Black car polishing

[Grumpy owld git]

Looking at stocking up on cleaning and polishing products to give my black z4 a good going at come spring.

Looking to get a d.a along with a compound polish. Any recommendations which products people have had good results with would be much appreciated.

 

[mr.tourette]

Sonax 04 06 is my go to polish and seems to work well on my dark blue car

 

[Tom2207]

my advise ,,, dont do it and certainly not with a da ,, go for hand finishing if you use the wrong compound and cut it back before polishing you can be into a respray in half an hour ,, if its only a lambs wool bonnet and a polish you want slow and steady , so a cheapie from hallfrauds would do ,,, just be careful it really really really does go wrong very quickly .

 

[MikeyH]

Ditto. Machine polishing scares the crap out of me. :thumbsdown:

 

[True-Blue]

my advise ,,, dont do it and certainly not with a da ,, go for hand finishing if you use the wrong compound and cut it back before polishing you can be into a respray in half an hour ,, if its only a lambs wool bonnet and a polish you want slow and steady , so a cheapie from hallfrauds would do ,,, just be careful it really really really does go wrong very quickly .

Sorry, but this is just not the case at all,

O.P. There are many forum users, myself included, that have machine polished numerous Z4’s (and other cars) without any need for respray’s.

Sonax 04 06 is a very good recommendation, has decent cut (not too aggressive) but finishes very nicely. It also doesn’t dry out too fast. Depending on how bad your car is to start with, it might not be enough on its own to correct BMW paint which is typically hard… but you’d certainly see a good improvement.

What sort of budget have you got for DA machine, pads and compounds?

 

[mr.tourette]

You'd have to be both stupid and extremely ham fisted to ”be into a respray in half an hour” using a da on a z4 :lol: OP if you are both of these things then maybe don't, if you have a modicum of intelligence and are mechanically sympathetic then you will have no issues at all

 

[Jellyfishfields]

Here is the kit I now use, and further down a quick link to when I used it on my black car.

It does require some investment though, this lot, with back up pads plus clay bar, masking tape and including the rotary will be close to £500.


https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=132516

I would add, if you do go ahead, begin with the most fine polish/compound, and only go with the more agressive if you have to.
The harsher the compound, the more work it takes to remove the marks it leaves. Also, black will take more work than a lighter colour.

 

[Grumpy owld git]

Thanks for the replies so far gents. I'll be OK with a d.a, from what I've seen they're relatively safe. I've already turned down the offer to lend a rotary as from what I understand its much easier to go wrong compared to a d a.

Budget wise: as little as I can get away with to do a half decent job. Improve any swirl marks, something with fillers to make look a bit more decent, then a wax on top of that (already have some autoglym hd wax that I'd forgotten about)

 

[Tom2207]

[/quote]

Sorry, but this is just not the case at all,

O.P. There are many forum users, myself included, that have machine polished numerous Z4’s (and other cars) without any need for respray’s.

Sonax 04 06 is a very good recommendation, has decent cut (not too aggressive) but finishes very nicely. It also doesn’t dry out too fast. Depending on how bad your car is to start with, it might not be enough on its own to correct BMW paint which is typically hard… but you’d certainly see a good improvement.

What sort of budget have you got for DA machine, pads and compounds?
[/quote]

I still wouldnt advise giving it a go ,, but if you must go carefully . Slow is the trick and stay off edges and sharp lines, the results can be spectacular ,,, but so can the fails.

 

[IRD]

Gave Bigwin’s black Z4 a polish with my DA using Meguiar’s polishes and finished with Wolfgang sealant. This is the result. I don’t think it is now in need of a respray. I am a novice too having only done this on the 3.5is I used to own.

 

[Z4M-2006]

if you dont have a DA....

Use 50 cal filler show glaze.. Will leave a decent finish and is super easy to use.

 

[mr.tourette]

This was my first ever attempt at a polish using a da.. no damage and a decent finish.. nowt scary about the process and almost impossible imho to do damage using a da.. a rotary obviously is a bit more for the experienced detailer with some possibility of damagevif you are not careful

 

[IRD]

This was my first ever attempt at a polish using a da.. no damage and a decent finish.. nowt scary about the process and almost impossible imho to do damage using a da.. a rotary obviously is a bit more for the experienced detailer with some possibility of damagevif you are not careful

Looks good and it’s very satisfying when you see an improvement.

 

[True-Blue]

O.P.

A few shots of my old E86 and one of my Old TTS. Don’t have any of the latest black E85 Si as I haven’t got around to detailing it yet.

This was achieved with a DAS 6 Pro / Megs 101 & 105 and a few different pads;

 

[IRD]

O.P.

A few shots of my old E86 and one of my Old TTS. Don’t have any of the latest black E85 Si as I haven’t got around to detailing it yet.

This was achieved with a DAS 6 Pro / Megs 101 & 105 and a few different pads;

4A084EB7-7490-47CF-B6AE-FAF87A9A4EE1.jpeg
7F2C813D-FE1E-4E1B-BFE1-03B9B601402F.jpeg
D8B3CAC8-06F9-4E7F-A362-F2F8D8DEE37F.jpeg
7545EB86-C156-4CB7-A990-8FD068F5BF9D.jpeg

.?
That is stunning. Just shows what can be done.

 

[Huzee4]

Hand polished yesterday afternoon with Meguiar’s Ultimate Liquid Wax

 

[Tom2207]

black cars do look smart when well polished ,,, how ever its done

 

[Grumpy owld git]

Some nice results on your cars there gents. Can't wait to get going on mine.

Cheers.

 

[tomscott]

Ye I wouldn't worry about a DA either, a traditional wool pad with a non directional machine is completely different and you can cause a lot of damage quickly.

A DA is dual action and orbits so is very difficult to damage your paint with add that with a consumer compound like ultimate compound from Meguiars works wonders then a polish to get the shine back and I like to use a Synthetic wax to start with as is offers longer protection more like 6-12 months whereas a natural carnauba might last 1-3 months. Then keep it topped up.

It just takes time and the paint on my Z4M was hard as a rock. Took me 3 straight days to sort mine out. Little vid below.

https://youtu.be/D3CpDekHX90

 

[Tom2207]

is it a 2 pack paint system om older BMWs or are they painted clear over base ? guessing they would probably just be t early enough to be clear over water based paints , the clear is still 2k of course , just curious now.