E86 Z4 Coupe 40hr+ Detail

[Cibbersicks]

I thought I'd just start a new thread to share with you all.

My entire bank holiday weekend has been spent doing this - x4 10hr days, I'm shattered, and I've got work tomorrow!

BMW E86 Z4 Coupe Monaco Blue

I've been wanting to do a full detail on this since the day I brought it home. I've owned the car about 2 months, knowing that the paintwork was looking a little tired, but I knew it would look fantastic after a paint correction detail.

The front bumper is in dire need of a respray, but I reckon with a bit of time with the polisher could help improve it in the meantime. On thursday, I had 2 small dents removed from the NSR wing and a heavy chip in the OS sill and rear bumper, as if something had been dropped when loading the boot. The smart repairer did a fantastic job of hiding these. Also the worst stone chips were filled in with touch-up paint, allowing them to be wet sanded during the process, to hide them better.

The general before pics aren't too bad, as the car is generally fairly clean - I've previously clayed, SRP'd and Dodojuice PH'd the car - there was no wax present as I removed it ready for the smart repairs.

Inspection snaps:




OS Door/Wing


OS Door


Fr Bumper


NS Headlight


Tailgate


Rear Bumper


A Pillar


NS Fr Wing





Tyres and arches cleaned with an APC



Wheels addressed with Bilberry Wheel Cleaner, using a Megs spoke brush, MF mitt and detailing brush




Iron-X used, but hardly any contaminants present, even after 7-8mins


APC soaked on the front and rear areas to shift road film and flies



Valet Pro PH Neutral Snowfoam used to lift grime, then 1in brush used in all the nooks and crannies







2BM with Autoglym Purple shampoo - smells like bubblegum, great shampoo.


Iron-X applied to the front, lower sides and rear and left to dwell for 7-8mins




Autoglym Detailing clay used next - not very happy with this clay, it's too soft and falls apart too quickly, used in conjunction with a shampoo/water solution as lube.

Again, not much in the way of contaminants, but then it had been clayed around 6 weeks ago.


CYC Ultra Fluffy MF Towel used to dry things off after a good rinse



Let the fun begin!
3M Green/Yellow/Blue system used on every panel on the car, sometimes this process was repeated on more difficult areas. - It appears the paint on this Z4 is extremely hard, and took some serious working to get right.





Roof side panel 50/50

Corrected


Door/Wing 50/50





Rear Bumper 50/50







DodoJuice Lime Prime then used to clean the paint


Dusty!




Water sheeted off rather nicely after a thorough rinse, degreasing in all of the door jams and under the bonnet



x2 coats of Dodo Juice Purple Haze applied with a CYC foam applicator - nice combo, then buffed off with a yellow Autoglym MF towel with 1hr between each coat





Tyres, plastics and rubber treated with AG Tyre care, AG Vinyl and Rubber Care and AG Plastic Conditioner (very, very good) Wheels then sealed with Megs Tech Wax Spray


After 40hrs work, starting Friday morning, ending monday early afternoon, here is the final result:










If you've got this far after all those photos, thanks for reading!

Tom

[mgwatson48]

awesome!!! im planning on doing the same with my coupe this weekend too! well done.

What polisher was used?

[Cibbersicks]

I used a Milwaukee Rotary, along with the 3M 3 colour system. Top stuff

[mgwatson48]

nice. i just use a porter cable. how did you learn how to use a rotary? I fancy myself a fairly skilled polisher with my PC, but I think its time to move up to a rotary... Is burning the paint a possibility even if you're cognesant to not apply too much pressure on edges and/or leave the polisher in one spot for too long?

[Rated M Roadster]

I love these kinds of posts! Good work.

[Kgolf31]

Originally Posted by mgwatson48

nice. i just use a porter cable. how did you learn how to use a rotary? I fancy myself a fairly skilled polisher with my PC, but I think its time to move up to a rotary... Is burning the paint a possibility even if you're cognesant to not apply too much pressure on edges and/or leave the polisher in one spot for too long?

An old car.

Transition to PC to Rotary is tough. I'd recommend getting some old car hoods and practicing on those.

I've ripped paint off a car before because the owner never told me that the rear bumper was re-sprayed. If you go to a rotary you will burn paint at one time or another. It's apart of the learning process.

I use a Makita 9227c w/Menzerna and M105/205. I don't regret it at all.


