I completed this car last weekend. It was quite nice to work on.. a VERY well maintained car. I would say it was already at 85% but the owner wanted it as perfect as possible, and to pay attention to certain things, like the black trim, carbon roof, and really bringing the gloss white out of the M3.
This car is very tastefully modded with ecu flash, Dinan header back exhaust, filter, and all black badges inside/out. Beautiful black/white combo!
Anyways, on with the pictures..!
When I first got the car Friday morning:
(Notice how only the inside tip is dirty. That's because even Dinan has a little form over function in them! Since it's a straight piped exhaust, to increase flow it only goes to one pipe, instead of flowing to both--I thought it was really cool!)
Minor dirt build up:
Tire sling:
Wheels not bad at all:
The owner had requested I pay particular condition to the engine bay. As he's an enthusiast of detailing, he has a fair amount of products. One is black wow. Unfortunately he applied this to the engine bay. And knowing how finiky black wow is to work with.. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty!! Smearing galore...
Before:
I first pressure rinsed the engine bay down, then sprayed a liberal amount of P21S TAW to all surfaces.
While that was dwelling, I went ahead and foamed the car. I did this with a heavy concentration of Optimum Power Clean due to the owner keeping the car freshly sealed and waxed with a JS109/Swissvax Glacier combination.
Everything was then pressure rinsed down, including the engine bay I pulled the car inside for a lightly claying. It wasn't too bad, but I wanted to be sure I had a perfectly clean surface, I chose Sonus Green poly clay for the lack of contamination on the paint, and the soft texture of the clay.
After the car was taped, I attempted to take pictures of the defects. The car, as I said, was in very good condition, but had a decent amount of RIDS clusters and some light wash marring.
On with the polishing! I figured I'd use the "money combo" on this car with P0203s and a PFW pad. It wasn't cutting it! I ended up stepping the combination to the following three step: 3M UK Fast Cut Plus and a 3M UK Green Pad, with some areas requiring a PFW pad, followed by M205 with a LC Black pad on the
Flex DA, and then to gain the level of gloss both the owner and I were after, I finished it off with 3M Ultrafina and a 3M UK Blue pad.
Some 50/50's before ultrafina.
Another pass was made to ensure those last few RIDS were taken care of.
I pulled it back in to continue polishing. Getting the front bumper:
The condition of the black trim on the mirrors:
Generally speaking most cars of the same make, the jet black, or basic gloss black paint will be softer than the other colors. Using this idea, I didn't go nearly as aggressive with the black trim. I used a 3M UK Green pad and PO203S, Followed by M205 on both 3M UK Yellow, and finally again on 3M UK Blue pads to ensure correction, and ample gloss.
After:
Black trim around windows before:
During:
After:
. it is great to see white "pop". i'm a little biased though.
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