K-A

Love it or hate it, since I've spent enough time here to make my own thread about it (since people started complaining on the last E Facelift thread I started), here it is.

My W212 has officially moved on to its next phase, as have I. It was the best car I've ever owned and gave me massive amounts of pleasure of which I spent over 2 years being a VERY dedicated enthusiast of.

And I've been welcomed to the "Black Club" officially. After deciding to get ONE Hand Wash to "treat myself to a break", all these hologram swirls became abundant.... on a two week old car. So another $100+ down the drain to get it corrected. The black looks so damn sharp now but still in straight bright sunlight it's impossible to see the car without little swirls and scratches.

I love the black look especially on this car (and BMW's Jet Black is just SO concentratedly black) but I miss the ease of my white. I just have can't ever look too closely at my car in the sun 'cause it'll make me nuts.

If anyone is interested in a "review" of both, check out the E facelift thread since it's in there, and people get all kinds of stirred up when I start on that it seems.

Finally got some clean-car pics though (first one from a bit back with the venerable W212):

rufmb

Very beautiful car K-A, congrats!

K-A

Thanks! It's been the product of a very stressful situation for me (switching out of the E prematurely, balancing both as I wanted to take advantage of getting this particular F10, already being schooled by the laws-of-black, coming at a very transitional time in my life in terms of work, etc.), but it still makes me smile damn big, which is a good thing. I just hope I didn't get into something that will annihilate my mental health i.e black paint.

rufmb

Regarding black paint, I absolutely love black cars. In another post you may have seen a pic of my 1990 300ZX - black, always hand washed with the utmost gentle care. Would have loved a black E350 sport with silver AMG wheels, but needed a low maintenance silver car so I can wash it with abandon in the regular swirling, flopping, scrubbing car wash twice a week. At the most I may lose a tow hook cover...

steelgrey

Not going to take the bait...Bye..Bye!

K-A

Do you live near me (hint: It doesn't snow.... at all )? If you do, then I will pay you to take care of my baby! This black stuff is waaaay out of my league.

Oh well, I'll learn, and this car will be my test bed.

rufmb

A colleague of mine bought a 535xi at around the same time as my E350 (couple weeks ago), but the M badge is really special. I've always liked the styling of an older M3 like the 2004 my neighbour has, but your car is fabulous. Enjoy and don't fixate too much on the detail in the paint.

OnlyGerman

good choice !

K-A

Thanks bud. I might blow up your Inbox with frantic questions about "Black".

Yeah, not gonna sweat the paint quality. $110 down the drain in correcting a problem that I brought about in the first place in just two weeks so far of drivership, and after this I'm just gonna live with the fact that once or twice a year I'll get a nice detail to "correct" stuff, and until then just be as careful as possible and focus on keeping it simply clean.

Yeah, the "M" badge looks so cool. BMW really put them all over this car up the yin yang (M-B is different with the AMG badge as they don't actually literally badge their Sport Package cars with the AMG logo), but I'm not complaining as it looks awesome, especially with black. Plus, the N55 motor is so damn good it might as well be an M motor itself (and the car does have an M tuned suspension).


Thanks!

steelgrey

Just one small problem it is not an M!!! Little bits of M parts...Kinda like the AMG pieces...wait exactly like the W212 with AMG pieces. K-A's car is not an M5. Just another poser!

OnlyGerman

Stop hatin..

K-A

Seriously! I have NO idea what correspondence with this "steelgrey" character I've even had for him to hate like this. You should see what he's saying in the other thread!

I might have to use the "Ignore" function for the first time in my E-life.

MinnBobber

Congrats, sweet ride. Black looks great but is a beitch to keep clean and not swirl.
You may want to study up over on AutoGeek site. I was going to pay to have my new E350 detailed but studied up and did it myself. They have great info on washing properly (two bucket method) and prepping new cars.
As a starter, most new cars have rail/transport iron contamination and need Iron-X to remove this iron which penetrates and then claying to remove surface contamination. Then minor correction of swirls, polishing, and sealant or wax.

If you don't want to do yourself, AutoGeek folks could recommend detailer in your area. Caution---many detailers don't know what they're doing--you need to find a good one!!
Enjoy the new rig.

K-A

Great info, thanks. I will check that out. Kinda wish I made this thread yesterday, before I dropped $100 on a polish/buff/sealant/wax at a Detailer who did eliminate the vast majority of swirls/holograms, but definitely left a bunch (and maybe added some with their own buffing).

I'm gonna have to live with whatever the cars got going on for at least 6 months and wash/wax it regularly myself, keep it looking at least as sharp and clean as it looks now, and then get a REAL correction done by then.

