My partner's cream white Escalade got keyed overnight and he wanted to have the door repainted. I had him bring it into our detail shop and worked my magic on it. Here is the damage before.

 

One more:

 

They were too deep to only compound so I had to wet sand the door, follow with a compound, polish, glaze and wax. Came out like new and saved him $600.

 

And...

 

Exellent job!

What's the rule of thumb on what can be removed? I've always thought something that can be felt by nail is too deep to remove.

 

Wrong! If it is only in the clear coat or only slightly in the paint I can fix it. If it went into the metal I can still fix it but it is much more involved and will only look 98% on close inspection.

 

Cool, thanks for the tip!!

 

What grit is the wet sand?

 

I typically use a 2,000 grit 3M with a backing plate, as I did here.

 

Hey stryke, I never knew you owned a detail shop, thats awsome. We share the same hoobies

Nice work on the caddy, people are horrible these days, why key a car ? if that cures there jelousy and boosts there ego, its just sad.

Anyway here is my question, I got a brand new 2005 525i last February, the dealer handed it over swirled beyond believe some spots even hazy from the amount of marrying. I finally got around to cleaning it very well today, I taped up the car and took out the Makita. I started edge green with SSR2.5 (I hate this product as it dries up so damn fast) anyway, I kept working. I then wiped the hood and did 1x Menzerna IP with blue edge and then 1x Menzerna FPII with white pad. I went out in the sun and to my amazement I still have swirls and marrying. Now don't get me wrong the paint isn't good, but its not extremly bad, like some cars I have seen. I did my Jeep many times and always got great results etc.. What can I be doing wrong here ? I worked at about 950-1000rpm's im so scared of the BMW paint, I keep seeing buffer burns all over the car when im working (optical illusions) Maybe a little word of advice from a pro ?

My Acronyms are IP = intensive polish FP = finial polish

you probley havent heard of Poorboys, its a private owned company. I found them over at Autopia and Detailcity, the gentlemen who owns the company is a frequent there, so I decided to try them out.
SSR2.5 = super swirl remover 2.5 it is similar to agressiveness to Meguiars #83 dual action cleaner polish.

 

Heard of poor boys. I use Gliptone extra heavy buff clear followed by their stage 2 with a green foam pad then follow with their clear coat wax and swirl are gone. Here is the key. The swirls were created in the same way you were trying to remove them. Keyword: Dry! You mentioned the product dried fast. Most people who buff a car do not realize that once it is dry and you start getting the bounce in the pad you are swirling the clear. You need to mist the pad and the panel with a detailing spray to keep it moist and let the machine do the work without pressure. Tough to master but effectively results in a swirl free buff.

 

Yeah, The majority of the swirls where gone no micro marrying, but afterwards in the sun the deeper swirls where still present. The pads you talking about are they Edge pads ? or different, also what speeds do you buff at ?

 

Buffing speed varies by surface, damage, pad and chemical but I range from 800-1,300 RPM.

 

Ah ok, I need to take another stab at it!

How about engine detailing, what do you typicall cover when going at it ? Im about to go out and detail my Jeep, it hasnt been detailed all winter. Don't wait to ruin anything !

 

Maybe u guys can help.. Yesterday i was getting my windows tinted on my x5 and the guy must have slipped with the razor and scrached the back bumper, im so pissed the car only has 100 miles. do you think it could possibly be buffed out