2004 BMW 325i paint correction: Rasky's Auto Detailing

[RaskyR1]

2004 BMW 325i paint correction





The owner of this fine E46 recently purchased the car used with a little over 30k on the clock. While it was in very good condition overall, the paint did have some moderate swirling that was taking away from it's true potential. I had evaluated this car in early June, and based on the condition and the owners expectations, we agreed upon my Premium exterior service (2-step correction). The service was booked for my next available opening, 9/24/11.





Process:

• Wash: Foam Cannon with OPC/CGCW mix and 2BM wash using a lambs wool mitt and CGCW. Boars hair and lambs wool detail brushes were also used to clean hard to reach areas.
  
• Wheels: Cleaned using Sonax Full Effect with various brushes and wash mitt. Wheel faces later coated with Optimum Opti-Guard.
  
• Tires: Cleaned with OPC and Tuf Shine tire brush, dresses with Meguiar's Hyper Dressing.
  
• Wheel wells: Cleaned with OPC and dressed with Meguiar's Hyper Dressing.
  
• Tar: Removed with Stoners Tarminator
  
• Clay: Clay Magic and ONR as lube
  
• Glass: Cleaned with Meguiar's D120. Front wind shield also had a couple water spots that had ran down the glass and stained it...owner wanted them removed if possible. Chemical Guys Water Spot Remover was allowed to dwell for a few minutes which did the trick. I followed by polishing the front glass with M205 and then coated with Opti-Guard
  
• Paint correction: Meguiar's M105 applied via Griots GG6 D/A equipped with 6.5" and 4" Surbuf pads. Finishing step was M205 applied via Griots GG6 D/A and 5" and 4" LC Hydro tangerine pads. (Some tight areas were done with M105 and 3" MF pads)
  
• Head/Tail lights: Meguiar's D300 with 3" MF pads, followed by M205 and 4" black LC pads. Later coated with Opti-Guard
  
• Trim: Meguiar's Ultimate Protectant
  
• Paint Protection: Ultima Paint Guard Plus
  

Before pics

Foam bath

After claying the sun popped up a little so I tried to capture the defect in the paint with little success...

All taped up with Meguiar's masking tape and some 3M fine line tape to protect trim

I tried all different kinds of lighting and camera settings to get the best 50/50 shots I could in an attempt to show the true condition of the paint, but silver is very hard to achieve this on (I'm all ears on tips for doing so!). Hopefully you can still see the difference a little.

50/50 shots after M105/Surbuf

Left door corrected

Hologens

Tail lights before

After

Headlight before

After

Applying Opti-Guard to lights

 

[RaskyR1]

Finished pics!

Note: I applied Opti-Guard to certain areas of the vehicle (wheels, front glass, lights) to help the owner decide if it's something he wanted to invest in for his wife's car which is scheduled in a couple weeks. I did so free of charge and was also not asked to do so. However, I'm confident it will result in the sale of the coating on his wife's Mini so the small amount of extra time and product cost is worth it.





As always, Thanks for looking!



Rasky

 

[mikenap]

You definitely rolled back the clock on that Beemer! Very nice work, it just goes to show that silver doesn't HAVE to be boring.

 

[Thomas Dekany]

Silver is my favorite color!!!!



Great detail Rasky!

 

[Brad B]

Silver is my favorite color!!!!

Ditto! And this one looks great!

 

[Pats300zx]

Great job Chad !!!! Looks like it just rolled off of the showroom floor.

 

[Bill D]

Very comprehensive write-up :yo:



I don't see Ultima being mentioned that often. How are you liking it as the LSP? How is the gloss, highly reflective or more depth?

 

[Ch96067]

Thanks for sharing Rasky! The 50/50's look just fime to me.

 

[RaskyR1]

You definitely rolled back the clock on that Beemer! Very nice work, it just goes to show that silver doesn't HAVE to be boring.

Thanks Mike! I hate silver only because it doesn't showcase all the hard work as much as black does.

Silver is my favorite color!!!!



Great detail Rasky!

Thanks Thomas!

Ditto! And this one looks great!

Thanks Brad!

