Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Thought I'd C&P this over here too a some of you enjoy them. If you don't please refrain from commenting, this is a far bigger post than my usual ones!!
This is going to be my biggest post to date, so please bare with me - feedback on the write up would be appreciated please, along with the actual work itself!
I was contacted by the owner of this BMW Z4M convertible after he had picked it up from the dealership and was still less than impressed with the condition of the paintwork, despite expressing his concerns to them previously.
Apparently when he had first viewed the car it was awful - very flat and dull. BMW then called in a "detailer" (I personally think it got given to their bodyshop dept for a couple of hours!) to machine polish the car. When my client arrived to pick the car up he said there was a big enough improvement for him to continue with the purchase of the car, but still wasn't 100% happy with it.
Upon arrival I could see the car was still hugely lacking life - very grey and cloudy and even under dim garage lighting I could make out numerous hologrammes. A date was set, and the aim of restoring as much gloss and clarity to the paint as well as removing hologrammes and other defects was set.
Upon arrival day 1:
First job was to get it thoroughly cleaned up and decontaminated. A lot of pictures during the wet stage were missed out as water and cameras don't mix too well!
Wheels, tyres and arches were first. Tyres and arches sprayed with Autosmart G101 and agitated with various brushes. Wheels were given a prelimnary clean with Espuma Revolution, but this didn't have quite enough bite, so a second clean with Meguiars Wheel Brightener was required. Faces and inners cleaned with various brushes, behind spokes with a Meguiars microfibre mitt.
Once rinsed, it as clear the wheels had received a poor refurb job:
Why dealerships have this done, I really don't know, completely ruins the appearance of the car!
The roof was then cleaned with Autoglym soft top cleaner and the whole car (inc. roof) foamed with Bilt Hamber Autofoam and left to dwel. Door shuts were cleaned with Meguiars APC and a detail brush and rinsed out at low pressure before the foam being rinsed off at high pressure and the roof with an open hose.
The roof was then patted dry and Autoglym soft top reproofer applied and left to dry.
Next up was the engine bay, in overall very good condition, but covered in a fair bit of silicone spray. All was sprayed with Autosmart G101, agitated and rinsed off at low pressure, then Autosmart Rubber & Plastic applied whilst wet and the engine run to help dry it all out.
Finally on to the wash stage; 2 bucket method, Autosmart Autowash and Refined Detail lamsbwool mitt and rinsed off.
On to the decontamination stage by this point. First up Iron Cut:
applied to wheels and lower 1/3 of bodywork, left to do it's thing (which there didn't seem to be much being removed) and rinsed off and dried with waffle weave drying towels:
Tardis applied and wiped off after a minute or so with panel wipes:
Straight to claying next, Bilt Hamber soft and weak Autosmart reglaze as lube:
it didn't remove a great deal, but the paintwork felt far smoother afterwards:
I expect the paintwork had most the contaminants removed during the mop session it received previously!
A final rinse down and dried with more waffle weave towels. Grilles and water traps with hot air dryer:
and the roof given a quick blast too to aid drying:
leaving the car looking a lot better, but still hazy:
now completely clean I was able to check the paintwork over more thoroughly, and discovered an alarming amount of burn through on panel edges (there were plenty more believe me!):
I struggled to get many hologramme shots under halogen, but the winter sun came out briefly, allowing me to get this shot, which is the typical condition over the whole car:
Relevant trim was taped up and the roof covered, it was time to start polishing:
Paintwork readings had been taken during the initial consultation, from this I discovered the front end had received a blow in (and front bumper resprayed) N/S quarter had been filled and painted, and the rear bumper painted. A large amount of the defects had been removed during the initial heavy compounding stage from the dealership, but at the same time they had inflicted their own swirls and of course hologrammes. There were numerous RDS over the whole vehicle which appeared to be caused by a dirty mop head, and some from a cat claw, these were left as a fair amount of clearcoat would need to be removed to make any large difference and a mild correction detail doesn't cover this.
Most of the correction work was carried out with Menzerna P203s on a 3M yellow polishing pad, a drop of Intensive Polish was added as and when a bit of extra bite was required. Shots are taken to show you general level of correction achieved. An IPA wipe down was given before the photos too:
This one was captured at the end of the day which shows up just how bad some of the paintwork was:
(rear quarter had been started by this point)
Day 1 saw me able to complete the huge bonnet, both front wings, the boot lid, OSR quarter and start the NSR quarter. By this point it was getting too dark and damp and I was working in this! :
To round day 1 off, exhausts were polished using wire wool and autosol:
to
and wheels were sealed with Carlack NSC:
Back for day 2 and it was a freezing cold start!
Doors were corrected first:
then on to finishing the NSR quarter and the bumpers. Due to the bumpers being so poorly painted (you could see the primer in several places on the front bumper) I decided to just polish these with the DA and Menzerna 203s. Not a huge amount of correction achieved, but gloss enhanced. The rear bumper was the wrong colour unfortunately too.
