Jerez Black E90 BMW M3 - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

I had been looking forward to this detail for some time now.... partly because it is an M3, partly because it is non VAG paint (which is the majority of my work) but mostly because it was black.... and I LOVE polishing black paint (and the last non-white car I did was early Nov ).... black really forces you to be on your A-game and I dig the challenge.

This detail spanned over 3 days. Friday from 08:30 to 18:30, Saturday from 06:00 to 22:00 and Sunday from 06:30 to 15:30, all of which were scorching hot and very humid (temps mostly in the mid 30's (degrees Celsius) and humidity >70%...this caused some issues in respect of compound dusting and admittedly slowed me down a little.... the heat was just so energy sapping.....I consumed copious amounts of water - a good tip to anyone detailing.... staying hydrated is very important.

So before we start looking at pictures, here is a the list of products used and the process followed.
Interior: Cyclo APC / various brushes / Glosswork Leather Conditioner / Smart Wax Smart dressing
Arches: Cyclo APC / Mothers Fender Well Brush / HP Rinse / Shield Sheen
Tires: Meguiars All Wheel and Tire Cleaner / Mothers Tire Brush / Optimum Optibond Tire Gel
Wheels: Meguiars All Wheel and Tire Cleaner / Autofinesse Oblitarate / Hot water rinse / AF Iron Out / Daytona Jnr / HP Rinse / Menzerna Powerlock
Door shuts, window rubbers, fuel flap, badges: Cyclo APC / Various Brushes / HP Rinse
Engine Bay: Cyclo APC / Various Brushes / HP Rinse / Shield Sheen
Wash: Chemical Guys Maxisuds II, Cyclo APC, white vinegar mix via foam cannon / Cyclo Polymer Car Wash and ONR mix / 2BM with Lambswool wash mitt
Dry: ONR at QD strength / WW Drying towel / Compressed Air
Tar removal : Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover / Hot water rinse
Iron removal : Autofinesse Iron Out
Remaining Contaminants : Autoglym Fine Grade Clay / Carways Mist and Wipe
Glass : Autoglym Fine Grade Clay / Carways Mist and Wipe
Paint correction : Menzeran FG400 / Meguiars MF pads / LC Orange pads, followed by Menzerna SF4000 / LC Green Pad, followed by Chemical Guys Black Light / LC Black Finishing Pad
Tail light correction: Menzerna PF2500 / LC White Pad / Menzerna SF4000 / LC Black Pad
Paint protection : Collinite 845 / Pete's 53
Door rubbers, plastic trim : Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner / Smartwax Smart Dressing
Exhaust tips : Mothers Mag and Aluminium Polish /Mothers Power Ball mini / MF Towels
Carbon Fiber : Chemical Guys EZ Creme

So, onto some pictures

Firstly, TOGW (The Other Guys Wax)....this is either wax or polish residue from someone who has previously 'detailed' the car, without paying attention to the details. :lol:





















The car even came with some spare washing medium, in case I ran out :lol:



Swirls, deep scratches and chips

































And some rather unsightly orange peel



And water spots





Wheels



Built up dirt in the usual spots






During



After



Leather

Poor maintenance caused the leather to dry out and become more susceptible to cracking


During (the shiny side is the dirty side)


After


Engine bay

Before







After



Paint correction









]

[lawrenceSA]

And finally the 'beauty shots'





































Despite being Jerez BLACK, the paint has the most awesome blue tint to it...





2 Random cell phone pics




And my favorite shot



Total time spent = 32 hours

Thanks for looking and as always any questions or comments are welcome

:hi:

[CarolinasFinestDetailing]

Ugh.....looks so amazing. As much as I love my VW and want to upgrade to an Audi soon.....a part of me really wants a BMW!

[hamlyn]

My favorite M color... looks awesome.

[HD.Detailing]

sexz

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work and top notch execution Lawrence. Those detailed pictures really tell your story.

So what did you think of the BMW paint?

[lawrenceSA]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. Really do appreciate them.

Mike....

A little difficult to explain.... in terms of how hard it was to cut.... pretty much the same as most VAG paint actually... I was expecting it to be a little harder but for the most part FG400/LC orange sorted out the issues (which is a common 'go-to' for me on VAG clears).... there were some really bad spots where I changed to a MF pad to try speed things up a little (for example the bootlid and some of the bonnet, which had what looked like really deep swirls caused by 'scrubbing' something off the paint).

But....

It then did tend to mar quite easily.... I noticed this during claying (fine grade clay) and again when at one point I got a little over-zealous removing polish residue (in the heat/humidity it was 'gumming up' / dusting quite a bit) ..... nothing that the SF4000 couldn't remove, but yes.... kind of like 2 different paints in one

Relatively hard to cut, but marred easier than VW' generally tend to, IMO.

Overall though I quite enjoyed working on the paint.

The owner was so happy he booked in his other M3...a black (not sure which one yet) E46, and his silver M Coupe so I will get some more practice on BMW paint in a few months time.

He also booked his wife's '12 Range Rover Evoque.:thumbup:

[281]

Excellent job! You really brought that M3 back to life!

[Sicoupe]

Fantastic work! Love reading your write ups

[Radarryan]

Great job, Lawrence! That blue tint really popped when you got done with it! I always enjoy your work. Looking forward to your next one!