I wish I just Opticoated the car right when I got it

steelgrey

Damn...what is this guy saying? What an ***!! Go ahead and use the ignore function.

Do you ever read your past posts??? I thought not!!

K-A

Oh, and if you guys want to really have your minds blown, my F10 is over $40 less to insure a month than my E was (though $100 more for the year on my Liability Insurance side, still much lower on a grand scale for the year).

I have no idea why, but I ain't complaining.

steelgrey

Thats because it's a cheaper car. Boy that's hard to understand!!!

K-A

BMW 535i Starting at $53,400 MSRP.
Mercedes-Benz E350 Starting at $51,000 MSRP.

My 535i as equipped: $63,850 (300 HP [though grossly underrated as it almost makes that at the wheels ])
My E350 as equipped: $58,100 (268 HP).

If anyone has an idea as to how that is I'm actually curious. Maybe the F10 has better crash test ratings? I figured if anything BMW drivers would get more tickets and/or accidents so it was a nice surprise.

JDBKLYN89

Congrats K-A, definitely pick up Turtle Wax Black spray detailer, it has been my go-to trick for my weekly washes in between detailing. Does an excellent job of masking the swirls, makes the car look brand new after every wash. Also, not sure what all this negativity has been about especially from a certain member on here. Thought this was a place for car enthusiasts to gather and discuss our passion for cars I know for one I have been Benz fanatic since age 4 but I don't rip out the pages of magazines that discuss other brands, in fact I quite enjoy reading about different makers approaches to manufacturing in the same segment. I know for a fact there in a 0 percent chance of me buying American, does that mean I didn't google the C7 corvette 72 times today? But going as far as attacking how somebody chooses to pay for their car? Come on guys lets leave this bickering to jr. highschool girls and enjoy the fact that we are all lucky enough to enjoy such amazing cars. When K-A breaks your door down ties yiu down and preaches BMW to your family then you can worry, until then lighten up.

K-A

Thanks man, and yes this is ridiculous. Getting verbal flame fests from some members here when all I'm doing is respectfully sharing my new experience in just two threads that I myself started (this is the second one which I've done to leave the other one alone).

I've been pinned in this oddball random "competition" with Hype by a certain member here (where the F did that come from), and being treated as if I'm butchering the "good W212 name". I'm all for a good Forum banter but I'm truly baffled here. Then my choice of payment and finances get made fun of by a guy over twice my age? WTF has happened here since I left? LOL.

Anyway, no, I won't be going to anyone's house, breaking their door down and preaching to their families to buy a BMW as you so well put it (as apparently that's exactly what I did to steelgrey to warrant his profuse anger). But I do figure some people are interested in first hand experience with both.

Thanks for the tip on that Detailer Spray! So it's specifically for black? Would you say it's better than McQuire's detail spray? Sounds like a great trick and that's AWESOME that it hides swirls! Feeling better about this black stuff already.

I'm okay with swirls, but hiding them will be the trick going forward, indeed.

pappilo

k-A

Get a girlfriend (or boyfriend)! You need a life away from internet forums

JDBKLYN89

Yeah it's pretty neat actually. It sprays out black, enough so that it will turn your rag black from using it. My uneducated guess is that the black pigment does something to mask the swirls, albeit temporarily. I'm glad I found it. My black car horror story has to be about 2 days after Hurricane Sandy hit my car had a good thick coat of mud/sand/rock mixture on the entire car, my 8 year old sis decided to help me out by writing her name with hearts and rainbows with her finger on EVERY damn panel haha still haven't had the heart to assess the damage under some good light. Waiting for Spring for that one!! Moral of the story keep that bimmer clean!!

K-A

Ahh, if you only knew the truth.

It's alright though. I always like to delve into anything I do with great authority, so I figure job well done on the K-A forum character if that's how I come across.

But aside from the inaccuracies (have a hot girlfriend, have too much of a life to where I just seek to escape from it as much as possible), perhaps in essence you're right!

K-A

Ahh, damn man! Sorry to hear that, but good to hear you're here to tell the story after Sandy. Kids are so innocent aren't they. I still feel bad whenever I "snap" at my Girlfriend (or my good friends) when they don't "open or close my doors right" (i.e finger prints). Funnily enough my friend with a black car snapped at me for doing the same thing, so I felt a taste of my own medicine.

I will look into that spray with bells on. Sounds like something I will need.

JDBKLYN89

Yeah any little trick helps. Black is not for the faint of heart, but I don't think anything compares to how beautiful a black car is the 3 minutes after you wash it haha. And don't worry, theres hope, my gf's father has a black 04' 5 series thats been his daily driver for 8+ years. Man the thing looks like it just got outta the showroom. Absolutely mint. The guys a fanatic about his cars, but goes to show you that a little work can go a long way with black.