First of all, I want to thank everyone who participates here for getting me motivated to get back to one of my passions in life...taking care of my cars. These days I live in San Francisco, but grew up in Los Angeles and then lived in San Diego for another 15 years before making the move north. Anyway, my wife went out of town yesterday and I decided last night that I was going to put some over due work into the exteriors of my cars...a '91 M5 and a 2001 Tahoe (both white). Since moving up north, I have had a really tough time taking care of my cars in the way I was accustomed. First of all, if you like your car, DO NOT MOVE TO SAN FRANCISCO. People here believe using the car in front of them or behind them as a bump stop when parking, is OK. I have many dents (real dents) in the M5 and chips in the paint from people "rubbing" it when parking next to it and a whole lot more. But, enough ranting.
I asked for a PC, an assortment of pads, and some products for the holidays and I have not really made much use of them...until this morning. The paint on the M5 is pretty much shot...I hate to say it. The previous owner burnt more than one corner/edge (which is fine at this point) and sitting outside with infrequent washings in the SF climate have taken their toll. BUT, I am not giving up. I gave the car a concourse wash using some Armor All wash after I scrubbed the heck out of the wheels with some Simple Green. I then clay'd the entire car with a Pinnacle poly bar and lube. The car was covered in little friends of the orange and black variety. The clay did a great job at getting 70 to 80% of them off, but did not get them all. I figured my next step might get some more of them off.
Step 2 was some XMT2 Fine Swirl Remover (that is the most aggressive thing I ordered) with an orange pad on the PC. After watching the video just now, I realize that I probably did not work the XMT2 nearly long enough....not sure my back could have taken it anyway.
Step 3 was some XMT Glaze (the only other bottle I ordered) that I applied with a black pad on the PC.
At this point, I know I need to do something more aggressive to get the remaining "little friends" off of the paint and then put some long lasting protection on there. For now, she is looking much happier. There are a few things I would like to hear people's opinions on.
Clay - From what I have read today, the Pinnacle poly clay is a little less aggressive and can be used more than twice a year. I think I may need to step up the X factor on my next clay job, to help get the rest of the bumpies out. Will the DP clay help to do this or should I just hit it again with the Pinnacle clay?
Polish - I am planning on ordering some more product today, included is some XMT3 and XMT1. I guess I should probably throw in some XMT4 as well to round out the line up....just don't want to get too aggressive on the polish as the paint is thin on many edges on the car. I really like what the XMT2 was able to accomplish, so I think I will stick with the Pinnacle polishes for PC application. Thoughts?
Wax - While the XMT Glaze was able to add some more gloss to the finish, I have enough experience to know that I can do much better. I have some Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant and some Liquid Souverain Wax in the cart right now...seems like people really like the Souverain waxes, but I have not seen much regarding the Wolfgang Sealant. My goal here is to get the contaminants dealt with and then put a kevlar vest on the car so that I can maintain it more easily.
Mettalic Blue - My wife's Cherokee is metallic blue. Based on the PC video (metallic blue), it sounds like the products I have and have mentioned thus far are well suited to deal with water spots, oxidation and swirl marks on the metallic blue, but would love to hear other people's thoughts/experiences with dark metallic colors.
If you have made it this far, thanks for reading and for your suggestions. I will get some pics up, but it is misting and overcast outside....SF summer is coming.
<edit>Here is a picture from my living room. I will head down there and take some rea pics</edit>
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