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This MINI is JET not astro Black. While I love how she can look, I have never been truly satisfied with the condition of the paint. Bought off the lot from a dealer that uses machine washes waited too long before properly waxing, and took a few years before I began adding claybarring to the detailing cycle, this car has always been a daily driver and road tripper, covering 85k mi in the last 2.5years, strictly hand wash only as soon as I realized what the dealer washes where doing, and then I found NAM a few months later, the worst of the scratching came from a search for a new microfiber, that wasn't anything more than misleading advertising for the "automotive" towel. None of this is deep enough to be felt by my hand as I run it along the paint, and these are direct sunlight photos designed to show the worst of the scratching. But walking around my car in daylight does just make me sick and ashamed; and I want to change that.
Can someone please guide me to the proper steps toward repairing the paint?
Everything I know about this, I learned here, and you've been here longer than me, but here's my 2 cents:
1. Get a Porter Cable polisher or the equivalent
2. Get Prima's polishing bundle from Detailers Paradise or equivalent
3. Set aside a weekend to get it done
4. Follow supply vendors instructions, supplemented by the info here on NAM
That is about what I know - I am not the one who should be giving you detailed instructions as there are many here with MUCH more expertise than me. I appreciate your pain and wish you the best - I do think you can make it beautiful again. The best encouragement I can offer is that once I did all the work, I have gone 16 months with just careful handwashing & Hydro and still have no swirls and awesome shine.
Sell it and buy a Pepper White one. Or if you're more like me and have more cash than ambition (which says a lot because I don't have a lot of cash) call a few local body shops and ask if they do detailing or who they would recommend for a full detail of a MINI with some paint that needs a little TLC. Ask what they'd do to fix it. It'll need to be clay-ed, polished with an abrasive and not so abrasive polishing compound, and then sealed with a good wax or polish or two. Should cost you a few $100 to do it right, but you can learn a lot (if they'll let you watch, which anyone cool will), and it'll cost you that much to buy a buffer, pads, and all the right polishes, etc.
Really - it's not that tough, just takes time. I got a migraine mid-detail last weekend so I rushed it and Lewis is still swirly, but at least shiny. If you wanna drive all the way up here (NW of Detroit) you can use my stuff (I've got lots) and I'll supervise.
Download the Alliance mag volume 1, I recall an artice on this issue.
You may want to purchase this from OctaneGuy and read this sticky.
I have worked on several black MINI roofs, never a whole black MINI though, and some of them looked pretty bad, but after doing the whole clay/polish/wax, they looked great, better than new. So I say dive in, purchase what was listed above, watch the dvd, read some more here, and it will look great.
We are thinking of getting a Clubman at some point, and as much as I like the look of a black roof,and love the look of all black MINIs, I know it would make me nuts keeping it looking great.
So I think I might be reaching the point of finding the proper polish and technique? I just feel like allI know for certain is that if I mess it up there's no fixing without a repaint.
The polishing part, that makes the scratches disappear, is a fairly slow gradual process. The problem is "how do you know when to stop so you don't polish all the way through the clearcoat, or worse, the finish". I think OG has a thing to measure paint thickness, but us mortals just trust to luck. It does take a while, though. I'd say the swirls will be easy to take care of, but any scratch you can feel with a fingernail (and obviously the chips) are most likely beyond the help of a non-destructive polish. That is for touch-up paint & Langka. Don't forget, more chips will happen.
Sell it and buy a Pepper White one. Or if you're more like me and have more cash than ambition (which says a lot because I don't have a lot of cash) call a few local body shops and ask if they do detailing or who they would recommend for a full detail of a MINI with some paint that needs a little TLC.
Badddddddddd advice.
If you want it done right, do it yourself. There are probably less than a couple good detailing sohps in each US State. Finding one of them... a long shot. Unless you know the detailer personally and have seen their work, stay away from "pro" detailers.
Yep, as others have said, invest in a R/O buffer. Get a clay bar. Get a good polish and wax--me, I have great success with Prima Swirl and the Lake County organge pad, Prima Amigo on the white pad, and then a couple coats of Prima Epic. Get Octane Guy's DVD and watch it carefully, twice if necessary.
At that point, the only other thing you'll need as time. About 10 hours, or so.
You will L O V E the results and won't question owing Jet Black ever again.
motoron- you've been doing your own detail for a while now...why all of a
sudden turn into this lazyarse? just get your polishes, wax, and your behind
out (not out of your pants please ) and just do it.
If you want it done right, do it yourself. There are probably less than a couple good detailing shapes in each US State. Finding one of them... a long shot. Unless you know the detailer personally and have seen their work, stay away from "pro" detailers.
Yep, as others have said, invest in a R/O buffer. Get a clay bar. Get a good polish and wax--me, I have great success with Prima Swirl and the Lake County organge pad, Prima Amigo on the white pad, and then a couple coats of Prima Epic. Get Octane Guy's DVD and watch it carefully, twice if necessary.
