1989 BMW 325i E30 paint correction

**Tru_Shine** · 03-23-2010, 02:02 PM

So this past weekend I drove up to Sevierville Tn to wet sand, buff and polish a old BMW 325i that a client of mine had stashed in a barn for awhile. He had previously washed and claybared it but noticed that it was going to take a little bit more to bring this bad boy to a Tru Shine

Tools & Products

Highline meter 2 Paint thickness gauge

harbor freight Rotary

Meguiars W66 BP

3" Rotary backing plate

Meguiars M105/M205

Lake country PFW,Orange,cyan,tangerine,white pads

3m Hookit II p1500 wetsanding paper

Eagle p3000 wetsanding paper

Flex 3401 VRG

Brinkman`s Duel Xenon light

Blackfire Wet diamond

Griot`s Garage 3" orbital with various backing plates

3m blue painters tape

So I got there and he had it washed, taped up and ready to go for me to get right to work.

Here is what I pulled up to

So we pushed it into the Garage and I took measurements of the paint thickness to see what I was working with.

So over all the paint on the horizontal panals were pretty healthy and some of the side panels were a little low.

Well this being an 89 i was not sure if it was 1 Stage paint or 2 Stage so I gave it a little whirl and guess what?

Single Stage!!!! YAY!!!! Now I am going to leave here PINK!!

So after examining the 21 year old surface I noticed lots of acid rain spots and deep little pits, and TONS of Scratches. So I wet sanded a little spot to see if the owner wanted to step up the job a little. I wet sanded with p1500 grit and then followed by 3000 grit.

This was the before surface

To this!

Looks great but we decided to not do the hood because it was REALLY eaten up by rock chip. But we wetsanded the whole roof and trunk in the end

All of the paint was really dull and oxidized and the M105/Purple foamed wool pad really brought out the Shine.

after that step I Polished with the M205/tangerine LC Hydrotech pad

and it came out to this

The Front bumper was Completely pink when I started but came out real nice

you cant forget the lower panels either

Here is a shot of the door are just M105/PFW

The rear bumper was just the same as the front

This is a 50/50 using the Brinkman`s Duel Xenon swirl finder light

Continued below!

**Tru_Shine** · 03-23-2010, 02:03 PM

Check out the difference what a little M105/orange pad can do to the mirrors

These are the little pits and scratches that I described earlier. This is after the M105/PFW via Rotary

So we wetsanded the roof and trunk and finished buffing the car and here are the Final Shot (sorry there not any sun shots, It was 11:30pm when I finished)

The single stage paint is fun but messy, Everything I had was Pink or red

I finished off with a Coat of Black Fire Wet Diamond

And Yes those are Future Detail write ups in the back ground. along with a couple more Suprises

Next week is the 2007 Black Z06 Vette! :dance:dance:waxing::chuckle:

More On page 2

**D Tailor** · 03-23-2010, 04:12 PM

Wow Eric! Thats a classic hot whip and a super nice job! Did you use the Griots for wetsanding?

Again...you definitley restored its soul and I look forward to those other writeups...thats what I`m talking about!

**somebody** · 03-23-2010, 04:33 PM

Nice work Eric! I have a red 88 E30 as my daily driver that I need to get around to polishing because oxidation has taken it over, I just have been busy with clients cars. I like the E30 M3 race car.

Brandon

**alwaysbored786** · 03-23-2010, 06:17 PM

damn! nice turn around, you brought that thing back to life! Cant wait to see the future write ups

**cwsjx** · 03-23-2010, 06:31 PM

sweet job!!!!! how many miles on the beemer??

**Scottwax** · 03-23-2010, 06:33 PM

Looks amazing! Love how well single stage red looks when done right. :up

**jsantoro** · 03-23-2010, 06:39 PM

F#$k the vette, I wanna see track footage of E30 M and 911

**MIkes250r** · 03-24-2010, 03:54 AM

Don`t paint it just correct it! Awesome job Eric. I am so looking forward to having you come down and correct the paint on my Tundra. You definitely have a gift for resurrecting old cars back from the dead. Call me when you get ready to come to Bama.

