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

[MuttGrunt]

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...

[sal329]

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!