Nikku Detailed: BMW M3

[Nikku]

Hey everyone,



Had a client come in for an extensive interior clean and a one step polish. He will hopefully be coming back for a full paintwork restoration.



I know the colour is hit and miss when it comes to everyones opinion but the

colour grew on me.



In anycase the vehicle was brought to me in extremely contaminated condition. There was a lot of claying needed. I used a total of 4 full clay bars. I usually only need 1. The interiors leather needed a lot of attention you will be able to tell by the pictures. You will also notice that I did a lot of cue tipping. I found it relaxing inbetween all the claying and polishing.



We will start with the interior pictures and then to the exterior.



Hope you enjoy.



Cheers,

Nick



Process

Wash

3 buckets

EZ Brush

2 Wheel Brushes

Cue Tips

P21S TAW

P21S Wheel Cleaner

P21S Metal Polish

Stoners Tarminator

Meguiars Gold Class

2 Sheep Skin Mitts

3 Chenille Mitts

32 ouch bottle and sprayer

4 Waffle Weave Towels



Clay

4 x Riccardo Yellow

Water and Soap 4:1 ratio

32 ounce Bottle and Sprayer



Paint Correction

Sonus White 6"

LCC White 4"

Menzerna Power Finish

Metabo

3M BP

RB BP

2 Halogens

3M Sun Gun

Fenix TK10



Interior

P21S TAW dilluted

Steamer

Ridgid Wet Vac

PB Leather Stuff

Folex

303 Aerospace Protectant

Tons of Microfibres

Stoners Invisible Glass



LSP

Zaino Z2Pro

Zaino Grand Finale



INTERIOR BEFORES

Grimy seat.

In these two pictures I was removing the dirt that was stuck on the excess grease on the seats track system with several cue tips.

This is what I pulled off the leather after steaming them. Steam was applied after a light rub down with P21S TAW, six parts water and one part p21s.

Leather being warmed up before application of Poorboys Leather Stuff ( I just loved the smell and the conditioning properties )



INTERIOR AFTERS

Now on to the exterior



BEFORES

Just doing some drying with the compressor. They come in real handy for tight spots. It helps avoid little droplets of water when you're buffing and slightly vibrating the panels.

 

[Nikku]

Now moving on to a few pictures of the paintwork that I had to work with.

Front plate holder. Dirty much? Yes, my final answer.



Next up are shots of the tips. I was feeling tired that day and just needed something not quite as physically exerting for at least a few minutes. The owner thought the tips were suppose to be matte silver but...

Next up are a shots of claying and I pulled the car back out as the sun started to peek out a little to get some sun shots of defects.

Hood test panel and correction.

Halogens were used for this 50/50. This was after 1 pass of Sonus white and power finish.

With 3M Sungun.

Trunk Corrected

After polishing before LSP

 

[Nikku]

Cue Tipping FUN !

There was just grime everywhere. Trunk Keyhole, General Trunk area, Driver Side Keyhole, Between Panels, etc. etc. It was very relaxing for me. I am all about instant gratification and there is nothing like getting rid of grime with a cue tip and a little TAW.

Swirled back light. The Driver side rear light was replaced and was swirl free. Only the passenger side rear light needed attention. The end result is in the afters area.



AFTERS



Now on to the moment I was personally looking forward to. Thanks again for hanging around this long.

Customer Pick up Pictures

Thanks for looking.

 

[4fit?]

Nice recovery. That M3 was pretty thrashed.

 

[Barry Theal]

nice work man! that cars color looks so different clean and polished out correctly. great job!

 

[Integra-S]

geez that was one dirty M3. nice work

 

[imported_RyansAutoDetail]

very good work !!! ... did it really need 4 clay bars, i find that hard to believe.



like i got the small case of two riccardo clay bars and i can easily cut both of those into 2-3 pieces for a total of 4 to 6 mini bars which can easily do up to 8 cars worth for sure

 

[mikenap]

As an M3 owner, this makes me cringe. Especially since Dakar Yellow is such a rare and sought-after color. Should've taken better care of it from the start.

 

[white gecko]

That looks great! Very thorough writeup and excellent pictures.



Horrid color, but excellent job!!!

 

[Nikku]

Thanks for the comments everyone.



In terms of the usage of 4 clay bars. I found it necessary. The amount of contaminant warranted the usage of 4. I did not want to introduce anymore marring to the paint. A clay bar was pretty used for every two panels. The dirt you see picked up in the above pictures was not after I was finished. They were near the beginning



In any case thanks for looking guys !

 

[imported_Jakerooni]

awesome turn around. Nice attention to details there. have you ever tried the steamer on the keyholes? I've found personally they tend to work a little better and quicker than the q-tips. Just food for thought in case... It's like night and day with the before and afters on that.

 

[xspwrstang]

I love those cars...great job on an awesome machine! This is what you call a real detail.

 

[Scottwax]

Nice recovery, looks tons better.



I have a customer with that color (Phoenix gold) and I agree, it isn't for everyone.

 

[gtppilot]

Amazing. Talk about making the most of a not so pretty color. The owner probably forgot how good that car could look. Congrats !!

 

[Thats Fresh]

great work on the M3. your exposures were a bit off in most of the pictures not showing the true color of DAKAR yellow

 

[Nikku]

Thanks for the comments guys !



In terms of the photography skills I am definitely lacking. The pictures were taken on auto with and without flash.

 

[Scottwax]

great work on the M3. your exposures were a bit off in most of the pictures not showing the true color of DAKAR yellow

Looks like Phoenix Gold to me...

 

[OCDinPDX]

I'm going for Phoenix Gold, too...my neighbor has an M3 in that color and it is pretty horrid. Much different than Dakar Yellow.



Very nice work! That car was wrecked.

 

[mikenap]

E46 M3s come in Phoenix YELLOW, or in this case Dakar Yellow. Dakar Yellow was available as a BMW Individual color for the E46, although it was a factory color for the E36. Phoenix Yellow is more of an electric yellow, with a hint of green in certain light.

 

[///alpinepower]

As an M3 owner, this makes me cringe. Especially since Dakar Yellow is such a rare and sought-after color. Should've taken better care of it from the start.

that's pheonix yellow metallic....