Nikku Detailed: BMW M3

Nikku · 06-22-09, 12:23

Hey everyone,

Had a client come in for an extensive interior clean and a one step polish. He will hopefully be coming back for a full paintwork restoration.

I know the colour is hit and miss when it comes to everyones opinion but the
colour grew on me.

In anycase the vehicle was brought to me in extremely contaminated condition. There was a lot of claying needed. I used a total of 4 full clay bars. I usually only need 1. The interiors leather needed a lot of attention you will be able to tell by the pictures. You will also notice that I did a lot of cue tipping. I found it relaxing inbetween all the claying and polishing.

We will start with the interior pictures and then to the exterior.

Hope you enjoy.

Cheers,
Nick

Process
Wash
3 buckets
EZ Brush
2 Wheel Brushes
Cue Tips
P21S TAW
P21S Wheel Cleaner
P21S Metal Polish
Stoners Tarminator
Meguiars Gold Class
2 Sheep Skin Mitts
3 Chenille Mitts
32 ouch bottle and sprayer
4 Waffle Weave Towels

Clay
4 x Riccardo Yellow
Water and Soap 4:1 ratio
32 ounce Bottle and Sprayer

Paint Correction
Sonus White 6"
LCC White 4"
Menzerna Power Finish
Metabo
3M BP
RB BP
2 Halogens
3M Sun Gun
Fenix TK10

Interior
P21S TAW dilluted
Steamer
Ridgid Wet Vac
PB Leather Stuff
Folex
303 Aerospace Protectant
Tons of Microfibres
Stoners Invisible Glass

LSP
Zaino Z2Pro
Zaino Grand Finale

INTERIOR BEFORES

Grimy seat.

In these two pictures I was removing the dirt that was stuck on the excess grease on the seats track system with several cue tips.

This is what I pulled off the leather after steaming them. Steam was applied after a light rub down with P21S TAW, six parts water and one part p21s.

Leather being warmed up before application of Poorboys Leather Stuff ( I just loved the smell and the conditioning properties )

INTERIOR AFTERS

Now on to the exterior

BEFORES

Just doing some drying with the compressor. They come in real handy for tight spots. It helps avoid little droplets of water when you're buffing and slightly vibrating the panels.

Nikku · 06-22-09, 12:24

Now moving on to a few pictures of the paintwork that I had to work with.

Front plate holder. Dirty much? Yes, my final answer.

Next up are shots of the tips. I was feeling tired that day and just needed something not quite as physically exerting for at least a few minutes. The owner thought the tips were suppose to be matte silver but...

Next up are a shots of claying and I pulled the car back out as the sun started to peek out a little to get some sun shots of defects.

Hood test panel and correction.

Halogens were used for this 50/50. This was after 1 pass of Sonus white and power finish.

With 3M Sungun.

Trunk Corrected

After polishing before LSP

Nikku · 06-22-09, 12:26

Cue Tipping FUN !
There was just grime everywhere. Trunk Keyhole, General Trunk area, Driver Side Keyhole, Between Panels, etc. etc. It was very relaxing for me. I am all about instant gratification and there is nothing like getting rid of grime with a cue tip and a little TAW.

Swirled back light. The Driver side rear light was replaced and was swirl free. Only the passenger side rear light needed attention. The end result is in the afters area.

AFTERS

Now on to the moment I was personally looking forward to. Thanks again for hanging around this long.

Customer Pick up Pictures

Thanks for looking.

4fit? · 06-22-09, 01:33

Nice recovery. That M3 was pretty thrashed.

bufferbarry · 06-22-09, 02:30

nice work man! that cars color looks so different clean and polished out correctly. great job!

Integra-S · 06-22-09, 03:14

geez that was one dirty M3. nice work

RyansAutoDetail · 06-22-09, 04:10

very good work !!! ... did it really need 4 clay bars, i find that hard to believe.

like i got the small case of two riccardo clay bars and i can easily cut both of those into 2-3 pieces for a total of 4 to 6 mini bars which can easily do up to 8 cars worth for sure

mikenap · 06-22-09, 04:30

As an M3 owner, this makes me cringe. Especially since Dakar Yellow is such a rare and sought-after color. Should've taken better care of it from the start.

gofast908z · 06-22-09, 05:56

That looks great! Very thorough writeup and excellent pictures.

Horrid color, but excellent job!!!

Nikku · 06-23-09, 10:49

Thanks for the comments everyone.

In terms of the usage of 4 clay bars. I found it necessary. The amount of contaminant warranted the usage of 4. I did not want to introduce anymore marring to the paint. A clay bar was pretty used for every two panels. The dirt you see picked up in the above pictures was not after I was finished. They were near the beginning

In any case thanks for looking guys !

Jakerooni · 06-23-09, 01:44

awesome turn around. Nice attention to details there. have you ever tried the steamer on the keyholes? I've found personally they tend to work a little better and quicker than the q-tips. Just food for thought in case... It's like night and day with the before and afters on that.

xspwrstang · 06-23-09, 02:18

I love those cars...great job on an awesome machine! This is what you call a real detail.