My first BMW, a 325i

[wolfpacker92]

Well I got this detail from another one I did. When I finished the guys truck the guy that brought him to pick it up saw my work and wanted me to do his wife's BMW, his GMC Jimmy daily driver, and his 3/4 ton truck, and possibly his Grand Prix that he is going to sell. I have done the BMW and Jimmy (I'll be posting that one soon). The truck is lined up for next week and he is deciding on the Grand Prix. I really liked this car and did a few extra things that I don't normally do but I wanted to see how the car would look.

The car was in pretty good shape with just some minor scratches and very minor swirling. I must say I really liked the car and unfortunately my wife did too. I have a feeling she may start looking at them pretty seriously:D.

Well here's what I did:

Tires/Wheels: DP Gel Wheel Cleaner on wheels and tires. I used ARO on the inside barrels since they didn't look as though they had ever been cleaned. I used the EZ detail brush and black wheel schmitt. The wheel wells were cleaned with Megs APC and Stoners Tarminator as they had of all things PINK paint on them. Not sure where it came from but all wells were covered in pink paint and that was tough to get off. The wells were dressed with Stoners Trim Shine and the tires were dressed with Pinnacle Black Onyx applied with a Cobra Flex Foam applicator. I usually save the Pinnacle for my Stealth but decided to use it on the Beemer. The wheels were sprayed and wiped down with Duragloss 951/AW combo. This DG combo gave the wheels a nice glow to them.

Engine: It got the usual rinse, spray with Megs APC, agitated with brush, and rinsed. The engine was then dressed with Stoners Trim Shine. Sorry no pics as I forgot to take afters of the engine.

Glass: Inside and out got Stoners Invisible Glass with a Cobra MF and Cobra WW.

Trim: What little bit of trim there was got Poorboy's Trim restorer.

Interior: The interior was cleaned with DP Total Interior Cleaner diluted 1:1 and protected with DP Interior Surface Protectant. I just got some Optimum Protectant in my most recent order from AG and look forward to using that and comparing to DP. The leather had a few spots cleaned with DP Total Interior Cleaner and was conditioned with Wolfgangs Leather Conditioner. All the "woodgrain" plastic got DP Plex All and the door jambs were cleaned with DG 951. Interior was vacuumed with shop vac.

Wash: The bugs got Poorboys Bug Squash diluted 2:1 and a Pinnacle Safe Scrub (this combo is practically unbeatable). Washed with DP Xtreme Foam via the AG foam gun and a rinse bucket with a Cobra MF/Chenille Mitt. It was then dried with a leaf blower and Cobra Guzzler.

Paint: Now I was really looking forward to seeing just how good this thing could look. I decided to go with XMT 360 with an orange LC pad via the PC @ speed 5.5 due to the minor scratches and swirling. After the 360 I decided to go with Menzerna Finishing Glaze with a gray LC CCS pad and the PC @ speed 3. OK now it really looked great. The Menzerna really pumped up the shine. I had the shine now I needed some protection and I wanted some that would make the shine even better. I know I sound greedy but hey it's my first BMW so I really wanted everything. I decided to go with 4 Star Ultimate Paint Protection sealant with a blue LC pad via the PC @ speed 3. The UPP is an awesome product and is becoming my favorite sealant. The shine is almost wet and very glassy. The 360 and Menzerna were buffed off with a Cobra Deluxe Jr and the 4 Star UPP was removed with a Cobra Indigo.

After removing the UPP I was standing there in awe of the shine. It was getting late when I took the afters so they may not do the shine justice but man it looked great to me, and the owner was thrilled.

Well here are the pics:

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/1.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/2.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/3.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/4.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/5.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/6.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/7.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/8.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/9.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/10.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/11.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/12.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/13.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/14.jpg

The signature shot:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x11/wolfpacker92/BMW/15.jpg

[budman3]

After removing the UPP I was standing there in awe of the shine. It was getting late when I took the afters so they may not do the shine justice but man it looked great to me, and the owner was thrilled.

