Nasty, swirled, scratched BMW 330

I

imported_weekendwarrior

New member
I am not a professional by any means, and am relatively new at using the PC. This was a detail I did for free as a favor for a friend. I vacuumed the interior, used Meguiar's 40 on the interior, Armor All leather conditioner on the seats, and Windex on the glass.



For the exterior, I washed with QEW (we are on water restriction), clayed, Meguiar's 83 (2 rounds on a lot of panels), followed by Meguiar's 80, followed by Meguiar's 7, and topped with 2 coats of Meguiar's 21. With my limited skill level, I was only able to make a 70% improvement, but this car was a pig to begin with, so 70% is huge. The detail took 18 hours.....



Interior Before:

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Interior After (the rubber mats were outside drying):

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Now for the exterior...................
 
Nice work. Sounds like a long day. I am always amazed that people with such nice cars allow them to go into such disrepair so quickly.
 
azenthusiast said:
Nice work. Sounds like a long day. I am always amazed that people with such nice cars allow them to go into such disrepair so quickly.
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Me too - I neglected to mention I found STRING CHEESE under the driver's seat, and about $10,000,000 in loose change strewn around the interior.
 
Are you sure you're not a professional?? Looks great.



Your friend must have been happy!!





So did you eat any of the cheese? :)
 
Excellent job. I had the opportunity to drive a new 335i at the BMW Performance Driving School. They are amazing cars. I couldn't imagine letting one look like that, but you sure brought it back!:goodjob
 
Thanks for the compliments guys. I was a little intimidated when I first saw the car, but just took my time, and did the best I could. This is actually the first black car I have ever polished, and I was fairly happy at how it turned out. I do not own a rotary, nor do I know how to use one. With a rotary, this car could have probably been improved by 95%, whereas I could only get it to 70 - 75 percent.
 
I assumed it was where they spilled fuel when refuelling, then dust and road grime stuck to it. It had etced the clear coat a bit, and took quite a bit of polishing to even it out, and restore the shine.
 
I think you are lying about being a pro! j/k, Bro! Excellent job on that thing! The only thing I suggest is not to use Windex since it streaks badly and not safe for the window seals due to it's chemical content. Aside of that, a very nice job!
 
bigfoot said:
I think you are lying about being a pro! j/k, Bro! Excellent job on that thing! The only thing I suggest is not to use Windex since it streaks badly and not safe for the window seals due to it's chemical content. Aside of that, a very nice job!
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Thanks for the compliment and the information. I will p/u some automotive glass cleaner in light of what you said.
 
GREAT Work on the Black Bimmer!.....and I do a "lot" of Black Bimmers. You've got a good process going with the Meguiar's line: They work well and you get familiar with them quickly.



For using a pc, the workmanship is 1st Class. If you want to bring the finish to 90% as you say, work the #83 longer. That product is your work horse for swirl and scratch removal in the lineup you gave. Next time you get a car to do, try 83 on one panel and work it with a couple of applications of product (i.e. use the 83, then repeat the process again).



Super Job and nice lines on that car. I have not done that model (yet)



Toto
 
Toto - Thanks for the kind words. I have seen your work, and know that you are the "go to guy" when it comes to BMWs (your work is amazing). I agree that I could have probably gotten better results by working the 83 another round or 2, but I had 3 evenings to work on the car (in addition to my full time job), before I had to return the car. I started with the hood, and spent 2 hours trying to get a method of attack down for the car. I found that 2 rounds of 83, followed by the 80, 7, and 21 did fairly well. I wish I could have had an additional full day to with the car to do more rounds of 83, but I was afraid I wouldn't have the car done by the time the owner got back from vacation (this is their only car).



Quite frankly, I was exhausted after spending the 18 hours on this, and don't know if I could have even lasted for another round or 2 of 83. I wish there was someone local to me that could teach me how to use a rotarty. I realize I could go get a panel at a junk yard and experiment, but I would still like to learn the ins and outs from a seasoned user in person.
 
Wow! You are a nice friend!!! Isn't BMW Clearcoat supposed to be hard? What pads did you use?



I keep offering to do my friend's super swirled black Mistubishi that has been to Morocco and back, but she keeps saying 'no.' She doesn't understand that I'm not going to charge her or she feels bad about taking up my offer. I just want to do it as a challenge!!! To quote Sir Edmund Hillary when someone asked him why he climbed Mt. Everest: "Because it's there!"
 
[quote name='hooked']Wow! You are a nice friend!!! Isn't BMW Clearcoat supposed to be hard? What pads did you use?



Maybe Toto can shime in (since he is the BMW man), but on another website, I was told that older BMWs have a hard clear, but the newer 3 series seem to be on the softer side (which was the impression I got working on this one). I used the yellow, Meguiar's 8006 pads for both the 83 and 80. I applied the 7 and 21 by hand, with foam pads.



Like I said, I am relatively new to using the PC, so I am trying to get really familiar with the Meguiar's line of polishes and pads, then I will try some other brands.
 
Generally, the BMW clear coats are pretty soft on pure black (especially the older cars) and pretty hard on the other colors (including metallic Black). Generally, they respond well to #83 as a correction product, followed by something such as 3M Ultrafina SE (one of the best products for black vehicles...but expensive)



I just completed a silver gray 530i using #83 and a 3M cutting pad which was a great combo. I probably could have gone right to #26 wax, but decided to be safe and polish the paint with 3M glaze (still don't know why they call it a glaze....it's really a polish).



Learning to use a rotary isn't too difficult (remembering where the pad is in relation to other areas like plastic body panels is the hardest item).



If you decide to get started on a rotary: start mild with #83 and a 8000 polish pad. Work slowly on a panel (approx. 1/2 a door panel or less) and keep the speed around 1,000 - 1,200 rpm. And, above all, keep the pad flat on the panel! There are always going to be curves and panel edges to content with and just lighten any pressure as you get close to these.



Hope that helps



Toto
 
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