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

RaskyR1

Rasky's Auto Detailing
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

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Foam bath
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After claying the sun popped up a little so I tried to capture the defect in the paint with little success... :(
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All taped up with Meguiar's masking tape and some 3M fine line tape to protect trim
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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.
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50/50 shots after M105/Surbuf
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Left door corrected
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Hologens
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Tail lights before
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After
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Headlight before
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After
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Applying Opti-Guard to lights
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Finished pics!
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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
 
The car looks awesome as usual Chad! Also great work capturing the defects on that color! It is very hard to do!
 
Thanks for all the kind comments everyone.

Great work once again Chad. What's your process for using the CG Water Spot Remover?

-Kody-

Thanks Kody!

For the CGWSR I simply wash and rinse the car, then apply it with foam or MF applicator and let it dwell for a minute or two. Follow it up with a good rinse and you're good to go.
 
Thanks for all the kind comments everyone.



Thanks Kody!

For the CGWSR I simply wash and rinse the car, then apply it with foam or MF applicator and let it dwell for a minute or two. Follow it up with a good rinse and you're good to go.

Thanks Chad! That's how I have been using it, just wanted to make sure that was the best way to get results.
 
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