# New BMW - FG400 - Help Please



## Oddie (Jun 9, 2012)

Evening all, 

I took delivery of my new 330d M Sport Shadow Edition last week. The car is Alpine White so flat paint, non metallic. Upon collection it looked great and the paint didn't look swirled. 2 weeks later I gave it it's first wash, clayed, polished with SRP and waxed with 476s. It looked great during the day but at night time once the street lamp shone down on the car it looked horrific, covered in swirls!!

I don't know whether I've imparted those swirls with the work that I did but I followed all the standard procedures such as snow foam, 2 bucket method etc. Anywho, I went out next morning and stripped the wax off the bootlid and prepped the panel with car pro eraser. 

I used my DA (Das6 Pro), FG400 with a CG HexLogic Orange pad. I only did the bootlid as I didn't have time to do the rest and wanted to see if it got rid of the swirls once the street lamp shone down on it again. Once night time came it looked a million times better than the rest of the car but did still have what look like scratches under the surface? They aren't like swirl marks, more like random scratches? Look like cob webs in some ways. 

My question is, when I do the rest of the vehicle, is this same approach ok? Should I be refining afterwards with something like my Menzerna yellow polishing pad? If I should be refining, should I still be using FG400 or something else? I've got a couple of bottles of SF4000, would this be best?

Final question is, I'm temped to buy a couple more of the Meguiars MF DA pads, could they work better than the CG Hex Orange pad?

Cheers guys


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## Ebbe J (Jun 18, 2008)

Get some MF cutting pads from either Megs or Lake Country, they will speed up the cutting process with FG400, delivering more cut and close to the same finish. When you're done cutting the paint with the FG400, use the SF4000 on a polishing foam pad, and polish the car again, to enhance the gloss even more. 

Kind regards,

Ebbe


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## Oddie (Jun 9, 2012)

Ebbe J said:


> Get some MF cutting pads from either Megs or Lake Country, they will speed up the cutting process with FG400, delivering more cut and close to the same finish. When you're done cutting the paint with the FG400, use the SF4000 on a polishing foam pad, and polish the car again, to enhance the gloss even more.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Ebbe


Thanks for your reply, most appreciated!


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Ebbe J said:


> Get some MF cutting pads from either Megs or Lake Country, they will speed up the cutting process with FG400, delivering more cut and close to the same finish. When you're done cutting the paint with the FG400, use the SF4000 on a polishing foam pad, and polish the car again, to enhance the gloss even more.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Ebbe


This:thumb: but have you used MF cutting pads before  and what polishing machine do you have:wave:


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## chris chappell (Jun 6, 2007)

Must say that I have a similar motor 335 msport touring xdrive in metallic black and as much as I looked forward to machine polishing it the paintwork is like a Jaffa orange. Would be a right pain to get it all flatted and it's quite a big car so just can't be arsed. Looks better than a 'normal civilians' car though when it's been done with the Rupes and a coat of sealant topped with Zymol concourse.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

There is this fascination with getting perfection, and the assumption that simply having a machine means its achievable. 
You have already said that the boot lid looks amazing compared with the rest of the car, and it sounds like you achieved those results relatively stress free and in a good time. So I would personally not concentrate on dangerous deep individual marks. Add a finishing polish and pads to your regime and enjoy those vast improvements. If you want some extra cut try mf pads. They wont pull out the RDS but they will get a little extra correction overall and soften the RDS a little

Then sit back and enjoy the massive gains you have made and clear coat you have saved


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## Oddie (Jun 9, 2012)

Thanks again for the inputs. FG400 is known for being extremely glossy isn't it? If I was to do a final set of SF4000 on a Yellow Menz polishing pad, is this likely to be as glossy? That won't "dull down" the gloss from the FG400 will it?


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## percymon (Jun 27, 2007)

FG400 does have some fine abrasives within it and does give a good gloss, hence why it can be used as a one step correction product.

When i did my other halfs Mini, I used Menz 2200 and thought that gave a good finish, until i did a panel with 3800 and realised it was so much richer in colour. Perhaps not so much a factor on solid white.


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## Oddie (Jun 9, 2012)

Think I've decided on a combo of FG400 with the Megs MF DA cutting discs, and then finish with SF4000 on a Menz finishing pad. I was originally intending to use a Menz yellow polishing pad with the SF4000 but spoke to a knowledgeable chap this morning and he advised using the black finishing pad? I always thought that pad was just for applying sealants, waxes etc.


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Oddie said:


> Think I've decided on a combo of FG400 with the Megs MF DA cutting discs, and then finish with SF4000 on a Menz finishing pad. I was originally intending to use a Menz yellow polishing pad with the SF4000 but spoke to a knowledgeable chap this morning and he advised using the black finishing pad? I always thought that pad was just for applying sealants, waxes etc.


TBH you won't see much difference between the yellow and finishing pad on your colour :thumb:


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## Oddie (Jun 9, 2012)

chongo said:


> TBH you won't see much difference between the yellow and finishing pad on your colour :thumb:


Thanks pal, in that case is it worthwhile doing a polishing set with the SF4000? Or should I just compound with FG400 and then wax?


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Oddie said:


> Thanks pal, in that case is it worthwhile doing a polishing set with the SF4000? Or should I just compound with FG400 and then wax?


You should always do a test spot first and see if it removes the damage:thumb:

I would go with Menzerna 400 with a MF cutting pad, then always finish off with a finishing polish like 4000. Don't always listen to peeps that say that 400 is a great 1 step polish because it's not, especially if you are using a MF cutting pad as this will leave its own very light haze which then needs to be followed up with a refining polish :thumb: 400 is a compound and Menzerna make 1 step polishes like 2200 for harder paints and 2500 for medium to soft paints:wave:


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