First one done this week by Clark...

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This was the latest detail, a full correction job on what was even admitted by the owner as a pretty neglected M3, here it is in the Unit yesterday morning looking pretty flat and dull, the paintwork was covered in swirls and RIDS:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3v.jpg

The wheels were rather manky too....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3g.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3.jpg

Oh joy! :rolleyes:

As i mentioned, the owner had amitted that he had got a bit lazy with the car and hadn't given it the attention it needed and deserved (the car has only done approx 30k but you wouldnt have guessed it to look at it), so this detail was hopefully to be what would give him a "kick up the ar$e" and make him look after it properly from now on :)

So, on with the detail:

9:30am:

A slight delayed start as i had to take the owner home after he dropped the car off, so once back i took the car outside ready to be washed:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3s.jpg

This would be a good time to play with the new toy too, a nice new Karcher complete with hot water, ooooooooooh! :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3h.jpg

We've found that unless really dirty, most cars dont always need foamed as part of the pre-wash when rinsed at high pressure @ 35/40 degrees, and this was the case for the M3. So it was given a good rinse and i then set about cleaning the arches with Meguiars Super Degreaser cut 4:1 and door shuts etc cut 10:1.

Next up was the wheels, which were going to need a fair amount of work - just over 2 hours of work actually! this is what they looked like after a strong solution of Meguiars Wheel Brightener (menz 7.5 didnt do much, unsurprisingly):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3p.jpg

I eventually got them as clean as possible with the use of Autosmarts Tardis and a clay bar, but obviously this took a while due to the design of the wheel!

At this point the heavens opened so i stopped taking pics and got on with the rest of the wash process, the car was washed with the 2BM before using nearly a litre of Tardis, as you can see below - the car was covered in tar spots:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3m.jpg

The engine was soaked with Super Degreaser and rinsed @40 degrees after a few mins of dwelling time.

Last job was to clay the car, and i used Zymöl Lehm Clay for this as the paint was pretty rough. This was followed up with one last rinse @ 40 degrees and i then put the car inside to dry off as it was still pi$$ing down outside!

Total Wash time: 4.5 hours

14:00pm:

Once the car was dried off i taped up and took paint readings, which showed everything was nice and original at an average of 120 microns, although the lower parts and rear bumper were around the 85/90 mark.

I was going to need a fair bit of paint as the defects were bad, however due to the car being red (why do defects not show up that well on red?) they dont show that great on camera - yes they look bad enough but they were worse in the metal!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3z.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3y.jpg

I did a test section with Menz IP 3.02 and a Meguiars Polishing Pad @1800rpm's. This did sweet f*ck all to be honest as what appeared to be swirls at first were in fact all random scratches (i'm sure there were some swirls under there too!), i'd have needed 2 or 3 hits per section to even achieve anything like an acceptable level of correction, this paint was pretty hard too as you would expect.

Luckily, we have just taken delivery of a bunch of new 3M stuff so i decided to try out the 3M Compounding Pad:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3a.jpg

First impressions were "damn this thing is hard!", it makes the Megs Cutting Pad feel like a finishing pad!

However, this is a good thing as this is what my new test section looked like after i'd worked the IP with the 3M pad@1800rpm's:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3q.jpg

Result :thumb:

Combined with the 3M backing plate, i found the Compounding Pad a doddle to use, finding that it followed the contours of the panels with relative ease despite the firmness of its structure. A very high level of correction was achieved first time with several initial slow passes with firm pressure at the beginning of each set. The pad allowed for an LSP finish (although not as sharp as it could have been) but i wasnt paying too much attention in finishing down as i was going to go over the car again anyways :)

Here's a 50/50 on the door, you can see how much duller the un-polished side is:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3w.jpg

And completed:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3t.jpg

The side strips were also polished, with a Megs Polishing Pad & 3.02@1200rpm's, however i made very fast passes with minimul pressure to keep heat down:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3b.jpg

Some people tend to leave these after they've removed the tape but i hate seeing them all swirly compared to the rest of the de-swirled paint :)

21:00pm -End of day 1:

09:00 - Day 2:

I finished off the de-swirling - the front and rear bumpers/side skirts etc were polished with the Megs Pad and Rotary also, before i did the smaller areas with the PC and a 4" spot pad.

11:00am:

Next stage was to refine the finish even further (and remove the odd buffer trail) with a 3M Finishing Pad and Menzerna P085RD@1800rpm's:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3u.jpg

Fully worked and ready to buff off:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3r.jpg

This made a huuuuge difference to the clarity of the solid red paint:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3n.jpg

14:00pm:

The 2nd stage machine polishing only took approx 2 hours but by the time Angela had made me have my lunch (:p ) it was nearly 2 o clock so time was nipping on a bit.

As always, after the polishing was done i removed all the dust with a Zymöl duster and wiped down all the shuts etc before getting the Vintage out the fridge. This was applied to a German Applicator Pad as always:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3i.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3c.jpg

And applied to the whole car and left to cure:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3x.jpg

As always, while the wax cured i detailed the interior, polished the exhaust tips (these were proper black and needed compound), dressed the arches with Megs All Season Dressing, sealed the wheels with Poorboys wheel Sealant and did the tyres with Blackfire Long Lasting Tyre Gel.

I also applied 303 Aerospace Protectant to the Engine and buffed off:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3d.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3j.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3o.jpg

The wax was now ready to come off and i'd managed to get such a thin layer onto the paint that it didnt even need a wipe down before the pics :)

The car was now back to how red should look :thumb:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3f.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3l.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3k.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3qq.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3rr.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3ss.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3uu.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3ww.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3vv.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3xx.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3yy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3tt.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Clark_VTR/Cm3zz.jpg

So around 20 hours work in total for this one but i was quite pleased with the outcome, just wish the difference in the before and afters was as clear in the pics as it was in the metal :rolleyes:

Thanks for looking!

Just realised I really am an amateur LOL........Superb turnaround, bet the owner was really impressed, lovely car to work on too......

Looks sweet. :thumb:

That is one hell of a transformation. Superb work there. The wheels came up good

Very nice - question for you - ive just got some autosmart tardis off my rep - what do you use to apply it also do you use it neat?

how much did that detailing job cost?

Work like that is why you guys have such a long waiting list. Or was it a new BMW when he booked it in :lol1:

Very nice - question for you - ive just got some autosmart tardis off my rep - what do you use to apply it also do you use it neat?

Spray on neat, leave for 60 secs, then wipe over panel gently with soft plush microfibre towel, then finally rinse with hose - job done! :thumb:

how much did that detailing job cost?

£460 (inc VAT) for this one, made up of £360 for the work, and £100 for the Vintage application. :thumb:

Work like that is why you guys have such a long waiting list. Or was it a new BMW when he booked it in :lol1:

Lol, it is getting that way - we had an RS4 in recently where the owner had waited 3 months since new for the first detail with us... and hadn't washed it in between. We only just managed to save the wheels... the brake dust had just started to etch them. Not good! :(

£460 (inc VAT) for this one, made up of £360 for the work, and £100 for the Vintage application. :thumb:

If i was that customer, i would be well happy with spending so little for so much.

In such state people are always tempted to have their car resprayed. I now know where to send people with such type of car ;) but of course will let them know how long they shall have to wait

pb, im up in Thurso next month 13/14th, any room for a details before / after this date?

Sadly not... fully booked until June next year I'm afraid. :eek:

Great results, wheels are totally transformed. Fully booked for the next 6 months!!! Nice one guys.

You should start videoing the owners reactions when you unveil their car and then post it on hear.