rhavyn
06-15-2018, 12:24 PM
Hello everyone,
I've decided to stop lurking and ask my detailing question! Some background: six months ago I purchased a new BMW in sapphire black metallic. It's my daily driver, it's parked outside at night and on weekends, and in a semi-enclosed parking structure during the days when I'm at work. I live in the SF Bay Area so it doesn't see much in the way of weather or really extreme temps, but it can get a lot of sun. I try to be extremely careful during weekly washing, using the Larry Kosilla three bucket, top to bottom method. I put on a layer of sealant about every 3 months and try to layer the sealant with wax every 6 weeks or so. But even with that, time and usage is starting to take a toll. There are some fine, spiderweb scratches starting to become visible under bright sunlight or when I go looking for them with my swirl finder flashlight. There are a few RIDS, most of which look like they were caused by road debris on the front hood or people brushing against the doors and rear bumper. I like to maintain my own cars, and I'm familiar with normal washing/waxing/etc but I recently acquired a PC and am totally new at machine polishing.
So I've been reading and watching as much as possible about polishing, and a number of articles and posts by Mike Phillips talk about the need to polish your car regularly to keep it looking it's best (most recently I was reading one about a yellow truck and the day and night difference of the color after polishing is amazing). But I also want to be conscientious about using the least aggressive method possible to ensure the longevity of my paint. So my question is, if I wanted to stay on top of things and take a more intensive, but not overly aggressive approach, say every 6-12 months (longer? shorter?), to really cleanse the paintwork, maybe knock out a few spiderweb scratches, and provided a totally prepped surface for sealing, should I be thinking about using abrasive polishes or chemical polishes?
I've been looking at a few product combos but my inexperience and the overwhelming number of choices available is making it hard for me to know where to start. Are any of these appropriate choices?
1. Megs MF finishing pad with D302 polish
2. Optimum MF finishing pad with Optimum Hyper Polish
3. A foam, light polishing pad with Optimum Hyper Polish (is this a fine or medium polish?)
4. A foam, light polishing pad with Menzerna 3500 (is this a fine or ultra fine polish?)
5. A foam, finishing pad with one of those polishes
6. Is an abrasive polish just too aggressive that frequently and I should be using a fully chemical polish like P21S Paint Cleanser or Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion with a foam applicator pad and save the abrasives for every 18-24 months?
7. I'm just plain going about this totally wrong
I see so much online about doing a full, multiple step paint correction on a totally swirled out car, or how to achieve a perfect, show car paint finish, but so little about approaching a properly maintained, but daily driven car that just needs a light once over and where perfect paint isn't totally realistic. And since I've also seen a few people say that if you're going to bother with a chemical paint cleanser, you might as well just use a fine polish, I'm really not sure what is best (or what is considered a fine polish under these circumstances). I'd really appreciate any guidance that can be provided!
Thanks so much for the help!
Chris
p.s. No worries about a complete newb going after a brand new car with a PC, I have an old beater that I'm going to use to practice on a bit first
I've decided to stop lurking and ask my detailing question! Some background: six months ago I purchased a new BMW in sapphire black metallic. It's my daily driver, it's parked outside at night and on weekends, and in a semi-enclosed parking structure during the days when I'm at work. I live in the SF Bay Area so it doesn't see much in the way of weather or really extreme temps, but it can get a lot of sun. I try to be extremely careful during weekly washing, using the Larry Kosilla three bucket, top to bottom method. I put on a layer of sealant about every 3 months and try to layer the sealant with wax every 6 weeks or so. But even with that, time and usage is starting to take a toll. There are some fine, spiderweb scratches starting to become visible under bright sunlight or when I go looking for them with my swirl finder flashlight. There are a few RIDS, most of which look like they were caused by road debris on the front hood or people brushing against the doors and rear bumper. I like to maintain my own cars, and I'm familiar with normal washing/waxing/etc but I recently acquired a PC and am totally new at machine polishing.
So I've been reading and watching as much as possible about polishing, and a number of articles and posts by Mike Phillips talk about the need to polish your car regularly to keep it looking it's best (most recently I was reading one about a yellow truck and the day and night difference of the color after polishing is amazing). But I also want to be conscientious about using the least aggressive method possible to ensure the longevity of my paint. So my question is, if I wanted to stay on top of things and take a more intensive, but not overly aggressive approach, say every 6-12 months (longer? shorter?), to really cleanse the paintwork, maybe knock out a few spiderweb scratches, and provided a totally prepped surface for sealing, should I be thinking about using abrasive polishes or chemical polishes?
I've been looking at a few product combos but my inexperience and the overwhelming number of choices available is making it hard for me to know where to start. Are any of these appropriate choices?
1. Megs MF finishing pad with D302 polish
2. Optimum MF finishing pad with Optimum Hyper Polish
3. A foam, light polishing pad with Optimum Hyper Polish (is this a fine or medium polish?)
4. A foam, light polishing pad with Menzerna 3500 (is this a fine or ultra fine polish?)
5. A foam, finishing pad with one of those polishes
6. Is an abrasive polish just too aggressive that frequently and I should be using a fully chemical polish like P21S Paint Cleanser or Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion with a foam applicator pad and save the abrasives for every 18-24 months?
7. I'm just plain going about this totally wrong
I see so much online about doing a full, multiple step paint correction on a totally swirled out car, or how to achieve a perfect, show car paint finish, but so little about approaching a properly maintained, but daily driven car that just needs a light once over and where perfect paint isn't totally realistic. And since I've also seen a few people say that if you're going to bother with a chemical paint cleanser, you might as well just use a fine polish, I'm really not sure what is best (or what is considered a fine polish under these circumstances). I'd really appreciate any guidance that can be provided!
Thanks so much for the help!
Chris
p.s. No worries about a complete newb going after a brand new car with a PC, I have an old beater that I'm going to use to practice on a bit first