PetrucciM3 | BMW E92 M3 Jet Black

Petrucci_M3

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PetrucciM3 | BMW E92 M3 Jet Black



Wash:

Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Gloss

Chemical Guys Heavy Duty Bucket

Grit Guard

Chemical Guys Super Fluffy Mitt

Gilmour Foam Gun



Clayed:

Meguiar’s Medium clay

Chemical Guys Synthetic Quick Detailer



Paint Correction:

Makita 9227C | 3M Backing Plate

Flex 3403 rotary | Gloss-it 3 inch Backing Plate

Meguiar’s 105 | Purple Wool pad/ LC Orange Pad

Menzerna Super Intensive Polish | Purple Wool/ LC Orange pad

Menzerna Nano Polish | LC White pad

Menzerna 85rd | LC Blue pad

CM5300

Fenix TK10

Detailer Domain Uber Towels

Highline Paint Gauge Meter



Protection:

Jetseal109



LSP:

Pinnacle Souveran



Exterior Trim:

Aerospace 303



Glass:

Stoner’s Invisible Glass



Wheels:

EZ Detail Brush

Swissvax Wheel Brush

Chemical Guy’s Grime Reaper

Surfcity Tire Shine



Exhaust:

Chemical Guy’s Metal Shine



Engine:

Various Brushes

Chemical Guy’s Grime Reaper

CD2



This beautiful M3 was scheduled for an exterior paint correction and engine detail. Just in time for Bimmerfest which will be held this upcoming Sunday in Pasadena.



I’ve worked on a few jet black BMWs in the past before and I was prepping myself for the worst. This one was no stranger to the ultra soft BMW paint that everyone dreads. Boy was I in for ride. After the car had been thoroughly washed and clayed I looked for test spot that I could try a few combinations to see which would most likely work.



I measured the surface of the rear quarter panel near the rear wheel, and I found 164 microns to be the general consu.. In the past I’ve had to use orange pads with SIP, with a few multiple passes to get the panel prepped for a finer polish. I first started out with a Lake Country white CCS pad with 106FA just see what it could do. I started out at 600 rpms then bumped Makita up to 1300 rpms then back down to 900 to burnish the finish. I checked my work with my H2O/IPA solution. That’s when the sweat started to form on my brow.



Not only did it remove very few swirls but the panel was so soft that when I wiped away my solution I was leaving nice streaks that would not come off the panel. Every time I tried to wipe away the streaks I started to scratch the panel up again. I tried a quick detailer to see if I could get the streaking off, no luck. One wipe would remove the previous wipe but then leave another one to deal with. Round and round we go.



I was thinking to myself that I would might have to do a no towel correction as I couldn’t get away from scratching the finish with my MF towels. At that point I thought I might not ever finish.



Anyways, I found that one pass with 105 and SIP on a orange pad at 1500 rpms would remove a majority of the RIDs and swirls in the paint. That was great and all, but a white pad with 106FA could not finish down paint. So I tried my 3401 with a blue pad and 85rd and finally success.



The combo I used was 105/orange pad  SIP/orange pad  85rd/blue pad (Flex 3401 DA) and an IPA wipe down, as carefully as you can imagine, to remove the oils still left in the paint and to ensure a proper cleansed surface ready for the LSP.



This combo worked great until I was about ¾ of the way of being complete with the paint correction. 105 and an orange pad wasn’t putting a dent in to the heavily swirled driver’s door. I pulled out a purple wool pad and combined 105 with it. I was afraid when I wiped away the polish I would have an even bigger mess to fix. But no, this worked excellent. There was barely any hazing, but a few RIDs still stood in the paint. I tried another swipe and again nothing was removed. This was quite frustrating at this point. So, I tried SIP on the wool pad for fun, and finally the clouds lifted and the weight that had been building up on my shoulders was released.



To my surprise I found the panel with barely or no hazing/micro marring. Instead of grabbing the 3401 and blue pad I tried a white pad with 85rd see how that would do. Amazing, it finished down. How could this combination work now?



My new combo that helped me finish off the car:



SIP/purple wool pad  85rd/white pad



Hopefully this can help anyone struggling with jet black BMW paint.