MIke

**DaGonz** · 03-24-2010, 05:30 AM

Wow.... you brought that back to life!

:2thumbs:

**corrswitch** · 03-24-2010, 07:56 AM

you restored its life back

**Tru_Shine** · 03-24-2010, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by D Tailor

Wow Eric! Thats a classic hot whip and a super nice job! Did you use the Griots for wetsanding?

Again...you definitley restored its soul and I look forward to those other writeups...thats what I`m talking about!

Yes I actually experimented a little with the Griots 3" orbital with a 6" backing plate, but it didn`t feel right on large panels, almost like it needed more lube on the surface or it would grab it real hard and not make a smooth run. So then a light bulb came on above my head! The Flex! so I put the foam interface pad on my flex BP and lubed up the surface turned it on real slow and began to turn up the power to about 2.5 and it worked AWSOME!! before I always wetsanded via Pnumatic DA but when I go mobile I dont have a compressor. so now I can wet sand mobile!!!! YAY:buffing::clap:

P.S

If anyone thinks this is a bad idea LMK. cuz it seemed to work pretty good but I`m no scientist. :thx

Originally Posted by lt1_man

Nice work Eric! I have a red 88 E30 as my daily driver that I need to get around to polishing because oxidation has taken it over, I just have been busy with clients cars. I like the E30 M3 race car.

Brandon

Yeah that car is Crazy! its not an M3 though its an 87 325i with a eruo 3.0 motor. and me and the DAD (owner of race cars and vette) stood around and talked a couple hours about all the suspension mods and tack stories. It was a fun family to work with. and their food was amazing!:2thumbs:

Originally Posted by cwsjx

sweet job!!!!! how many miles on the beemer??

edit: 274,000 miles

:nervous2:

but the motor in that race car is getting put in the red one and the race car is getting a new TOP SECRET motor installed. something about a 5.4 liter motor or somthing!:getdown:nervous2:

Originally Posted by Anthrassat1.8T

F# the vette, I wanna see track footage of E30 M and 911

He`s got big pictures in their office of him on the track. I`ll snap some shots of them this weekend when I go back up there to do the vette!:clap:

Originally Posted by MIkes250r

Don`t paint it just correct it! Awesome job Eric. I am so looking forward to having you come down and correct the paint on my Tundra. You definitely have a gift for resurrecting old cars back from the dead. Call me when you get ready to come to Bama.

MIke

I cant wait. all I gotta do is get my fuel pump replaced and rear axle bearing replaced and i`ll be good to go.:buffing::2thumbs:

Originally Posted by corrswitch

you restored its life back

Thanks everyone for all the complements:wavey:thx

**white gecko** · 03-24-2010, 10:44 AM

Wow that came out really good! I think the black mirror was one of the coolest pics!! Congrats on a job VERY well done!

**Luke_M** · 03-24-2010, 11:35 AM

Hey guys,

That is my little E30 and Eric did a great job. My brother found it on a car lot several years ago and it had a blown motor (timing belt broke) and I just so happened to have spare engine.

We drove it for a while but I put it in a barn for 2-3 years and the way it looks now is just amazing. It`s crazy the condition this car is in given it is 21 years old, has 274,000+miles and the fact that it spent a few years in a barn, not sealed storage but a barn. The seats are almost perfect! I call it the miracle car lol

Eric went above and beyond and that was well appreciated. Even when it was late and he had been working on it for 12+ hours he still did some extras like the mirrors and under the bumper etc. He really enjoys the work and that`s what you want.

The euro 3.2 from the race car is being kept to be transplanted into the red e30 in the next few years. No big hurry right now and the motor to replace it in the race car is the S54 engine from an E46 M3. Big power to be made there. 400hp+

Thanks again Eric! See you Saturday lol