Keeping a well maintained car looking it's best: chemical polish or abrasives?

[rhavyn]

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

[spazzz]

Hyper Polish would work great with a white Lake Country variety pad for cleaning, swirl removal and shine.
I think it's my favorite for light duty upkeep. Dig with it or go light with Hyper Polish it's pretty versatile.

Another good one is Menzerna 3500 for your car. I used 400 and 3800 on my 2008 535xi platinum grey paint.
I just used 3500 on my Grand Prix before WGDGPS.
You can work this the same way as Hyper Polish. Either way stock up with some paint prep, Optimum paint prep, Eraser,etc to use before the sealant goes on.

Time to get the party started.
Go light and I am sure you will be happy with the clean, polished paint.

[rhavyn]

Thanks for the reply. To follow up the second half of my question, would Hyper Polish and 3500 be considered light polishes? Is using them once or twice a year within the realm of reason or is that just too aggressive?

Thanks again!

[DaveT435]

HyperPolish is great. The more aggressive the pad you use the better the cut. Of course you'll have to do a test spot and definitely try to use the least aggressive method.mBMW is known for extremely hard paint. Don't be surprised if you end up with HyperPolish on a cutting pad to remove the light scratches/swirls. You shouldn't need to go any more aggressive than that, but it's a possibility. When compounding/polishing you're going to want at least 3 pads for each stage, unless you are going to do the car in sections over a period of time.

[Rsurfer]

Thanks for the reply. To follow up the second half of my question, would Hyper Polish and 3500 be considered light polishes? Is using them once or twice a year within the realm of reason or is that just too aggressive?

Thanks again!

spazzz gave you some good recommendations. Both Hyper Polish and 3500 are polishes and not compounds, so very little clear coat will be removed. Wolfgang, Power Lock and Black Fire are some of the better sealants.

[PaulMys]

Thanks for the reply. To follow up the second half of my question, would Hyper Polish and 3500 be considered light polishes? Is using them once or twice a year within the realm of reason or is that just too aggressive?

Thanks again!

Congrats on your PC. For your needs it is a more than capable machine. I have one, and love it.

Next, I know all too well how overwhelming all this info/product choices can be.

I'll say this: You will get a hundred different answers as to the "best combo of product/pads" on here. Why? Because each answer will be what a certain member has had the best outcome and/or success with.

I was in your shoes a while back, and I will just recommend this: Pick a product, pad, or system you think you like and go with it. Give it a spin, try it out! If it works, GREAT!

If not, experiment with new products/pads, etc. Refine your technique.

Most importantly, just dive right in and do it. After the first minute with the machine, you will say to yourself: "Damn, what was I afraid of ??"

[Rsurfer]

[QUOTE=PaulMys;1581358]I'll say this: You will get a hundred different answers as to the "best combo of product/pads" on here. Why? Because each answer will be what a certain member has had the best outcome and/or success with.



Just remember not all paints are created equal. What works on your paint may not work on your neighbors car.

[rhavyn]

Thanks for the awesome reply. But I guess my question was less regarding the specific combos but more are those combos considered aggressive or not (for a harder BMW paint) and would using them once or twice a year be reasonable or totally unreasonable?

[PaulMys]

[QUOTE=Rsurfer;1581361]

I'll say this: You will get a hundred different answers as to the "best combo of product/pads" on here. Why? Because each answer will be what a certain member has had the best outcome and/or success with.



Just remember not all paints are created equal. What works on your paint may not work on your neighbors car.

Yes, and I didn't include that in my post. Good catch

I was just referring to him doing his own car.

And like you pointed out, each recommendation he may get will be based on user experience with different paint systems from different manufacturers.

[PaulMys]

Thanks for the awesome reply. But I guess my question was less regarding the specific combos but more are those combos considered aggressive or not (for a harder BMW paint) and would using them once or twice a year be reasonable or totally unreasonable?

Generally, any polishes (marketed as such) or finish polishes are not as aggressive as those marketed as compounds or heavy cut polishes.