Wash:



AJBE92_16.jpg




Rear Fender - Before



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Rear Fender - 50/50:



AJBE92_41.jpg




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Rear Fender - Before:



AJBE92_54.jpg




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AJBE92_61.jpg




AJBE92_67.jpg




Rear Fender - After:



AJBE92_69.jpg




Rear - Before:



AJBE92_92.jpg




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AJBE92_102.jpg




AJBE92_105.jpg




AJBE92_107.jpg




Rear - After:



AJBE92_117.jpg




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AJBE92_133.jpg




Trunk - Before:



AJBE92_137.jpg




Trunk - 50/50:



AJBE92_140.jpg




Trunk - After:



AJBE92_153.jpg




AJBE92_167.jpg




Before:



AJBE92_186.jpg




After:



AJBE92_188.jpg




Driver's Door - Before:



AJBE92_81.jpg




AJBE92_174.jpg




AJBE92_175.jpg




AJBE92_178.jpg




AJBE92_179.jpg




AJBE92_183.jpg
 
Awesome work Josh! :bow





I know the feeling + I am going to look at one at 2 today to see the condition before giving a price. :wall:wall
 
yumm I have the e92 M3. Gorgeous car. Great work!



I found that I could correct the jet black with M105, orange LC pad, rotarty, followed by m205, white LC pad, then followed again by m205, black LC pad.
 
Looks great. I too have the dreaded Jet Black on my 135i Cab. I know the feeling to put all the effort into polishing out all the defects, only to micro marr the surface simply by WIPING OFF the polish. Extremely frustrating, to the point where I've stopped trying to chase all the micro marring down because it just comes back as soon as you wash the car- no matter how careful you are with 2 bucket wash, etc.
 
tdekany said:
Awesome work Josh! :bow





I know the feeling + I am going to look at one at 2 today to see the condition before giving a price. :wall:wall



Thank you Thomas! When I ran into trouble, I saw your "lesson" thread and that really helped me out, thank you!



Thought that was your last JB ;) hehe.



John_K said:
WOW!!!!



What a turnaround, I bet the owner was thrilled! Nice work!



Thank you, he sure was. I was pretty thrilled to be finish too :eek:



dmw2692004 said:
yumm I have the e92 M3. Gorgeous car. Great work!



I found that I could correct the jet black with M105, orange LC pad, rotarty, followed by m205, white LC pad, then followed again by m205, black LC pad.



Thank you for the tip, I'm so stuck on Menzerna that's it's such a problem for me to try something new. But I will definitely have to pick up 205 to really pair the two.



OCKlasse said:
Damn...supercharged!!



Looks sick!



Thank you!



Bimmerdude said:
Looks great. I too have the dreaded Jet Black on my 135i Cab. I know the feeling to put all the effort into polishing out all the defects, only to micro marr the surface simply by WIPING OFF the polish. Extremely frustrating, to the point where I've stopped trying to chase all the micro marring down because it just comes back as soon as you wash the car- no matter how careful you are with 2 bucket wash, etc.



I know the feeling! I seriously believe that even in a full clean room the owner couldn't keep these JB BMWs perfect. It's almost unfair :cry:
 
love the finish, looks very rich and deep.



I hope i don't have as much trouble with a white one. i 'll buy some purple foamed wool just in case.
 
What year is this e92? I'm supposed to do a '08 335 soon and was told that 08 and on have a harder clear than the 07 and previous model years.
 
Damn fine work! :)



I feel your pain, done several jet black Bangled BMWs and every one is a nightmare. Washing them after compounding always leaves at least some marring no matter how gentle you try to be. At least #205 removes that marring and from that point on, no more washing until the LSP is in place!
 
PWORLDSTANG said:
That paint looks crazy! Deep, wet, great finish! Very nice work!



MAXSE2kMT said:
Beautiful car, beautiful work, great pics! Top notch all around. Thanks for sharing!



Thank you guys!



a_guerrajr said:
love the finish, looks very rich and deep.



I hope i don't have as much trouble with a white one. i 'll buy some purple foamed wool just in case.



Thanks man, hopefully you won't have too much trouble!



PhatHoodDetail said:
man that has got some nice depth, good turn around. also good way to hang in there and not give up, outstanding job.



Thank you! :bigups



evoandy said:
that is the best looking JB BMW i've ever seen.



Thank you for the kind words!



MAXSE2kMT said:
What year is this e92? I'm supposed to do a '08 335 soon and was told that 08 and on have a harder clear than the 07 and previous model years.



This one was a 09, I worked on an 09 335 Sparkling Graphite a couple weeks again and the clear was hard but there weren't too many imperfections to fix. You should be fine, if you've worked on some BMWs before. Good luck!



Scottwax said:
Damn fine work! :)



I feel your pain, done several jet black Bangled BMWs and every one is a nightmare. Washing them after compounding always leaves at least some marring no matter how gentle you try to be. At least #205 removes that marring and from that point on, no more washing until the LSP is in place!



Thank you!! :xyxthumbs
 
This looks unbelievable!



Realistically, how many of these treatments could a vehicle put up with in it's life time? I've been warned about using yellow foam pads and SSR2.5 with a PC, I can imagine using a wool pad with M105 on a rotary takes down a lot more paint than that!
 
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