14 hour paint correction and detail on my 1988 BMW M5
Posted: Jan 16, 2022 12:38 AM
So after recently acquiring a 1988 BMW M5 from a local San Diego seller, the first project I did on it was paint correction and protection - to remove all swirl marks and major paint defects. The car's paint and body panel condition was already pretty good - no accidents and all VIN tags intact. Here's my first post on the car purchase: https://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=157648
After washing the car, I clay bar'ed the paint to clean it up from contaminants before the paint correction phase. I used my Rupes LHR15 buffer (in my opinion, the best buffer I own) with a 5" disc and Meguiar's microfiber cutting pads for the compounding phase (Meguiar's DMC5) and Meguiar's microfiber DMF5 polishing pads for the finer polish phase. I used Meguiar's 105 for the compound and then Meguiar's 205 for the finer polish phase. I ended up switching to the Rupes compound and polish equivalents because the Meguiar's, although much cheaper than Rupes compounds and polishes, weren't performing as well on this single stage paint. The Rupes compounds and polishes are far superior and I typically save those for high end cars that I do for friends.
What really took me by surprise was how difficult it is to remove compound from the M5's single stage black paint. It's incredibly labor intensive. I used to own an auto detailing business from age 16-21 and I mainly dealt with paint that had a base coat and clear coat - far easier to work with than single stage. I ended up having to use a 50/50 isopropyl alcohol/water solution to get the paint clean of the compound and paint cutting residue along with going through a ton of microfiber towels. You'll immediately see your white cutting pads choke up with black paint residue and you'll have to blow out the residue with compressed air, which I had to do after just a small 2 square foot patch of compounding. If you don't keep your pads clean of residue, their ability to cut and polish will become nearly nonexistent. In my years of experience in correcting clear coat paint, you only need to blow out your buffing pads about 6 times per cutting phase. In a single stage car like the M5, you have to blow them out after one small section of cutting. I ended up changing the pads 4 times per stage. I went through 8 pads!
Since I'm a bit old skool and believe paint sealants and good quality carnauba wax reveal a much more deep and glossy shine than ceramic coatings, I added a layer of Jescar Power Lock Plus polymer paint sealant, let it cure overnight, then added a layer of carnauba wax.
I also dyed much of the rubber with black rubber dye. Since the side door molding rubber is a bit old and porous, I have to go over it 2 or 3 more times, but it still turned out great!
One thing to note is that most E28 M5s have cracked paint on the hood due to years of heat. These are commonly called "crows feet" and primarily affect cars with single stage paint. This cannot be removed. I thought about trying to wetsand them out, then compound and polish, but I don't want to remove any more paint layer than I should. I'm going to leave it as is as I think the patina is kinda cool.
So here it is, 192,000 miles and 35 year old paint!
PS, I already ordered Euro headlights and bumpers, which is why I decided to not dye the front grill with the black rubber dye.
Video:
https://youtu.be/lLkK3ao3_fc
After washing the car, I clay bar'ed the paint to clean it up from contaminants before the paint correction phase. I used my Rupes LHR15 buffer (in my opinion, the best buffer I own) with a 5" disc and Meguiar's microfiber cutting pads for the compounding phase (Meguiar's DMC5) and Meguiar's microfiber DMF5 polishing pads for the finer polish phase. I used Meguiar's 105 for the compound and then Meguiar's 205 for the finer polish phase. I ended up switching to the Rupes compound and polish equivalents because the Meguiar's, although much cheaper than Rupes compounds and polishes, weren't performing as well on this single stage paint. The Rupes compounds and polishes are far superior and I typically save those for high end cars that I do for friends.
What really took me by surprise was how difficult it is to remove compound from the M5's single stage black paint. It's incredibly labor intensive. I used to own an auto detailing business from age 16-21 and I mainly dealt with paint that had a base coat and clear coat - far easier to work with than single stage. I ended up having to use a 50/50 isopropyl alcohol/water solution to get the paint clean of the compound and paint cutting residue along with going through a ton of microfiber towels. You'll immediately see your white cutting pads choke up with black paint residue and you'll have to blow out the residue with compressed air, which I had to do after just a small 2 square foot patch of compounding. If you don't keep your pads clean of residue, their ability to cut and polish will become nearly nonexistent. In my years of experience in correcting clear coat paint, you only need to blow out your buffing pads about 6 times per cutting phase. In a single stage car like the M5, you have to blow them out after one small section of cutting. I ended up changing the pads 4 times per stage. I went through 8 pads!
Since I'm a bit old skool and believe paint sealants and good quality carnauba wax reveal a much more deep and glossy shine than ceramic coatings, I added a layer of Jescar Power Lock Plus polymer paint sealant, let it cure overnight, then added a layer of carnauba wax.
I also dyed much of the rubber with black rubber dye. Since the side door molding rubber is a bit old and porous, I have to go over it 2 or 3 more times, but it still turned out great!
One thing to note is that most E28 M5s have cracked paint on the hood due to years of heat. These are commonly called "crows feet" and primarily affect cars with single stage paint. This cannot be removed. I thought about trying to wetsand them out, then compound and polish, but I don't want to remove any more paint layer than I should. I'm going to leave it as is as I think the patina is kinda cool.
So here it is, 192,000 miles and 35 year old paint!
PS, I already ordered Euro headlights and bumpers, which is why I decided to not dye the front grill with the black rubber dye.
Video:
https://youtu.be/lLkK3ao3_fc