At that point, the only other thing you'll need as time. About 10 hours, or so.
You will L O V E the results and won't question owing Jet Black ever again.
Could not agree more.
Get the DVD and the buffer, do the work yourself and you will have better results. Most pros will not take the time needed to get the long lasting results and perfect outcome. You can take the time and the work is not hard to get perfect results.
Could not agree more.
Get the DVD and the buffer, do the work yourself and you will have better results. Most pros will not take the time needed to get the long lasting results and perfect outcome. You can take the time and the work is not hard to get perfect results.
Thanks... I'm sure you didn't agree with my typo though... shapes, shops, all the same thing. I must have been thinking of the "Gorgeous Girls In MINIs" thread at the time.
Motor On, as you can see the general consensus here, well what else would you expect from us, is to do the work yourself.
The idea that you can screw it up more, while true, would be very hard to do with the products most of us are talking about, and you follow the info from the dvd, plus the advice you get from this forum.
As to the time it takes, what you are hearing is correct, to do the whole car from scratch, pun intended, will be 10+ hours. Now this may seem like a large chunk of time, but you DON'T need to do it all at once. You can spread it over a weekend, even over many days, just make sure that you complete all the steps on the sections you are working on.
Except for the application of the wax, which is applied to the whole car when doing the work all in one day/session, you are working sections of the car, in about 2 square foot areas. with a slight overlap of the areas. I break down a MINI like this, 3 areas for the bonnet, 1 for the front bumper, 3 for each side, 2 for the boot, 1 for the rear bumper, 4 for the roof, so that is 14 sections. The time for each section, and this depends on the condition of the paint is, 5-10 minutes to clay, 2-5 minutes for each kind of polish, less than a minute for the wax, some wait time, then a minute or 2 to buff the wax, so each section takes between 10-20 minutes. So using these numbers say an hour or so to do the roof, or the same kind of time to do the bonnet/front bumper. I know that these numbers don't really add up to the 10 plus hours, but some of that time is includes getting things set up, washing/drying, masking, or applying Black Wow. You still should mask some things, like chrome, felt on sunroofs.
If you break the car down this way you don't need to set aside a whole day. I would try and get it done in a week or less, then when it is all done, put a second coat of wax over the whole car, and it will look better than new. If you still have some scratches/chips you can deal with them on an as need basis.
I know this was a long post, but in the time it takes you to read it, you could have done 1 step to 1 section
Yep, my back has been giving me problems so a couple weeks ago, when I detailed my beloved CR Cooper, I did it over the course of five days.
You too,eh. My lower back has been really sore for almost a week now, walking with a slight stoop, and slow getting out of a chair. When folks ask me what I did, my reply is age and life. I have had this issue on and off for years.
Personnal preferences on wax are like opinions on any controversial subjects like tires, oil, etc.
I've tried LOTS of waxes/cleaners/polishes/etc over the years. Recently, I bought the Zaino Ultra Kit and couldn't be happier with the results!! I've yet to do my new DS/B Mini S BUT I have a solid black '06 Honda Goldwing and black '07 Tailwind XTc trailer I pull along behind the Wing.
The Wing has rather soft paint which USED to be in fairly bad shape even though I cleaned and waxed it religiously. Once I made my mind up to follow the Zaino instructions and DO IT RIGHT, the results were astounding, to say the least!!
No longer is the paint filled with scratches from using the "wrong" towels nor do I have to worry about bug guts affecting the paint like hazardous chemicals.
The Zaino process utilizes a "hard" final wax and seals the paint against all but the most violent of assaults (rocks). Look at their site and make up your own mind.
For me, though, Zaino is the answer for all my vehicles and one that I will stick with until, of course, something better comes along.
You too,eh. My lower back has been really sore for almost a week now, walking with a slight stoop, and slow getting out of a chair. When folks ask me what I did, my reply is age and life. I have had this issue on and off for years.
Mark
Yeah, Mark... my lower back has given me problems for 20+ years. In the last five years, it's my thoracic spine and cervical spine. Protruded disc at C3-4 and I'm pretty sure a herniation at T4-5. I see an MRI in my immediate future. I think the Radiologist will take one look at the images and say something like, "Dear God, someone stole your films and slipped me a picture of a curvy, old road".
Yep, just a part of getting older. Beats the alternative, right ?
I wash my JB MCS every friday--so that I can have a clean MINI for the weekend. As soon as I wash it, it's covered in dust. It's relatively swirl free from day to day, just covered in dust. Except right now, it's got swirls all over the paint in quite a horrid way, and it happened because I drove through something on the highway--my car got covered in some bumpy substance that covered the glass, and paint on all forward sections. The boot and rear bumpers were fine. Washing did nothing---had to clay it with the pro clay which left nice swirls all over the soft paint. I've only had time to buff the roof and bonnet. The PC with a white pad and Swirl is all you need to make the finish look nearly flawless on the JB
With the right techniques and time--takes me about 8 hours to full paint polish/detail a MINI--that includes washing, claying, taping, polishing, and waxing and that's using Prima products.
