[SEE90]

Alright, have some generalized light swirling all over Monaco Blue e90. Bought all of the car wash gear to clean myself and prevent future swirls... including tire and wheel cleaner, shampoo, dressing, etc from Autogeek. Looking at all of the detailing websites regarding swirls I can't decide.

1. Pay someone. 2-3 step process starting at $700. I imagine a grand after all said and done.

2. Buy PC, pads and everything else and learn as I go. About $400 and 8+ hours?

3. Klasse AIO/Glaze kit and clay for $125 and an hour or so of work.

Will my 3rd option hide the swirls due to the glaze? Ultimately paying a pro is what I would like to do but wonder if anyone here has done option 3 with success so I can save $. I have just heard that if I use a PC I had better be able to put in a full day to finish it.

[Brian_TII]

Personally I'd get the Megs Microfiber Kit, a PC, and some clay and spend the day on it. Cost is more like $200 - $250 and I found the Microfiber kit to be WAY easier and faster than using normal pads... I really can't recommend it enough:

http://www.detailedimage.com/DI-Pack...nus-Item-P522/

[Ryballz]

If you're inexperienced polishing the car yourself is going to take awhile.
Remember you'll need a very thorough wash (I'd recommend ONR) and then a clay before you can begin to polish. Depending on how fast you work, just those 2 steps can take 3 hours or more.
When it comes down to actually polishing the car, it's surprisingly easy to do, and almost impossible to screw up. Buy a 7424XP and a couple of pads and decent compound and you'll be all set.
The kit in the above link should be good for most everybody, but personally I'd buy a bigger assortment of pads.
This weekend I used a green course pad with Pinnacle XMT fine swirl removed and it came out perfect.
The trunk lid however needed more work as it had some scratches in addition to just the dealer installed swirls. For that I used a yellow cutting pad with Pinnacle XMT intermediate swirl remover and followed it up with a white pad with their ultra fine swirl remover.
With an all in one kit you wont have the option to change how aggressive you need to be for certain sections.

http://www.autogeek.net/hk7424.html This bundle gives you the option to chose 5 pads that you'd like, it also comes with a couple bonus waxing pads and cleaner and pad conditioner. You could pick almost a full assortment of pads for most every job.

Then just add a couple polishes to suit your needs and for a couple hundred bucks you're ready to rock.

[SEE90]

Originally Posted by Brian_TII

Personally I'd get the Megs Microfiber Kit, a PC, and some clay and spend the day on it. Cost is more like $200 - $250 and I found the Microfiber kit to be WAY easier and faster than using normal pads... I really can't recommend it enough:

http://www.detailedimage.com/DI-Pack...nus-Item-P522/

Haven't seen that kit but it looks pretty straight forward. I got the $400 plus from the other kits I saw and after seeing that others were using 6-12 pads that is where I started shying away from the DIY. So many different pad and polish combos. Also concerned about not having a paint thickness gauge but it seems like a lot of people are NOT using them. I may give this kit a shot cause I am overdue on my sealant and/or wax.

[Brian_TII]

Yeah, I've used the foam pads for years, but decided to give the MF kit a shot after realizing how insanely hard the TiAG paint is. In short these things proved WAY faster and really easy to use compared to the foam pads I had been using. I wouldn't use it on my RX-7 with it's black single stage paint that scratches EVERY TIME you touch it.... but for "normal" paint it seems like an easy way to get it done. Overall I am really impressed with the kit. The only catch is that it helps to have compressed air to "fluff up" the pad between panels. I think they sell a brush for this if you don't have compressed air available.

[SEE90]

Originally Posted by Brian_TII

Yeah, I've used the foam pads for years, but decided to give the MF kit a shot after realizing how insanely hard the TiAG paint is. In short these things proved WAY faster and really easy to use compared to the foam pads I had been using. I wouldn't use it on my RX-7 with it's black single stage paint that scratches EVERY TIME you touch it.... but for "normal" paint it seems like an easy way to get it done. Overall I am really impressed with the kit. The only catch is that it helps to have compressed air to "fluff up" the pad between panels. I think they sell a brush for this if you don't have compressed air available.

I have Monaco blue and a couple of the pros talked about BMW's jet black as being 'soft'. Do you think a should use a black pad for finishing?