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Another KG and Bry detail this weekend, this time on an absolutely beautiful example of a an E30 BMW 318iS. Easily my favourite shape of BMW (not like the "challenging" styling they put out nowadays, this one looks smart and purposeful).
We arrived about 9am this morning, and first of all washed the wheels and arches after a quick coffee (the first of many!). Wheels were washed with the Chemical Guys Blue wheel cleaner diluted 4:1, and this worked really well - seemed to have a bite close to Wheel Brightener whilst also being safe... worked really well I thought. Then the wheels were waxed later on with Blue Rim Wax which brought them up a treat - pics later. The tyres were washed and brushed with Meguiars APC, and the arches sprayed with APC and rinsed out with the hose (we had power problems with the Karcher, turned out to be a fuse or something in the garage...).
Next up the car was washed with Meguiars Hyper Wash (two-bucket method), and then rinsed with the hose and dried with the aid of Megs Last Touch and a Megs Water Magnet by Bryan... It was then clayed using Megs Mirror Glaze Mild clay and Megs Last Touch as the lube. The clay didn't seem to move much, the car has been garaged and is low mileage so the paint was pretty clean anyway...
So, in the sunlight, a couple of pics of the light swilrs that were present in the paint...
For a fifteen year old car, the paintwork was in fantastic condition - very little if any fading from the red, and only fairly light swirling. PTG reading were taken, with average thicknesses around the 110 - 120um mark, some as low as 95um. Given the only light swilrs, I decided to try out Menzerna Intensive Polish (PO91L) on a Lake Country 6" light cutting pad. Speed three to spread with no pressure, one pass at speed 5 with light pressure and then two passes at speed 6 with medium pressure finishing with heavier pressure - a fast cut method. Plenty of QD used on the pad to keep the dust down.
Under the Brinkmann before...
and a half and half shot after the single hit of IP...
and some completed pics after the single hit of IP...
As this method was removing the light swilrs with ease, this was decided on for the whole car. Bryan then followed me with Final Polish II applied on a 6" Meguiars W9006 Finishing Pad.
After the defect removal, it was time for the glazing and LSP. On red, I have in the past had excellent results from Meguiars #7 followed by Meguiars #26 so we went for this combo. I applied the #7 with a LC 6" Black finishing pad, speed 3 to spread and then five or six passes at speed 5 with light to medium pressure to work the glaze oils into the paint. Bry then followed with Megs #26 Liquid on a Megs W9006 Finishing pad. All residues buffed off with Megs Ultimate Wipes.
The afters close up in the sunlight of the paint...
The light swirls removed.
And for a couple of tree reflection shots...
The glass was polished with Autosmart Glass Polish, the trim detailed with Megs #38 which seemed to really work well at bringing the black trim to life. Bryan finished off by biffing the wheels and I sprizted the paint with Last Touch for a final wipe down. The after shots...
All in all, we're very pleased with the results... a cracking car this one, don't see many around in this good condition, it deserved to look its best (as all cars do!). :thumb:
We arrived about 9am this morning, and first of all washed the wheels and arches after a quick coffee (the first of many!). Wheels were washed with the Chemical Guys Blue wheel cleaner diluted 4:1, and this worked really well - seemed to have a bite close to Wheel Brightener whilst also being safe... worked really well I thought. Then the wheels were waxed later on with Blue Rim Wax which brought them up a treat - pics later. The tyres were washed and brushed with Meguiars APC, and the arches sprayed with APC and rinsed out with the hose (we had power problems with the Karcher, turned out to be a fuse or something in the garage...).
Next up the car was washed with Meguiars Hyper Wash (two-bucket method), and then rinsed with the hose and dried with the aid of Megs Last Touch and a Megs Water Magnet by Bryan... It was then clayed using Megs Mirror Glaze Mild clay and Megs Last Touch as the lube. The clay didn't seem to move much, the car has been garaged and is low mileage so the paint was pretty clean anyway...
So, in the sunlight, a couple of pics of the light swilrs that were present in the paint...
For a fifteen year old car, the paintwork was in fantastic condition - very little if any fading from the red, and only fairly light swirling. PTG reading were taken, with average thicknesses around the 110 - 120um mark, some as low as 95um. Given the only light swilrs, I decided to try out Menzerna Intensive Polish (PO91L) on a Lake Country 6" light cutting pad. Speed three to spread with no pressure, one pass at speed 5 with light pressure and then two passes at speed 6 with medium pressure finishing with heavier pressure - a fast cut method. Plenty of QD used on the pad to keep the dust down.
Under the Brinkmann before...
and a half and half shot after the single hit of IP...
and some completed pics after the single hit of IP...
As this method was removing the light swilrs with ease, this was decided on for the whole car. Bryan then followed me with Final Polish II applied on a 6" Meguiars W9006 Finishing Pad.
After the defect removal, it was time for the glazing and LSP. On red, I have in the past had excellent results from Meguiars #7 followed by Meguiars #26 so we went for this combo. I applied the #7 with a LC 6" Black finishing pad, speed 3 to spread and then five or six passes at speed 5 with light to medium pressure to work the glaze oils into the paint. Bry then followed with Megs #26 Liquid on a Megs W9006 Finishing pad. All residues buffed off with Megs Ultimate Wipes.
The afters close up in the sunlight of the paint...
The light swirls removed.
And for a couple of tree reflection shots...
The glass was polished with Autosmart Glass Polish, the trim detailed with Megs #38 which seemed to really work well at bringing the black trim to life. Bryan finished off by biffing the wheels and I sprizted the paint with Last Touch for a final wipe down. The after shots...
All in all, we're very pleased with the results... a cracking car this one, don't see many around in this good condition, it deserved to look its best (as all cars do!). :thumb:
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