[PinnacleAutoCT]

The owner of this 2011 BMW M3 contacted me in hopes of improving the appearance of his vehicle’s paint in direct sunlight. Upon inspection it was evident that the car had been polished incorrectly with a rotary buffer, leaving swirl marks over every panel, in addition to moderate to heavy marring from improper washes. Despite being white, a color which typically masks such defects, the damage was still very apparent in any sort of direct lighting (sunlight, fluorescents, etc) and caused a dull appearance even when the paint was clean and waxed.

Before:

Here the car was clean and freshly waxed by the owner, but it lacked the deep, wet shine of corrected paintwork:

DSC00396 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00399 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
The wheel barrels were in need of a detailing and would be cleaned with Optimum Power Clean (3:1) and an EZ detail brush:
DSC00400 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr

Under LED lighting the damage to the paint was easily detected. In person the swirls and marring were actually much worse, it was just very difficult to get the camera to reflect this given the white paint:

DSC00420 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00422 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00423 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00426 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00428 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00430 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00431 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00437 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00441 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00453 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00458 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr

After a thorough wash with Chemical guys Citrus Wash & Gloss, the foam cannon and filtered water (via CR Spotless), the car was clayed and then different polishing approaches were tested until a satisfactory result of ~80% correction was achieved with the Rupes 21 & 75E polishers along with Lake Country black pads and HD Polish. The paint was then topped with Optiseal and the tires were dressed with 3D Thick Dressing.

After:

DSC00492 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00493 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00496 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00498 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00499 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00502 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00504 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00511 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00517 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00518 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00523 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00530 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00535 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00536 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00541 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00542 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00545 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00547 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00549 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00551 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00553 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00563 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC00610 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr

Despite the lack of complete correction, this M3 looked worlds better and both the owner and myself were happy with the outcome. Thanks for looking, comments and questions welcome!

[SHEEDI]

Nice work, was it one step correction? if yes what polish/pad?

[ny325]

Great job. I much prefer the E92, to the current f series M4.

[Detailed Image]

Originally Posted by PinnacleAutoCT

After a thorough wash with Chemical guys Citrus Wash & Gloss, the foam cannon and filtered water (via CR Spotless), the car was clayed and then different polishing approaches were tested until a satisfactory result of ~80% correction was achieved with the Rupes 21 & 75E polishers along with Lake Country black pads and HD Polish. The paint was then topped with Optiseal and the tires were dressed with 3D Thick Dressing.

Originally Posted by SHEEDI

Nice work, was it one step correction? if yes what polish/pad?

See above info from the OP.

The mentioned correction combo is quite light. If your paint is in below average condition, a bit of a more aggressive pad and/or polish would have yielded even better correction and likely would not have sacrificed the final finishing qualities either.

In this video, I am using the Rupes LHR21ES with an Orange Lake Country Light Cutting Pad and Menzerna MC2500.

You will see that even though the paint is in very poor condition, almost every single defect was removed using this still mild polishing combo.


Zach McGovern
Detailed Image Ask-A-Pro Blog Author
www.AttentiontoDetailingPeoria.com

[PinnacleAutoCT]

Thanks guys!

SHEEDI- Yep, this was a one step, though the term may be misleading since I actually did two applications of HD Speed per section, each time working the product for an appropriate number of passes to get the desired correction rate.