The owner of this BMW 135i recently purchased it and was interested in having the paint’s unsightly marring and light scratches removed while also easing maintenance and improving protection against environmental damage. Given these interests we decided on a one-step paint correction to remove approximately 90% of the paint’s defects which greatly improves gloss and depth, as well as 22ple’s VX-Pro ceramic coating which provides two years of protection while making washing, drying and overall care much easier.
Before beginning work:
Quite a bit of moderately-deep marring was visible under normal sunlight:
The lower panels showed deeper marring which was particularly visible under LED lighting:
One area of the hood showed rotary swirling in addition to straight-line marring from improper washes:
After a thorough wash and decontamination process using CarPro Iron-X and Tar-X, the moldings and trim were masked off and various pad/polish combinations were tested in order to maximize defect removal while leaving behind a fully-refined finish. Eventually, a mixture of Shine Supply’s Chop Top compound mixed with Meguiar’s D300 and HD Polish was found to remove ~90%+ of the paint’s defects when used with Lake Country HDO red finishing pads. All polishing was performed with the Rupes 21 Mk.II polisher, with the Rupes 75E being used for tighter areas. Following this, the car was washed and wiped down twice with CarPro Eraser to create a clean surface and ensure proper bonding of the coating. Afterward, 22ple VX-Pro ceramic coating was applied to the body and wheel faces to lock in the incredible shine produced by the paint correction process, while also adding shine of its own and making the metallic flake really stand out in the sunlight.
After:
