[pander5]

I left my car at the dealer yesterday for some requested work and they gave me a red 08 328 loaner. It was trashed with heavy swirls, a nice bird bomb on the hood and absolutely filthy all around!

I love seeing the 50/50 shots you guys post up but I'm a s**t photographer so wanting to practice my skills at both photography and the soft non metallic paint...

I washed the hood then clayed half and layed a tape line right down the middle of the hood to the roundel. Broke out the rotary and went to work. SIP/white at about 1100 - 1200. HUGE improvement but not there yet. A second pass with the same combo and then followed by 106ff and a black pad up and back down from 1100. Almost perfect.

Backed it out into the sun and took some pics. CRAP photos again. I have a Canon PowerShot A560 but I don't blame the camera - it's me.

Oh well, dealer calls at noon to say my car is ready (no wash, thank you) so I redeliver the loaner and I'm sure no one noticed.

I know, this is as bad as washing a rental car but it was good practice.

[bribri]

you must really have been bored... so only half of the hood was polished?

[pander5]

Yes, I was trying to get a 50/50 photo leaving the original condition and contrasting it with the clayed/ polished side. Came out great - just couldn't capture it with my camera.

[GAMEOVR]

Practice is practice, great you are getting better. I usually use a tripod for those 50/50 shots.... and I break out my point and shoot, usually works.. but my DSLR is much better for depth pictures.

[UncleWede]

Yeah, practice is practice. I wash their car when I get them if I'm not at work because I don't like how dirty they are. Haven't polished one yet, but often break out the Stoner's so I can see thru the windows. Wife just shakes her head . . . .

[stimpy]

Lol going to be funny when someone notices...

"Man how the hell??"

[pander5]

I wish but they'll probably wash it as soon as it ends it's day and the Brillo Bros. will have restored it to it's previous condition!

[pander5]

This is the best shot I could get but falls way short of the 50/50 compaison shot I was looking for. This was after 1 pass of SIP:



You can see some deep RIDS left behind. Top of the photo (hood) was not done and the bottom was buffed once.

[nasdakboy]

lol, that's pretty funny

[BlueSander]

Turn off your flash, put macro mode on, then take the picture direct on the 50/50 border line

[pander5]

Thanks BlueSander. I'll give that a shot. I took many photos with a few options - flash off, macro on etc. but don't remember if I combined the 2 i.e. flash off AND macro on.

[1N54E92]

That is funny !
Now you got me thinking.

[wrickem]

I usually vacuum my loaner cars because I don't like any dirt at all inside a car, but I don't think I'd even I would go this far. It's brilliant though! I might try out some new leather conditioners next time I have a loaner.

[MCMLXXXIX]

Originally Posted by stimpy

Lol going to be funny when someone notices...

"Man how the hell??"

haha +1

[Vnak]

lol nice. never thought of practicing on a loaner car haha.

[3lusive]

isn't that bright spot the sun? it's not flash.

[pander5]

Yes, 3lusive, that's the sun reflecting off the hood.

[BlueSander]

Have you tried it yet? How does it come out?

[pander5]

Unfortunately the car was returned back to the dealer the day I posted those photos so I'll have to experiment with another "lab rat" (e.g. wife's ride).

[purplewidow]

it's funny that you "practice" on someone elses 40k+ car..or even a 5k car.. it's not yours and if you don't have the skills or know the product is going to work don't practice on it..if you only polished half the hood ..the area that gets noticed the most that's cheap..you should of at least finished the hood..what if you removed a ton of clear..do you have a paint gauge? you gotta be careful and only work on cars that are yours or your told it's ok to work on..what if you burned the paint..even if you are a pro that's a bad thing to do..it's not your car..and your compounding? only half the hood on top of it..any lsp added? any chips could start to rust...too many variables.

[Benz-n-Bimmers]

pretty funny!!!
I kinda had the same feeling as Purplewidow--you could get in some $hit if you messed it up.
I guess I'm guilty of doing my own testing on loaners over the years--mostly on the rubber!!

[pander5]

Originally Posted by purplewidow

it's funny that you "practice" on someone elses 40k+ car..or even a 5k car.. it's not yours and if you don't have the skills or know the product is going to work don't practice on it..if you only polished half the hood ..the area that gets noticed the most that's cheap..you should of at least finished the hood..what if you removed a ton of clear..do you have a paint gauge? you gotta be careful and only work on cars that are yours or your told it's ok to work on..what if you burned the paint..even if you are a pro that's a bad thing to do..it's not your car..and your compounding? only half the hood on top of it..any lsp added? any chips could start to rust...too many variables.

You raise some valid points (if I was a hack). I've "practiced" on my customer's $120,000 760's(X2), one red 328 GTS Ferrari (consistently maintained for 5 years) and another Aston Martin DB7 return customer - all between probably in excess of 200 other customer vehicles that pride themselves in driving daily what they've entrusted me with for a day! My little experiment was with a known quantity - a BMW with paint I've buffed almost to perfection before. I simply wanted to bring back some luster to one of the non metallic 3 series paint colors I've seen before but wanted to offer the forum my experience. Trust me if you can - I didn't "compound" the buff out. I hardly think SIP on a white pad, not exceeding 1100 is anything close to compounding. Followed by Menz 106ff on a black pad at similar or slower speeds? Compounding?

My objective test would've been a great 50/50 sun shot with what I tried in Tampa FL in temperate conditions! Unfortunately my photographic skills are lacking. It was simply an altruistic attempt to offer the community here a little something more.

Please consider I took a BMW owned inventory vehicle they "trust" to the hack car wash they call their detail department at the end of the day. I removed maybe .08% of the clear coat. No I didn't take PTG measurements but anything would have been an improvement and I didn't risk burning any paint with my rotary and the combo used (remember the 'ole least aggressive method first?). I tried what many others have tried with this type of paint and then tried to capture photographically what the specific results were to benefit others on this board who may own this color or are considering this color..

Again. I understand what you're saying but is was a very measured and calculated risk by someone who has a bit of experience.

Regards to all those that may have been similarly offended by the attempt, I also offer my apologies. However, I only hope that the future owner of the object vehicle contact me for any possible future advice.