M3 is Revived and Coated with Optimum Gloss Coat

[zmcgovern45]

The owner of this vehicle contacted me because he had noticed his paint didn't have the gloss and shine that it should. He had told me that the previous owner had taken the vehicle through automatic car washes regularly, and that the dealership had also washed it on numerous occasions. Upon my initial inspection, it was clear that the vehicle would definitely benefit from a proper paint correction to remove many of the defects that covered the surface. The owner was also interested in a long term protection for his vehicle as it is driven all year round. For this, we used the newest product from Optimum Polymer Technologies called Gloss Coat. This ceramic coating will help to provide years of durable protection and gloss when properly maintained. After many, many hours of work, the paint looked gorgeous! Check it out.


Process
Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner & Tire Brush
Wheels: Sonax FE & Iron X with Wheel Woolies, Boars Hair Wheel Brush, and other misc tools/brushes
Wash: CG Citrus Wash
Iron Removal: CarPro Iron X
Tar Removal: Stoner Tarminator
Decontamination: Nanoskin Fine Grade Mitt with Glide as Lubrication
Tape off areas of concern
Paint Thickness Measurements Taken
Compounding/Cutting: HD Cut & M101 on Meguiar's MF Cutting Pad via Rupes LHR21ES & Rupes LHR75e
Polishing: CarPro Reflect on Rupes Yellow Foam via Rupes LHR21ES & Rupes LHR75e
Surface Prep: CarPro Eraser
Ceramic Paint Coating: Optimum Gloss Coat
Exhaust Tips: CG Metal Polish + Protection. Inner surfaces & heavy buildup with #0000 Steel Wool. All other surfaces with MF towel by hand.
Glass: Meguiar's D120 & DI Glass Towels
Tire Dressing: CarPro PERL (1:1) 2 coats
Wheel Sealant: CarPro HydrO2



Before

The vehicle arrived with a fair amount of dirt and contamination on it









The wheels were covered with brake dust and road grime





The exhaust was very dull and had a thick layer of carbon buildup on the tips






During

As always, we began with the wheels & tires. Notice how dull the wheels look.





First, the tires were cleaned. The tire cleaner will turn brown as it is agitated when there is dirt present.





The tires are rinsed and scrubbed numerous times until the cleaner remains white which indicates they tires are clean.





Next, the wheels are thoroughly covered with wheel cleaner and left to dwell.





As the wheel cleaner reacts with embedded brake dust, it turns to a bright purple as it works to loosen the contamination from the wheels all before I even begin cleaning.





The barrels were then cleaned, and an immense amount of grime was removed (notice the river of dirt flowing onto the ground)





The faces were then cleaned, and the wheels were now bright and alive.





The wheels were sealed to provide a temporary barrier between the surface of the wheels and the environment. This sealant will make them easier to clean while it lasts.









The exterior of the vehicle was then washed and decontaminated. Here is a friendly reminder of why we use the 2 bucket washing method to clean the paint. The wash water stays nice and clean while the rinse water is filled with the dirt that is being removed from the surface. This is the safest way to wash your vehicle as it ensures you are not wiping harmful debris on your paint while washing.





Once the paint was clean, it was then inspected for defects. The overhead fluorescent lighting was all that was needed to see this paint had some serious defects in it.





The paint thickness was also checked, and was found to be quite thin. This means we will have to proceed with caution and will not be able to safely remove many of the heavier defects. As always, we are more concerned with the safety of our customer's vehicles than with achieving a flawless finish... especially on a vehicle this is driven everyday and will accumulate more defects overtime.





We began our correction process on the hood. Notice the scratches are quite severe in many areas.





The vast majority of the defects were removed during the compounding process.





Fender before correction





Fender after compounding





Door before correction





50/50 of door after compounding

[zmcgovern45]

Upper section of door before correction





After compounding





Rear quarter before correction





Rear quarter after compounding





Rear bumper before correction





Rear bumper after compounding





The trunk was in very poor shape





50/50 on trunk





Trunk after compounding. Many deeper scratches remain, but overall color and clarity was greatly improved.






Rear bumper before correction





Rear bumper after compounding





Door before correction





Door after compounding





Door before correction





Door after compounding





This 50/50 shot shows the depth and richness that is achieved with the final finishing polish. The right hand side has been polished to remove the haze that was left after compounding. The metallic flake really comes alive with this refinement.







50/50 on the door pillars (this paint was extremely thin! <50 microns, so only a medium polish was used)





After the paint was fully corrected and wiped down with Eraser, I began to apply Optimum Gloss Coat.





You can see the initial application on this panel (this was roughly 45 seconds after start of application)





After a couple of minutes the majority of the product had flashed away and only some heavier spots remained





These were quickly and easily leveled with a microfiber towel.





More high spots





Again, these were easily leveled with a microfiber towel after several minutes... check out that reflection!





After the coating was applied, the car was brought outside for further inspection. It looked incredible.





The next day I started by cleaning up the exhaust tips. Notice they are quite dull and have a lot of carbon buildup on the tips.





They look as good as new after polishing





Polished tips on the right, unpolished on the left





All cleaned up

[zmcgovern45]

After

Though many deeper defects remain in the paint, the transformation was still incredible. The overall clarity, depth, and gloss in the paint was dramatically improved throughout the correction process and now the car looks absolutely beautiful!


























And, of course, a couple of beading shots...







As always, thanks for reading!

[haris300]

Awesome work. I'll be sure to give Gloss Coat a shot when I run out of OC 2.0.

[Tato]

Not only a tremendous detailing thread but a great review on Gloss Coat. Revived, car looks amazing! Congratulations and thanks a lot for sharing.

Kind Regards.

[mrclean]

amazing work.. i've been waiting to see a car done with the new glass coat. you did an awesome job. i still have 2 tubes of 2.0, will definitely check out opti glass in the near future. thank you for the amazing write up

[Marc08EX]

Great job as always, Zach!!! Thanks for sharing your great in-process pictures and well done documentation. The car came out looking amazing. The clarity is restored and makes the car look dripping wet. As you know, top notch photography too!

Those RIDS have got to be way deep if they weren't removed with M101/MF Cutting/Rupes 21ES. How many section passes did you do for this compounding step? If you want to chase these RIDS and want to make the finish perfect, what would you have done?

[chet31]

Great job. Did you use M101 and HD Cut separately, or did you mix them together and use it?

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work on that Jerez Black Metallic M3 Zach!

[HUMP DIESEL]

Always a great write up and turn around Zach. I am curious, with all the other CarPro products, why you went with Gloss Coat over CquartzUK?

HUMP