Alpine White BMW 330D - Detailed by Lawrence

[LawrenceSA]

Overall the paint on this car had minimal swirls, but there were about 5 'patches' on the car where the paint was really bad... they were in random sections and are presumably from someone getting very aggressive when washing off ?Dirt/birdbombs? The paint was also pretty thin (got readings ranging from 64µ upwards, but mostly around the 80µ mark) and so the plan was to use Menzerna 3-in-1 on the whole car, then go and 'spot repair' any of the bad areas where the 3-in-1 couldn't cut it (pun intended :lol: )


So on to the detail itself, working from 'dirty' to 'clean'....


Engine Bay
-Clean with Cyclo APC and various brushes and MF towels and protected with Aerospace 303. No water was used and no real before/after pics taken, save for the 2 below....


Before

During

Arches
-HP rinse (a lot for the carpeted liners which can be a real PITA to get clean)
-Clean with Cyclo APC using a Mothers Fenderwell Brush
-HP rinse
-Dressed with Aerospace 303


Tires
-Clean tires with Valet Pro Billbery Wheel Cleaner @ 1:6 and a Mothers Tire brush.
-HP rinse
-Repeat tire cleaning
-HP rinse
-Dressed with 2 coats of Optimum Tire Sheen 12 hours apart


Wheels
-HP rinse
-VP Bilberry Wheel Cleaner @ 1:6, Daytona and Daytona Jnr brushes and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP rinse
-Dry
-Remove tar using VP Citrus Tar Remover
-Spray with APC and HP Rinse
-Dry
-Remove bonded and embedded ferrous contaminants on wheels and brake calipers with Autofinesse Iron Out, Daytona (big and small) brushes and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP Rinse + flood rinse
-Dry
-Polished with Meznerna FG400 and a MF applicator by hand
-Protected with Collinite #845


Before

After

Before

During

After

Door/Boot Jamb/Petrol Flap
-HP rinse
-Clean with Cyclo APC and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP rinse
-Autofinesse Tripple


Wash
-HP rinse
-Gyeon Q2M Foam - mixed at 1:5 / MTM Hydro / Karcher K7 .
-HP Rinse
-Charchem Shampoo
-2 Buckets
-Grit Guards
-4 x Lambswool Wash Mitts
-HP rinse
-Flood rinse
-ONR at QD ratio
-Waffle weave drying towels


Decontamination
-Shield Heavy Duty Clay / ONR - the vehicle had a LOT of contamination on it, especially for its age.


Paint correction
Paint Readings
-64µ to 108µ - mostly around the 80µ mark...
Bumpers
-Flex 3401
-5" Lake Country Hybrid White / Menzerna 3-in-1
Door handles
-Meguiars Ultimate Compound / MF applicator
B-pillars
-Shield DA
-Menzerna PF2300
-4.5"Lake Country White


Before

During

Remainder of vehicle
-Flex 3401
-6.5" and 5" Lake Country Hybrid White / Menzerna 3-in-1.
-For the really bad sections I then did one pass of Menzerna PF2300 on a Orange Lake Country Hybrid, not to get it perfect but just to get it acceptable. With the car being so new (its a 2014 model but new to this owner) and the paint being so thin, it was decided to preserve as much of the clear coat as possible.


Before

After only 3-in-1

After PF2300

Before

After 3-in-1

Tailights
-Flex 3401
-Menzerna PF2300
-5"Lake Country Hybrid White


Protection
-2 Coats Collinite 915. This was my first time using this wax and I am really impressed with it. Looking very forward to using it on the next detail, which happens to be a black car


Glass
-Shield Heavy Duty Clay / ONR
-Glossworx Glass Cleaner
-Wynns C-Thru


Badges
-Autofinesse Tripple
-Cotton buds


Before

After

Door rubbers, window rubbers, exterior plastic trim
- Cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner
- Protected using Aerospace 303


Interior
-Blower
-Autofinesse Spritz
-Autofinesse Hide
-Collinite #855
-Vacuum (Flex)


Exhaust Tips
-Cyclo APC
-Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish
Before

During

After

Some shots of the car still in the garage

And outside in the dying light just before the owner came to collect

Total time spent = 25 hours


Thanks for looking and as always and comments or questions are welcome.


:hi:

 

[vjaneczko]

Great work! Question; how did you clean/polish the gunk out of the '330d' badge - q-tips?

 

[LawrenceSA]

Great work! Question; how did you clean/polish the gunk out of the '330d' badge - q-tips?

Thanks

Yes I usually wash them with a boars hair brush and some APC during the wash to get rid of any 'loose' dirt... then I will take a q-tip, our a blob of Autofinesse Tripple on to the end of a Q-tip and use that to then cover the badges and all the painted areas in between the badges with a fairly 'wet' coat of Tripple. I then let it sit for about a minute and then use the Q-tip to gently polish the area clean.

I have found Tripple to be really good at the cleaning aspect and so ingrained dirt that has been building up for many years comes out pretty easily.... and it obviously leaves a little something behind for protection too.

 

[Ronkh]

Nice work

 

[jimmie jam]

Nothing better than clean, crisp white.

 

[LawrenceSA]

Thanks guys

 

[MikeSA]

Very nice Lawrence. I have an F30 M Sport and struggle to polish, with a Shield DA, the front bumper even when using 4 inch pads. How did you polish the difficult to reach areas on the bumper?