1995 E36 BMW M3 - Paint Correction

**zmcgovern45** · 09-17-2012, 08:03 AM

This car belongs to a co-worker of mine and he was interested in having it cleaned up after showing him some of the cars I have worked on. This car was covered in swirls and scratches. I was quite happy with the amount of correction I was able to get with only a single polishing step. Most of the swirls were removed, however there were a significant amount of deeper scratches (RIDS), and most of them remained. The car has a great, deep shine to it now, and it looks great. As the owner said "you can't polish a turd and expect it to turn into a diamond."

- Washed with Chemical Guys Citrus Wash diluted to remove any protection still on vehicle.
- Dried with Soft Microfiber Towels
- Single Stage Polish with M205 on LC white pad/orange pad with PC7424XP DA Polisher (goal is to remove ~75%+ of swirls, but unable to correct deeper defects)
- LSP - NXT 2.0
- Tires Dressed with Meg's Endurance Gel
- Basic Engine Cleaning and Dress all plastic engine components with 303
- Dressed all trim with 303

Before: You can see all of the swirls and scratches very easily... they were EVERYWHERE

^trunk had been wet sanded previously. Was able to correct with M105/Surbuf followed by M205/White

^close up of the sanding marks. Was able to correct with M105/Surbuf followed by M205/White

^50/50 shot of my test area on the hood - you can clearly see that the swirls are removed from the area that had been polished

^engine was in great shape - just a little dirt here and there

After:

^mirror like reflections

^great shot of the reflections on the hood

Overall, I was happy with how the car turned out. It's a long way from perfect, but a big step in the right direction. Not bad for a 17 year old car.

**rider9195** · 09-17-2012, 09:03 AM

Looks fantastic for a 17 year old car! I love the color on it as well.

**alban61** · 09-17-2012, 09:05 AM

Sweet! Deep, wet shine on that Bimmer! For a 17 year old car that's a DD, that's perfect. Great work.

**Klasse Act** · 09-17-2012, 09:27 AM

Car came out great, wished you had taken pics of it outside before hand but the end results speak for themselves! Interesting choice of LSP but I've always felt that for an OTC product, NXT 2.0 is pretty good IMO.

Love the E36's for sure, love the broken M checkered flag on the fender but not diggin' the rear wing, too bad you couldn't have buffed that out, LOL!

**zmcgovern45** · 09-17-2012, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by rider9195

Looks fantastic for a 17 year old car! I love the color on it as well.

^I like the color as well, but you can notice that the wing and the door are slightly different color thanks to a not so perfect matched paint job.

Originally Posted by alban61

Sweet! Deep, wet shine on that Bimmer! For a 17 year old car that's a DD, that's perfect. Great work.

Originally Posted by Klasse Act

Car came out great, wished you had taken pics of it outside before hand but the end results speak for themselves! Interesting choice of LSP but I've always felt that for an OTC product, NXT 2.0 is pretty good IMO.

Love the E36's for sure, love the broken M checkered flag on the fender but not diggin' the rear wing, too bad you couldn't have buffed that out, LOL!

^ I agree, I've always felt NXT 2.0 was just fine for an OTC product, and to be quite honest, I did this job for cheap, so I felt it was an adequate product that would still add some depth to the car, but not diminish my more preferred products.

I didn't have much time to get before pics as the owner showed up a bit late and needed the car ASAP.

**Sunshyne** · 09-17-2012, 09:34 PM

nice work, I love those E36's!

**zmcgovern45** · 12-11-2012, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by Sunshyne

nice work, I love those E36's!

Thanks! I'd much prefer a new M3 (obviously!)

**Mike@DedicatedPerfection** · 12-11-2012, 01:49 PM

Wow great work with just the 1 step correction. Too bad he didnt pay for a multi step to get an almost perfect finish.

**zmcgovern45** · 01-03-2013, 01:05 PM

I honestly wouldn't have felt comfortable going much more aggressive with this paint. It had obviously been repainted by several different people (various panels were slightly diff color under the halogens... you can tell the door is a diff color in direct sunlight in the pictures above). Some of it corrected easily, some of it not so much. Plus, with the age of the vehicle and the fact that it is driven every day, it wouldn't make sense to make it perfect.

The owner stayed to help/watch and it convinced him enough to buy a PC7424XP, so he can continue to mess with it.