I'm copying a lot of this over from the detailing thread since that will eventually get buried, and I want to be able to come back to this thread and relive the pain whenever I want
Just spent the last several days giving the bmw a full paint correction. I had previously done this back in Feb of 2019 where I'd polished it (my first ever time using a DA polisher) and coated it in Cquartz UK 3.0 ceramic coating (also my first time working w/ a coating) It looked great and held in there as long as it could, but my car is daily driven, and out here it gets abused. Sun, heat, wind, dust, several occasions where it will "rain" for 5 minutes and then the sun comes out and immediately burns the water into the paint. So after 2 years and a completely dead coating, my car was DEFINITELY in need of some love. So without further ado, I'll start w/ the products I used (always wanted to do a thread like this)
Towels/Pads
-Rag Company Gauntlet drying towel
-Rag Company Edgeless 300 for leveling
-Rag Company 70/30 420 for buffing/wiping
-Uro Fiber 50/50 Microfiber pads (5" and 3")
Wash/Decon
-Honeydew Snow Foam for pre-soak
-Chemical Guys Clean Slate Strip Wash
-CG Mr Pink Soap (for clay mitt lubrication)
-Nanoskin Clay MItt
-Iron X iron remover
Polishing
-3D One Compound/Polish
-Torq 10FX DA Polisher
-Carpro Eraser
Coating
-Adams Graphene Ceramic Coating
-Adams Graphene Ceramic Spray (for a topper)
I decided to go w/ the Graphene stuff just to give it a shot and see how it does, especially due to its claim of better heat resistance, and better water spot resistance vs a conventional ceramic. Both of which are important things to me out here.
I will say the 3d One w/ the uro fiber pads worked VERY well on my car. It's not a miracle combo, it didn't take out bigger scratches/scuffs that have been in my car for awhile, but I will say it cleared about 90-95% of the surface swirls and scratches which used to REALLY stand out when direct sunlight was hitting the car. This car aint a museum piece, so I'm happy with what I was able to achieve this time. Anyways I won't bore you with any more details, here are some before/after pics I managed to snag during the long process.
part of the hood before
after
Here's a good one. My trunk lid, which was not in great shape.
before
After
driver side door before
after
You can see whats been finished vs what hasnt
all done
passenger fender before
after
She coated!
And after a long garage quarantine I finally got the car out into sunlight today!
Look at those perfectly aligned center caps
And to put a point to what I'm saying about the conditions I have to deal with out here, this is what the car looks like after 8 hours of sitting outside at work. And it wasn't even really windy today.
So thats it. We'll see what happens. If i'm vigilant this time and make sure to add another coat of topper (which I didnt really do as much w/ my Cquartz) every month or so, hopefully I can make this stuff last.
Just spent the last several days giving the bmw a full paint correction. I had previously done this back in Feb of 2019 where I'd polished it (my first ever time using a DA polisher) and coated it in Cquartz UK 3.0 ceramic coating (also my first time working w/ a coating) It looked great and held in there as long as it could, but my car is daily driven, and out here it gets abused. Sun, heat, wind, dust, several occasions where it will "rain" for 5 minutes and then the sun comes out and immediately burns the water into the paint. So after 2 years and a completely dead coating, my car was DEFINITELY in need of some love. So without further ado, I'll start w/ the products I used (always wanted to do a thread like this)
Towels/Pads
-Rag Company Gauntlet drying towel
-Rag Company Edgeless 300 for leveling
-Rag Company 70/30 420 for buffing/wiping
-Uro Fiber 50/50 Microfiber pads (5" and 3")
Wash/Decon
-Honeydew Snow Foam for pre-soak
-Chemical Guys Clean Slate Strip Wash
-CG Mr Pink Soap (for clay mitt lubrication)
-Nanoskin Clay MItt
-Iron X iron remover
Polishing
-3D One Compound/Polish
-Torq 10FX DA Polisher
-Carpro Eraser
Coating
-Adams Graphene Ceramic Coating
-Adams Graphene Ceramic Spray (for a topper)
I decided to go w/ the Graphene stuff just to give it a shot and see how it does, especially due to its claim of better heat resistance, and better water spot resistance vs a conventional ceramic. Both of which are important things to me out here.
I will say the 3d One w/ the uro fiber pads worked VERY well on my car. It's not a miracle combo, it didn't take out bigger scratches/scuffs that have been in my car for awhile, but I will say it cleared about 90-95% of the surface swirls and scratches which used to REALLY stand out when direct sunlight was hitting the car. This car aint a museum piece, so I'm happy with what I was able to achieve this time. Anyways I won't bore you with any more details, here are some before/after pics I managed to snag during the long process.
part of the hood before
after
Here's a good one. My trunk lid, which was not in great shape.
before
After
driver side door before
after
You can see whats been finished vs what hasnt
all done
passenger fender before
after
She coated!
And after a long garage quarantine I finally got the car out into sunlight today!
Look at those perfectly aligned center caps
And to put a point to what I'm saying about the conditions I have to deal with out here, this is what the car looks like after 8 hours of sitting outside at work. And it wasn't even really windy today.
So thats it. We'll see what happens. If i'm vigilant this time and make sure to add another coat of topper (which I didnt really do as much w/ my Cquartz) every month or so, hopefully I can make this stuff last.