OP - Awesome stuff. I'm a huge fan of Dodo Juice for a LSP as well.

[3798j]

Spectacular results - nice job.

[krusty]

I followed about half of it. Congratulations on your PhD in detail science.

[Finnegan]

Wow!

I take it you've done this a few times .

[VinnieAces]

holy crap thats dedication, if you were local i'd pay you to do mine next lol

[Cibbersicks]

Originally Posted by VinnieAces

holy crap thats dedication, if you were local i'd pay you to do mine next lol

If you pay for a flight over to Canada I'd be very happy to!!!

Cheers guys, glad you like it. It's a shame that here in the UK the weather's so rubbish, literally an hour after I finished the car it absolutely chucked it down with rain. This morning at work I've just sheeted the water off with a free flowing hose and dried off with a drying towel, good as new

[Huz-Z]

Originally Posted by Cibbersicks

If you pay for a flight over to Canada I'd be very happy to!!!

Cheers guys, glad you like it. It's a shame that here in the UK the weather's so rubbish, literally an hour after I finished the car it absolutely chucked it down with rain. This morning at work I've just sheeted the water off with a free flowing hose and dried off with a drying towel, good as new

Amazing!! Simply amazing!!!

What part of the UK are you in? I hope it doesn't rain everywhere!! And how did you get all those folks in the picture to help out with the detailing?

Cheers and welcome to the forum!!!

[Dalecan]

Awesome job car looks great!

[Cibbersicks]

Originally Posted by Huz-Z

Amazing!! Simply amazing!!!

What part of the UK are you in? I hope it doesn't rain everywhere!! And how did you get all those folks in the picture to help out with the detailing?

Cheers and welcome to the forum!!!

I'm from the West Midlands, near Worcestershire. It rained about 1hr after I finished, then didn't stop all night. I got to work this morning though and sheeted some clean fresh water over the car, dabbed dry with a MF drying towel and it was good as new

Lol Photoshop trickery Wish I had taken some shots without my pants (boxershorts are pants in the UK) on show!

[Huz-Z]

Originally Posted by Cibbersicks

I'm from the West Midlands, near Worcestershire. It rained about 1hr after I finished, then didn't stop all night. I got to work this morning though and sheeted some clean fresh water over the car, dabbed dry with a MF drying towel and it was good as new

Lol Photoshop trickery Wish I had taken some shots without my pants (boxershorts are pants in the UK) on show!

You should have fixed yer shorts with photoshop!

I'm hoping for a few nice days there in September, my wife and I are lucky enough to be spending a few days in London mid-month while she is on the way to a conference in Scotland. Now which joker decided to move the Doctor Who Experience all the way to Cardiff? Deleks in Mercs, I'll bet!!

[David70]

Interesting and great results. I plan on following some of the products/steps next time I detail.

[KevinM]

Heroic! Thanks for posting!

[gtMc]

Yeah incredible job - and i love that Monaco Blue!

[chickdr]

As one who does detail my own car (but not at your level yet) what is the masking tape for? Seems like it would get caught up in the buffing pads.

[mgwatson48]

^^ to prevent polishes/wax from getting onto the plastic trim.

[pmmjarrett]

Looks great, sure made a huge difference on the areas with small scratches. Next time you get the urge to spend 40 hrs detailing a car like that can I drop mine off LOL.

Originally Posted by chickdr

As one who does detail my own car (but not at your level yet) what is the masking tape for? Seems like it would get caught up in the buffing pads.

Protect anything you don't want damaged like emblems, hard edges, plastic, rubber, door handles, decals, clear bras etc. Also used to keep compound out of areas you don't want it to make it easier to clean. Use a good quality masking tape made for autobody paint work that won't leave residue behind.

[Cibbersicks]

Originally Posted by pmmjarrett

Looks great, sure made a huge difference on the areas with small scratches. Next time you get the urge to spend 40 hrs detailing a car like that can I drop mine off LOL.




Protect anything you don't want damaged like emblems, hard edges, plastic, rubber, door handles, decals, clear bras etc. Also used to keep compound out of areas you don't want it to make it easier to clean. Use a good quality masking tape made for autobody paint work that won't leave residue behind.

Now that is something I will be doing differently next time, I should have used the 3M blue tape, more flexible and leaves no residues, I didn't have any to hand and forgot to buy some