M3 e92 Paint Finish

[gizard]

I've just got an e92 M3 in Interlagos Blue - and although it's in good nic it's far from perfect and there are alot of swirl marks.
I have a Meiguires G220 polisher along with the Sonus SFX system (SFX1,2,3 fluids and pads). So far i'm struggling to get the results I want, i have got rid of a lot of the swirl marks but some are remaining, those that are remaining I cannot feel at all. Any suggestions?

I have previously used the same stuff on a F430 with very good results and I'm wondering whether the paint finishes - or rather the Laquer from both cars could be that radically different to make my results not compareable...

cheers

G.

[belleair302]

You are going to need a rotary and some Menzerna to remove swirl marks on a BMW. The paint is very hard and the quality used today is poor, too many orange peel cars flash dried in Munich.

[valet magic]

As above i'm afraid the chances of you fully correcting a BMW with a DA is near on impossible due to the hardness of the clear coat.

Robbie

[gizard]

Hmm, thanks for the info. - Does this mean that the clearcoat is generally very hard wearing and that the previous owner / washer used a scouring pad or something?

Not wanting to buy another polisher could I just get a bit more aggressive with the coarser SFX1 compound or will it get too hot and cause problems?

[mneame]

I've corrected a few BMWs with a DA, including my own. It comes down to the pads you use and polish. All the myths about not being able to correct as well with a DA are rubbish imo. They just do not correct as fast as a rotary setup. You can do just as much damage to your paint with DA as with Rotary if you're not sure what you are doing or go in gun ho. If you've not used a rotary before I'd strongly advise you to get a scrap pannel to practice on or have a pro correct it for you.

My preference of pad on the rotary for tougher finishes is the megs soft buff cutting pad (maroon one) coupled with Menzerna RD3.02. Use the slow cut method. If you've got enough clear to play with there's no reason that with time you'll correct it. Allow a couple of hours per pannel and work over the course of a weekend. After the correction is done switch to a finishing pad, i like the blue 3m ones, coupled with Menzerna 85rd to refine the finish.

Time was tight on this one (1 day detail) but a good level of correction was obtained. I'm confident that with a 2 day correction the last few rids would have come out. DA was chosen for this detail due to time and the pad / polish combo was working better than that for the rotary.

Edited by mneame on Thursday 1st October 09:51

[Auto finesse]

The Clear coats and paint types are different across the two manufacturer you specify, the BMW will have a hard finish. Maybe try slower passes with slightly more pressure (make sure the pad is still spinning tho, also try working a smaller area at a time. this should help.

[gizard]

Thanks guys great tips - I should add that I have also done my other half's 55 plate e46 cab in silver grey - with the same stuff and that has turned out very well indeed, so I guess I'll for a bit longer on the e92 with the existing stuff - what you all say sounds logical - the 430 and the e46 just didn't take as long.

once it's all done I just pile on loads of layers of Carlack 68 which makes the finish last a nice long time imo. and the dirt just drops off when washing... i miss the goregeous finish on the 430

[Jason2002]

When I got my new 3 series the paint finish was shocking, it had swirl marks and the orange peel was really bad. So as soon as I got it, it was straight down to Kelly at KDS to be wet sanded. He previously wet sanded my Audi, the results were unbelievable. So the same process was done on the BM, see link below.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0... NEW 3 Series With Bad Paint Finish

Kelly said the paint was very hard on my car, he has done a couple of E92/E93 M3’s as well. Have a look at the link below this is very impressive.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0... of my E93 M3 post KDS wet sand and paint refurbishment

[croyde]

Pretty crazy that a brand new car's paint job has to be corrected, presumably at your expense. Even crazier that even £58K spent on a car still gets you a 5h1tty finish, ie M3 E92.

The paint work on the M3s at my local BMW dealer was so bad that I walked away.

That and the fact that I did not have any money

Edited by croyde on Thursday 1st October 17:54

[Jason2002]

croyde said:

Pretty crazy that a brand new car's paint job has to be corrected, presumably at your expense. Even crazier that even £58K spent on a car still gets you a 5h1tty finish, ie M3 E92.

The paint work on the M3s at my local BMW dealer was so bad that I walked away.

That and the fact that I did not have any money

Edited by croyde on Thursday 1st October 17:54

I agree the paint finish on BM's nowadays is st, BMW would not pay for the correction work to be done but they did give me freebies for my car. I think it was money well spent

[jayplay28]

valet magic said:

As above i'm afraid the chances of you fully correcting a BMW with a DA is near on impossible due to the hardness of the clear coat.

Robbie

with a bit of perseverance it can be achieved with a DA, even hard Audi clear coat

Edited by jayplay28 on Thursday 1st October 23:39

[gizard]

Well i had a bit nore of a go last night. i used a smaller 4" spot pad on the more affected areas - i am begining to get some good results. i've only done bonnet and front wings so far though which has taken 3-4 hours.

I too have noticed the truley abissmall paint finishes on some new cars. one of the reasons i bought this one was because it's finish was not bad.

I know it's only going to be an educated guess but just how thick is clearcoat these days - i.e. how long would it take to burn through it. I am being very cautious - hence the time it takes.