1989 Bimmer 325 (not serving 56K)

[TH0001]

1989 BMW 325

Orginal 18 year old single stage red. The paint was heavily oxidized, swirled and scratched. It took about 10 hours but here is a pictoral of the extreme makeover...

Wash with Hyperwash
Clay using Quik Clay using Meguiars Last Touch cut 1:1 for lube
2 passes via rotary/7006/M#84 @ 1800 RPM
1 pass via rotary/8006/M#80 @ 1200 RPM
1 pass via PC/8006/M#83 @ 5
1 pass via PC/8006/M#80 @ 5
M#7 via hand
M#21 via PC/9006 @ 3
M#21 via hand
NXT window cleaner
NXT Extreme shine on the tires
Exterior Detailer Spray on the exterior trim

All interior surfaces cleaned with 10:1 APC
Carpets shampooed with 6:1 APC
Detailer Line Leather Conditioner and Cleaner on seats
Hyperdressing 3:1 (satin shine) on interior surfaces

Super Degreaser on engine surfaces
Paint cleaned/protected with Meguiras Cleaner/Wax
Hyperdressing 2:1 (gloss) on engine and black surfaces

Condition of the paint at the begining



Very little reflextion, heavy scratches



I had to clay the car three times



After claying it was on to the interior (no before's but it was as rough as the rest of the car)

[TH0001]

Engine befores...





Engine afters...





After finishing the interior/engine it was time to start polishing the paint using the method outlined at the top of the first thread. Here are some half/half before and afters of the hood..







Happy with the results and pretty sure that it was defect free and looking awesome for being 18 years old, I proceded to finish the enitre car this way...

[mh68]

Beautiful job!! Looks awesome!

Mike

[TH0001]

The afters...









A couple in my garage...



I really like this last one (the reflection shot) because you can see the detail of my popcorn ceiling perfectly...



The end...

[Michael Stoops]

Very nice work!!! You're making me miss my old E30, but I'll get over it. *sniff* *sniff*

[Mike Phillips]

Now this is what I call an Extreme Makeover!

The results from your efforts look spectacular! Your customer must be doing carwheels in the front lawn after you returned the car back to them?

Nice work. Very professional, very clean, very flawless throughout.

By the way, this is called stretching




After restores a show car finish on this BMW what are your thoughts about working on single-stage paint vs a bc/cc paint system?

Myself? I love working on older single-stage paints; it's like working on real paint. Clear coat finishes? It's like working on plastic.

[TH0001]

I agree Mike, after working on this I for many hours I can honestly say this was a treat!!! There was no head scratching, just results, and I always felt like I knew exactly what was happening with the paint. I never want to do clearcoats again. Of course, I have an '04 Black Vette in my garage to do when I get back home (with the dreaded hard clearcoat).

Oh well, this one was like a vacation!!!

[Zet]

What a nice transformation, look sweet!

Yeah ss paints are great to work with! Btw, do you experience some amount of gumming, when working on oxidised paint?

Couldn't help notice that the front spoiler doesn't look as red as the rest of the car, is this because of the material it's made of?

After #80/rotary, I would have thought it would be fine going straight to #80/PC, why the #83/PC step?

After using APC on the interior, do you find it necessary to go after it with a damp cloth just with water?

Sorry for all the questions, couldn't help it

[Murr1525]

Looks great, but I too noticed the bottom spoiler... What happened to it?

[rascal]

Looks great!! I noticed the front air dam as well, but I'm guessing it was either forgotten (it happens to all of us ) or it's painted plastic that can't be buffed/polished out. Either way, the rest of the car looks great. I know that owner had to jumping up and down with their eyes popping out on how surprised they were. Great work again on the car.

[MandarinaRacing]

Cool resto!
Nice work, you brought it back to life!

BTW, how's your back?

Alex

[TH0001]

Regarding the front bumper, it was a soft dyed plastic/rubber that was heavly textured (bumpy). Nothing I did made a difference, but I did try


"Yeah ss paints are great to work with! Btw, do you experience some amount of gumming, when working on oxidised paint?"

Yes, a ton. Infact the pads would gum up so quickly that I went through 2 cutting pads (which cleaning easily because of their porous nature) and 4 8006 on the 80. I was horrible, to be honest, because once the pads gummed up, they became like sponges and would **** all the product into them and I would go to a dry buff after one pass...


"After #80/rotary, I would have thought it would be fine going straight to #80/PC, why the #83/PC step?"

As I mentioned earlier, the pads where gumming quickly and dry buffed in a couple spots. The 80 wouldn't remove those spots. Also, inother spots the paint looked hazed after the 80, so 83 took care of those spots. Believe me, I wish I could have left this step out

"After using APC on the interior, do you find it necessary to go after it with a damp cloth just with water?"

On the interior surfaces (dash, doors, seats, console, ect) I just sprayed and wiped with a clean cloth, then flipped to a clean side and wiped streak free (like doing windows). On some areas on the arm rest and seats, the stains where very bad, but a little scrubbing with a toothbrush quickly took care of those.

The carpets where sprayed with APC, then brushed. After waiting a couple minutes I used a wet/dry shop vac to **** out the solution. Then I resprayed with water and rebrushed, then wetvaced. When I brushed, there was some suds on the carpet, so I went a third time, and there was sudding, so I figured most of the cleaner was off the surface of the carpet. Then I blotted with a terry cloth and vet vacced....

[TH0001]

Regarding the front bumper, it was a soft dyed plastic/rubber that was heavly textured (bumpy). Nothing I did made a difference, but I did try


"Yeah ss paints are great to work with! Btw, do you experience some amount of gumming, when working on oxidised paint?"

Yes, a ton. Infact the pads would gum up so quickly that I went through 2 cutting pads (which cleaning easily because of their porous nature) and 4 8006 on the 80. I was horrible, to be honest, because once the pads gummed up, they became like sponges and would **** all the product into them and I would go to a dry buff after one pass...


"After #80/rotary, I would have thought it would be fine going straight to #80/PC, why the #83/PC step?"

As I mentioned earlier, the pads where gumming quickly and dry buffed in a couple spots. The 80 wouldn't remove those spots. Also, inother spots the paint looked hazed after the 80, so 83 took care of those spots. Believe me, I wish I could have left this step out

"After using APC on the interior, do you find it necessary to go after it with a damp cloth just with water?"

On the interior surfaces (dash, doors, seats, console, ect) I just sprayed and wiped with a clean cloth, then flipped to a clean side and wiped streak free (like doing windows). On some areas on the arm rest and seats, the stains where very bad, but a little scrubbing with a toothbrush quickly took care of those.

The carpets where sprayed with APC, then brushed. After waiting a couple minutes I used a wet/dry shop vac to **** out the solution. Then I resprayed with water and rebrushed, then wetvaced. When I brushed, there was some suds on the carpet, so I went a third time, and there was sudding, so I figured most of the cleaner was off the surface of the carpet. Then I blotted with a terry cloth and vet vacced....

[rascal]

Originally posted by TH0001
Regarding the front bumper, it was a soft dyed plastic/rubber that was heavly textured (bumpy). Nothing I did made a difference, but I did try

I figured you tried doing something with it, but the air dam wasn't able to be done. After all that hard work you put into the rest of the car, you couldn't miss the front air dam..especially how bad the air dam looked compared to rest of the car after the car was finished. You could just spray some Trim Detailer on it just to darken it up some. It would look better than the "chalky" red that it is now. Still great work on the car cuz!!

[RamAirV1]

Is it my imagination or do single stage paints seem to have less issues with swirls and spiderwebbing? And the scratches and swirls that did happen seemed easier to remove!

RamAirV1