Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

[Michael Stoops]

Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class


This was our first class of 2011 and it was a huge success!! We had just about perfect weather and a darn near perfect demo car for the class to experiment on. A big "Thank you!" to Ralph, the owner of this 1993 5 Series BMW for allowing us to demo on his ride.

After going through the main portion of the classroom instruction, it was time to put some of the new found knowledge to practical experience. This is what we discovered upon visual inspection of the paint; plenty of swirls and some random deeper scratches, but no water spots or etch marks:


On the top of one quarter panel we did discover what looked the effects of something be dragged over the paint. This felt pretty nasty to the touch, but we're always up for a challenge!


OK, so we know what's below the surface, but what about above? Only one way to find out, and that's to touch the paint.


A little clay bar work on the trunk and this is what we picked up. Not terrible, but it needed to be removed.


We did our usual side by side comparison of hand application versus G110v2 application, but with a twist for 2011 of course. We used Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish, and Ultimate Wax.




Moving to the G110v2 we used the same three products, with a W8207 Soft BUff 2.0 yellow polishing pad for the UC and separate W9207 Soft Buff 2.0 finishing pads for the UP and UW.




Back out in the (very bright) sunshine we pulled the tape off to reveal the outcome of our efforts.


This is pretty typical - take a seriously messed up car, correct the defects, and someone will get really nit-picky about some random little mark!! Remember, this car is 18 years old and this is the original paint!!! Still, we just love this level of enthusiasm.


And this is what we got - hand applied on the left, G110v2 on the right. A massive improvement overall.


Back in the garage we tackled that nasty scuffing on the top of the quarter panel, and then let some of our students try their hand with the G110v2.










Here's that badly scuffed quarter panel after correction - good as new!


And one happy owner, as Ralph's confidence is now reflected in the trunk of his BMW. He now has the knowledge to finish the rest of the car on his own.

[greg0303]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

Mike's back performing magic with G110v2.

Great turn-around and restoration. I'm sure that the owner didn't expect his car to look so good.

[XDacer]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

Mike - Great job with the class and I excited about putting what I learned to practice. The tool is back ordered for some time so when it comes in I will take pictures before and after of the hazing.

Dave

2009 Black Subaru STi

[dc2_]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

that looks nice!
did it take extra passes since bmw has hard paint??

how did that scuff come out since u mentioned it felt nasty to the touch?

[uscharalph]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

Thanks Mike!!

My DA G110v2 is on order and should arrive this week. Pads and product are also due to arrive. I had to order online, since the local stores don't have the 2011 product line yet. I can't wait to get started this weekend.

Ralph
1993 BMW 525i (E34)

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

did it take extra passes since bmw has hard paint??

We are so glad you mentioned this. The paint on this car was not at all what we would consider "hard". Quite the contrary, it was very easy to work on and corrected with ease. As we said earlier, this is original factory paint dating back to 1993. The hood has been resprayed but we didn't do our demo there so we can't comment on the workability of that panel.

MOL forum member smack has a black 3 Series BMW that he showed me during the Barrett-Jackson auctions in Las Vegas last September. He said the swirls had been pretty bad on it and showed me a car with what he felt was a similar level of defect, yet he corrected that car with SwirlX on a G110v2. Not hard paint at all.

That said, we have seen some BMWs with extremely hard paint, where even a rotary with a light wool pad struggled to remove some defects. The point being, BMW builds cars in several different factories, both in Europe and here in the US. The paints vary from facility to facility and the hardness/softness/delicateness/workability vary with them. Our CEO drives a black 2009 M3 and routine correction on that car is pretty straightforward.

So when someone tells you that BrandX has "hard" paint, take it with a grain of salt. What model? What year? What's the skill and experience level of the person making the claim?

[smack]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

MOL forum member smack has a black 3 Series BMW that he showed me during the Barrett-Jackson auctions in Las Vegas last September. He said the swirls had been pretty bad on it and showed me a car with what he felt was a similar level of defect, yet he corrected that car with SwirlX on a G110v2. Not hard paint at all.

Contrary to what anyone may hear, BMW's and other German marks have varing differences in the clear coat. They all dont have HARD paint.
I personally have found that my BMW's (jet black) have rather soft paint while my 99 Camry has very very hard clear. When I do correction on it I can finish with UC on a polishing pad without no difference between it and finishing with 205 on a finnishing pad.

[smack]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

You guys did a great job on that 5er!

[Alex23]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

Had a great learning experience @ the class/clinic.
Learned a few techniques and learned about exactly what products would better suit me and my goals for my car. I will be definetly checking out this forum more often.
Thanks ralph for letting us apply our new knowledge to 5 series, deffinetly saw/felt the difference.
I got to use a claybar for the first time.
Thanks again Mike for all your help.

[scanlessfool]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

Thanks ralph for letting us apply our new knowledge to 5 series, deffinetly saw/felt the difference.

I thought this was directed towards me until I realized I didn't have a 5 series

[glamisjim]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

Thanks Mike for all your information. Being able to see how a DA polisher works and being able to do a small portion of the BMW at the class really gave me a better understanding of the polisher and the 3 products you used.

[npj]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

On the top of one quarter panel we did discover what looked the effects of something be dragged over the paint. This felt pretty nasty to the touch, but we're always up for a challenge!

In the original post you said that there were some nasty scratches etc, I have some similar on my car.

I was wondering how you did such a great job removing them, so that I can try it on my car.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Pictures from January 29th, 2011 - Saturday Open Class

In the original post you said that there were some nasty scratches etc, I have some similar on my car.

I was wondering how you did such a great job removing them, so that I can try it on my car.

We used exactly the same process as shown on our demo spots - Ultimate Compound on a W8207 Polishing Pad via G110v2 D/A buffer at speed 5. Done.