A buddy of mine just purchased a 2002 BMW X5. It is dark/medium blue with a tan leather interior. The passenger side of the X5 was covered with hard water spots. The black trim around the windows was etched with something, possibly hard water spots too. Overall, the exterior was pretty nasty.
We had several choices, I put him on the hood with my Rupes 21. He started with the blue pad and corresponding chemical, moved on up to the green, then yellow and then white. Topped it with some HD Poxy.
I took on the spot-stained passenger side. I pulled out some HD Speed and an orange pad with my Flex 3401, it took some of it out, but it was a ton of work. I decided to try my Porter Cable 7428 xp with a 3 inch backing plate. I started with soem Rupes UHS and an UHS pad. It didn't produce the results that I desired. I then switched to an orange pad and some Chemical Guys Extreme Compound (I had a small bottle to take out some hard water stains on our Land Rover LR3 that, prior to the time that we purchased it, had been parked next to a park strip and got regularly doused with San Diego hard water from the sprinklers). The Chemical Guys Extreme Compound and the orange pad worked great! It took time, the smaller pad doesn't cover much area. It did work like magic on the hard water spots. I followed up with HD Speed, wow, the sides looked great.
The black trim around the windows, however, was another story. The stains just wouldn't clean up. I tried the PC and the Extreme Compound. It helped by there were still some very deep etchings. I finally tried the Flex and an orange pad and the extreme compound, followed by an orange pad and the HD Speed, it took lots of work, really lots of work, but it finally finished out pretty well. I was concerned about burning through the clear coat on the paint around the trim. Over the objections of my friend, the owner of the car, I used the blue tape, worked well and I am glad that I did. I ended up using my finger and a dab of the extreme compound in the really tight spots, surprisingly, it worked well.
We didn't have time to do both side of the X5. The next day, my buddy's wife made comment on how nice the passenger side looked but wondered why we didn't get to the driver's side.
On Saturday morning, he used his Harbor Freight DA with some HF pads on the driver's side.....the paint looked ok, the black window trim looked horrible. His wife asked him why the side that I did looked so good and the side that he did looked so bad. That afternoon, he brought it up to my place and we used the Flex, an orange pad and the extreme compound, followed by a clean orange pad and HD Speed. I also tried an orange pad and some Optimum Compound that I had (blue spray bottle). I was really impressed with the Optimum, however, it dusted a ton compared to the HD Speed. One of the reasons that I love the HD Speed, virtually no dust and working time that just goes on and on and on. I also worked on the driver's side paint with the HD Speed. Wow, what a difference. It really did look like a different car! It took out light scratches that my buddy's HF DA, pads and basic chemicals just didn't touch.
I have no idea where the prior owner had been parking the car, but whatever was on it did some serious damage. This was by far the worst car/truck that I was able to bring back to a very nice level. When we got it out in the sun on Sunday, there were still a few spots that we are going to have to touch up, but what a transformation. I like the Rupes and their assortment of pads and chemicals, but I would not have been able to lean on the water spots on the window trim like I did with the Flex. The HD Speed is a great product. The Rupes system made the hood look unbelievable, the Chemical Guys Extreme Compound worked really well and when followed with the HD Speed looked outstanding. I found a bottle of HD Cut that I had forgotten that I had. I want to give it a try. Would have been interesting how it would have done on the water spots.
My buddy is beaming and his wife is thrilled. We probably have 15 man hours into the exterior and another 3 on the interior. It came out great! They lone issue that we couldn't do much with was the after market window tinting. Lots of scratches that are readily visible from the outside. He will probably have to have the tinting redone. Any ideas are appreciated. I wish that I had taken some pre shots, I have a couple after the hood was done.
We finished off the black plastic trim, bumpers, etc. with Black Wow! Wow! What a great product. Can't say enough good things about it.
Overall, I was very pleased with the outcome. The X5 looks terrific. What a difference the right tools and products makes! Thanks AutoGeek! Phil
$2600. 3.0. Headlights were yellow. Used the extreme compound and then HD speed. You can see some yellowing on the bottom edges. Even though I taped around the paint, I didn't want to burn through the paint. Really need to take them out to do a thorough job. The detailing really transformed the X5. It went from a 3 to a 9. Unfortunately there is some clear coat failure on the roof. He will have to have that repainted. He is going to remove the wheels this weekend and treat them with some wheel cleaner and then a round of iron X. He cleaned and detailed the engine bay. It looks great, as does the interior. Simple green, blue and a steamer. Followed up with Connelly hide food. Got a grant deal on a package deal a few months ago from my favorite detailing supply store, AutoGeek.
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