Like others have mentioned my DVD is invaluable--if you're going to spend time polishing, you might as well do it effectively. As for thinning the paint or going through the clear--that's not a worry with the RO. I use the paint thickness gauge only when I'm going to wetsand/correct a defect and risk damaging the paint.
Some tips to keep the paint looking its best.
Don't QD the paint unless it's immediately after a wash.
Don't rub the paint especially when drying. Blot it dry, see my Nomad wash video Part 2 if you don't know how this works.
JB is the softest of the MINI paints--you need to be extremely careful to maintain it and keeping it looking it's best. Amigo and Hydro are your best friends as well.
Richard
__________________ 5548 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim, CA 92807 866 707 9292
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Which was my point if you read farther. But not everyone has that luxury, which is why there are people to do it for you, and why you should do your homework if you choose to take advantage of their services.
I just find it hard to believe that Richard is the ONLY person in THE WORLD who can properly detail a MINI other than its owner. I take care of my own car, but my time is worth something, too, so I see the value in finding a professional for doing some things for you.
But, hey, whatever, to each their own (methods, products, and services).
I did read further. You recommended a pro, went into what they should do, and then offered the person your stuff to use (very cool of you). I didn't see anything in your post warning about these "pros".
And I would bet Richard is not the only good detailer out there who will spend the necessary 10 hours, or so, on your car. But I bet for every Richard, there are about 200 detailers who don't care about your swirls and minor paint issues. They'll do the minimum to hide the problems enough to make a non-car enthusiast think they did a nice job so they can collect their money.
Unless you know the pro and have seen his/her work, you're wasting your money by going to one. So whether you have the resources and time, or not, is not the point. Even people with more money than time shouldn't throw away their money.
My "ask lots of questions" was my warning - I assume all MINI owners are as obsessive as I am, especially those here asking how to do it right, I suppose.
Either way - I do see your point, just not feeling the 10 hour detailing this weekend, maybe wishing I was closer to SoCal. Or, no - it's too damn hot here.
I'm no Pro, far from it, but I do detailing for family, friends, club members. I do it because I enjoy it, make a little money, and get to see the how much the folks I do the work for love the outcome, which is probably the best part.
I have had folks ask me to detail their cars, and when I tell them the cost, and what they will get for it, some say they can go to so and so detailer and get more done for less money. When I ask what that includes, the common answer is, wash, wax, vacuum the interior. When I explain what I do, and the time it will take, they are amazed that the process is not just wash n wax.
misslindsey, I agree with you, Richard is not the only high quality detailer, but finding ones that are is not a yellow pages research kind of thing. For many folks the wash/wax/vac kind of thing may be all they want, but in the case of Motor On, he will be better off doing it himself, as apposed to the hit and miss approach of finding, and spending money better spent on putting together the products and tools to do it himself. The money spent on doing it yourself will last much longer than the money spent even if he were to find a quality detailer, as at best the work done by the detailer may last a year, where as if he owns the products/tools, he can keep his MINI looking great for many years.
Now he may need some work done in restoring the paint that go beyond what a do-it yourselfer can accomplish, like repairing deep scratches, major paint chips, but that cost would be minimal if he does most of the work himself.
My "ask lots of questions" was my warning - I assume all MINI owners are as obsessive as I am, especially those here asking how to do it right, I suppose.
Either way - I do see your point, just not feeling the 10 hour detailing this weekend, maybe wishing I was closer to SoCal. Or, no - it's too damn hot here.
Again I agree with you, for the most part those coming to this forum are looking for the best way to treat their MINI. Like where you are, to damn hot here right now, and because my back is killing me, even washing ain't going to happen today
Don't QD the paint unless it's immediately after a wash.
Do you have any recommendations when you have to go to a car show?
I wash my JB and get it all flashed up the night before, but once I get to the car shows (some 100 miles away) it's completely covered in dust . After much trial and error, I found that if I just slather the panel in QD, take one towel and lightly brush it over the section to spread the QD and hopefully lift the dust off, then take another towel to lightly buff to a shine, then shake the towels and repeat I get good results with minimal damage, but over the course of several shows they just add up.
I've pretty much decided to live with it and when I do my monthly wax use a paint cleanser with fillers, unless you have some cheat codes up your sleeve!
Badddddddddd advice.
) and just do it. 
. After much trial and error, I found that if I just slather the panel in QD, take one towel and lightly brush it over the section to spread the QD and hopefully lift the dust off, then take another towel to lightly buff to a shine, then shake the towels and repeat I get good results with minimal damage, but over the course of several shows they just add up. 