All paintwork was then refined and cleansed with 3M Ultrafina on a matching blue pad, again the sun made a brief appearance so I took the opportunity to snap these pre LSP shots:
Arches were then dressed with Autosmart Rubber and Plastic dressing:
Tyres with Espuma RD50:
which left them wheels looking like this (the discs had gone rusty over night and I hadn't used the brakes enough to grind the rust off):
I'd decided to go with the Zaino route for LSP, so first up, Z-AIO (curing):
whilst this was curing, glass was cleaned with Espuma Crystal Blue:
and windscreen sealed with Aquapel:
Z-AIO buffed off:
and LSP of choice was:
The Z-AIO I've found to be very durable in itself (currently 10 weeks on my Cooper S with 1 coat!) so only the 1 coat of Z5 was applied, this was left to cure whilst I tackled the interior:
Plastics wiped down with a magic sponge and Meguiars APC:
Leather cleaned and conditioned with Dr Leather wipes:
Pedals scrubbed with a Meguiars triple duty brush and Meguiars APC:
Air vents and other fiddly details cleaned with Meguiars APC and various little tools:
Leaving:
And the engine bay finished:
Little details attended to (Cotton buds soaked in Meguiars Last Touch):
Z5 buffed off and final touches completed:
Before:
After:
Scuttle, mirror bases and brake cooling ducts treated with Aerospace 303 protectant, and the Refined Detail seal of approval applied!
Zaino Z8 was then applied followed by a final wipe down with Z6.
2 days and 14 hours labour later we were left with:
If you're still awake, thanks for reading!
Rich
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Ben J
Member
Registered: 31st Jan 05
Location: Cheshire
User status: Offline
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Awesome!
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Neo
Member
Registered: 20th Feb 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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Great Work Rich 
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Tomnova16
Premium Member
Registered: 21st Jan 06
Location: Gerrards Cross Drives: Porsche 911
User status: Offline
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nice one my son, i do like these
http://www.lemass.co.uk/ for all your automotive/bodyshop needs
Located in Chalfont st Peter
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Jambo
Member
Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
User status: Offline
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Awesome work
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Nath
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 02
Location: MK
User status: Offline
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Very nice 
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Phillips_91
Member
Registered: 20th Jan 10
Location: Blackpool. Drives: Sapphire Black Mk4 Astra 1.8
User status: Offline
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wow what a difference  love it
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stuartmitchell
Member
Registered: 24th Apr 04
Location: Kirkliston, Edinburgh
User status: Offline
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Superb mate!
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FAZ
Premium Member
Registered: 24th Nov 07
Location: Coventry
User status: Offline
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amazing transformation, i think you would have heart attack if you saw my car rich 
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Cheers guys
Oh and it'd only covered 25k from new, I was quite shocked considering!
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Norcy91
Member
Registered: 15th Sep 08
User status: Offline
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How much to do my Corsa? 
On a serious note, how much does something like this set someone back? Must be a fair bit as its 2 days work.
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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All dependant on size of car, condition of car and level of service chosen. I don't feel it'd be too professional to say how much this cost
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FAZ
Premium Member
Registered: 24th Nov 07
Location: Coventry
User status: Offline
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mney well spent imo though
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Norcy91
Member
Registered: 15th Sep 08
User status: Offline
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Yeah thats true, you've done an amazing job anyway! Wish I could do it to that standard
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Cheers!
Put it this way, this car was apparently £5k less than any other similar age and mileage ones he looked at, after spending far less than £5k with me, I feel it's up to the same sort of standard as any that were fetching a higher premium now. [/blowing own trumpet]
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CORSA NUT
Member
Registered: 3rd Aug 01
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
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I've got to say Rich in all the details i've seen over the last few years this is one of the best!
Sometimes it dosn't matter what car it is ie Ferrari etc (even though i like the Z4M's ) because the level of detail and the proper pictures make up for it.
Well done mate made up it's all going well for you.
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Cole
Member
Registered: 11th Nov 02
Location: eastbourne Drives:zafira sold now a qashqai
User status: Offline
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nice work rich as always given the enthusiasim to get and do the zafira this weekend if its sunny
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Neil Dagens
Member
Registered: 14th Apr 07
Location: Fareham, Hampshire
User status: Offline
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looks awesome that mate, really do like the interior in these!
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by CORSA NUT
I've got to say Rich in all the details i've seen over the last few years this is one of the best!
Sometimes it dosn't matter what car it is ie Ferrari etc (even though i like the Z4M's ) because the level of detail and the proper pictures make up for it.
Well done mate made up it's all going well for you.
Thanks mate! Appreciate the kind words! Have to say, 3 years in (yes already!) and I'm really happy with how things are going, 2011 looks to be an exciting year too tbh!
Cole - It's meant to be snow
Neil -
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jacko198
Member
Registered: 1st Mar 07
Location: Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline
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Looks great!
Im toying with the idea of getting a buffer for xmas and see what results i get
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Jake
Member
Registered: 24th Jan 05
User status: Offline
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was he happy with it?
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by jake
was he happy with it?
I initially saw him for the first consultation, and first thing on day 1, after that I was handed the keys to the car and house and didn't see anybody for the next 2 days as they were off to work by the time I started, and I finished before they got back
The email I got last night though was enough for me
"I am so impressed with what you have achieved with the paintwork on the Z4M.I must admit that I felt I was taking a bit of a leap of faith with your estimate but you have exceeded my expectations spectacularly. Well done"
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Cole
Member
Registered: 11th Nov 02
Location: eastbourne Drives:zafira sold now a qashqai
User status: Offline
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That is just what you want to hear isn't it. I could so do this job for a living I know it's not all glamorous but what you get out of it at the end of the job makes up for that and rich looks like no snow Saturday lol
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Forecast for here is snow showers, it's certainly bloody cold enough to be!
It is rewarding, and is far from easy that's for sure!
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Cole
Member
Registered: 11th Nov 02
Location: eastbourne Drives:zafira sold now a qashqai
User status: Offline
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Well rich if you ever expand let me know lol
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