MillerTime12oz

Have any one you ever had your cars professionally buffed? I normally use clay bar once a year but noticed its looking kind of dull and I have a lot of small scratches and scuffs. I have a 2005 black TL and do not want to attempt to use a buffer on it myself. I have no experience with one. Just wondering how close it will restore it to the original shine?

00h2itr

Had a friend with a NBP TL-S who had his professionally done before he sold it.

Came out looking AMAZING!!! Ask around local forums to you to find the best local detailer. Expect to pay a premium however for the service.

BobbyC

Buffing with the right equip isn't that hard it's just very time consuming. For the price of a full detail and paint correction, you could buy everything needed to do it yourself.

That's what I would do but some people would rather have others do it.
In that case, call around for detailers. You don't want to take it to a car wash.
Ask lots of questions on their process.
What kind of equipment do they use?
What kind of polished, sealants, waxes?

For the kind of money you'll be spending on paint correction, you're gonna wanna treat it like a job interview. Tell him to give you a step by step of everything they do and post here.
There wil be plenty of folks on here to let you know if they know what they're doing.

Or if you're in nc, give me a buzz ;-).

4drviper

^ i'd go to NC for a killer buffing.

UA6

Read around and do some research and you'll be able to do it yourself. Thats what I've been doing the last couple weeks

MillerTime12oz

Thanks for the advice. I will read more on how to do it. I do not mind doing the work, but from what I understand, you can easily do some damage with a buffer if you don't know what your doing. Especially on black paint, it shows everything! I will post pics if I decide to do it myself.

BobbyC

With a DA polisher like the pc or the griots, it's impossible to damage your paint.
A rotary on the other hand will burn thru your paint real quick.

OTD

Here's a detailing video step by step how you can achieve the same results on your TL, althrough the TL paint is easier to work with than BMW paint.


LMK if you have any questions.

OTD

http://www.detailersdomain.com/Griot...Kit_p_704.html

here's all you need besides washing and claying.

4drviper

christmas is only a month away

now i don't know if i want that or a J pipe.....

AZuser

Pay someone $300+ for a professional detail or use the $300 to buy everything you need and follow this step by step

http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-P...-pearl-part-1/

4drviper

it seems reasonable to me to spend $200 on prof. detail and use $100 to buy Leatherique, 303 and a wax and some knockoff DA applicator with good pad...

Jesstzn

Thats a terrible instructional vid .. doesn't tell how to do any of the steps .. and no correction is really done .. he is using an AIO & a sealant, not polishes ..

On top of that anyone who knows how to wash a car properly never uses a pressure washer to rinse the car ..

Sorry ...

Jesstzn

There is no such thing ... no sense doing it at all if not done right .


If you have it professionally done you don't need any of it .. and there is a good chance your wax will remove what he applies.

4drviper

:o okay, thanks. i'm okay with wiping interior but i'm scared to touch the paint.... those blue pearls are so pwetty

BobbyC

The only way you'll damage your paint with a pc or a griots DA
Is if you turn it upside down and grind down on the paint with the plastic.
It's easy. Just buy a polish kit with various pads and polishes, watch a few how to vids and take your time. After a weekend, your car will look brand new.
Trust me. I have a cbp tsx and love my blue flakes. I fixed all the swirls my dealer put on there the min I had some time.

Well worth the money spent and now I have a healthy hobby that I enjoy doing.

main_shoby

^ do it, If you want DAT black shine on his hood (im trying to get that)
did what these guys said (special thanks to BobbyC & Jesstzn for their prompt replies), watched a few hrs of instructional videos lol and took my time.
so after learning the whole thing last week and did a practice run for (11 hrs lol) this weekend i went slooowww... in about 4-5 hrs, i did my trunk and rear bumper only. they came out brand spanking new! if you like doing this stuff, you will love it.
at this pace, i will take about 1-2 month to complete all panels, but i am sure what i will get after 2 months.

Also, I tried a small pass on my dad's 2006 civic sedan (midnight blue) and she shined more than my car with less time fixing it... may be darker colour made it blast like a mirror or probably different paint \ coating composition. i believe darker colours will show you mirror like shine, unlike my satin silver :/

BobbyC

yea.. dark colors come out awesome after a good polish.
silver is hard to work with. the good thing about silver though... its very forgiving on blemishes and even dirt. you can get away with not washing a silver car for a looong time. as long as the wheels and tires are clean, the car looks clean. lol

youre still taking waaaay too long to polish but at least youre doing it right. lol
it usually takes me about a hour per side. front, sides, back, rear. the doors suck because of the angle but if you flip your bucket around and have a seat, its a lot easier.

work lights changed my polish time dramatically. im not having to walk around the car and look at every different angle using the sun light after i polish. i just point the light at it and see how it looks.

main_shoby

Well yeah, I know I am taking too long but once i learn the right technique to do it (which i have but taking a lot of time) i will see how i can speed up my process. but over all, going really slow has worked pretty well, besides taking super long time, my results are pretty satisfying.
and again to OP, it depends how you like it. if you dont enjoy doing such stuff or are like my dad (dont wanna do any hard work at all) go for pro detailers. products are expensive, you really need to ask about their product usage , steps etc.
when i started doing mine, i got 100% sure that NO pro detailer will put this much time and love in my car.
choice is yours.
cheers!~

OTD

Thanks for your opinions!

This was indeed a one step correction done with Meg D300 and AIO cleaner for wax to bond correctly. Maybe you never own a powerwasher or heard horror stories about it. Just FYI my powerwasher is a Kranzle 1120T and final rinsed with low pressure at fan mode at 2:20- 2:25.

have a nice day detail master Jesstzn! Merry chrismas n happy new year to you.

vinnier6

iTrader: (1)

if you have been claying without doing a machine polish after the claying, you have been doing nothng but dulling your car with micro marring(scratching)

Bulbanovich

iTrader: (1)

If you decide to go in the DIY direction this page is worth checking out: http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-P...-pearl-part-1/ My inspiration. He does an incredible job! Even if you have someone do it for you, you will know what to ask/look for.

SweetJazz

I agree about the vid but I always use a pressure washer to rinse my car. I follow up with the water flooding method with just the hose.

Jesstzn

Thats the part thats needed as a final rinse .. a flooding to float off any remaining particulate . A pressure washer can have a tendency to blow particualate from one area to another or dislodge it from a seam etc and place it on the paint. Flooding with a hose won't do this.