# BMW 330d White - Team Detailing! - Super Hard Paint Correction



## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

The subject of this weekend's (well, Saturday's, today I had a rare and much enjoyed day off of any sort of work ) detailing escapades was this, a rather handsome looking white BMW 330d Coupe, arriving looking in reasonably good condition:




























This detail was to be a team effort - from a personal point of view, I get a great buzz out of detailing with my good friends, and this day was to be no different: Gordon "Buff It Off Yourself" (caledonia), David "Its Got Bumpers Too" (badly_dubbed) and Dave "Glue Factory" (Dave KG :lol::lol were ready and raring to go! Quality detailing, quality company, great banter - what more could you ask for on a saturday? Little did we know, in these initial pictures, quite what lay ahead today - but more of that a little later on 

First off, it was down and dirty with the wheels,










Spray on Bilberry Wheel Cleaner, cut in this case 2:1 for the heavier soiling on these wheels...










Gordon and Gautam, the owner, getting stuck in with the brushes to ensure the wheels were thoroughly cleaned...



















Rinsed off and looking good now :










With all wheels and arches thoroughly cleaned it was time to get to work washing the bodywork - first stage of this was a foam with Supa Snow Foam through the foam lance... Now, I would just like to point out at this stage, that contrary to what the photos suggest, I dont dance around the car with the foam gun!! Honest, your honour.... 





































Once I had finished foaming, Gordon dived in with a soft bristled detailing brush to ensure all details were fully cleaned...



















Car was then washed with the two bucket method and then clayed to remove bonded contamination using Meguiars Mirror Glaze Mild Clay. The results of just the washing and claying stage were impressive enough, the car looking great at this stage...



















Of course, getting out the Sun Gun changes everything...



















Gordon went for the boot, I went for the bonnet and it was time to get correcting these nasty swirls... this'll be easy, Final Finish, maybe Intensive Polish and we're home and dry... And under the Sun Gun, this was the case, as the Intensive Polish seemed to deal with the light swirls very happily...










This paint had a different story to tell though, and much _much_ more effort was going to be required!! Have a looky under these strip lights...



















Nice - deep RDS... These marks were my personal favourite though!!










What did we end up using for correction....?



















Meguiars #105 Ultra Cutting Compound, coupled to a LakeCountry Light Cutting (do not be deceived by "light" :lol Wool Pad, Makita 9227CB and a hyperactive Scotsman... Having worked up through the cutting combinations, this was found to be the most effective, foam pads while getting correction were achieving it just too slowly and also with too great a heat build up (wool runs cooler, while offering faster paint removal - perfect for large area RDS correction on very hard paint).

Remember these deep marks, my favourites, above? Well, after one aggressive hit with wool (and roughly 5um knocked out), here's what we now have...










Another hit...










Now do not be decieved here - its not as if I wasn't trying!! I mean, here's me giving the wet sanding a run out on these marks, check out the full on concentration - I'm gonna murder these swirls, oh yeah!!




























Except no... 2000 grit barely touched them, hence the wool above!! Four hits of wool, one hit of IP later and we have the following...










Not perfect, so why stop? Well, it would have been easy to keep hitting it with wool - I was getting a good workout afterall! But one has to exercise common sense here as well, we have a car which is barely a year old, knocking out huge amounts of paint and leaving massive thin spots is not good news! So with sensible paint removal achieved, here I believed I had struck a balance between effective defect correction, minimising the marks notably, while still maintaining a healthy paint thickness in the region.

So this wool pad lark, how was it working? Well, my methods were as follows... Note, i have used a small backing plate on this pad - I found this allowed my to focus pressure down through the wool more effectively which allowed for greater correction. However, you must exercise care here and ensure you have the pad well centerred - an off balance 8" wool mop will throw you about like a rag doll in a hurricane, not great near a panel edge!!

So, first of all, place a line of compound on the paint - Meguiars #105 was used here:










Feather the trigger to pick the compound up into the wool and spread around - dont try it at higher speeds, you'll be redecorating your garage!










Get the speeds up, winding up in the first instance to 1500rpm and moving the machine fairly quickly to get the compound well spread out over the work area...










