Paint hardness - G05 X5

[eljaber]

Hello,

We recently purchased a 2025 X5 xDrive40i (Black Sapphire Metallic). I never worked on newer BMW paint and wonder if the paint is soft or hard. I always start with the least aggressive method first and work my way up, but I am just looking to get feedback or any tips on paint correction for it

[TboneS54]

Medium. Most amatuers would say hard. You won't be making much progress with a d/a, foam pad & diminishing compound, let's just put it that way.

I think new cars are barely coming with 4mils. But if it is new, then there shouldn't be much correcting to do. I'd say paint hardness is inconsequential. Just get some polish and soft/medium foam pad and clean up the light swirls/holograms/etc. Leave as much clear as you can.

[eljaber]

Originally Posted by TboneS54

Medium. Most amatuers would say hard. You won't be making much progress with a d/a, foam pad & diminishing compound, let's just put it that way.

I think new cars are barely coming with 4mils. But if it is new, then there shouldn't be much correcting to do. I'd say paint hardness is inconsequential. Just get some polish and soft/medium foam pad and clean up the light swirls/holograms/etc. Leave as much clear as you can.

Thank you. I quickly measured the paint thickness in various areas, some average 5mil and some are around 4mil.

The dealer we purchased from all have a ceramic coating (Permatplate) installed as soon as they hit the lot. I was not too thrilled about that, but, long story short we were able to negotiate the price off that. After washing it a few times, the coating sucks. I might just let it ride like this until after winter and then do a light polish and ceramic coating in the spring.

[Pathy01]

Originally Posted by eljaber

Thank you. I quickly measured the paint thickness in various areas, some average 5mil and some are around 4mil.

The dealer we purchased from all have a ceramic coating (Permatplate) installed as soon as they hit the lot. I was not too thrilled about that, but, long story short we were able to negotiate the price off that. After washing it a few times, the coating sucks. I might just let it ride like this until after winter and then do a light polish and ceramic coating in the spring.

If the dealership "installed" it, that generally means that IF, and it's a big IF they actually even installed anything, it was done by their lowest paid employees so no proper prep was done, application was rushed and it's barely worth anything and probably did more to trap contaminants and cause imperfections than protect the paint. Those products are mostly marketing and low cost, high markup profit adders.

Permaplate that is actually professionally applied including proper prep is not an awful product, but what you're getting from a dealership is likely not that at all, and often times is not even actually applied at all. There are numerous cases of dealerships applying cheap, bulk spray on wipe off ceramic spray and calling that a ceramic coating, even falsely claiming it to be a different brand coating than the garbage the lot porter wiped onto your car with a dirty towel.

[Littlecoupe]

Originally Posted by TboneS54

Medium. Most amatuers would say hard. You won't be making much progress with a d/a, foam pad & diminishing compound, let's just put it that way.

I think new cars are barely coming with 4mils. But if it is new, then there shouldn't be much correcting to do. I'd say paint hardness is inconsequential. Just get some polish and soft/medium foam pad and clean up the light swirls/holograms/etc. Leave as much clear as you can.

It sounds like you know what you're talking about. I'd like to thread-jack here to ask you a question. I have some very light etching from when my G42 was new. Light to the point you can't see it except under shop lights or certain angles, can't feel it either. I already used a Chemical Guys white pad with Sonax Perfect Finish for a couple passes but didn't make a lot of progress. I thought about stepping up to an orange pad and a little heavier compound to clean it up, then finish with a polish.

Have any experience with this? It's minor enough I don't have much concern of any damage in the process if I keep mindful of curves/edges and heat.

For consideration, I don't know if the etching was from the dealer/transport, or my own doing by letting the Iron X sit a little longer than usual, or the water deposits...since I really wanted to detail and could only do it in the sun. Rookie mistake.

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by Littlecoupe

It sounds like you know what you're talking about. I'd like to thread-jack here to ask you a question. I have some very light etching from when my G42 was new. Light to the point you can't see it except under shop lights or certain angles, can't feel it either. I already used a Chemical Guys white pad with Sonax Perfect Finish for a couple passes but didn't make a lot of progress. I thought about stepping up to an orange pad and a little heavier compound to clean it up, then finish with a polish.

Have any experience with this? It's minor enough I don't have much concern of any damage in the process if I keep mindful of curves/edges and heat.

For consideration, I don't know if the etching was from the dealer/transport, or my own doing by letting the Iron X sit a little longer than usual, or the water deposits...since I really wanted to detail and could only do it in the sun. Rookie mistake.

Iron X or any MDR shouldn't be applied in direct sunlight.

Mineral deposits - Only polishing will embed minerals deeper into the paint. Ideally you use a mineral deposit remover then polish after. Just polishing will only temporarily remove minerals and they will come back once the clear resettles.

[TboneS54]

Sometimes you need to know when to call it quits. Some things (rids, etchings) will not come out because they're too deep or the color coat of paint underneath the clear was also impacted by the scratch (paint is never fully solid, it's impressionable). So the scratch might even be gone, but evidence remains.

Don't sacrifice too much clear chasing every imperfection.

For that etch you have, I'd caution any action because you might dig and dig down (wetsanding or compound) and it never really goes away because the damage went down deep enough close to color base coat.

Best advice I can give sometimes is to let sleeping dogs lie.

[christianb5s4]

Originally Posted by TboneS54

Don't sacrifice too much clear chasing every imperfection.

100% agree. My wife's G05 X5 (Alpine White) has medium hardness clear in my opinion, which usually requires a reasonably aggressive pad/polish combination to get significant imperfections out.

But on the upside, less marring with good upkeeping over longer periods of time.