E46 M3 Alpine White detail

mikenap

mikenap

New member
The owner of this Alpine White M3 was introduced to me by a fellow E46 M3 owner at a recent Charlotte Cars&Coffee. After a few conversations, we settled on a time this past weekend to get his car cleaned up for an upcoming M3 get together. Since time was a definite factor, I managed the interior work on Saturday and returned on Sunday to wash/clay/one-step polish the exterior. Between both days, this car took about 14 hours to complete.



Starting in the trunk



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Moving inside





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Amazing what one 5-year old can do to an interior



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Almost got it all



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Once again, sunblock applied via 5-year old.



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Interior afters:

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Returned the following day for a wash



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Hard to see but this car had the most contamination and rust blooms of any car I've seen yet. Claying took FOREVER, and really had me wishing for some Iron-X.







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Proceeded with taping



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Tried capturing some defects, 50/50s and after shots, but it was hard to do on this color, plus my photography skills are sad.



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Looks like sanding marks, but the owner didn't know where they would have come from.





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The trunk was a carbon Vorsteiner CSL "bootlid" so I took it easy. The paint seemed thin, but my Highline II won't read carbon. So better safe than sorry, I stepped down to 205/tangerine to be safe. Took out most swirls but left some obvious RIDS. Also, from certain angles you could actually see the carbon weave under the paint. Weird.



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Afterwards, we pulled the wheels and cleaned them inside and out. Also cleaned the calipers and wheel wells. This is while cleaning the custom-painted calipers. After this, I steamed the wells and applied Hyperdressing.



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The exhaust tips were painted, so no steel wool here. Cleaned up as best I could with DG501.



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Finally, some after pictures. The better quality ones were taken by the owner!



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Thanks for looking!
 
Excellent Mike. Thats really freaking cool you can see the carbon weave on that $$ trunk! Car looks mega sharp now, the way it should.
 
Mike .................and you did all of this for $350.00 dollars.........................because all BMW's can be detailed for $350.00 dollars. Seriously the car is "Tightness certified", and also get the slight impression you might be partial to M cars................just a hunch I have :becky:
 
Brad B. said:
The guy has some big money wrapped up in mods. Now he has a detail to match!
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Thanks Brad! If you'd seen some of the cars he's had in the past(a C4 ZR-1 in high school!), the E46 seems a bit tame, but he's always loved this car and had to have one.



autoaesthetica said:
Excellent Mike. Thats really freaking cool you can see the carbon weave on that $$ trunk! Car looks mega sharp now, the way it should.
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Thanks Mike! The carbon was cool, but it scared me a little to see it. I guess the texture shows through even under several layers of paint. I couldn't see anything like that on the Vorsteiner hood, but apparently it had been repainted SEVERAL times, at least 4 that the owner knew of.



Shiny Lil Detlr said:
Looks pristine, Mike! Nice work sir.
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Thanks Charlie!



MachNU said:
Looks dam good Mike!
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Thank you Mike!



Auto Concierge said:
Mike .................and you did all of this for $350.00 dollars.........................because all BMW's can be detailed for $350.00 dollars. Seriously the car is "Tightness certified", and also get the slight impression you might be partial to M cars................just a hunch I have :becky:
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LOL, thanks Bob. I'm definitely a little biased toward M's in general and E46's in particular. Wonder why that is? ;) And yes, $350 is my go-to quote for BMWs. Sometimes I'll give a higher quote, then when they mention it's a Bimmer I immediately drop it to $350! :rofl
 
Auto Concierge said:
Mike .................and you did all of this for $350.00 dollars.........................because all BMW's can be detailed for $350.00 dollars. Seriously the car is "Tightness certified", and also get the slight impression you might be partial to M cars................just a hunch I have :becky:
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Only 6 series' qualify for the $350 price



Great detail Mike. I actually really like the calipers in white. Got me thinking of doing that this winter on my AW M3.
 
Great work Mike! That is definitely one highly modded M3! I think the decal on from stands for mod 4 life! :D
 
dschribs said:
Nice work Mike. Wheels look incredible.



The white interior trim is....well...interesting.....
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Actually, his business is doing that trim work! People will send him their BMW trim and he paints it to spec. I'm considering having him do mine.



AudiOn19s said:
Only 6 series' qualify for the $350 price



Great detail Mike. I actually really like the calipers in white. Got me thinking of doing that this winter on my AW M3.
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Thanks! Actually, anyone with a 6-series not only gets the "special" price but a round-trip ticket to San Diego is included as well! :lol



RaskyR1 said:
Great work Mike! That is definitely one highly modded M3! I think the decal on from stands for mod 4 life! :D
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Thanks Chad! When he got the car, he had the hood and trunk repainted because of a poor color match, and he also (this is hard to believe) REMOVED the VF supercharger that came with the car!



Tru_Shine said:
Love it, great job
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Thanks Eric!



Ch96067 said:
Beatiful work and revived interior!
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Thank you very much!
 
On a side note, I'd like to thank D'Burger for providing all us Autopians with a never-ending supply of inside jokes and a new signature for me!
 
michakaveli said:
Great job Mike!!



I dig that monochromatic look on that M :rockon:
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Thanks bro! I'm thinking of getting that trunk lid badge to replace mine. The colors are starting to fade, plus it would match my black-outs too.
 
Beautiful work as expect Mike. Vehicle looks very clean and "pure" which is how white can really stand out from a crowd of other colors. Looks absolutely amazing for her age, and thanks to your attention to detail, is no doubt making e90 series M3 owners jealous!
 
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