[leif20]

For my 330i in Monaco Blue, the clear is quite hard on this car. The benefit is that it’s pretty hard to scratch the paint, but the drawback is that correcting it seems to be quite a challenge. I snagged a great deal on a Makita PO5000C and picked that up, along with Hex Logic orange, white, black pads, Meguiars Ultimate line.

I’m looking to clean up the swirls and random scratches in my paint. This past weekend I took the Makita and the orange pad, set it to forced rotation, and went to work with Ultimate compound. To my surprise, it took quite a lot of effort to get all the swirls and spider webbing out of the paint. I think it took 3 or 4 passes over about a square foot area before all the defects were removed to my satisfaction. The first picture shows what only two passes with this combo looks like. You can still see a few scratches and spiderwebs.



The second picture is where I got the paint to after 4 passes.



My question is what to do with the whole car. Will the whole thing need 4 passes with this compound? Should I step up to a more aggressive compound, or pad? What are recommendations for both? Speed up the polisher (4+ on the dial)?

Also, what's the best way to clean out these pads so they don't get gummed up?

Afterwards I'll go to ultimate polish and then Ultimate liquid wax because it really makes the blue pop.

Pic of car after doing this combo two years ago:

[arucano]

The pads you use have a big effect on the efficiency of the compound. I have used Ultimate compound with Griot's cutting pad with good results. You can go to a higher cut compound but that carries its own risk. Patients will pay off...

[Bobh59]

Originally Posted by arucano

The pads you use have a big effect on the efficiency of the compound. I have used Ultimate compound with Griot's cutting pad with good results. You can go to a higher cut compound but that carries its own risk. Patients will pay off...

I would echo this. I tried those hex logic pads and ending up throwing them away. Try Griot's BOSS pads, Lake Country or Buff n Shine and I think you'll get much better results. I've never had any issues working with BMW or Mercedes "hard" paints and actually find them a pleasure to work on.

[leif20]

For polishing and waxing I think it's probably fine to use the white and black pads, right?

I'm just looking for a bit more cut out of a pad for compounding. I will have a look around to see what is available. Given the current situation I wonder how easy it will be to get new pads (in canada detailing gear is harder to come by).

[Bobh59]

Originally Posted by leif20

For polishing and waxing I think it's probably fine to use the white and black pads, right?

I'm just looking for a bit more cut out of a pad for compounding. I will have a look around to see what is available. Given the current situation I wonder how easy it will be to get new pads (in canada detailing gear is harder to come by).

For BOSS pads it would be orange (medium) & yellow (light). For Buff n Shine the equivalent would be maroon/yellow.

[leif20]

Just wanted to add a bit of an update to this post, as I have ghosted myself. Work became quite busy and with pollen season happening I chose to take a bit of time off of detailing.

I did do the whole car with UC, UP, and then ULW. I have been boosting with D156 about once a month. The slickness of the waxes are gone, and so has some of the depth of shine. However, the water beading is still pretty tight, but I think that is moreso due to the clean and uncontaminated surface.

I did about 6-8 section passes per panel. This took out all of the swirls, but left some random isolated scratches all over the paint (I attribute this to being a DD that sits outside year-round, and has snow wiped off of it 15+ times per year). The RIDS are not particularly annoying and only show up in really bright light. Of course, the reason we detail is so that the car looks stunning especially in bright light, so I may have to attack these with a slightly more aggressive setup (right now only have ultimate compound with hex logic orange pads).

Here is where the paint sits today:
Hood - all swirls gone, RIDS remain. Picture did not capture rids effectively, but it is obviously free of serious defects:


Front Quarter - same as hood, but it is easier to see the RIDS:


Passenger Rear Door - Swirling is noticeable here but I think it is due to my washing process. Was not careful with Rinseless wash, and I think the car may have been too dirty for rinseless the most recent wash I did.


Passenger Rear Quarter - swirling and RIDS visible.


My questions now:
1. To get out the RIDS what would be the best combo to use. I feel like UC along with an orange pad should do the trick, or do I need to step it up?
2. For the defects in the last two pics (swirls installed as part of washing), will meg's ultimate polish with hex logic orange or white take them out?

Thanks for all the tips!

[jkrig]

Couple things to consider...Megs UC is good but remember it's more of a consumer friendly compound so not super aggressive but works well enough for most. The pads you are using aren't that aggressive either despite what the marketing says it's almost always paint dependent. In your case you are dealing with hard clear so for remaining swirls I would try more aggressive pad and or fluid. I would start with a pads since you made the investment on fluids (UC and UP)....you can buy a pad or two to try out. You could give micro-fiber pads a try or wool pads, I really like LC Blue Hybrid Foamed Wool pads they cut and finish really well especially on hard paint you may even get acceptable results in one step. If you choose to stick with UC as your compound be sure to have some prep-wipe on hand to check your results after making a few test passes, UC and UP are kinda oily and has a tendency to fill a bit.......

Once you finds the best combo, make sure you have enough pads to to the job...compressed air is the best way to clean them out after a section pass or two, next best is a pad brush, keeping clean pads ensures consistent results. What's nice about the wool pad I suggested is that they don't clog as easily/quickly as MF.

Rids well ....honestly you could be chasing them endlessly, swirls are typically a majority of the defects and the most visible .....so I would focus on going after the swirls.....