This car is well maintained / serviced as its a company car but the owner basically drives it and uses it as a tool (she isnt "into" cars)... so, on that basis this gets cleaned when it gets serviced or when its really bad and then it gets taken to the splash n dash for a £5 "clean"...
Surprisingly then the paint actually wasnt in too bad a condition. I guess due to the lack on human contact it has come into... besides the usual swirls and odd bit of marring it was actually in reasonable condition.
It has seen paint during its life though, an accident saw to the whole front end and front doors being replaced and painted (its not the greatest paint job in the world close up but its passable from 3 feet away)... orange peel in keeping with the rest of the BMW factory finish :thumb:
Order of the day then, deep clean and decontamination followed by enhancement polish protection.
Front end and lower half of the car was sprayed with Auto Finesse CitrusGrime remover while the rest got covered in Megs APC cut 4:1
DSCF1115 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
This was left to dwell while the wheels were cleaned using Megs Wheel Brightener and various brushes.
Before:
DSCF1117 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
After:
DSCF1125 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
Car was then rinsed (zero sheeting or beading during this stage) and foamed with a strong and thick Megs APC mix
DSCF1119 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
DSCF1121 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
This was left to dwell for a good 10 minutes then rinsed.
The whole car was then sprayed down with Wolf's Decon Gel including the wheels.
DSCF1127 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
This was left to do its thing for about 15 minutes... left for longer due to the brake dust still left on the wheels but also due to how little "cleaning" this car has seen.
Car was then rinsed thoroughly and foamed using AutoBrite Snow Foam (no pics of this)... then rinsed before being clayed.
DSCF1134 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
This was the clay after half of the bonnet. There wasnt a lot of tar on the car but a fair amount of dirt being pulled out of the paint.
Car was then rinsed once again... some sheeting being seen now from the Last Touch... :lol:
DSCF1135 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
DSCF1139 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
Car was then dried using DoDo Juice SN towels and chunky MF towels from Johnny at Zaino Europe (not sure of the make)...
Machining time now... we decided as there were 2 of us working on the car that we could tag team it and have time for a 2 stage correction. Steve therefore went over the car with Megs 105 on a Lake Country cutting pad to cut out all the defects and I followed with DoDo Juice Lime Prime on a Megs polishing pad which refined the finish nicely and added some much needed gloss to the paint.
DSCF1141 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
DSCF1140 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
So with a wipe down and quick assessment everything was looking good. We decided to go with Collinite 476s (2 coats an hour apart) due to its durability and needing something to stand up to the use this car gets (up and down the motorway all week).
So, after to layers and a final wipe down here are the finished shots
Bonnet:
DSCF1142 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
Roof:
DSCF1145 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
Tyres trimmed with Megs Endurance and Wheels sealed with CG's Wheel Guard.
DSCF1146 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
Various afters:
photo 1 (2) by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
photo 3 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
photo 4 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
photo 6 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
photo 7 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
photo 8 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
photo 9 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
photo 10 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
photo 11 by
n_d_fox, on Flickr
Plan is to now have the car maintained regularly so we should be able to prevent it getting into that sort of state again... also going to be adding an engine bay "restoration" into the mix at some point... you wouldnt believe it if i showed you !
Thanks for looking, Nige
