2008 Space Gray M6 "Spit Shined"!

[d00t]

This car was a pleasure to work on. I really love the E60's BMW's, and was actually dreaming over an M6 in Monterey about a month back. The owner has only had the car since February, but he bought it brand new. It was a left over from '08 and he wanted it looking better than brand new.

The owner had sent the car off to the "detailers" and after 4 hours of work, it showed just that, 4 hours of work. Even in the heavy metallic flake of space gray you could could still see holograms popping out from the bottom of the hood, by the tonneau cover, and gas cap. As well as left over wax residue on the paint, and on the trim as well; and polish residue in most cracks/crevices. Needless to say, the owner wanted a bit more attention detail to be paid to on the car, as well as a glossy finish not achieved by the previous work.

Total time spent on the car was a touch over 25 hours!! On with the story..


When I first received the car at around Noon on Friday afternoon:















Left over wax and residue...







Door jambs showing a little wear and tear



The engine bay was dressed with some greasy dressing.. it'd need to be removed:





First up was the wheels, as usual. They were doused with P21S Wheel Gel and let sit. The tires got Eimann Fabrik Tire Cleaner and the wheel wells received Eimann Fabrik Hi-Intensity Cleaner



And then agitated with various brushes:





Once the wheels were finished, I pre-rinsed the car with the Karcher pressure washer filtered with DI water:



Then the car was foamed with a paint cleansing 2:1 ratio of Chemical Guys' Citrus Wash and Clear:



I was careful to keep as little foaming stage suds off the top as possible, because owning a convertible myself, I know how long it takes to get all the suds out of the poores of the fabric. It was later cleaned with 303 Convertible Top Cleaner, and Protected with 303 Fabric Guard.

After I had ONR'd the car, after my pressure washer took a dump along with my CR Spotless seen in a seperate thread, I spot clayed the car with Riccardo Yellow and Luber as clay lube.

The car was then inspected under halogen lights. It looked decent, but I didn't spend a lot of time trying to capture every defect because it would have been a waste of time trying to find the right angle/light source to picture defects in the very neutral silver metallic of Space Grey.

A few DEEP scratches:



There was also these REALLY weird spots on the paint, about three total, check these out:



I'm baffled as to what it is! It wasn't strike through because paint depth readings were consistant on and off the spots!

Trying to capture the holograms on the car:

[d00t]

Paint was a little bit on the thin side, but healthy non-the-less:



No pics of me polishing really. But the combo I ended up landing on was Menserna PO203 Power Finish + Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool for two passes on horizontle panels, and one pass on verticle panels. Then it was folowed up by Menzerna 106fa and a 3M UK Yellow Polishing pad for one pass to clear up the minor hazing left by the wool. But the BMW Clear was still tough as nails!

The headlights and taillights were also polished with this same process. They were then sealed with two coats of Jeff Werkstat's Acrylic Jett with an application of Acrylic Gloss in between, and then after.



Hood finished:





The wheels were polished with Jeff Werkstat's Prime Acrylic, Followed by two coats of Acrylic Jett with an application of Acrylic Glos in between each, and then a 3rd and final wipe down application of Acrylic Glos at the end of the detail. Tires and wheel wells got Meguiars Hyper Dressing cut 3:1 (tires and wheel wells not yet dressed in this pic):



Taking care of taping where I don't want the pads to hit on the windshield, as well as the top. I couldn't put the top down, as dusting was moderate. The 3" PFW's sure come in handy!

Also notice my new gadget. I just picked up some Shure SE110's. I used to use in-ear ear plugs but it was quite boring not having anything to occupy my senses besides a humming polisher. These headphones are the best of both worlds: drown out the noise of the polishes AND leaf blower, as well as allow me to listen to music while detailing!



Tail lights, like stated above, received Power finish+PFW x1 and then 106fa+3M Yellow x1:





Applying Acrylic Jett:



And then all sealed and finished:



Even the smallest nooks and crannys were polished to the best I could achieve in the small areas. Notice my finger in the front of the polisher to keep from the ruthless metal cover contacting the innocent bumper:



Using my new brinkman to show defects in the black painted areas. These areas on the mirrors, and around the windows were also treated in the same respect as the body.

