Another Alpine White BMW 1M - Detailed by Lawrence

**LawrenceSA** · 08-06-2014, 08:34 AM

This car was just purchased by a client of mine and it was painfully clear that the previous owner didn`t show it the care it deserved.`
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I tackled the interior on Friday evening.
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There was the usual dust/dirt...

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This was remedied by first blowing out the interior with compressed air, then using various brushes and MF towels and Cyclo APC to clean all the interior plastics, then following this with an application of Autofinesse Spritz. Unfortunately the Alcantara had become a canvass for (presumably) the previous owner`s budding artist child....

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Here I have started cleaning this up (having tackled the top pen mark only)...
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All the Alcantara surfaces would be cleaned using Valet Pro Citrus Pre-wash diluted at 1:80, boars hair brushes, MF towels and a vacuum cleaner. The rest of the interior was also vacuumed and the leather cleaned using Glossworx Leather Cleaner, brushes and MF Towels.
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Saturday morning and time to get the `dirty work` out of the way...
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Before that though a few quick pics in the early morning light
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Notice how yellowed/dirty the PPF is
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There were also multiple areas where someone had obviously presumed what they were seeing was dirt stuck on the PPF and had decided to `scrub` it off....`
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But actually this was a chip in the PPF
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And this one was actually dirt under :bang: `the PPF
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Some more PPF damage found once the sun started shining properly
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The previous tire dressing (probably some cheap silicone stuff) that had slung off, depositing itself down both side of the car
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A combination of the aforementioned tire dressing and some dirt that was trapped under the PPF
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Some water spotting on the grill
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So time to start cleaning up all this mess, yes....
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First the arches were rinsed with a HP washer, sprayed with Cyclo APC via a foaming trigger head which was then allowed to dwell and then agitated with a Mothers Fender Well Brush. This was followed with another HP Rinse. The arches would later be dressed with Glossworx Extreme Tyre Shine
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Then it was time to move onto the wheels.
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The grime that builds up in `hard to reach` places that are not regularly cleaned
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So let`s see what cleaning them up involves
Before
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Mothers FX Wheel Cleaner (which was actually used to clean the tires) was sprayed on and left to dwell before being agitated with a Mothers Tire Brush and then HP rinsed.
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I then cleaned off the bulk of the dirt using Valet Pro Citrus Prewash diluted at 1:6 and HP rinsed this away before liberally spraying the wheel with Valet Pro Dragon`s breath. This was agitated using a Daytona Jnr and Valet Pro boars hair brushes before being thoroughly rinsed.`
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Valet Pro Citrus Tar Remover was used to take care of any tar deposits on the wheels, leaving the wheels properly clean. They would later be clayed and then sealed using Menerna Powerlock. The tires would be dressed using Optimum Tire Shine, which is slightly more glossy than the Optibond Tire Gel I regularly use. A little goes a long way as the product spreads very easily, and importantly, it dried to a nice even finish.
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And finally after
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A random pic of the `bleeding` effect of the iron remover.... the purple you see is dissolved iron.
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So with the wheels and arches now cleaned, it was time to address the engine bay.
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As you can see it too had been neglected....
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A mix of Valet Pro Citrus Pre wash, Cyclo APC and Chemical Guys maxi suds was sprayed into the engine bay using the foam cannon. This was left to dwell for a short while before various brushes were used to agitate the stubborn dirt. The bay was then rinsed and blown dry with compressed air. The engine bay would later be dressed with Glossworx Tire Dressing. I completely forgot to get any after pics of the engine bay

ops:`
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Next the door shuts, boot shut and fuel flap and badges were cleaned using Cyclo APC with Valet Pro brushes and then HP rinsed.
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`I then applied Valet Pro Citrus Pre-wash to the lower half of the car and left it to dwell. I then used Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II via the foam cannon to prefoam the car and HP rinsed. This was followed by a 2BM wash with Lambswool wash mitts and Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II as the shampoo. The car was then dried using ONR at QD strength with WW Drying towels and compressed air.
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Valet Pro Citrus Tar & Glue Remover was used to remove any tar spots. Then the car was sprayed with ample Valet Pro Dragon`s Breath which was allowed to dwell before being thoroughly rinsed. I then re-foamed the car and rinsed and dried it. Then the long process of claying began.`
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I then took many readings of the paint thickness, which averaged out to 110 microns over almost all of the vehicle, with the boot lid the only area showing and readings below 100. For the most part, plenty of paint to work with and so began the process of correcting the paint. After multiple test spots I settled on Menzerna FG400 with 5.5" LC Cyan pads and 4" LC Orange pads for the initial compounding step. This was then followed with Menzerna PF2500 with 5.5" LC Tangerine pads and 4" LC White pads.
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Before
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After
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After
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After
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Some other pictures of defects
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The Tail light were corrected using Menzerna FG400 with LC orange pads (4") followed by Menzerna SF4000 with LC grey pad (4")`
The PPF was corrected using Menzerna SF4000 with LC Crimson pads.
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The exhaust tips were cleaned using Valet Pro Dragons Breath, followed by Valet Pro Citrus Pre-wash diluted at 1:6 and were then polished using Mothers Power Metal.
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Before
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After
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The paint was then protected using Menzerna Powerlock and Autofinesse Tripple was used on the door jambs, boot jamb and in engine bay.
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The glass was cleaned using Glossworx Glass Cleaner and 2 coats of Insta Finish Bead Off were applied to the front windscreen. The door rubbers were cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner and dressed using Optimum Optibond Tire Gel
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