# BMW paint - paint correction polish/pad recommendation



## markb (Jan 14, 2007)

Hi folks,

Need a bit of guidance. Recently bought a lovely 2007 LCI BMW 530i in Platinum Grey metallic. Car has been babied from new by original owner but unfortunately part of that did not consist of good detailers.

I have the following kit:
- Generic rotary polisher
- Argos DA polisher
- Bilthamber Cleanser Polish
- Meguiars #80 (approx. 9 years old)
- Meguiars #83 (approx. 9 years old)
- Hexlogic Orange Pad (fairly well used at this stage)
- Hexlogic Blue Pad (unused)

I spent a day last weekend with the DA, orange pad & meguiars #83 and finished off with Collinite 476S to give it some protection. It certainly has improved the presentation of the car but there are still plenty of areas of the paint that I'm not happy with - does polish go off (it's 9 years old) or is it not an aggressive enough pad/polish combo for BMW paint? 

In addition, there are a few areas where the car has been touched up badly and a few stone chips that I would like to touch up so planning to buy an official BMW touch up kit, undertake some wet sanding and have a polish/pad combo with enough cut to bring it up to a full shine. 

Any suggestions for pad/polish combo? 

Following the paint correction, I intend to finish the car with the blue pad & BH cleanser polish and Collinite 476S.


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## voon (Apr 28, 2010)

I'm lazy so I do simple two stage corrections on my cars if necessary. 1 medium hard pad with a medium abrasive paste (mines from 3M), followed by a fine pad with fine polish (also 3M).

These products of mine to not "fill" scratches. They're merely abrasive and eventually turn into useless dust after a while of use with my DA (Flex 3401).

If you still have scratches you just need to either polish longer (with fresh enough polish paste so it's not just dust anymore) or with a harder padand/or polish paste. DAs are less dangerous there .. rotaries can overheat the spot you work on if you stay on too long.

Also not sure what makes you unhappy. If scratches are not just in the clearcoat, but reach down to base layers etc, then you can't get them out easily by merely shaving a bit of clearcoat off (which is what I do on the beginner level and I stay there ).

No idea on total paint reconstruction ... I stay with beginner friendly abrasions.


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## markb (Jan 14, 2007)

Thanks for reply. To clarify, I'm looking to replace my pad/polish combo for paint correction as the BMW paint seems too hard for what I have currently.


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## matty.13 (May 3, 2011)

I use scholl s3 black with a white pad and then s20 with an orange pad on my bmw . 
Be aware s3 and a white pad is very aggressive so might be wise to check your paint depth first . This combo will get rid of swirls , marring and some of the deeper scratches . 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Moet1974 (Sep 13, 2015)

D300 correction compound by Meguiars. Rarely mentioned on DW but is top notch on hard paints. Needs some practice but with a good microfibre pad it works wonders bud.... Along will come the Professor now and tell you the same! :thumb:


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## bense556 (Mar 14, 2017)

As said by Moet, I use D300 on Megs microfibre pads for my 6 series. Other combinations are ok, however for time and ease I found D300 to be the best.


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## petebak (Jul 19, 2017)

I have had german cars for years, and currently the wife has a Beemer, I have always used Koch Chemie polishes, they always work superbly and produce excellent results, I also use , generally their pads as well, my machines are all Rupes.

You wont go wrong with the Koch products, you can get from Halfords but are web only orders, otherwise most quality suppliers like slim's and Ultimate Finish stock the range.


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## voon (Apr 28, 2010)

On my BMWs (E46 330ci, E85 Z4, E89 Z4 ans F21 M135xi) I always worked with the 3M system. A glimpse into it can be had here:

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1101753O/perfect-it-ex-paint-finishing-brochure.pdf

That always did the job for me, which is hairscratch removal etc. I didn't dare to go to the really strong abrasives, but medium and finer worked for me. I use a good Flex 3401 Excenter with them.

Generally speaking from what I have seen, all big brands are good. YOu can go 3M, Koch, Mezerna etc .. they all have proper systems and choices on all levels.


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Mostly all compounds are good on German paints just depends on what pads you choose.

At the moment am using Meguairs D300 on either the Meguairs cutting pad or flexi pads new cutting pads from PB. This combination works on all paints that I have come across,from soft to the worst (sticky soft paint) and after a couple of minor adjustments I've seemed to find a perfect balance that works for me and the paint:thumb: I sent some pictures to a friend on here after using them on sticky black paint and the finish was nearly LSP ready.

When using D300 it's all about polish residue control, that means ensuring your pad is constantly cleaned and your not over powering the pad with to much product. This is probably why a lot of people struggle with D300 and other SMAT type compounds is because the pads are continuely clogging up and flatten fibres with to much pressure. It may seem a lot to take in but if yo find your own technique, then this compound will give you the results that will satisfy anyone using them.:thumb:


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## das6dan (Dec 18, 2016)

Scholl looks to be quite good stuff and probably what i'd buy next.

I have Menzerna at the moment which is good on VW paint and on par with scholl.


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## WRussellE39 (Sep 13, 2016)

I always tend to use the Poorboys SSR range coupled with Lake Country CCS pads, the thing that caught me out a couple of times was SSR1 is more of a finishing polish and should be used on a lighter cut pad. To save time you can use their Professional Polish which is completely pad dependant for cut.

I've got the 3M range too which is brilliant (all colour coded so removed that thought process), the only thing I find is it doesn't have a long working time and does make a mess. Saying that it does exactly what you expect.


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