Look what happened to my car!

[Quiksilver5882]

That's awful that you had to pay nearly $200 for work like that. It's sickening. I would demand a refund and if not file a better business bureau complaint. That shop has NO business "detailing" anything!!

[BMW443]

Some of the crazy things the detailer said to me:

"I can get you an 80-90% correction." (before the second detail)

"We know how to run the buffer."

"You will always see holograms on a black car in the sun."

"You will always see spider webbing and swirls on a black car."

"We stripped the car [of wax], and we couldn't see any swirls in the sun,or even with the shop light." (during the second detail, contradictory)

"This is good enough for a daily driver." (after the second detail)

"To get rid of the remaining swirls, the car will have to be wetsanded."



So it looks like I will be getting a PC 7424XP, with 5.5" orange, white, and blue pads (for wax or sealant).

The most popular options for the two-step seem to be :

Wolfgang Twins
M105/M205
FG-400/SF-4000

I'm not sure if Wolfgang TSR will be aggressive enough for this job, but I also don't want to overdo it with M105 or FG-400. I would be starting with the white pad on a test spot, then move to orange if needed.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

[VP Mark]

The good thing is holograms aren't horribly difficult to correct. Just take your time and it should come out fine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using AG Online

[Blackthorn One]

I would use a black after the white. Also, it is important to keep the pads clean, so maybe more than one of each.

[Atticus808]

what the ef did that person do?!
it's like they didn't even attempt to polish your car…..

Not exactly jet black, but here's what I did:
Griots DA with Green Buff and Shine pad and Sonus SFX-2 followed by Blue Buff and Shine pad and Sonus SFX-3

[Nth Degree]

If it's just the holograms you should be able to go straight to finishing. Black BMW can be frustrating. You might want to have a few polishes on hand to save yourself any potential headaches. Before you begin I highly recommend taking many good photos of every panel and inspect closely. Once you start polishing, if there are any issues caused by those hacks, they are pretty much off the hook.

[cardaddy]

OMG... here we go again! Freaking dealerships that think they know how to detail a vehicle!

I did a 335i (4 dr) jet black over the weekend was just like yours. Actually it was worse! To top that off, it was a "Certified Pre-Owned". The drip rails had been buffed via the rotary and were bare metal from one end to the other, BOTH SIDES!!!!!!! When the owner asked about it, they said $600 per side to replace them. (Although I seriously doubt he can get them done for that.)

Holograms were so bad everywhere that it was hard to see the swirls and RIDS. He told them before delivery that they were NOT to wash the car. Of course they thought he was a nut case! Something along the line of; "you guys have already done enough damage".

Get a few orange, green, white & black pads. The green ones only come in the CCS variant, but are softer than white yet provide more cut. Just make sure you have AT LEAST 3 if not 5 of your main cutting pad (orange will work). Compounding will build up gunk, but most importantly HEAT inside the pad(s). That in mind, you need to rotate them out fairly regularly to keep from destroying them.

Then get (as was stated earlier) FG400 and SF4000 for the correction duties. Seal it with the sealant of your choice, WG, Menzerna or Meguiar's. That's what we did, and got it knocked out in around 9 man hours. (Didn't get down really low to do the rocker panels and bottoms of the bumpers as he was in a hurry, didn't want them done, and the car needed to leave.)

[BMW443]

Update!!!








The pics above show FG400 with a white pad. I moved to orange for a little more correction and followed with SF4000. There are still some RIDS, but I'm happy with how it came out. The car looks much better now.

[Paul A.]

I am glad to see those pics! Wow, very well done.

[ge0rge]

$190 or $990, if they say they are gonna detail your car it should never look like this. It's not a detail, it's straight up ridiculous.