[Bart_Man]

Hello everyone, hope you all had a nice Christmas.

Surely there have been threads about this before, but my 2016 428xi has midnight blue paint (I think it's a BMW individual colour but I'm not sure, I bought it from the lot and it came with it), and it's a stunning paint job, it turns a lot of heads and I get a lot of compliments about the paint.

It has swirls in it though, from improper washing and drying (it's my fault, I used a shammy that I thought was soft enough for drying but it wasn't). Now, I know that polishing can remove the swirls, but from what I understand it's the clear coat that causes the special effect in my paint, so I don't want to make it any thinner.

Any recommendations on polish for getting rid of swirls? What do you guys like to use for drying?

Thanks!
BartMan

[Adamr916]

Originally Posted by Bart_Man

Hello everyone, hope you all had a nice Christmas.

Surely there have been threads about this before, but my 2016 428xi has midnight blue paint (I think it's a BMW individual colour but I'm not sure, I bought it from the lot and it came with it), and it's a stunning paint job, it turns a lot of heads and I get a lot of compliments about the paint.

It has swirls in it though, from improper washing and drying (it's my fault, I used a shammy that I thought was soft enough for drying but it wasn't). Now, I know that polishing can remove the swirls, but from what I understand it's the clear coat that causes the special effect in my paint, so I don't want to make it any thinner.

Any recommendations on polish for getting rid of swirls? What do you guys like to use for drying?

Thanks!
BartMan

A Facebook group has helped me out a lot, but for drying, I use a leaf blower and a microfiber drying towel. I have a coated car, so a lot of the traditional products on the market don't work well with it anymore, so I've had to really step outside my normal when it comes to even basic washes.

[Billfitz]

Polish alone won't take out swirls. You need to do a paint correction, which uses a medium cut compound, then a polish, topped off with a sealer. There are threads here that cover it, as well as quite a few youtube videos.

[435MSport6Speed]

May we see some pics?

[nozydog]

This is why I don't 'overwash' my cars! I've seen too many really nice cars with lovely dark paint jobs completely ruined by over zealous washing/cleaning!! You can see the swirls in bright sunlight and they look awful! Obviously automatic car washes are the biggest problem and that's why I NEVER use them! I tend to wash infrequently and very gently with a soft mit, before rinsing with a hose on shower setting and drying with a MF cloth. Obviously polish applied with the right type of cloth shouldn't cause any problems! I actually prefer my car not to be pristine looking anyways but obviously one needs to care for their paintwork!!

[Bart_Man]

Originally Posted by paulff3

May we see some pics?

Sure, I will try to post a picture tomorrow, although the paint is not clean currently because of all the snow we've been having here.

[RoundelM3]

Paint correction is best done with an orbital polisher. I get all my car care stuff from Griot's Garage, but there are plenty of other high-quality providers out there. My F30 is 4 years old next month and actually looks better than the day I took delivery at the dealership.

[daryl rsv4]

Sounds like you will need a paint correction like Roundel335 mentioned.


After your correction, maintain with a 3 bucket wash. I use that with grit gards (to trap the dirt at the bottom of the bucket), as well as a blower to dry and a quick detailer as a drying agent with a quality micro fiber.

[Bart_Man]

Originally Posted by roundel335

Paint correction is best done with an orbital polisher. I get all my car care stuff from Griot's Garage, but there are plenty of other high-quality providers out there. My F30 is 4 years old next month and actually looks better than the day I took delivery at the dealership.

I actually have an random orbit polisher. I'll give that a try with a high quality polish.

[Bart_Man]

Originally Posted by daryl rsv4

Sounds like you will need a paint correction like Roundel335 mentioned.


After your correction, maintain with a 3 bucket wash. I use that with grit gards (to trap the dirt at the bottom of the bucket), as well as a blower to dry and a quick detailer as a drying agent with a quality micro fiber.

Yeah I think microfibre is the key word here, for drying anyway. It's the shammy that I was using that put the swirls in I'm sure.

[nozydog]

Originally Posted by Bart_Man

Yeah I think microfibre is the key word here, for drying anyway. It's the shammy that I was using that put the swirls in I'm sure.

I've used a chamois with no issues in the past, a good quality one (real skin) shouldn't cause a problem!

[fusion0389]

I use the Wolfgang products to correct both cars. The correct washing\drying techniques and products are key to keeping a swirl free shine, however they're somewhat inevitable.

http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-por...l-remover.html

Posting pictures of your swirls would help.

[435MSport6Speed]

The Absorber is very good.