97 M3 (No befores...16 pics)

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01bluecls

New member
This detail was completed on Saturday. It was an exterior only. The car is a 1997 BMW M3 with only around 30-something-k. Wow! This car was in great shape considering its age. The client I detailed it for recently acquired the car about 6 months ago I believe. I didn’t really bother with before/after pics since the color wouldn’t show swirls on camera and its wasn’t too bad. Swirls were light to medium.



The reason for ALL the tape? Well, there was a lot of trim and the trim looked BRAND new. I was not going to be the one to burn or stain the trim! ;) So I took a little more time to tape pretty much everything.



Process:



Wash and Spot Clay

HT EC with Yellow Cut @ 1800 rpms on roof only since there were some very fine long scratches that wouldn’t come out completely.

Menz SIP @ 1800rpms with Orange Cut Pad

Menz 106FF @ 1800rpms with Blue Finesse Pad

LSP = Pinnacle Souveran

Tires dressed with Z16



Pictures:



Hope I didn’t forget to tape the trim! ;)



m3tape1.jpg




m3tape2.jpg




This was the only real before pic I took… Like I said, this color won’t show swirls on camera very well.



m3hoodbefore.jpg




After:



m3hoodafter.jpg




All Done:



m3alldonegarage.jpg




m3farshotpassside.jpg




m3frontdrcloseshade.jpg




m3frontdrsideclose.jpg




m3frontclosepassside.jpg




m3topfrontview.jpg




m3rearpasssidelow.jpg




m3passsidefaraway.jpg




m3passsiderear.jpg




m3passsidereartop.jpg




m3frontawaysun.jpg




m3moneyshot.jpg




Questions and Comments are welcomed as always :)
 
Such the pristine M3... and it's 10 years old!!! Great work!



What size painter's tape did you use there? For some reason I think I take way too long to tape off trim.
 
Great results! My friend just sold his yellow M3. Very nice car. Pretty hard to lose either.



Question: Menz 106FF @ 1800rpms with Blue Finesse Pad

Does finishing at such a high speed offer any different results as opposed to a lower speed? Sorry for the ignorance, but I'm trying to learn the rotary techniques myself. You're the 1st person I've seen finish off with a rotary at a high speed. The rest finish with a PC.
 
Wow, you weren't kidding about the car having brand new trim on it. I swear it came make the difference between your car looking brand new or old.



Fantastic work as usual!
 
Denzil said:
Such the pristine M3... and it's 10 years old!!! Great work!



What size painter's tape did you use there? For some reason I think I take way too long to tape off trim.
Click to expand...



I believe the size I was using yesterday was 2 inch wide 3M tape. It took me a good 30-45 minutes to tape of EVERYTHING lol.
 
tod071 said:
Great results! My friend just sold his yellow M3. Very nice car. Pretty hard to lose either.



Question: Menz 106FF @ 1800rpms with Blue Finesse Pad

Does finishing at such a high speed offer any different results as opposed to a lower speed? Sorry for the ignorance, but I'm trying to learn the rotary techniques myself. You're the 1st person I've seen finish off with a rotary at a high speed. The rest finish with a PC.
Click to expand...



The reason I use a higher speed: The final step 106FF is to refine the finish ultimately but I feel it also picks up a decent amount of left over marring from a previous step. I feel the higher speed when worked correctly will burnish the paint to a very high gloss. Each paint is different. Some paints I will finish off around 1200rpms to 1000rpms and other around 1500-1800 rpms. Just depends on what polish step I did before and the type of paint Im dealing with.





Thomas - This one was exterior only and took me about 7.5 hours start to finish.
 
Great work! I can't believe it only has 30k miles on it. The HT EC stands for Hi temp Extreme cut compound I'm guessing? Sorry but I've been gone for a while and am just getting back in the groove of things.
 
series1 said:
Great work! I can't believe it only has 30k miles on it. The HT EC stands for Hi temp Extreme cut compound I'm guessing? Sorry but I've been gone for a while and am just getting back in the groove of things.
Click to expand...



Correct :)
 
01bluecls- Great job! IMO you did get a good "before" of the marring too.



I too find that year BMW clear takes some pretty high rpms..lucky you that not much needed the really aggressive treatment with the H-T EC :D



That trim *must* be new..sure looks super against the yellow paint.
 
Your post made me want to get out my Ultima Tire and Trim Sealant and make my trim shine like that!(Sorry, had to brag:D) But really it looks great, is there black trim around the headlights as well? I can't tell if there's any on the top of them or not. It looks much more aggressive from the front with the darker trim than some of the old M3's I see.:xyxthumbs I hope the new owner takes care of it well!
 
Thanks for the compliments. The trim must have been re-dyed from the previous owner. I mean I couldnt believe how good the trim condition was, literally looked brand new.
 
Great work, that car really glows! It's so mint it's unbelievable. I don't understand how someone kept a fun car like that for 11 years and only put 30K on the clock. It truly is better than new.
 
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