[Milkbar]

Hi all, just purchased a Rupes LHR15ES and am planning to perform my first paint correction on my Alpine White e92 I just bought. The paint is overall in pretty decent condition but I’d like to get rid of all the micro scratches and swirl marks.

From what I understand, Alpine White is a very hard paint, so I think I should start with Rupes’ DA Fine with the Yellow Wool polishing pad (I guess foam will do me no good with this paint?) If there are still scratches, I should move up to their DA Course with the Blue Wool polishing pad. Afterwards, I am planning to use a white foam pad to apply the UNO Pure for the final polishing.

Is it the right move for me to just use wool instead of the foam pads given my situation? I’ll have three of each: Rupes White Foam, Blue Foam, Yellow Foam, Blue Wool and Yellow Wool.

Thanks in advance.

[dmatre]

Foam works fine - I would avoid wool unless you're paint is really hammered.

Polish is more important than the pad.
I would start with a 'finishing polish' and if that doesn't achieve the desired results, then move up to a more aggressive polish.

[Milkbar]

Originally Posted by dmatre

Foam works fine - I would avoid wool unless you're paint is really hammered.

Polish is more important than the pad.
I would start with a 'finishing polish' and if that doesn't achieve the desired results, then move up to a more aggressive polish.

Understood, so I should start with the UNO Pure then. Thanks for the response.

[tcphoto]

As mentioned, the wool pads are more aggressive than foam so start with an orange pad and test on a panel. I started to detail my own car last summer, it's a gratifying project but it can be challenging on my BSM E92.

[Milkbar]

Originally Posted by tcphoto

As mentioned, the wool pads are more aggressive than foam so start with an orange pad and test on a panel. I started to detail my own car last summer, it's a gratifying project but it can be challenging on my BSM E92.

Is an orange pad equivalent to a white pad for Rupes? From the pads I have it seems from least-aggressive to most-aggressive seems to be white, yellow, then blue. It’s clear to me now I’ll stay off the wool til the very end. Is yellow wool more aggressive than blue foam?

[Luper52]

BMW makes a paint correction kit for our color. Comes with a base coat and the top layer. I just got mine in 2 weeks ago. Will probably put it on later this summer.

[dmatre]

Originally Posted by Milkbar

Is an orange pad equivalent to a white pad for Rupes? From the pads I have it seems from least-aggressive to most-aggressive seems to be white, yellow, then blue. It’s clear to me now I’ll stay off the wool til the very end. Is yellow wool more aggressive than blue foam?

I'm not familiar with the pads you have - but you can tell by squeezing them. Stiffest has more cut, softest has less.



Again, unless your car is hammered, leave the wool in the box.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by Luper52

BMW makes a paint correction kit for our color. Comes with a base coat and the top layer. I just got mine in 2 weeks ago. Will probably put it on later this summer.

That's not the same thing we're talking about here though. I believe what you got would be touch up paint?

[Luper52]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

That's not the same thing we're talking about here though. I believe what you got would be touch up paint?

Yes it's touch up paint. He said it was for scratches so I would think touch up paint would be fine. But I see now he's talking about micro scratches so yes paint correction is the better way to go

[BSM n54iS]

Is all you're using the Rupes ultra finishing polish? Depending on depth/severity of scratches you may be better served with a true 2 stage correction doing a compound stage then polish stage after. Compound on the yellow foam may be the way to go, you should rather do that than going up to a wool pad with the same polish if you're finding you want to be more aggressive

[Milkbar]

Originally Posted by BdSM n54iS

Is all you're using the Rupes ultra finishing polish? Depending on depth/severity of scratches you may be better served with a true 2 stage correction doing a compound stage then polish stage after. Compound on the yellow foam may be the way to go, you should rather do that than going up to a wool pad with the same polish if you're finding you want to be more aggressive

I did exactly this and it turned out well. Body was sore as hell from an 8 hour 2 stage correction. I tried the yellow foam with DA-Fine but it didn’t do a great job removing scratches so I went up to a blue foam with DA-Course, then did the UNO Pure with white pads. Still some scratches but all the swirls and light scratches are gone!

[tcphoto]

Most of my pads are from Chemical Guys, I will attach the graphic I found on their website, it doesn't include the more aggressive wool pads that I've used on my hood.

[vaporCRO]

My E90 Alpine white was swirled and deeply scratched, I guess from years of auto car washes.

After trying different methods, the best results were returned with:


DA Polishing machine

Pass=How many time I went over the area

1st step - 2 passes
Blue Wool Rupes PAD
Blue Rupes Coarse Compound

2nd step - 3 to 4 passes
Green Rupes Foam Pad
Virtus 487 UHD Extreme Polish (Apparently it cuts, and after a 2nd pass it polishes)

3rd step - 2 Passes
Yellow Rupes Foam Pad
Yellow Rupes Fine Compund

A lot of bigger scratches are still visible only in the sun, but the only way to dig them out was to wet sand which I did not want to do due to risk(first time doing it, and time consuming). I did a test spot>Wetsand 3000>Wetsand 6000>Blue Coarse and Blue Wool>Yellow Foam Pad and Yellow Fine compund>And it turned out like glass without any scratches, but the 3 stage killed me enough to not even think of wetsanding haha.


I tip my hat off to detailing guys, polishing is extremly physical.