DannoWS6

iTrader: (5)

2007 BMW X3, 43k miles.

The X3 at first glance looked to be a fairly straight forward vehicle and needed a refresh and a good interior wipe down… Boy were we wrong! Once it got through its wash and under the lights it became a whole different story. Heavy scratches and swirling, quite a number of rids, and a few spots looked almost white they were so scuffed, must say the paint even for a black car hid it’s imperfections quite well until under the right light. Interior still stayed a dirty interior so that was a plus

The paint was very hard quite a pleasant departure from the past few vehicles. You could work it as long as you wanted without fear of making it worse which made us smile, but added time to the detail.

Took a bit to figure out the process needed to achieve the results we were after and then it just became an execution piece.

After 20 man hours it looks better then new inside and out. Quite a transformation and quite pleasing to look at now!

Oh and thanks for viewing!!!

Wash
CG Citrus Wash + Gloss
P21S TAW
Adams APC
Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner
Westly’s Bleach White
Swissvax Wheel Brush
Uber Wheel Brush
Uber Fender Brush
MF Wash Towel.

Prep, Compounding, Finishing
Porter cable XP
Flex
Menzerna S34A
Menzerna PO203
Menzerna 106FA
Prima Amigo
Menzerna PowerLock
Autoglym HD
Prima Slick
Mother's Chrome Polish
ONR clay bar dilution
CG Extreme Shine
CG Bare Bones
Mother's Clay
Orange Lake Country 6" pad
Uber Orange 5.5" pad
Uber Green 5.5" pad
Uber Blue 5.5" pad
Uber Black 5.5" pad
More MF towels
3m Painter's tape

Interior
Mequier’s Natural Shine
Stoner’s Invisiable Glass
Lexol Leather Cleaner
Lexol Leather Conditioner
Uber Red applicators
Swissvax interior brush
MF Towels

Process
Wash, light clay, tape.
Hood and front fenders: 1 Pass S34A w/ orange, 1-2 pass’s 203 w/ orange, 1 pass 106FA with white/green, & 1 pass Amigo w/black.
Front fenders back: 2 Pass PO203 w/ orange, 1 pass 106FA w/ green
Entire car: Powerlock w/ black, Autoglym HD applied by hand, wiped down with Slick
Interior: Vacuum, Meguier’s Natural Shine, Stoner’s Invisible Glass, Adam’s Carpet Cleaner for spots, Lexol cleaner, and Lexol conditioner
Exhaust tips – Mother’s Chrome polish w/ MF towel
Wheels - Mequiers NXT 2.0, CG Extreme Shine
Wheel Wells - CG Bare Bones

Teaser:


Walk around before the wash










Interior check








Engine Compartment
BEFORE:



AFTER:




Wheels and Tires
BEFORE:


Sonax and Westly’s doing their thing


AFTER:

DannoWS6

iTrader: (5)

Exterior Correction
BEFORE:













Bit o’ clayin’


50/50…



Now you see it…





Now you don’t!

DannoWS6

iTrader: (5)

Finish progression using the compounds




Autoglym HD applied, almost done


AFTERS:

jcollege

iTrader: (2)

Man your work is impressive, the before/after shots leave me shaking my head at the results.

DannoWS6

iTrader: (5)

Thanks! BMW paint it tough as nails so this one took some working.

We're taking a break next weekend, gotta go spend some wife time and rest up for the next one coming, gonna be big.

MaSTi

holy swirls bat man!! came out great!

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

Love that Westly’s it really cuts through the B.S. can be a bit harsh. I always feel that most rims needs to have it aggitated with a soft brush to get it really looking clean. Those German cars really like to cake on the front brake rotor dust.

I spent the better part of Saturday working on interiors alone for my wife's HHR and my Buick Just doing the jambs and in the trunk makes a world of difference on the look of the car.

But the Seat Fabric in a HHR just plain sucks. I will do a session showing why.

DannoWS6

iTrader: (5)

I haven't done an HHR yet, but some GM seat fabric does really suck for cleaning. I hate doing interiors, mostly because it kills my back, so my gracious partner usually tackles that part to start.

We have an assortment of brushes for wheels. This particular car could have had a little more love in the wheel department. I clayed it and even compounded it a bit but there were still a few spots I couldn't remove in the amount of time we had. They still came out 95% better though.

