Well, I had this one last Sunday, but only just got chance to sort through all the pictures for it.
Having watched me going over Addz's new mini, a friend asked me to detail his M3 for him... but we delayed it untill the nights drew out a bit.
So with the lovely weather we had last weekend, I set to work on the barge-tastic german thing.
Upon arrival:
Very clean to begin with, having only been washed the day before.
Today was more about the polishing, and trying to get a decent finish to the paintwork.
Having covered something daft like 130,000 miles, certain areas were worse than others.
So out with all my stuff!
Washed with the 2 bucket method and BTBM, although only one bucket can be seen...
Sills cleaned:
Clean car again
...and now moving onto the clay. I used a megs clay bar, as I prefer it to everything else I've tried. Can't get on with the softer clay bars, as they just fall apart in your hands.
Now, to Jons (owner) knowledge, the car had never been clayed, and he was fairly sure we would find a lot of overspray around the wheels. Since the dealer he bought it from sprayed the wheels while on the car
Going on this though, the car was incredibly clean. Clay wasn't picking anything up off the roof or sides of the car, worst affected area was along the lower half of the doors, behind the front and infront of the rear wheels.
My roof alone gets dirtier than that!
Claying done. Mr Gray visible in the background, he's dweamy tbh.
Worst affected areas cleaned up nicely!
Washed again after claying, using the same process as before:
This time I remembered the fuel filler cap.
Wheels cleaned with AG products and assortments of brushes. My long reach wheel brush actually struggled to reach the inside edge of the rear wheels!
Engine bay was cleaned down with AG engine cleaner and plastics dressed with AG bumper care.
After pictures are a little sparse with the engine bay, since it was late by the time we finished everything.
Lovely dull tail pipes:
Again, after pictures weren't taken until end of the day
Car brought under shelter for polishing: (normally this is to keep it out of any potential rain, but today it was to keep it out of the heat!!)
Now recently, I've seen a lot of good results using lime prime, so thought I'd give it a try. Ordered in a new megs cutting pad as well, to try and combat the German paint.
Boot lid finished up:
Very pleased with the result.
There were very few swirls to begin with actually, but now even less!
Rear quarter done:
Sun gun? There's an App for that.
Now. The headlights. They had done many many miles, and they showed that they had done many many miles. Very dull, and the plastic was generally "frosty".
So....
Hai
Still not quite polished back up nicely^
Finished vs not finished:
Polishing all done:
Time for wax. This is where the minions stepped in and took over. I went for a shower, because I could.
Orange crush was the only hard wax I had to hand, so that did nicely. Smelt awesome too.
Finished shots:
Depth much?
8 Hours, job done.
Having watched me going over Addz's new mini, a friend asked me to detail his M3 for him... but we delayed it untill the nights drew out a bit.
So with the lovely weather we had last weekend, I set to work on the barge-tastic german thing.
Upon arrival:
Very clean to begin with, having only been washed the day before.
Today was more about the polishing, and trying to get a decent finish to the paintwork.
Having covered something daft like 130,000 miles, certain areas were worse than others.
So out with all my stuff!
Washed with the 2 bucket method and BTBM, although only one bucket can be seen...
Sills cleaned:
Clean car again
...and now moving onto the clay. I used a megs clay bar, as I prefer it to everything else I've tried. Can't get on with the softer clay bars, as they just fall apart in your hands.
Now, to Jons (owner) knowledge, the car had never been clayed, and he was fairly sure we would find a lot of overspray around the wheels. Since the dealer he bought it from sprayed the wheels while on the car
Going on this though, the car was incredibly clean. Clay wasn't picking anything up off the roof or sides of the car, worst affected area was along the lower half of the doors, behind the front and infront of the rear wheels.
My roof alone gets dirtier than that!
Claying done. Mr Gray visible in the background, he's dweamy tbh.
Worst affected areas cleaned up nicely!
Washed again after claying, using the same process as before:
This time I remembered the fuel filler cap.
Wheels cleaned with AG products and assortments of brushes. My long reach wheel brush actually struggled to reach the inside edge of the rear wheels!
Engine bay was cleaned down with AG engine cleaner and plastics dressed with AG bumper care.
After pictures are a little sparse with the engine bay, since it was late by the time we finished everything.
Lovely dull tail pipes:
Again, after pictures weren't taken until end of the day
Car brought under shelter for polishing: (normally this is to keep it out of any potential rain, but today it was to keep it out of the heat!!)
Now recently, I've seen a lot of good results using lime prime, so thought I'd give it a try. Ordered in a new megs cutting pad as well, to try and combat the German paint.
Boot lid finished up:
Very pleased with the result.
There were very few swirls to begin with actually, but now even less!
Rear quarter done:
Sun gun? There's an App for that.
Now. The headlights. They had done many many miles, and they showed that they had done many many miles. Very dull, and the plastic was generally "frosty".
So....
Hai
Still not quite polished back up nicely^
Finished vs not finished:
Polishing all done:
Time for wax. This is where the minions stepped in and took over. I went for a shower, because I could.
Orange crush was the only hard wax I had to hand, so that did nicely. Smelt awesome too.
Finished shots:
Depth much?
8 Hours, job done.
