A bit of polishing....

Fey! · 27-12-2006 3:05pm #1

Took advantage of the dry morning to polish SWMBO's motor. Came up really well considering how bad the car was to start with. Before and after pictures mixed through.

Only used the tools/polishes pictured.

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/yankeedoodlepigeon/album?.dir=64c8re2

DirtyDog · 27-12-2006 5:25pm

Looks great, what polish/wax did you use?

Fey! · 27-12-2006 5:39pm

I use Meguairs spray on (the green and purple bottle). Had borrowed a friends polisher, but didn't want to experiment with it on my own car!!! Took an hour and a half with the polisher, instead of the normal 4 and a half hours by hand!

DirtyDog · 27-12-2006 5:42pm

When you say polisher you mean like a buffing machine? where did u get it? I've been meaning to polish mine but I just cant get the 3-4 hrs to do it and I really dont want to hand over 50euro for some guy to mess it up!

BTW is your car metallic or standard? its a nice deep black mine is a metallic black and never gets that deep

Wishbone Ash · 27-12-2006 5:43pm

I've had a few polishers over the years but find that the bonnets keep coming off. I use elbow grease now!

(PS - Excuse my ignorance Fey!, but 'SWMBO'?)

unkel · 27-12-2006 5:51pm

Wishbone Ash wrote:

(PS - Excuse my ignorance Fey!, but 'SWMBO'?)

She Who Must Be Obeyed

Do you not have one of them?

Wishbone Ash · 27-12-2006 5:54pm

unkel wrote:

She Who Must Be Obeyed

Do you not have one of them?

Of course - it's looks so obvious now

and yes, I certainly do have one of them.:D Thanks unkel.

Fey! · 27-12-2006 5:59pm

The polisher I borrowed came from ebay, and the bonnet stayed on (you have to tripple knot the blings to keep them in place). I'm looking for a Meguairs cordless orvital polisher for myself.

DirtyDog - the paint is metallic, as is the paint on my own car (Schwarz is the BMW colour tag on mine). My own car comes up a really deep black, wheras a friend of mine who also has a black 525 (but a different black) comes up more of a slate grey when polished.

Wishbone - I find mine handy for getting to the bottom sills on the car!

TomMc · 27-12-2006 6:57pm

Fey! wrote:

The polisher I borrowed came from ebay, and the bonnet stayed on (you have to tripple knot the blings to keep them in place). I'm looking for a Meguairs cordless orvital polisher for myself.

DirtyDog - the paint is metallic, as is the paint on my own car (Schwarz is the BMW colour tag on mine). My own car comes up a really deep black, wheras a friend of mine who also has a black 525 (but a different black) comes up more of a slate grey when polished.

Wishbone - I find mine handy for getting to the bottom sills on the car!

You have done a fairly decent job considering how dull the paint looked to begin with. Unfortunately that NXT wax you have used will not last very long. You would really need to clay the paintwork first, then use a professional polish to get a higher level of gloss to the finish, then protect it with a paint sealant for long lasting results. Black paint shows ever little mark, so it is the hardest to get right.

I would not bother with the Meguiars cordless one (or any in Halfords, Argos etc there are a total waste of time and money). Buy a Porter Cable 7424 (from the USA, so transformers needed etc.) or a Flex XC 3401 VRG polisher if you are willing to spend a few hundred quid or else continue to work by hand.

I have done mine a while back, its much too cold to be doing so this time of year.

gary the great · 27-12-2006 7:33pm

I washed mine last week, then compunded and polished it. Looked lovely, was shining and sparkiling. Cos of the crap weather 2 days later it looked crap again, and now its just covered in mud. So il wait till the summer to do mine again.

peasant · 27-12-2006 7:34pm

while we're on the subject

http://www.clipfish.de/player.php?videoid=NDA3MzJ8NTY2

maidhc · 27-12-2006 7:36pm

My (black) car does need a serious amount of polishing.

What is the best way to get rid of some pretty serious swirls left by some idiot who made a botched effort at polishing? It looks perfect during the day, but not quite so well at night.

Fey! · 27-12-2006 7:37pm

TomMc - have heard great things about the portercable. Must check it out. Thanks for the reminder.

As for using the claybar, I simply didn't have the time for it today. For a VERY quick job I use the NXT wash on its own, and the NXT polish if I have a couple of hours to spare. Thgen there's the gold finish, the wheel cleaner, the tyre protector......

TomMc · 27-12-2006 7:51pm

peasant wrote:

while we're on the subject

http://www.clipfish.de/player.php?videoid=NDA3MzJ8NTY2

Lovely Coachwork ! It's all about attention to detail isn't it !

TomMc · 27-12-2006 8:27pm

maidhc wrote:

My (black) car does need a serious amount of polishing.

What is the best way to get rid of some pretty serious swirls left by some idiot who made a botched effort at polishing? It looks perfect during the day, but not quite so well at night.

Swirls will really show up in bright sunlight or under halogen lighting. They can only really be polished out by machine, and its a very time consuming job. An orbital polisher is much safer than a rotary but takes a hell of a lot longer (hours and hours or even days !) to put things right. As you are cutting the paint you need to go very carefully, and only ever use the right tools and techniques etc. The paint needs to of sufficient thickness to begin with, otherwise by removing even more, you could be risking premature clear coat failure or even burning through same altogether (especially with a rotary polisher - not recommended for the novice). I use Menzerna polishes myself with an orbital polisher. They work really well, but its hard work. It took a fair bit of practise to get up to speed with using the machine polisher properly (and safely) and so get the results I wanted.

Other than that you can cover them up with polishes or glazes which contain fillers, but then tend to wash off fairly quickly and so you are back to square one. The only product I have ever found that works well by hand or machine at filling in and without cutting the paint, is a polish called Glare Spider - You have to use some of their other polishes before and after this to get the best results and they are not cheap, but I suppose you get what you pay for.

I always hand wash my car with a wash mitt, using the two bucket method - its the only way to minimise damage (and all that it entails thereafter).

franksm · 28-12-2006 11:29am

That's Mequiar's NXT Tech polish isn't it ? It's the bomb - I have been using it a while now.

Funny thing - recently I haven't had the time to do a proper "wash car, let it dry, polish it, then buff it off" fun day, but instead have done a "wash car, apply polish to whole car, then wash it off with sponge/hose/shampoo". Seems to work fine as a method, and it doesn't leave white residue in the nooks and crannies so much. Not sure how long the wax lasts in this case, but it's a much easier method. Having said that, my paint is in good condition having been waxed often - I don't need to go at it with any electrical polishers just yet

A bit of polishing....

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