Great job Chad !!!! Looks like it just rolled off of the showroom floor.

Thanks Pat!

Very comprehensive write-up :yo:



I don't see Ultima being mentioned that often. How are you liking it as the LSP? How is the gloss, highly reflective or more depth?

Thanks Bill!



I'm liking it so far but up until now I had only used it on the wife's car and my own a few times. I thought it looked very good on my wife's black car but it was hard to see much difference on silver. I'd say it has a very glassy look to it though.



It's very easy to use though and leave the paint nice and slick.

Thanks for sharing Rasky! The 50/50's look just fime to me.

Thank you! I think you can see a noticeable difference, but it isn't as noticeable as it was in person.

 

[gmblack3]

Great work Chad. 205/tangerine pad always works great as a follow up to M105/surbuf.

 

[Phishy4]

Looks good boss. I'm going to have to start using those tang pads with 205 after seeing all the results you get with them.

 

[Envious Eric]

SOOOOOO Much better!!!!!

 

[RaskyR1]

Great work Chad. 205/tangerine pad always works great as a follow up to M105/surbuf.

Thanks Bryan! Honestly the Surbuf finished down so well there was very little difference after the M205.

Looks good boss. I'm going to have to start using those tang pads with 205 after seeing all the results you get with them.

LOL @ boss.....I think I could get used to that!



I'll give you one to try out if you want.

SOOOOOO Much better!!!!!

Thanks Eric!

 

[Lotuseffect]

Impressive as always! That full hood shot is just gorgeous. Unbelievable depth and gloss.

My wife's people live in apple valley. Hopefully next summer we will make a trip up there. I'd love to buy you a beer or 3 and rap a bit.



Great work.

 

[Uber Auto Conditioning]

Looking good Chad, thanks for sharing. I know you have been using both Opticoat and Optiguard recently and I was wondering what the biggest difference is between the two, or why you use both and not just one or the other. I also read on another forum that there is an DI article coming about Opticoat, any idea when it will be posted. Looking to coat my car before the Minne"snow"ta winter hits and there are so many different application methods out there that it would be great to hear from you on what the proper way to apply it is.



Mark

 

[RaskyR1]

Impressive as always! That full hood shot is just gorgeous. Unbelievable depth and gloss.

My wife's people live in apple valley. Hopefully next summer we will make a trip up there. I'd love to buy you a beer or 3 and rap a bit.



Great work.

Thank you! Shoot me a PM before you come in town.

Looking good Chad, thanks for sharing. I know you have been using both Opticoat and Optiguard recently and I was wondering what the biggest difference is between the two, or why you use both and not just one or the other. I also read on another forum that there is an DI article coming about Opticoat, any idea when it will be posted. Looking to coat my car before the Minne"snow"ta winter hits and there are so many different application methods out there that it would be great to hear from you on what the proper way to apply it is.



Mark

Thanks Mark!



I've really only used the Opti-Coat 2.0 on one vehicle. Sometime I just use "Opti-Coat" for the pro version because when I say "Opti-Guard" a lot of people ask what it is.



The Opti-Coat 2.0 is simply a modified version of Opti-Guard to make it more user friendly to the consumer market. The end results should be the same, however Opti-Coat 2.0 needs a longer curing time, where Opti-Guard only needs an hour or so. This is the reason Pro's will continue to use Opti-Guard most of the time. With the 2.0 you will want to keep it out of the elements for about 12hrs.



I will be submitting my OC article for review tomorrow night, but it may not be published right away. I'd say either this weekend or the next. I'll ping Todd and see if he want to run it this Friday....

 

[pmnewton]

Rasky, I have been enjoying your videos on YouTube. Silver can be such a boring color. The only time I like silver is in indirect sunlight when I'm wearing polarized sunglasses. That really captures the glow on certain surfaces. This car has a very nice glassy look to the finish that really shows off the prep that went into it. Well done Sir!

 

[Leadfootluke]

Great writeup and great job Chad. Before reading the entire post I was wondering about the use of OptiCoat at first, and then UPP on the paint, but it makes sense now. Nice idea!