Some advice on suitable products

[Dennip]

Hi guys, new here and to detailing, although I'm getting the hang of things pretty quick.

I have a 2007 sapphire black BMW, which from a distance actually looks pretty good, but if you get closer up lots and lots of swirls, as well as some deeper scratches, I imagine from poor washing in the past (I bought the car second hand).

After some research I decided to do the whole shebang, Wash (2 bucket method), clay, compound, polish, wax. Going into this I was aware that the BMW paint is notorious for being extremely hard.

I used Farecla G10 finishing compound which is what i had available to me, and I figured it would do the trick, but it seems to be very ineffective, it dries up very quickly, and I have to work an area with a fair amount of pressure for a good long while (building up heat) before any noticeable swirl removal, even 10+ passes seem to have little effect and its not the nicest stuff to work with. So I gave up and went straight to polishing. The Autoglym super resin polish I used was a breeze to apply with the dual action, compared to the compound. (i also have a rotary)

I used the lake country orange light cutting pad for the compound and I have a lake country finishing/polishing pad with a very light cut for the polish.

Given the ineffectiveness of what I used, I have decided to upgrade to some proper Meguiars stuff, and right now i'm torn between a 105/205 combo or Ultimate Compound/Polish combo. I'd like to use the rotary or dual action, but the UC/UP don't technically support that, but some threads here have said that it works fine, some that its not that good with a DA. Alternately, i've seen some mention that the 105/205 is not ideal and meant for new cars(?????) or something.

Basically i've seen lots of conflicting statements and i'm not sure which product to go for.

Now, compounding isn't something I plan to do regularly, but I would wager the car has never been done before, so I am looking for something with a bit of cut given the hard paint and the number of swirls, so if people have any other suggestions that would be great.

Thanks!

[szladob]

One option would be to get Meguiars cutting microfibres disc, with the dedicated compound (I believe D300), and then use 205 with a polishing or finishing foam pad for beautiful finish. Or the new burgundy cutting thin foam discs meant to be great, which I think you can use with UC, 105, or the newer 100/101? I haven't used the cutting disc and new compounds, so others can probably advise on those.

[Dennip]

Re: Some advice on suitable products

Hey, thanks for the reply.

So do you think the Lake Country foam discs are no good? I was hoping to maximise using what I already have

Is it best to keep the pairings together eg 105/205 or UC/UP, or does it not matter too much if i mix and match like D300/205

My main concern with 105/205 is i've read that its just not suitable to my situation or my car..?


Thanks for the info! I'll look into the megs discs

[szladob]

I'm afraid you would need to rely on people with experience with the Lake country discs - I'm sure they are great products - I just haven't tried them. I used the microfibres on hard Audi paint, and worked great. From my reading, D300 and D301 was designed as a system for quick results, but D300 on microfibres + 205 on foam is the more enthusiast approach - thus based on my reading of this site, there is no reason why you can't match any compound type stuff (UC, 105, D300, 101/100?) with any finishing stuff (UP, 205)... The new cutting discs are another approach,as Meguiars didn't recommend the previous cutting foam on DA machines before...