Then its time to do the serious work. At around 2500rpm, make steady passes with firm pressre (lightening off round edges) to get the best cut from the SMAT abrasives of #105. Work at this rate until defects removed or compound begins to dry...



















The whole bonnet was corrected using wool, owing to large area of RDS,

Now normally, one would expect very pretty hologramming and tails from wool compounding - its an aggressive technique, a bit like taking a wrecking ball to a brick wall when Fast Cut would be a sledge hammer... But not on this paint, oh no... This paint finished down LSP ready with #105 on a wool cutting pad!!! Think I'm joking? ... Well, here's the paint after #105 and wool...














































Now either I am some sort of android that can finish a compound down by wool, or this paint was _seriously hard_. The latter, I believe to be the case 

It would have been rude not to finish this paintwork properly though - so onto my finishing polish of choice (regular readers, you get no prizes for guessing this one...) - Meguiars #205 Ultra Finishing Polish, coupled to a Meguiars W9006 tan finishing pad.










Predictable - yes I am  ... Reliable, quality results from this polish... Most definitely...





































Spot the RDS now  (hint, use the strip light )



















Looking good I thought, and so was the boot after Gordon's efforts (with foam and #105)... Time for lunch 

Returning to the unit, and David "Its Got Bumpers Too" was ready and raring to go with us now... as the name suggests, he was kitted up with a spot pad, and sent off to do the bumpers :lol:  Plastic panels require careful heat control, and thus a lot more patience in the correcting phase (sometimes, you just cant be so aggressive, so a slow and steady approach is required) - we decided David was the most patient! 










The sides were Gordon and I's challenge - and we took one each  ... The befores, down both sides...




































































































And away we go  Different products were used throughout, depending on severity of the marks... Among them:

*Menzerna Intensive Polish PO85RD3.02*
Spread at 600rpm; Couple of passes at 1200rpm; Worked at 1800rpm till residue clear.

*3M Fast Cut Plus*
Spread at 600rpm; Couple of passes at 1200rpm; Worked at 2000rpm till residue clear, marks removed, or it started to dust.

All finishing carried out with (altogether now! ) - Meguiars #205! Using a Double Zenith Technique of increasing speeds and pressures together.

Gordon finding more RDS...










Then posing for the camera (sorry, then polishing them out using Fast Cut Plus on a 3M Compounding pad):



















Take note of these marks behind the fuel filler cap - there'l be afters of these later, but this is the before:










My turn to pose... on the "easy" section too, the door required just Intensive Polish to fully correct it:




























Several hours work, plenty of banter and fun, and we found ourselves running out of areas to polish!!  So onto the after shots from the machine polishing stage...

















































































































































Remember the marks behind the filler cap? Gordon sorted them out nicely...










Tail pipes had a nice tar covering, and general slight fading...










Briliant #1 Metal Restorer followed by Briliant #2 Chrome & Hot Area dealt with that, after pic below (note the Renaissance wax is seen here curing, applied super thinly - can you see it? You shouldn't be able too... Apply this too thick and it will be very hard to remove!)










After polishing - the car received Duragloss #105 followed by Collinite #845IW Wax. Tyres with Meguiars Endurance, plastics with All Seasons Dressing. Wheels waxed with FK1000P, arches (front only, rears are carpet) dressed with All Seasons Dressing. Glass with Stoner Invisible Glass.

Indoors, a couple of aftershots...




























The evening was beautiful though...










So outdoors for the after shots, and I admit, I got a bit carried away with the camera but I hope you do enjoy the pics...



































































































































































One happy owner, time for the three detailers to chill out... our rewards:










Mmm, healthy!  Perfect for debating the joys of detailing, the enjoyment of bumpers, and just how old Gordon actually is after he admitted that he has touched dinosaurs :lol:

A cracking day was had, and you may notice that a lot of my recent detailing has got a team ethos to it... look out for more, team detailing is going to be the way forward for me, the enjoyment of working with good friends with like minds takes detailing to another level! Here's to the next one  :thumb:


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## badly_dubbed (Dec 11, 2008)

Cracking write up Dave.
was one of the most enjoyable ways to spend a Saturday ive had 

your ethos is bang on.

mates
detailing
banter

id also like to thank you and Gordon for having me up again and i always pickup something new everytime!

