Reccomendations on clay and polish for my e34?

[Thunderman]

Hola, I have been reading a lot, almost too much to consume as fast as I am trying to. Vlad and coyote, you 2 have some good stuff so I am hoping for some good advice, some for my situation.

I bought a dark green 95 525i in great shape, but she did not wax and take extra good care of the exterior, there are some dings and scratches and I am going to try and take of them all. Here is my question:

For a clay and lube, what do you reccomend brand wise? Clay magic is at autozone and I can pick that up today, is that good?

For all my minor scratches I am going to either use Meguires #2 or p21s paintwork cleanser, are these polishes? will they help my finish look better?

Any further help would be much appreciated!

Mike

 

[DRWWE]

If you're willing to take advice from someone other that the two you mentioned I'll mention my experience since I am new to this stuff too.

I read everything about clay bars for a while and was a little intimidated and thought it would be a lot of work. I finally bought a Mother's clay bar kit that included a lubricant spray (actually their detailing spray). I don't remember if I got it from Kragen or AutoZone. After washing my car really well I tried it out and it was quite easy as long as I kept the surface wet with lube. The finish was a smooth as glass when I was done. I am convinced and will be doing it again in a week or so after I take care of some small paint chips. I was told that all clay bars are fairly similar.

Hope that helps. [driving2]

 

[membim]

The clay magic claybar as well as mothers you can get from Autozone are just as good as the premium clay bars from Pinnacle, Wolfgang, or Blackfire. Claying is a very important part of your process.

As far as polishing goes, my recommendation is Poorboy's World. You can get their products from Dwayne at Premium Auto Care. Their polishes are SSR1, 2, and 3. SSR1 being the least abrasive. These polishes are easy to use and have great results. Other polish brands to look into are Menzerna, Meguiars, Einznett, and P21S.

Pick your favourite sealant/wax or both to protect the finish and your hard polishing work. If you polish right, most waxes/sealants will work great. My personal favourites are waxes from Pinnacle and P21S. My favorite sealant is the Wolfgang Sealant.

Hope this helps!!!

 

[Thunderman]

Thanx a ton!!

I just picked up some clay magic and am about to go to work!

Thanx a ton guys!

 

[waynestowels]

[QUOTE
For a clay and lube, what do you reccomend brand wise? Clay magic is at autozone and I can pick that up today, is that good?

"Most clay I have tried works good. Clay Magic is a good quality clay as is Mothers. I will be carrying my own name brand of clay soon"

For all my minor scratches I am going to either use Meguires #2 or p21s paintwork cleanser, are these polishes? will they help my finish look better?

"#2- IMO, too aggressive to be a last step polish. GEPC is more of a glaze than a polish, but will help give it that extra shine before waxing..., it is a good step before waxing. IMO, the best polishes out there is Einszett"

 

[Thunderman]

Thanx Wayne!

Will einzett help with my minor scratches?

By the way, here is my Bimmer

 

[waynestowels]

I have watched scratched disappear when I use Einszett polishes.
Einszett is VERY VERY effective!!

It is best used with a good polisher or buffer, but will also work by hand, just not as good or fast.

Einszett has several different polishes. You ALWAYS want to start out using the least aggressive polish, then work up as needed.

Ho bad are the scratches?
Do you have a polisher?

 

[Thunderman]

hmmmmm

most are small hair like scratches, some are worse. I do not have a polisher. I am a total rookie

 

[waynestowels]

I would go with Einszett in the green can and finish with the red can for scratches.

You will get the best performance from using a machine like the Porter Cable PC7424 or better yet, the Dewalt DW443

Follow that up with 2 coats of Einszett Glanz and your paint will absolutely look stunning

 

[Anthony Orosco]

All you need for a very effective clay lube is a water bottle, some car soap and a trigger sprayer. Fill the bottle up with water, add a drop or two of car soap and start claying.

To save time clay during the washing session. So clay right after the final rinse but just before you dry the car, always on a cool surface and always in the shade of course.

Polishing can be done by hand but if you do it by hand it is best to use a terry cloth applicator for the first step as it helps the product cut the paint. So if you used Meguiars #2 this would then have to be followed up by Meguiars #3, or Poorboys SSR1, Menzerna Final Polish (FP) or the 1Z product suggested by Wayne (I have notused that specific product as of yet).

Always try and rub the paint in the same back and forth direction.

Anthony

 

[waynestowels]

Welcome to the board, Anthony

Good, informative post...,

For those that do not know Anthony, he is an AWSOME high end Master Detailer...,
If Anthony would be so kind as to post some pics of his work, it would be great..., the work is top notch..., before/after pics are the best

 

[Anthony Orosco]

Welcome to the board, Anthony

Good, informative post...,

For those that do not know Anthony, he is an AWSOME high end Master Detailer...,
If Anthony would be so kind as to post some pics of his work, it would be great..., the work is top notch..., before/after pics are the best

Oh great Wayne......how on earth can I ever live up to that hype ?

Well thank you for the kind words and I would love to post up a few pics but they may not all be BMW, is that cool? Although I am doing a nice Beemer in the AM tomorrow and I'll post those pics up.

Here is a pic of a Beemer I did a few weeks ago.

 

[waynestowels]

Good pic

The one I always remember is the convertable you did with the scratched up plastic rear window you made clear again..., that was impressive

A couple of pics of the high end cars would be good to