A Steel Grey BMW 325i (E46) Detailed

S

stilez

New member
Well, I'm wishing the weather was a bit better, therfore I'd have a bunch more details, but all this rain has been screwing me up. The weather barely held out for this one, but I got it in :).





This car belongs to a fraternity brother of mine. You will see his old car in some of the pics (Beige Mercury Tracer) and see that his job out of college pays a bit better than the one in.





Onto the car though. I'm unsure of the year but its a 2000+ in Steel Grey with light grey interior. It definately wasn't taken care of too well before him, but thats what I'm for. The interior was generally soiled and the leather was cleaned 2-3 times before calling it quits. The exterior had a TON of IFO. For instance, I've clayed overspray and picked up less. I think this added to the overall dull appearance of the paint. I didn't take any pics of it, but after washing, the paint looked about 10% better than the before pics. Once clayed, I used a flash to check the swirling and it wasn't too bad, thank god. So onto the interior:





-Folex to clean everything

-Folex to pretreat, then EO Carpet Cleaner/ Costco APC to clean carpets/mats

-Poorboy's Trim Restorer to protect

-FK1 #425 on glass, wood trim, and seat belts

-OCW in jams after degreasing with Costco APC





Before

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After

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The exterior was pretty fun as I was testing out my new pressure washer :). This car was a pleasure to detail and the lines showed off the work I did quite well. My finals were:





-Pressure Wash and clean with TOL's Bubble Bath

-Meguiar's Aggressive Clay with TOL's Bubble Bath as lube

-Pressure Wash again

-TOL's Tire Cleaner on tires/wells

-Meguiar's Wheel Brightener on wheels x 2



-Optimum Polish via rotary and LC Cutting Pad @ 1200 rpm

-Menzerna PO85RD via rotary and LC Finishing Pad @ 1500 rpm

-FK1 #2180 by hand

-OCW by hand on paint, wheels, and glass



-Meguiar's Hyper Dressing cut 3:1 in wells

-Meguiar's Hyper Dressing cut 1:1 on tires

-Poorboy's Trim Restorer on all trim x 2

-Lighting polished with Menzerna PO85RD on rotary





Before

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After

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Before

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After

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A bunch of afters...



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I was very happy with the last shot :).





Total Working Time - 4.5 hours







Questions, comments, concerns...feel free.
 
Excellent work Sean - and in only 4.5 hours. One day I want to be like you. :)



Very gloosy after shots.



Just one suggestion - Use #2180 on glass/wheels for a longer lasting protection. Although on second thought, you may have gone with OCW to save time?



:bow :bow :bow
 
Looks great as usual. How much time, per panel, are you spending on each of your polishing steps? I usually time myself, and spend at least 3 minutes polishing on each panel/section. Most cars, I break down into maybe 13 sections or so.
 
Looks great! Only 4.5hrs too, man thats quick for a full job. I also noticed you used OCW on windows, I tried that once and it smeared like crazy and I think the bottle says not to use on glass (although I may be mistaken), did you use it the same way you used on paint (like a qd)? Maybe I did something wrong. BTW I applied to glass like I would a qd or glass cleaner).
 
The Bmw turn just plain AWESOME, the usual stuff done by you :2thumbs:



How many time do u spend in each panel , and how many passes during the polishes ( average ) ???



Akele abraço
 
Great job Sean !!! The interior looks fabulous !!!



I'm with mdsmithers, Your next assignment is that Topaz !!!
 
Great work, you are a talented detailer thats for sure. What a HUGE difference in the befores and afters! I cant believe you did that whole car in just 4.5 hours!
 
Looks good Sean...by the way my car is STILL beading very well.



I am going to hit it with a coat of NXT by hand this weekend to get it ready for the winter, then get back with you when the spring comes.
 
Thomas: Thanks for the headsup. The windows were beading like crazy when I washed it (I think it has the rain repellent package) so I didn't think they really needed much more protection.



I got a Black & Decker model that pushes out 1300 psi. It's smaller than a kids backpack and I love it!





Brad: I split the car up into 4ths or 5ths. I'll usually do the front bumper, hood, fenders, and bumpers at once (lay the beads down and work each panel with 2-3 passes total), then the drivers side, tail end, and finally passenger side. I mix up which way I go sometimes, but I find this keeps things fast with application and removal.





mdsmithers: He was actually waiting for the new owner to pick it up. The whole topside has CC failure.



Pontman: Flip the towel to a dry side for the final wipedown, otherwise you will get a little haze.





RRacer: Per panel, about 1-2 mins buffing time.





Playa178: Excellent to hear!







Thanks again everyone :).
 
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