Re: Finishing Polish After Body Shop - Jet Black BMW

Guys,

Appreciate all of the helpful feedback. I'll let my detail guy make the determination as to what product to use. Just wanted to make sure we use the right thing and don't cause anymore issues. I do trust him. He's been doing work on our family's cars for years and never messed anything up. I did want to ask this time simply because I know Jet Black can be a tricky color from what I've heard.

Sounds good. Make sure to follow up with pictures!