I washed and polished the E39 on Saturday.

Everything was Autoglym products.

Two bucket method using a sheepskin wash mitt and then onto using my dual action machine polisher with the Super Resin polish.

Having read the web sites on detailing from Pete's links.

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/june.html - http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/june.html

I learnt how to use the machine properly and sure enough the swirl marks were considerably less than before and I even managed to polish out some of the very minor scratches which was a good result.

Buffed the car using a terry towel and then applied a coat of Extra Gloss Protection by hand.

What I did notice was that I seem to get worse 'Ghosting' now.  I noticed it before I polished it, and about two weeks ago just after I first started using the wash mitt, i.e. before I used the machine polisher.  I don't think the machine polisher made it worse though.

I was impressed using the machine, nice even application of polish.  I had used it before on my Senator I wasn't impressed but I don't think I was using it correctly and had consigned it to the loft in disgust until Saturday.

Could it be the polish I am using that is giving the ghosting?  Nowhere on the Autoglym bottles does it say these can be used with a machine polisher.

Any thoughts anyone?

Andrew

Andrew,

Autoglym is very abrasive and should not be used to often. You would be better getting the Meguiars three step system at first as it is a relatively inexpensive kit which will clean and prepare your paintwork properly before you protect with the wax( step 3 ).

Everyone has different ideas on what to use.Personally I have tried various items including the Meguiars and have settled on Zymol shampoo, and Zymol Carbon Wax.  If I want to clean the paintwork I use the Meguiars paint cleaner or Zymol cleaner polish ( Both OK with Random Orbital Buffers ). Once your paint is clean the wax protects and gives the nice shine and using  a good quality shampoo such as Meguiars Gold Class or Zymol Natural Autowash will not strip the wax off. The cheaper car washes have chemicals that strip off the wax which removes the protection and shine everytime you wash the car.

Hope this helps,  Steve.

ditch autoglym,go for meguires 3 step, best ive used.

step 1 - paint cleaner

step 2 - polish

step 3 - carbunara wax

all by hand. hard work but worth the effort.

cheers steve

is it a Rotary you are using or a PC?

You will get holograms using a rotary

Pete

It isn't a PC as in Porter Cable but it is a dual action i.e. rotary and orbital like the Porter Cable ones.  It is a Halfrauds own make 240V polisher.  My dad got me it for Crimbo about 3.5 years ago .

I wouldn't mind a porter cable machine but they are American/110V so need an expensive transformer and I believe they are not legal in this country. Are there any other dual action polishers out there?

I will give the Meguiars stuff a go, but I will need to go hunting for the three stage stuff as Halfrauds never have all three!  There is a shop down in Greenock which I will need to check out......

Thanks guys

Andrew

Pete330 wrote: is it a Rotary you are using or a PC?   You will get holograms using a rotary

Only through incorrect use! A pc will not give as good a finish as a rotary, however it is far safer and easier to use.

As seem in this pic, these hologram or buffer trails were caused by a main dealer valeter, and with hard paint as is found on BMW the only easy way to remove them is with a rotary.

Before

After

A clearer example on this pic the passenger door has been deswirled showing how bad the rear door has been swirled, again all corrected with a rotary

As for PC not being legal this isn't technically true, they aren't allowed to be sold by retailers in the UK as they don't have a CE mark, however it is perfectly legal to import one.