Davy"its got bumpers too" :lol:


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## Saqib200 (May 13, 2008)

Excellent work. It's hard to believe that paint can be that hard. Do you think its one of those new cerami-clear's?


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## caledonia (Sep 13, 2008)

I knew you said you where going to uses those phrases. But I never though you would.

Fantastic day once more Dave and also Young Dave. Welcome to to fold young man.
Cracking job you did also. See you next week, After all its got bumpers too.

I never new a car to resist so much attention and severe correction methods. But in the end with a lot of determination. By Dave mostly (I think the face says it all). We bet the beast and all turned out well.

Thanks lads for a very good humoured day. Bit of hard work. But the laughter and humour mellowed the day and as usual, time passed so quickly.

I will upload the picture tomorrow Dave when I get them resized.
Thanks again.
Gordon. Buff it youself. 

PS lets not talk about the glue factory. :doublesho


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Great read - credit to all three of you - top stuff!

CM


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## badly_dubbed (Dec 11, 2008)

Glad to be part of the team Gordon :thumb:

roll on Saturday (more bumper work for me then? :lol: :lol: )

looking forward to it


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## spitfire (Feb 10, 2007)

Another excellent write up Dave. Funny too:thumb: There's times when I feel so inadequate when it comes to polishing. Looking at you wet sanding and wool mopping I realise how far I've still got to go Watch out for my story of the White Subaru sometime next week. Once I've got it totally finished that is. Welldone to you all. Looks like you had fun and the bimmer looks fantastic:thumb:


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

badly_dubbed said:


> Cracking write up Dave.
> was one of the most enjoyable ways to spend a Saturday ive had
> 
> your ethos is bang on.
> ...


Great to see you back at the unit, Davy - no need to bring your own sausage rolls next time, I'll fire the BBQ up  There will be more team detailing banter before long, that is for sure 



caledonia said:


> I knew you said you where going to uses those phrases. But I never though you would.
> 
> Fantastic day once more Dave and also Young Dave. Welcome to to fold young man.
> Cracking job you did also. See you next week, After all its got bumpers too.
> ...


Of course I was going to use the phrases!  Glad you enjoyed the day too :thumb:


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Saqib200 said:


> Excellent work. It's hard to believe that paint can be that hard. Do you think its one of those new cerami-clear's?


Very possibly... But it was certainly hard, and resistant to machine marring for sure... not sure given its hardness what was done to the car to inflict the damage that was on it! Still, I do love a challenge 



spitfire said:


> Another excellent write up Dave. Funny too:thumb: There's times when I feel so inadequate when it comes to polishing. Looking at you wet sanding and wool mopping I realise how far I've still got to go Watch out for my story of the White Subaru sometime next week. Once I've got it totally finished that is. Welldone to you all. Looks like you had fun and the bimmer looks fantastic:thumb:


I wouldn't feel inadequate - the thing with machine polishing is developping your skills and your techniques takes time. The best machine polishers recognise their limits and spend a long time pushing them back  I'll keep an eye out for the Scooby post


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

Great work guys. Looks like you had loads of fun. Sometimes I wish I had a detailing buddy, perhaps next year may be able to employ someone.

Car looks fantastic.


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## caledonia (Sep 13, 2008)

Mirror Finish said:


> Great work guys. Looks like you had loads of fun. Sometimes I wish I had a detailing buddy, perhaps next year may be able to employ someone.
> 
> Car looks fantastic.


Unfortunately Steve its is the way of the world these day. To much enthuses on commercial aspects of detailing. Everyone looks at each other as the competition and a threat.
But is does not have to be this way. Working away with like minded people, with the same common goal. Has great benefits and leads to a terrific atmosphere and a very enjoyable experience, for all concerned. Sharing the work load and future detail keep every one busy.

I strongly recommend it. :thumb:


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

caledonia said:


> Unfortunately Steve its is the way of the world these day. To much enthuses on commercial aspects of detailing. Everyone looks at each other as the competition and a threat.
> But is does not have to be this way. Working away with like minded people, with the same common goal. Has great benefits and leads to a terrific atmosphere and a very enjoyable experience, for all concerned. Sharing the work load and future detail keep every one busy.
> 
> I strongly recommend it. :thumb:


As do I - the atmosphere and enjoyment you get working with like minded guys and girls on detailing is great, I look forward to detailing even more now as its not just a case of getting great results but also sharing some great banter too - and the results are better with this too as the friendly and fun atmosphere makes you very relaxed.


