BMW 650 Convertible detail and paint restoration

TXSpeedDemon

First a special thanks to the guys at Detailer's Domain, quick delivery of all the products I ordered.

My boss recently bought a 2006 BMW 650 convertible. Car was in great mechanical condition (only 30K miles) but the paint was in pretty bad shape. Severe swirl marks throughout the whole car, and some pretty bad holograms on the hood from someone attempting a previous detail. I'm not a professional but he sees my Z every day and has seen some of the work I've done on coworker's cars and asked me to take a stab at his.

Products Used:


Adam's All Purpose Cleaner
Sonax Wheel Cleaner
Adam's Car Wash
NANOSKIN Autoscrub 6 inch Pad
Adam's Detail Spray
Flex Polisher
Menzerna FG400 Polish
Auto Geek Orange Pad
Adam's White pads
Adam's Waterless Wash
Sonax Poymer Net Shield
Mother's Back to Black
Chrome Polish
Stoner's Invisible Glass

All pictures taken with my iPhone, so not able to capture the true detail but good enough to get the idea across.

Before shots - taken after the car has been washed and clay barred. I didn't get as many good shots here since it was raining and the car arrived after dark. But these give a good idea the level of swirls and scratches throughout the car.

Severe scratches on the trunk:


Swirl marks on rear quarter panel


Swirl marks on front quarter panel


During:
Convertible top and rubber masked and ready for polish


50/50 split


After shots (before tire, trim and glass finishes):


















Steps:
- Wheel cleaning with Adam's All purpose cleaner (x2) and Sonax wheel cleaner (x2) - Still couldn't remove all the ground in brake dust on the front wheel barrels. Back wheels look brand new. Any ideas on how to remove the hardest stuff would be appreciated.
- Hand wash - 2 bucket method with Adam's car soap
- Clay bar with 6" rubberized nano scrubber on a Flex polisher. I really like this, works as well as hand clay bar in 1/4 the time.
- Mask convertible top and all rubber
- Polishing all panels with Mezerna FG400 using orange AutoGeek and white Adam's pads on the Flex polisher (2-6 passes on speeds 4-6). Mezerna FG400 is AWESOME. Cuts like a severe remover and finishes like a fine machine polish. I'm going to stock up on this and don't think I'll need anything else. I did the trunk lid and hood with the orange pad. After cleaning the velcro backing came off so I had to do the rest of the car with white pads. the white pads required a few passes but the results were great.
- Waterless wash with Adam's waterless wash
- Paint sealant with Sonax Polymer net Shield
- Detail spray whole car -Adam's detail spray
- Trim touch ups - Mother's Back to Black
- Chrome polish exhaust
- Stoner's Invisible Glass on all glass
- Final detail wipe on all wheels

All in all I'm really happy with the results. I only had 24 hours to work with, 6pm Friday night - 6pm Sat night. If my orange pad hadn't broken I think I could have finished in time to include so Adam's Glaze and wax after the Polymer sealant. But I ran out of time and the sealant left the paint looking like it was on fire in the sunlight. My boss was VERY happy with the results.