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Recently updated on September 26, 2023 at 05:47 am
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As the coming Tuning summer is not far away and of course many workshops/car dealerships but also garages and backyards are busy working on a wide variety of vehicles, we thought of enriching the period until the official start with a small tutorial on paint care. It's a very simple tutorial that CAN'T should be understood as professional paint preparation. However, since questions about "simply" self-made paint preparation have been coming up again and again in recent weeks, we have taken on the topic.
Post #2 – BMW 5 Series (G30)
Of course, you should keep in mind that every vehicle is different and therefore every car and especially every paint also requires individual treatment. So if you are not sure, you should get individual advice on the right products. We worked with a simple polishing machine from HP Car Accessories, One Sonax paint cleaner as well as the Sonax Wax 1.
Of course there is a huge wealth of care products and aids and everyone can read up on them themselves and then decide what to take. Please also note that not every product is suitable for every application. Furthermore, of course, everyone has different requirements in terms of processability, effect and of course the budget also plays a role. hp There is a video herethat impressively shows a paint treatment on a BMW E36 (3 series)!
Step 1: wash the car first
A clean car is the basis of every preparation. Rinse off the coarse dirt first, preferably with a high-pressure cleaner. Tar stains, stubborn dirt and other contaminants must be removed to reduce the risk of scratches. There are also plenty of special cleaning agents here.
Then carry out a comprehensive full wash, ideally by hand, and then rinse several times with water. Washing in the car wash is less recommended, since the results are often unsatisfactory and the car also has to be driven back to the workshop or home. Of course, this can lead to new dirt accumulating.
Step 2: Car needs to be dried
The best way to dry the car is with a microfiber cloth that absorbs a lot of water. One cloth should be sufficient for an average vehicle, consider a second if necessary. Don't use dry tools like a silicone squeegee. They can ensure that fine streaks or even scratches can appear in the paintwork due to residual dirt. Leather cloths are also hardly suitable, as they do not absorb the water, but only push it off the vehicle, which can also cause scratches and also takes longer.
Step 3: polishing
Of course, you need the polish for polishing and if the paintwork, as with our vehicle, is fairly worn, a special paintwork cleaner (is a bit coarser) is even more recommended. The paint cleaner should make the paint shine again and remove small scratches, swirls or holograms at the same time. However, each polish should be individually adapted to the condition of the paintwork and in this case we found the paintwork cleaner to be necessary. Maybe a polish is enough for you. If the car has larger scratches for which even the paint cleaner is not sufficient, you can also tackle the scratch with an abrasive paste.
Tip: Bugs, tar or resin on the vehicle? This will remove the dirt!
However, a grinding paste does not leave a good shine and must be reworked with finer products. The SONAX paintwork cleaner is intended to remove swirls and fine scratches and is suitable for leaving behind a good paint finish that does not necessarily have to be supplemented by an even finer polish. Please note that polishing must always be done in the shade and not necessarily on the hottest summer day of the year. Of course, you should also work in a low-dust environment and not directly outdoors. You should protect adjacent plastic parts, window rubber, beads, cracks, lettering, etc. with masking tape (paper tape) and the same applies to the headlights.
Of course you can also polish the headlights directly if they are yellowed or have scratches and are starting to "blind". You should use a special cleaning set for this. There's a system of Autosol, that comes with a simple polish and subsequent sealing or you can take one from Sonax. There is even 5000 sandpaper for removing the "blemishes" and then it is polished and sealed here too. But this only marginally.
Machine polish:
- you get a higher removal rate and it is a much faster and energy-saving work compared to manual polishing
- Entry-level machines start from as little as €25
- Pad provided with polish
- Place the machine with the pad on the paint
- Distribute polish
- with about 4-5 kilo pressure the polish work in until only a light film is left (if possible, carry out the work in the cloister and then from top to bottom)
- Check the result and rework
- Optionally seal with a Pre Cleaner afterwards (we did not do that)
Step 4: Preservation of the polishing result
So that the result is retained and to protect the paintwork from environmental influences, the polished paintwork should be preserved with a wax. Here, too, there are countless products, so that personal preference and the requirements for the paint and vehicle should also be decisive here. You can also decide how to apply it yourself. The wax can also be applied with the machine or by hand and a suitable sponge/cloth.
- Pad with wax
- Place the machine with the pad on the paint
- Distribute “a little” wax (wax is applied very sparingly)
- Work up the wax without much pressure until only a light film is left (no special directions for application, such as polishing, are necessary)
- Check result and if necessary. touch up
- after product-specific drying time, remove the remains with a microfibre cloth
Our vehicle was a VW Phaeton in campanella white, which of course is a pretty thankless color, especially for a tutorial. Since we only had an Ibis white painted Audi A3 as an alternative, we had no choice. The various pictures and videos will hardly show a comprehensible difference, especially to the layman, but we can assure you "in reality, the difference is clear available". If you look closely in the following video, you can see the immediate beading of the water and you can also see a before/after difference in the shine of the bonnet. The paint is much smoother, which (as can be seen in the video above) means that dirt sticks much less and the vehicle is much easier to clean, for example when it is sloughed off.
Water bubbles off / dirt sticks much worse
Bottom line - VW Phaeton
The following note is essential: For safety reasons, tuningblog recommends all repair, inspection and maintenance work exclusively to be carried out in a specialist workshop! Although our information is summarized to the best of our knowledge and belief, we cannot assume any liability for the content. All information is therefore "without guarantee".
Of course, that wasn't the end of it!
In this tuningblog category there are guides and instructions for common defects/repairs on the vehicle and for installing accessories/tuning parts. Our articles explain in a simple way common defects and the corresponding repairs and they also explain how the first signs of a defect become noticeable. In most cases, we also have initial clues to the repair instructions in our repair instructions approximate costs listed. The goal of ourAuto Repair Guide“ is to create a head start in knowledge for the next visit to the workshop with initial tips. This may save you from tedious troubleshooting and you may even be able to do small things yourself. The same applies, of course, to the installation of accessories/tuning parts. Here, too, we would like to help with the implementation with instructions and tips. There are many other posts on this as well. Below is an excerpt of the last and HERE there are all previous instructions.
yet another attempt on our BMW M550i!
And we tried our hand at another vehicle. Test object was our Stage 3 BMW M550i (G30), whose paintwork in Black Sapphire metallic (color code 475) was completely exhausted. In terms of products, we chose that Menzerna polish set (Heavy Cut Compound 1000 + Medium Cut Polish 2500 + Super Finish 3500 + Power Lock + Standard Pads (Hard, Medium, Soft) + 4 Microfiber Cloths) decided. Also, we have that Makita PO5000C eccentric polisher used for processing. However, this time we want you only show the before/after result and not a complete guide. Have fun watching the video!
