Frozen Grey has a polished patch, how to restore?

[sniktun]

Hi All,

Recently bought my Z4 with the frozen grey metallic. Previous owner had some tree sap on the bonnet and while cleaning it off has polished out a patch of the matte finish so it now looks like gloss.

Aside from a complete re-spray, what could I do? Looking at how the paint works I was thinking I could get some matte clear coat and re-apply to the polished patch, blending to to the rest of the bonnet which is fine?

Anyone else has this issue and resolved? Thanks

[Westside Guy]

With a frozen color I don’t think you can do a touchup like this and you may have to repaint.

[Burrcold]

I wonder if you wrapped the hood with matte ppf if it would hide that spot (while protecting your paint in that area at least)?

[GOLFFRR]

any pics of the damage?

[sniktun]

Originally Posted by GOLFFRR

any pics of the damage?

Not currently - and its been raining for a solid 2 weeks meaning you can't see it in the wet.

The patch is in the middle of the bonnet aout the size of a hand and is only visible from certain angles.

From what I can see putting a small amount of matte clear coat on should sort it but I don't want to make it worse. I've attached a photo from another forum showing how the matte efefct works, so basically the previous owner has just polished smooth the top layer of clear coat. Putting it back on should get back the matte effect.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by sniktun

From what I can see putting a small amount of matte clear coat on should sort it..

That will absolutely not work.

The only way to do this is to do it properly, which is to sand the entire panel and respray the entire thing with the correct amount of matte, which may take a few tries. There is no second option that wouldn't either be visible or make it worse in one way or another.

Lucky for your the stock paint is intact, and BMW has a spec for the matte, so no worries.

[Littierally]

Cover the entire hood in PPF. The Xpel Stealth is almost a perfect match to the naked eye - it’s a significantly more reliable way to restore the frozen sheen. Most auto body shops do not get this right when painting.

[TopM]

Originally Posted by Littierally

Cover the entire hood in PPF. The Xpel Stealth is almost a perfect match to the naked eye - it’s a significantly more reliable way to restore the frozen sheen. Most auto body shops do not get this right when painting.

Would you recommend a complete car wrap with Xpel Stealth or just the front panels? I have a Frozen Grey X1, just concerned about colour mismatches.
Aside from the huge price difference in doing the whole car 😏

[Littierally]

I think you will be 100% satisfied with doing the hood alone.

The benefit here is that the hood is the only horizontal structure on the front of the car, and it has hard lines separating it from the rest of the panels. The light will always reflect differently on horizontal vs vertical panels. This is to your benefit.

I suspect wrapping the hood with tucked corners will cost $500-600, as opposed to 5-8x that for the entire car.

My CS is frozen deep green metallic, I had the entire car wrapped in xPel Stealth - the jambs are the only raw portion of the car and I can’t see a visible difference.

In my opinion, this is the easiest and most reliable route.

[sniktun]

Thanks guys ' I'll enquire about the PPF if we think that's the way to go, aside from a respray.

[clutchdj]

Pics of damage? Before painting try blending by wet sanding. Start with 10k grit down to 3k grit.

[Car-Addicted]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that no one buys their second matte finish car? Seems the only way to get this finish to work is to buy a standard finish and then have a full car PPF. So $5,000.00 to $6,000.00 later you have a repairable matte finish car?

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by Littierally

Cover the entire hood in PPF. The Xpel Stealth is almost a perfect match to the naked eye - it’s a significantly more reliable way to restore the frozen sheen. Most auto body shops do not get this right when painting.

This could work, but it could also not. Since light passes through the film it's possible that the different reflective qualities could still be visible.

I do, however, agree with PPF on a matte finish. If I ever purchase such a finish the entire car will be covered in PPF. It's the only reasonable choice IMO.

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

This could work, but it could also not. Since light passes through the film it's possible that the different reflective qualities could still be visible.

I do, however, agree with PPF on a matte finish. If I ever purchase such a finish the entire car will be covered in PPF. It's the only reasonable choice IMO.

And even then you have to de careful with the wash process on matte ppf, although to a way lesser degree vs matte paint (and the obvious reduced concerns over having to repaint or touch up scratches/rock chips).

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

And even then you have to de careful with the wash process on matte ppf, although to a way lesser degree vs matte paint (and the obvious reduced concerns over having to repaint or touch up scratches/rock chips).

100%

Matte is just a PITA (if you care about keeping it nice), no way around it.

[Igor_M5]

I feel like a light scrub with a new magic eraser would dull it out? lol

[Littierally]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

This could work, but it could also not. Since light passes through the film it's possible that the different reflective qualities could still be visible.

I do, however, agree with PPF on a matte finish. If I ever purchase such a finish the entire car will be covered in PPF. It's the only reasonable choice IMO.

The current frozen finish becomes the effective base coat once PPF is installed. The base coat will not affect the reflection of light. I will only provide color. Since the OP doesn’t have a color issue, it will work. It’s no different than respraying the hood.

The illustration posted above shows the concept well.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by Littierally

The current frozen finish becomes the effective base coat once PPF is installed. The base coat will not affect the reflection of light. I will only provide color. Since the OP doesn’t have a color issue, it will work. It’s no different than respraying the hood.

The illustration posted above shows the concept well.

I saw the illustration, and know a lot about reflections (I use a CPL for a living) but it's a case of "I'll believe it when I see it" sort of thing. If any amount of reflective quality comes through then the money was wasted.

Maybe, as suggested before, a light scuff of that area, as perfect as possible, would allow zero reflective qualities to come through once it's matte-filmed, but I'm not the half-ass sort, I'm the whole-ass sort, so I'd have it refinished properly before filming.

[Hit_Apex]

I would PPF the hood first - seems like the best starting point.

[Littierally]

If efficient, reliable, and inexpensive is “half-assed,” I guess I’m the half-assed sort then.

Shops have an extremely difficult time with frozen coatings. They’re way more likely to get it wrong than a simple wrap.

OE finish > respray

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by Littierally

If efficient, reliable, and inexpensive is “half-assed,” I guess I’m the half-assed sort then.

Shops have an extremely difficult time with frozen coatings. They’re way more likely to get it wrong than a simple wrap.

OE finish > respray

If he doesn't mind possibly wasting his money on the hood film ($700ish) then that's the route to go for sure, but to do it right is to re-clear it, no question.

It's not a respray as long as you don't break through the top coat. All that's needed is a scuff of the clear, and re-clear. It's not that hard, and quite inexpensive. The only issue is the fact that the clear can't be "worked" afterwards, so it has to be done in the best possible environment.