WX51 TXR
03-03-2007, 03:52 PM
This was an almost perfect job. Protection only detail on a Porsche Cayenne on day 1, followed by a two day correction detail on this BMW 320Ci on days two and three – all in a nice big, well equipped garage. Clark did the Cayenne on his own, and didn’t bother with any pics, as it was fairly clean to start with. However, we knew that the BMW was going to pose more of a challenge, so we employed our standard tag team routine from the outset. You’ll notice from some of the pictures below the absence of the driver’s door mirror – what isn’t so noticeable is the hard life this car has already had (it’s only two years old), with the paint featuring ubiquitous swirls, numerous deep random scratches and several small dents. With a new wing mirror on the way, all we had to do was correct this list of defects (with the exception of the dents!), and add winter protection. In a change to the regular way we write up, here we describe what we did and only what we finished with…
Wash
Whole car was foamed, pressure washed, washed by hand, rinsed, treated with glue and tar remover, refoamed and then rinsed again. Arches were degreased and pressure washed, wheels were cleaned with wheel cleaners and wheel brushes.
Clean
The fingertip test revealed plenty of bonded surface contaminants on the horizontal panels, so these were clayed using an aggressive clay bar.
Polish
After final drying off following the claying step, here’s what we were dealing with, and some of the equipment we used to sort the paint out…
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci1.jpg
With plenty of paint to play with (120 microns on average over the whole car) we set to work by compounding all of the panels using a rotary polisher, and then followed this up by applying a finishing polish, again by rotary. One attempt on each panel was largely sufficient to give 99% correction – a couple of panels received multiple attempts in order to nip out more serious defects – all work was monitored using a digital paint gauge. Here’s some good 50:50 shots…
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci3.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci4.jpg
And some decent before and afters of the bootlid…
Before
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci5.jpg
After
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci6.jpg
Wash
Whole car was foamed, pressure washed, washed by hand, rinsed, treated with glue and tar remover, refoamed and then rinsed again. Arches were degreased and pressure washed, wheels were cleaned with wheel cleaners and wheel brushes.
Clean
The fingertip test revealed plenty of bonded surface contaminants on the horizontal panels, so these were clayed using an aggressive clay bar.
Polish
After final drying off following the claying step, here’s what we were dealing with, and some of the equipment we used to sort the paint out…
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci1.jpg
With plenty of paint to play with (120 microns on average over the whole car) we set to work by compounding all of the panels using a rotary polisher, and then followed this up by applying a finishing polish, again by rotary. One attempt on each panel was largely sufficient to give 99% correction – a couple of panels received multiple attempts in order to nip out more serious defects – all work was monitored using a digital paint gauge. Here’s some good 50:50 shots…
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci3.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci4.jpg
And some decent before and afters of the bootlid…
Before
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci5.jpg
After
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/bmw320ci/bmw320ci6.jpg