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## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

Cracking job guys!

Awesome write-up, althouth funny, it's full of info about every step.


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## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

Great job and very imformative! I'll keep this in mind for the next newer BMW with this type of paint!

Thanks for sharing!:thumb:


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Superb correction work their Dave particulary like the Dave KG vs the RDS take 4! Lol

How would you rate Meguiars 105 ultra cut compound in terms of cut against Fast Cut Plus and Powergloss?


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## Teabag (Dec 17, 2008)

lovely car and work, who was the small child foaming the rear of the car in the pictures?


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## dragonflyjade (Jun 15, 2008)

Excellent write up and cracking finish on stubborn paint. 

Team banter always makes the day go faster but with a smiles all around.


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## PaulB (Mar 26, 2009)

cracking write up and amazing results. Ill hopefully be along to the unit in the near future:thumb:


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## adam87 (Dec 11, 2008)

Amazing turn around as always!

Loving the comedy expressions :lol:


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## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

well done lads - Great finish as expected and the Bm looks great in white


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## Planet Admin (Jul 11, 2009)

Your reward looked nice, there's as much detail in your write ups than there is in your cars, amazing mate spot on, no wonder your in the studio, because that right up and Beemer looked amazing:thumb:


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## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

Very nice Dave, yep believe it or not wool pad and #105 can finish down to LSP or as near as dammit anyway!

PS do you still have the stock Makita backing plates for the 8 inch wool pads as very easy to centre:thumb:


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

cracking work as always guys:thumb:


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## gautam8128 (Mar 23, 2009)

Thanks again Dave, Gordon and David 

The car looks better than ever and has become more of a head-turner now :driver:


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## Prism Detailing (Jun 8, 2006)

Dave KG said:


> As do I - the atmosphere and enjoyment you get working with like minded guys and girls on detailing is great, I look forward to detailing even more now as its not just a case of getting great results but also sharing some great banter too - and the results are better with this too as the friendly and fun atmosphere makes you very relaxed.


I cant totally agree with this.....As someone who realy enjoys cleaning cars, valeting and detailing. I personally find it a sense of relaxation and satisfaction. I mentioned that i was looking into doing this more than a hobby to a friend and he automatically saw money. He might like the idea of detailing and susequently and mentioned doing it together. As much as this could be fun, what you then have to look at....is there going to be consistancy in the work done ? Where you though your were doing 50% of the work really end up being 80% but at sharing the profit 50/50.

On the flip side i was talking to a friend who valets, has done for a year or two and is wanting to give it up as he finds it very loney. He works on his own and says there is no interaction with anyone.

Its difficult to say....I would like to say having someone there and banter and learning from each other etc would be fun.....but that person needs to have the same passion and not looking at it as a financial gain.

OH BTW

Fantastic write up


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## badly_dubbed (Dec 11, 2008)

if the entire team are interested as much as each other it makes for a cracking day,

the workload is smaller and the time rockets in, before you know it your packing up and going home  :lol: 

its always an good advantage because you learn from each other hands on, which is always better than reading techniques in text form


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

brilliant work, but bloody hell thats some tough paint.


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Amazing work guys. I am loving White cars at the mo (hence why I've just ordered a White TT )


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

ahaydock said:


> Amazing work guys. I am loving White cars at the mo (hence why I've just ordered a White TT )


Ahhh, the change in avatar


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## Dipesh (Oct 12, 2007)

Fantastic, as always! Keep it up guys!


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## Planet Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Great work Guys. Supreme finish:thumb:

Love the side reflection. In white paint as well


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## Mark M (Nov 29, 2006)

Superb work by all! I can almost appreciate how tough that paint is :lol: 

I have encountered hard paint before on Lomax's MK5 (white...), which initially needed 2xFCP on 3M Compounding pads, then refined with 85RD...with swirling of a much lesser extent.


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## pete330 (Apr 18, 2006)

Great effort


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## sunwing (Aug 1, 2009)

Excellent detail, lovely car and fantastic colour choice.


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