Detailing my black BMW

Preacher

Helper
I'm new here and kinda new to detailing. I have a black BMW what I need to bring the life back to. About 3 years ago, I used a swirl remover and glaze to bring it back. The result was fantastic. A real head turner. It has been sitting since December of last year waiting for me to rebuild the front suspension and so some other minor work. I finally completed the work and now it is time to pay attention to the car's appearance. The finish has some scratches from running through car washes (I know I should be ashamed of myself) and from sitting outside during the winter. Here is my plan

Wash and clay the paint
SSR 2.5 with an orange LC pad
SSR 1 with a blue LC pad

The questions are: Am I on the right path? What do I products to I need to use after this to make the black paint pop?
 

Poorboy

Founder
Staff member
I'm new here and kinda new to detailing. I have a black BMW what I need to bring the life back to. About 3 years ago, I used a swirl remover and glaze to bring it back. The result was fantastic. A real head turner. It has been sitting since December of last year waiting for me to rebuild the front suspension and so some other minor work. I finally completed the work and now it is time to pay attention to the car's appearance. The finish has some scratches from running through car washes (I know I should be ashamed of myself) and from sitting outside during the winter. Here is my plan

Wash and clay the paint
SSR 2.5 with an orange LC pad
SSR 1 with a blue LC pad

The questions are: Am I on the right path? What do I products to I need to use after this to make the black paint pop?

If you have not bought products yet, I would go with Professional Polish with the blue pad and do a few more passes. BMW paint can be tricky and not very forgiving, especially the dark colors.
If you have the product already, then skip the orange pad and use pads that are less abrasive and let the product do the work of cutting , not the pad.
From there I would go to Black Hole and follow with either Natty's Blue or Black / or EX or a combination of these.
To maintain, QD+ really keeps the pop after washings and can also be used as a drying agent while wiping down the car ...
 

Preacher

Helper
Would the professional polish work even on a badly scratched surface. The last time I used a swirl remover I used an orange pad with no issue. So it is better to let the product do the work rather than an aggressive pad?
 

Poorboy

Founder
Staff member
Would the professional polish work even on a badly scratched surface. The last time I used a swirl remover I used an orange pad with no issue. So it is better to let the product do the work rather than an aggressive pad?

It's a lot safer unless you have thousands invested in paint thickness gauges ... you can always increase the aggressiveness by moving up to a cutting pad, but if you go aggressive product and aggressive pad you will cut a lot of clear off ... the Pro Polish is pad dependent and will go from 1200 with a rotary and wool to being a paint cleaner with a finishing pad.
 
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