[buzzkill]

Last month I bought a BSM 335d. Great car! When I picked it up at the dealership I noticed a serious scratch, a couple of minor paint flaws and several swirl marks. I'm sure more would appear after a few washes. I had the salesman note the scratch but did not trust the dealership who caused this to repair this. After a serious order to Griot's Garage for clay, polish, glaze sealant and wax I got to work. After 2 weeks and some 50 hours cumultive of buffing later the car looked great. First drive was back to the dealer in a spotless car to have an accessory installed. When I picked it up I was mortified. The spotless car now had dirty water sopts all over it and the telltale marks of an automatic paint scratcher. Finally a dry towel had been used leaving some serious swirl marks. Ouch!! Lesson learned. I had a note put on my file, No washing and will back this up with a verbal reminder each time I return for service.

Question. How far back in the process do I need to go to get rid of the swirl marks. I had 2 coats of sealant and 2 coats of wax. Each with over 24 hours of curing time. Shuld another coat of wax do the trick or do I need to polish and then wax?:

[fdriller9]

If you want to get the swirls out, you'll have to clay, polish, and then seal.

You can't just go back a step. You need to strip everything off and start from scratch.

Sorry.

[buzzkill]

Thanks! That is what I was afraid of.

[lucas.kent]

Bummer.

Also, a suggestion: keep a handwritten note on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper folded up in your glovebox that says "please do not wash". Then every time you visit the dealer you've got three layers of protection (verbal, on your file, and actually in the car).

[Bobble]

If you just clayed it within the last few weeks you could skip that step as long as your paint surface is smooth. Put your hand in a baggy, spray some QD on a few spots and run your hand and baggy thru there. If you don't feel any contamination buildup I'd skip the clay and go straight to polishing. Also if the swirls are not too bad, you could get away with just the finish polish and a little more aggressive pad if you did a two step originally. Hard to tell without seeing it.
I second the note on the dash and always remind them. I have a note in my file and they still washed it last in.

[Envious Eric]

talk to the SA at the dealership and possibly the manager and have them pay for the detail by a pro. 50 hours is a really long time to spend on a 3 series. most I have spent on a 3 series is 18 hours and that car was jacked up from the previous owner of the car/dealer plus painting the hubs/calipers.

take it to someone like ottmanndetailing.com or scottwax.com (whomever you are close to) and have them detail it for you if you can get it paid for by the dealership and save yourself the headache of 50 hours.

But in regards to the process, I would wash with dawn a couple of times, clay it, and then start with a fine polish and see where that gets you. I doubt it will work with the slightly harder than jet black paint, but its worth a shot. a white pad with a medium polish like menzerna 203 MIGHT do the trick, but more than likely you will get faster results with an orange pad and SIP, then follow that up with white and 85rd. (substitute your polishes obviously) - 8 hours at most.

[buzzkill]

Thanks for the replies. I will start with a finish polish on the trunk which was the worst spot and then do a section at a time from there. yeah, 50 hours is a lot. I'm old and slow (anal). Other than that there are some scratches on the roof. Pretty much the 1 inch marks from the auto car wash on the rest