WS6TransAm01

iTrader: (13)

Hey, if you don't mind, which pad did you use with which Menzerna product? I need to hit the TA hard with the buffer in the comming weeks. Also, how do you go about getting all the dust/crap out of tue engine bay?

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

Pad and speeds depends on the Buffer being used. Which one do you have??

As far as the bay is concerned, a good degreaser like Purple Power should be sufficent, and a good brush to aggitate, then rinse off. May have to repeat.

I use Meguiar's "Super Degreaser" with awesome results. Then dress with Hyper Dressing to give it that "Wet" Look, another trick is to get tire shine "gel" and wipe down all the black parts, like hoses, lid, rad. support.

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

WS6TransAm01

iTrader: (13)

I have a Porter Cable/Griots Garage random orbital. The one that has the little wheel to dial up the speed on the back. 1-7 or 8 something like that.

Wait... you hose off the engine bay? Not making a joke. Is that safe?

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

As for the Buffer, I will let Danno comment, he has exp with that product but here is what Meguiar recommends with their DA buffer, maybe useful.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...splay.php?f=67

As for spraying the bay, this based totally on the car. Everyone is different. On This v6 and LS1's I have never had an issue. I mean do not go out of your way to spray the PCM or Alternator but have done on both my cars and never an issue.

BUT!!! On a LT1 engine, you CAN fry the Opti-spark and for that sole reason I would only hand wash and hand wipe.

Given the amount of crap in the this engine bay, its going to be hard, thats why MOST companies have a Plastic Cover Pieces as it hides all the garbage and makes it look decent if you re move and clean the plastics and hit around the bay such as cowl, shock towers, and radiator support.

DannoWS6

iTrader: (5)

Yup I agree w/ BlackScreaminMachine, in the engine compartment on most cars you are safe giving it a light spray with the ole garden hose we did after hitting it up with some Adams APC. Once dried we gave it a wipedown with Chemical Guys BareBones. We also use a brush to get in all the nooks and cranny's.


WS6TransAm01, On you're TA since it sounds like it needs a decent correction if you are gonna try Menzerna you will want a Med cut pad (Lake country or Uber in orange) and some Menzerna PO203. Follow up with a light or no cut pad, low cut is a white Lake country or a green uber and some Menzerna 106FA.

I could branch into slighlty different options from the above but its been a proven combo for me and what we do on most cars.

If using a porter cable I typically run it close to 5 (out of 6) on both compounds. On the final pass as the compound breaks down (which Menzerna does) I'll slow it down a little. Oh and thats using a 5" pad on the PC.

WS6TransAm01

iTrader: (13)

thanks sir!

yea I have all three of the Menzerna products you used. Power Gloss, Power Finish, Super Finish. Was a combo deal online lol

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

Danno want to do the football field worth of paint on my truck? it needs a cleanup.

DannoWS6

iTrader: (5)

What you got JL?

Just FYI it wouldn't be until the middle of June though. If its real big or needs a lot of love it might be a 2 dayer.

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

My 2500 CTD 4x4 ram, quad cab short bed.

Interior isn't too bad.. it just has the typical surface scratches from washing... I've tried like hell not to have it happen... but 2 years of washing it just about weekly, even with a clean clean mit every time, it's just unavoidable. Interior wise it's in pretty good shape, the rubber floor mats went in it almost immediately, for the most part that's probably 95% if I could just keep it from getting filled with crap LOL.

I don't know if it would take ya 2 days or not. If there's a specific picture you need I can get one for ya, I don't know if I can get the scratches in a photo or not, only when it's in direct sunlight do ya really see it.

DannoWS6

iTrader: (5)

Yeah if its in decent shape to start (clean wise) and has the typically swirls it could probably be done in a day (long day)

I got a black Tundra to do at the end of the month, but I've done some trucks like my fathers that took a day and a half for just exterior and I've done trucks like Tims on here that took about 7hrs to do, so they can very. If I gotta clay rail rot off of it for 4 hrs then time starts adding up.

If your interested we can get it done next month some time. I only have one opening next month (The day I am still trying to finalize), but if you want in pm me and we'll figureout the details. If you end up staying and want to lend a hand we can get it done even faster.

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

No big rush, it would have to be a saturday or sunday with my work schedule.

Of course I'll help... certainly not going to stand around for a whole day LOL. And, it's not like you're 10 min up the road and I can just "drop it off"

Shoot me a PM