You and I both, that looks amazing! I have yet to work on a BMW, so congrats on this being your first one. Actually I take that back ... my junk hood I worked on was from a 325i, so I've detailed part of a BMW before :righton:. Hey, it's ok to spoil a car or two here and there. Now just don't let your car know :cheers:. The only thing that I've noticed with UPP is that the slickness / durabilty isn't all that impressive. However that can be fixed with Polycharger or UPPS (which is very nice BTW). UPP polycharged and using UPPS after every wash ... wow, that would be a great combination. Better yet, getting the H20 polycharger and PCing the UPPS as well. :). Great detail.

[02CAMSS]

Great job!

[ehuth1]

Dude this is your best one to date!! Awesome depth and very very glossy!! Thanks for the combo trick with the Menz glaze hid in there :)

[supercharged]

WOW! Came out beautiful!!!

[klumzypinoy]

Man the BMW looks good! The paint looks awesome and it's insanely glossy. You did a great job on getting all the brake dust off the wheels too!

[pirex]

Very nice job wolfpacker ;) Love the depth

[AL417]

Very nice inside and out. The paint looks so smooth and reflective I just want to touch it. You got one that had the easy rims, there's another style rim that is a pita.

[Dust2Glory]

Wolfy that is some nice work there bro!!!! definate change in color, depth and shine.... you need to add the carpet lines to the interior... a definate set-off for the interior, especially on a bmw. great job all they way around!!

[joe.p]

sweet work..you did a great job on the tires/wheels..DP tire Gel is looking sweet on those tires

[alban61]

Another awesome detail! Reflections are crisp and clear. Paint looks richer and deep. Nice work on the wheels/tires too!

[HighEndDetail]

very nice work on the bimmer:cheers:

[wolfpacker92]

Very nice inside and out. The paint looks so smooth and reflective I just want to touch it. You got one that had the easy rims, there's another style rim that is a pita.

Alice you are soooo right about the rims. I had heard horror stories about the difficult rims companied by awful brake dust. So when he pulled up and I saw these I was like woohoo!


Wolfy that is some nice work there bro!!!! definate change in color, depth and shine.... you need to add the carpet lines to the interior... a definate set-off for the interior, especially on a bmw. great job all they way around!!

Thanks Dust. If you look closely you might be able to see that I tried your trick and went for the 2 wide stripes but it didn't come out too well. I think I need a better attachment for my shop vac. I tried to emulate the best and it didn't work so I'm off to Lowes to find another attachment. See you keep raising the bar and I keep trying to achieve :D. Thanks for making me stay on top of my game bro!


Another awesome detail! Reflections are crisp and clear. Paint looks richer and deep. Nice work on the wheels/tires too!

My Man alban61! Thanks for the props. You know I will be forever indebted to you for giving me a signature shot so I can hang with the big boys like Dust, the godfather of the signature shot:righton:.


Dude this is your best one to date!! Awesome depth and very very glossy!! Thanks for the combo trick with the Menz glaze hid in there :)

Dude thanks if you like it I know I rocked it. Yeah the Menzerna glaze was something I had been wanting to use on top of a polish but before a LSP and it was every bit as awesome as I hoped it would be. I almost used it on the red Dakota I did but wanted to try the RMG. Well I think the Menzerna Finishing Glaze gave every bit as good results as the RMG did. I will be using it more and more I assure you.

Everyone thanks so much for the kind words. You know during a lot of my details I'm not thinking if the owner will be impressed I'm wondering if the folks here on AG will be impressed. I get much more satisfaction from you all here and there are a lot here like Pirex, Klumsypinoy, joe.p, etc. that you know you can count on for honest feedback. Thanks again.

[Gary Sword]

Looks great!

[richy]

Wolfmeister..dude..absolutely great job on that 3 series. I've done 2 and really enjoyed them! Did you try to put the stripes in without shampooing the carpet? It won't work that way, I found. This is the attachment I use for my funky wide stripes:http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-university/9649-wide-stripes-attachment.html
My experience with both dark colours and heavy metallics is that they really, really benefit from the addition of glaze to the process. It's not like you're using it to hide anything like the butcher shops do, it just amps up the shine to an incredible level. RMG is very, very good too. I am going to try a 75/25 mixture of 85rd to RMG when I get my rd delivered. That combo should be wicked!
Again, bud, great, great work!