God have mercy...

J

JRN_911SC

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Aug 1, 2010
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I was contacted by a friends father to do his E90 M3, it was to be a fairly low class deal, just a rinse and wax. I figured an M3 owner would treat his care well, and all it owuld need is a nice freshening. This was not the case. He had let his 11 year old son Scotchbrite the whole damn thing! And the owner, despite my humble advice, is insistent on not using my PC, he had heard from "his good car buddies" that a buffer would mess up the clear coat. "No more than that Scotchbrite" I wanted to mumble . I want desperately want to save this machine, but I've never done anykind of restoration by hand, figuring only the PC has the "umpf". My question is, is it possible to save this Beemer by hand, and if so, what products? I'm clearly a noob, so please, ignore any overt display of noob-ishness. Any and all help is much appreciated.
 
It's possible to restore, but by hand it's certainly not something I would do. If I was in your position I'd be charging him dearly to perform any correction by hand, especially if a scotch Brite pad is the damage you're trying to repair
 
show him this site and then tell him to tell his friend about auto geek
usher him out of the stone age.
 
First, since this is your first post...

Welcome to Autogeek Online! :welcome:


Removing swirls and scratches out a clear coat paints can be done but it's going to be hard to do with a DA Polisher and even harder and requiring a ton more time to do it by hand.

I would opt to walk away from the job unless he's willing to pay top dollar for you to do it all by hand. I'm not sure what his expectation will be but ScotchBrite pads can do a lot of damage to the paint and some scratches will be shallow and some will be deep, he needs to understand that some scratches are too deep to safely remove.

It's your job to educate him on this aspect.

Try to show him a demo of how safe the DA Polisher is by pushing the face of the foam buffing pad down on the back of your hand and then show him the back of your hand and that not only are you not hurt but the paint won't get hurt either...

Like I did here on Two Guys Garage...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et6Egpw-f-s]YouTube - Mike Phillips demonstrates the proper techniques on using the Porter Cable 7424XP[/video]



It can be done... but it will take a lot of time and elbow grease...

Man versus Machine



Here's some tips and techniques for working by hand, the secret to removing swirls and scratches by hand is to,

  • Only work a small section at a time. about a foot square
  • Overlap into the previous section when moving onto new territory

How to use a hand applied abrasive polish or paint cleaner by hand


The fastest working abrasive compound that will leave the paint clear and glossy after wipe off is either the M105 or Ultimate compound. By hand it doesn't matter which one you choose... choose a quart or a 16 ounce bottle... get lots of foam pads, these work well...


CCS Red Wax/Sealant Applicator Pads 2 Pack
Meguiar's Ultimate Compound
Meguiar's M105


You'll want lots of microfiber polishing towels too...



Try to switch him with a demo...


:)
 
I wouldnt do a job like that by hand because you will risk injuring yourself > tendinitis and carpal tunnel are both painful and could even put you out of work for months .

Not worth it!
 
JRN_911SC said:
And the owner, despite my humble advice, is insistent on not using my PC, he had heard from "his good car buddies" that a buffer would mess up the clear coat.
Click to expand...

Sounds like his buddies were talking about a rotary (which in the wrong hands probably can do damage) and not a DA, like a PC, which I have heard is very safe. Like another post here you could show him a test panel on something else and educate him.
 
The majority of my experience has involved European paint finishes (most of those BMW) and this guy's buddies may have the idea of buffing being a "bad thing" somewhat screwed up.

Maybe they're thinking of a "rotary" buffer & not a PC?

What color is the M?

Anyone who is going to allow a Scotch Brite pad to be within 10 feet of their car really needs reevaluate how much they spent on the car.

Several BMWs shown here with the majority of them having seen the working end of a PC ........
Picasa Web Albums - Shade Tree Auto D...




 
What color is it? This makes a pretty big difference as some colors use harder paint than others. There's no way you can harm that finish using the Porter Cable unless you're REALLY trying to. Even then, you'd have to do something stupid.
 
matt@autogeek.net said:
What color is it? This makes a pretty big difference as some colors use harder paint than others. There's no way you can harm that finish using the Porter Cable unless you're REALLY trying to. Even then, you'd have to do something stupid.
Click to expand...

Yeah, like dropping the PC on the car ............ :dblthumb2:
 
I was going to do some paint correction on one of my wife's friends cars as a favour. She had tried to remove some stains with scotch brite as well. So I did some experimentation on a test panel I had (which happened to be off a BMW 1 series) by rubbing it down with a scotch brite pad. It took a fair bit of effort and lots of passes to get rid of it even with my rotary. Scotch brite tends to leave grooves rather than scratches. imo you won't get far with a PC and you'll get nowhere by hand. Unless you use something with fillers. BMW paint is very very hard!
 
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