Back for the Finest - 2000 BMW Z3 Paint Correction, CQuartz Finest Installation, Interior, and Engine Detail

[zmcgovern45]

This customer brought me this car last year shortly after he bought it for a full correction. It was in pretty poor shape, but then again it is an older car. He brought it back to me this year to take care of some rather minor swirls, scratches, and light water spots that had appeared. We also decided to coat it with CQuartz Finest to enhance the nicely polished paint and help protect it for many years to come.

The car is a very low mileage vehicle (41,000 original miles) and is really only driven in nice weather, so with some coaching from me - he should be able to keep it in near perfect condition for years.


Here is a quick flashback as to how the vehicle looked last year when I worked on it...
















... and now back to this year




Process

Exterior
- Wheels: Sonax Full Effect agitated with various brushes & wheel woolies
- Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Tire Brush
- Pre-Soak: CG Citrus Wash and Gloss via Gilmour Foammaster II Foam Gun
- Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss with Sheepskin Wash Mitt
- Fallout Removal: CarPro Iron X
- Decontamination: DI Fine Grade Clay (only where needed)
- Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
- Tape: 3M Blue Painter's Tape
- Paint Thickness Readings Taken
- Spot Compounded RIDS: 3" MF Cutting Disks and M105/D300 Combo (M405?) via PC7424XP (speed 5-6)
- Polish: FG400 on 5.5" Orange LC Light Cutting Pad via Rupes LHR21ES (speed 4.5) and 3" & 4" Pads via PC 7424XP (speed 5)
- IPA Wipedown
- Wash: ONR (Gary Dean Method)
- Eraser Wipedown (CarPro Eraser)
- Coating Installation: CQuartz Finest (2 coats)
- Vehicle left to cure for 48 hours in garage
- Glass: Meguair's D120
- Tire Dressing: Meguiar's Endurance Gel


Engine
- Wiped down with ONR to remove dust
- Hoses/ hard to reach areas dressed with CG Black on Black
- Plastic covers dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant


Interior
- Vacuum
- Dash, Trim, and Leather Protected with 303 Aerospace Protectant
- Floor mats treated with CG Fabric Clean (20:1), Scrubbed, and then extracted with hot water via Bissel LGM



Before

Typical dirty BMW wheels... covered with brake dust




Very minor swirls which is what I expected since I had done a full correction on this car last year.




Some bug splatter




During


As always, the wheels and tires were cleaned first. I started by covering the wheels with Sonax Full Effect Wheel cleaner. This product starts as a bright green and turns purple as it reacts with dirt and contaminates.




You can see the wheel cleaner changing color as it starts to break down the grime on the wheels.






Sonax Full Effect does a great job breaking up that caked on dirt even before agitating it.




After the paint was washed and decontaminated, I inspected it under the halogen lights. Swirling was minimal, but there were some deeper scratches and some water spots that needed to be addressed. I obviously could not chase down all of them, but the larger ones were corrected.




This door had been repainted and was left in typical poor shape from the body shop. You can see how dull it is due to the poor polishing job. There are swirls and holograms all over the door.








I started by doing a test spot on the hood in an area that had more defects so I could be sure that I would be able to remove them.




I got my process dialed in and was able to remove the defects. The paint was quite hard, as I already knew from working on it last year.




Again, this door was repainted a few months ago and this is how the body shop left it.




You can see how much clearer the left hand side is after proper polishing.




50/50 shot showing my work on the left vs. the body shop's work on the right.






Here is a 50/50 on the side skirt without any direct lighting, you can tell that the left side is darker than the right.




Here is that same 50/50 on the side skirt lit up with the brinkmann to see the difference in the polished area vs. unpolished area.




Fender before correction.




Fender after correction.




I always love seeing the ridiculously glossy paint as I work my way around the car.




Trunk before correction.




Trunk after correction. (scratches removed, but apparently my towel wanted to leave a lot of lint )




Fender before correction.




Fender after correction.




A slightly different angle shows that there is a section of RIDS that were not removed.




After several passes with a 3" MF Cutting pad and M105 I only made a slight improvement. Since wet sanding wasn't on the work order for this one, I had to let them go. Luckily they aren't noticeable without intense direct lighting.




CQuartz Finest being applied.




Pause for product shot - CQuartz Finest Premium Paint Coating




After Finest was applied, I pulled the car out to check for any high spots... I had to admire the intense gloss as well! Looks amazing! Since the owner was in no rush to pickup the car, it was then left to cure in the garage for 48 hours.




While the coating was curing, I turned my attention to some of the interior details that still remained. Here is the passenger floor mat before the stains were removed. While it isn't in bad shape for its age, it definitely detracts from the beauty of the interior.




The floor mat was treated with fabric cleaner, scrubbed, and then extracted with hot water. Looks great!




The same process was performed on the driver's mat, but unfortunately I failed to get a before picture... as you might expect, it was much worse than the passenger mat because this one sees a lot more use.




Here is what my water looked like after cleaning the 2 mats... not such a pretty sight.

[zmcgovern45]

After



Checking my work in the sun. At this point the coating had cured for a little over 48 hours. The car was deep, dark, and very glossy. Definitely doesn't look 14 years old!








Interior has a nice classic look to it.




Wheels and tires cleaned up very nicely.




I put the top down and drove down the street to try to find a spot to take some photos.








I found this nice secluded street to get a few good shots as the sun was setting. CQuartz Finest turned this car into a mirror on wheels. Looks great!














As always, thanks for looking! Questions and/or Comments are greatly appreciated!

[swanicyouth]

I'm amazed your getting this results with just FG400 as a one step. Is that correct? Looks awesome!

[zmcgovern45]

I'm amazed your getting this results with just FG400 as a one step. Is that correct? Looks awesome!

^Yup - I usually wouldn't use it for a 1 step on a black vehicle, but this paint was particularly hard. I did a test spot on the hood with hyper polish after the FG400 and saw absolutely no difference when inspecting under the Brinkmann, my 1000W halogens, or in sunlight... so I said "OK" and just did the 1 step with FG400. Now I did work the FG400 for a while which helps it finish down even better.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work as always Zach! That little black BMW roadster looks great now.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

FG400 has always finished down rather well for me even though it's a compound.

[drbll]

Beautiful! Love the car, love the color, love the shine! Question, when you extract with the LGM you are using straight up water? no additives?

[Dr_Pain]

^Yup - I usually wouldn't use it for a 1 step on a black vehicle, but this paint was particularly hard. I did a test spot on the hood with hyper polish after the FG400 and saw absolutely no difference when inspecting under the Brinkmann, my 1000W halogens, or in sunlight... so I said "OK" and just did the 1 step with FG400. Now I did work the FG400 for a while which helps it finish down even better.

I've done a few one step with FG400 and was thoroughly impressed, but as you mentioned, it may not be suited as a one step correction for all.

To be honest Zach, I should just have a cut and paste for your work. I end up just repeating myself!! Great work

Quick question. What did you end up coating or not coating? ....paint, lenses, trim, windows?? (only assuming!)

[Lanceb028]

wow! great work!

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

To be honest Zach, I should just have a cut and paste for your work. I end up just repeating myself!! Great work

I feel the same. I'm running out of things to say to his great work. I really admire his photography skills.