[kayfaz]

My car has quite a lot of swirl marks and some stone chip marks.

I haven't done any sort of detailing work before, can anyone recommend a "starter kit", links?

Or due to my lack of experience/knowledge would you advise not to touch it and get a professional to do it, if so can you recommend one around Heathrow/Reading area?

Edit: also washing tips

[Sparky68]

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/

[AdamC]

Having the same car I know you will find it very hard to remove the swirls as a beginner.
BMW paint can be very hard and will almost certainly will require a DA/orbital pollisher to remove the imperfections.

One product that works very well on my black E92 is poorboys black hole glaze. This will not remove the swirls in your paint but will "fill" them so they are not as visable. Topped off with a decent wax can provide very good results.

What is your process for washing your car at the moment?

[kayfaz]

What is your process for washing your car at the moment?

You have to promise to be nice if I told you! lol

It's the local car wash, they were pretty good before, except recently they have had a change of management (gone bad!) hence why I want to stop going there now and find the right tools/kit to do it myself...

I appreciate all the help and advise

[SO8]

I have just bought some Scholl concepts polish for my DA polisher after seeing the results on a friends X6 ... seemed far better than my Sonus stuff. It is made to deal with the harder paint like BMW's ... it looked superb on his 75K mile car.

[a11y]

If you don't want to invest in a machine polisher, pads, etc (I can understand why - it's effing expensive and time-consuming) pay to get it machine polished to remove swirls, etc. Then you should have a decent chance of maintaining that finish if you wash it carefully (2 bucket method with grit guards), dry it carefully, and give it the occasional detarring/claying and keep on top of the wax, you'll be fine.

[breathe3asy]

Originally Posted by kayfaz

It's the local car wash