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BMW E60 530D New Year's full detail

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Old 01-03-2012, 01:35 AM
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Hello everybody!

Finally I had some time to do a full detail to my own car. I was very busy during the fall and didn?t really have time for it. But now I got the time, and the plan was to give the car a light polish, put some new protection/products on it and clean the interior. The new products were CarPro CQuartz and GTechnic C1 coatings. I bought these two over 6 months ago, and I can remember I made a deal with Tonymac about publishing some observations on these products when I?ve used them. Tonymac told he could test the CarPro AQuartz instead. I started the job in the New Year?s Eve and continued it on next day. No better way to start a new year, right?!

Paint:
There wasn?t any protection on the car anymore. Maybe something on the horizontal surfaces, but the vertical panels were pale. I noticed only very light swirling around the car, and some marring from the claying process that I did after the wash before polishing. Last time when I polished slightly the car was last April.

Interior:
So I cleaned the interior as well. Vacuuming, cleaning the seats, steering wheel and other surfaces. Nothing special.

Equipment, polishes and pads:
I used my Flex PE 14-2 rotary and Flex XC 3401 VRG. This time I wanted to do a very fine last step, so I started with the rotary + Lake Country CCS white pad + Menzerna PO85RD 3.02 and continued it with the orbital polisher + LK CCS White pad + Menzerna PO85RD. Here and there I used the LK CCS Orange for the rotary. I think I got a decent result.

Coatings:
Originally I interested in these products when I read they would have some scratch resistance features. After watching different videos about using them I interested in their ostensible user friendliness too.
I wanted to test both coatings, and I did, but ended up using more C1 than CQuartz. I used a soft foam applicator and cotton clothes to apply the products. These accessories were supplied with the CQuartz. Here are my short observations about these two coatings?

GTechnic C1 (25ml):
+ smells neutral
+ very, very sufficient (I used maybe 15ml for the 4/5 of the car)
+ easy and fast to apply with a cotton cloth
+ easy to wipe off (please note the cons too!)
+ no curing time (please note the observations, though!)
- doesn?t leave the surface super slick (gathers some fibers from the mf)
- if used too much, the clouding effect is imminent when wiping off the product

Like mentioned above, the clouding effect was maybe the only problem I had with the product. The C1 instructions advise to remove the residues right after applying, but I think the product didn?t cure fast enough to be ready for this, so the clouding was obvious. I took a risk and let the C1 fully cure (1½h) and wanted to see if I can remove the clouding after the coating is fully dried. And to my surprise, removing the residues/clouding was quite easy with a quick detailer and microfiber cloth! All the fibers that stucked in the surface during wipeoff, were also easy to remove with a qd at this point.

I really liked applying the C1, and therefore I decided to use it more than CQuartz.


CarPro CQuartz (25ml):
+ no notices of clouding effect
+ very sufficient
+ easy to wipe off
- curing time 20-30 min
- pungent smell
- fluffed the cotton cloth while applying on surface
- doesn?t leave the surface super slick (gathers some fibers from the mf)

I used CQuarts only on the rear part of the car, but now I think I should have used it more to see if there?s the same clouding effect than with a C1. I didn?t see any streaking where I put it and wiped off, though. I think the advised longer curing time has something to do with this.

Same thing with the CQuartz, it didn?t leave the surface slick and collected some fibers from the mf, but they were easy to remove later with a qd and mf.

We?ll see later about the scratch resistance features and durability of these products.

-------------------------------------------------

The process was:

Pre-wash:
- Turtle Wax Super Detergent wash
- Bilt-Hamber Autofoam

Wash:
- Turtle Wax Big Orange + sheepskin mitt
- 2 bucket method

Claying:
- Sonüs Ultra Fine Detailing Clay + Turtle Wax Big Orange + water as a lubricant

Polishing:
- Flex PE 14-2 + Lake Country CCS white and orange pad + Menzerna PO85RD 3.02
- Flex XC 3401 VRG + Lake Country CCS white pad + Menzerna PO85RD

Coatings:
- CarPro CQuartz
- GTechnic C1

Tyres:
- Meguiar's Gold Class Endurance Tyre Gel

Interior:
- AutoGlym Interior Shampoo
- AutoGlym Leather Care Cream
- AutoGlym Vinyl & Rybber Care


-------------------------------------------------

Then the photos. Some pointless pics included.
I could have taken more pics of applying the coatings, maybe.

Going for a wash







-------------------------------------------------

In the wash

Turtle Wax Super Detergent wash.


Autofoam.




Drying.


Then I had to move the car into another garage to make some room for other users (However, there wasn?t too many people washing their cars on a New Year?s Eve).
Old 01-03-2012, 01:35 AM
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Polishing

The one and only pic of the imperfections is here.


Polished surface.










After polishing and IPA wipedown I backed the car outside to catch the last moments of daylight.






Old 01-03-2012, 01:37 AM
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-------------------------------------------------

Coating

Products.


The applicator and one of the cotton clothes that came with the CQuartz.


All done.


The white balance is (almost) right, the lighting was yellow at that place.










-------------------------------------------------

Thank you for watching!
Comments and questions are welcome, of course!

- Antti -
Old 01-03-2012, 02:35 AM
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Looks AWESOME Antti. Damn, your car looks really really good.
Old 01-03-2012, 06:17 AM
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Amazing job Antti
Old 01-03-2012, 10:18 PM
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Thank you my friends.

- Antti -
Old 01-04-2012, 05:58 AM
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What would you recommend Antti for my Mystic blue to give it that factory shine back? I use the Menzerna Polish and super finish and don't get the results that you get. I wondering if my technique is wrong? I also use Chemical guys products as well as Zaino, maybe you can guide me in right direction to get that gloss finish. I also use the Flex 3401 VRG with foam pad.

-Jack
Old 01-04-2012, 06:09 AM
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So fresh and so clean. Looks amazing!
Old 01-04-2012, 09:19 AM
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Originally Posted by Cwest
What would you recommend Antti for my Mystic blue to give it that factory shine back? I use the Menzerna Polish and super finish and don't get the results that you get. I wondering if my technique is wrong? I also use Chemical guys products as well as Zaino, maybe you can guide me in right direction to get that gloss finish. I also use the Flex 3401 VRG with foam pad.

-Jack
Difficult to say about your techniques, but if you could post a pic of the surface (typical scratches/imperfections) under a good lighting or in a sunlight, I could tell what I would do .

- Antti -
Old 01-04-2012, 09:56 AM
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Originally Posted by Anzafin
Difficult to say about your techniques, but if you could post a pic of the surface (typical scratches/imperfections) under a good lighting or in a sunlight, I could tell what I would do .

- Antti -
I'll try to take photo of the surface, but just minor light scratches and very light spider webbing. I want the warmess and the color to pop, but sometime I feel like what I'm doing doesn't bring the color out. And the mirror finish you did on the black is amazing and I need to work on doing that to my Mystic blue.


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