Before:



After:



After the polishing was finished, it was rinsed off with the Pressure washer and then brought back inside to be blown dry as I'm waiting on my CR Spotless to be replaced (catastrophic failure--but Chuck at CRS is taking care of it!!).

Then I polished the glass with my flex DA, LC Flat Black pad, and Werkstatt's Prime Strong. This was followed up by Acrylic Jett, and then a coat of Acrylic Glos.



The exhaust tips, metal badges, key hole, and front grille were all polished with P21s polishing soap. This stuff is OUTSTANDING to say the least! Ten times better than the Mothers Mag&Aluminum I've been using!

Before:



50/50:



After:



Nifty little trunk pop on the M6.. but needed to be polished.

Before:



Used these+p21s polishing soap:



Much better:



Even the M6 trim on the side was treated with p21s polishing soap and some q-tip love:







After (sorry for the dust):





Next the door jambs, and door sills were polished with Zaino AIO:









The plastic trunk jambes were wiped down, then protected with 303 aerospace protectant:

Before:



After:

[d00t]

In order to get rid of the greesy dressing on the engine, I first wiped it down with P21S TAW on a damp rag, then instead of adding a dressing back on to the plastics, they were polished back to a matte luster (oxymoron anyone??) with ZAIO:



The interior got the usual treatment of a good vacuum. Carpets were cleaned with CG Citrus pad Cleaner. Leather was conditioned and protected with leather masters' Vital and Protection Cream. Dash was wiped down with a swiffer cloth, and then protected with 303 protectant.

Side note: as I was wiping down the dash, I felt like all I was doing is spreading dust around, so I said "wait a second.." and pulled a swiffer from the cleaning cabinet. Who said you can use these on the dash? It worked amazingly well, because of the static charge in the cloth it picks up, and traps the dirt. Just please don't use these on the paint :P.

Before interior:













Then to cleant he carpets, I used this contraption my dad made:





Using a swissvax leather brush, I agitated the dirt, then revacuumed, then groomed the carpets:



The pedals were sprayed with Meguiars APC cut 7:1 and then agitated with a boars hair interior brush, and then protected with 303.





Trunk took about 20-30 minutes to vacuum alone because of the short knap carpet.

Before:





After:



The interior carbon fibre and brushed pieces were also polished with ZAIO:





After:





The seals were also dressed/protected with 1z gummi pfledge stick.

The LSP of choice for this car was to spit shine Rubbish Boys' Original Edition on the car.

The first layer was applied at 7pm Monday night, and then wiped down with ice cold distilled water. Then the next morning, the second coat was applied, and again, wiped down with ice cold distilled water. I may be crazy, and it may be my head, but the wetness and clearity achieved from "spit shining" in combination with RBOE was something I haven't experience before, and it was worth the hassle of application of RBOE by a LONG shot.

Alright guys, here's a slew of afters for you:

Interior:

[d00t]

Excuse the extreme under exposure ahead of you.. I accidentally put the camera in "p" mode, and it didn't seem to adjust for the sun...

































Metal about 90% swirl free:









Sorry for all the pictures! I was enjoying this one for sure!

As always, C/C Welcome!

[bufferbarry]

Aaron nice work as always! don;t be sorry for all the pictures! we put our hearts and souls into this stuff. your work is always nice! you show great attetion to detail. as for me i like the longer write ups. it allows me to see other products, what people are doing and how there doing it. plus i think its great for new people who see our work. i think it inspires them. if people don;t wanna read threw it so be it! if they do great. this is a way for us to exspress our selves and show our work! great job man!

[bufferbarry]

oh yea i loved that last pic!!!!!

[corvette curt]

Whose turn is it to detail the yard??? Awesome job on the car

[TSC17]

Very nice work Aaron on a beautiful car. Thanks for going the extra mile on the write up and photography.

[stotte20]

wow awsome job and just the little things you do like polshing the badges and all the differnt peices is great.

[sal329]

What a beautiful E64 M. Great job, what was the owners reaction compared to the previous "detail" job

[AKOZ]

Wow, nice job. The pictures are what kept me reading. There is never a need to apologize for pictures of before and afters. Wish I could as good of job.

[Huy-Do]

How is the highline meter treating you? I'm curious how you got the measurement to be in mm.