Emmanuelv : Hand renovation of a BMW M3 E46 (86 photos)

[emmanuelv]

Hi everyone!



Here is some work done by hand (no polisher) on a marvelous 343bph German powerhouse.



You might have recognized the E46 generation of the BMW M3:

The car is 6 years old, 160.000 km:

Rims are quite dirty:

"Some" dust and marks in the inside:

Let's go!

Autoglym Interior Shampoo still one of my favourites for insides:

Gliptone Leather Cleaner, followed by Gliptone Leather Conditioner:

Some Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care to remove the last marks:

On to the carpets! Dusting, followed by Chemical Guys Carpets & Stain Cleaner:

 

[emmanuelv]

Now Meguiar's Wheel Brightener 1:4 on those magnificient wheels:

A fine mist of Chemical Guys Orange Degreaser 1:20 to remove road grime:

Always nice to have some Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover for sap drops:

On to the real washing with two buckets and some Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo:

Removal of contaminants is done with the polyclay (elastic), some Optimum No Rinse (ONR) diluted 1:10 and old trusty Sonüs Der Wunder Drying Towel.

Let's continue with the Polish. First, protection with 3M 3434:

Today I use some Chemical Guys All-In-One Polish, applied with the yellow side of a German Applicator.

3 rounds needed for nails marks on the door handles:

Tyres are crying for some cleanup with Autoglym Instant Tyre Dressing:

 

[emmanuelv]

Exhaust have suffered, I will first clean them with WB 1:4 followed by Autoglym Metal Polish:

Junior assistant discovers Autoglym Car Glass Polish, I have to fill his blanks and do the insides:

Meguiar's Plast'X for the lights:

On to my favourite glaze: Chemical Guys Wet Mirror Finish:

Faded trims are a perfect fit for Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel :

As lsp, some Zaino Z8 Grand Finale applied with a Sonüs Der Wunder Buffing Towel:

And here it is after 8 hours:

Thanks for looking

 

[pattieman]

Beautiful work, I wish I had my "74 2002 Tii, that was 34 years ago. How did u like the Chemical Guys stuff, regards PM

 

[MarcHarris]

wow thats some good work... especially all by hand!

 

[Saintlysins]

Nice Pict's, lots of details. You covered a lot of steps with the pictures, and it looks great. I don't know that I'd ever use a squeegee (no matter how soft it is), but to each his own.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[emmanuelv]

Warm thanks for your comments



The squegee is an Autoglym Water Blade, without any metallic part and which can bend very easily. Of course I only use it after intensive rinsing.

 

[BigAl3]

wow, nice hand job. looks alot cleaner without the badges on the rear as well...

 

[imported_sal3291]

looks great. The reflections look great now

 

[Raz5219]

Very nice job. I'm also scared of using a squeegy, but if it works for you, then great!