Mobile-Image : Z4 ///M

[Carn]

Last weekend I had the opportunity to work on another of these fantastic cars. This time around it was a metallic blue convertible version that was in need of some TLC.




First up as usual was the wheels. Not overly dirt and just the usual day to day dirt buildup...







Arches were in need of a good scrubbing


As were the tailpipes...





Wheels got Sonax as usual and arches got pre-soaked with 5:1 APC







Ez-Detail brush amongst others was put to good use



With the wheels and arches cleaned up the car was washed using the TBM, CG's CWC and my Raceglaze lambswool wash mitt. Clay duty was entrusted to Smartwax blue clay which did a terrific job of removing all the surface contamination...




With the car cleaned and dried I set about inspecting the paintwork. First up was the Led Lenser T7 which did a good job of highlighting the fine swirls and marring...







Bird bomb!



Under the halogens the deeper RIDS and damage was evident as well









The correction process started with Menz 106FA on a yellow 3M pad. Whilst this cleaned up all of the fine swirling, some of the deeper defects were putting up a fight. After stepping up to SIP I managed to achieve around 90% correction in a single pass with only the deeper RIDS still remaining and clearly visible under the lights. Being a single stage correction detail I was happy with the results and set about polishing the remainder of the car.

Attempted 50/50 shot


And some afters...















Whilst busy around the back end of the car I tidied up the tailpipes as well...






A few reflection shots from the correction stage (taken during the course of the day/evening)

















With the correction stage completed at around 9pm on Saturday evening I gave the car a final wash down before drying and applying the 1st layer of the LSP.

I decided to go with 2 coats of Raceglaze 55' on this beauty to see how it would look on the metallic blue...

Some after shots in the garage







I returned briefly on Sunday morning to wax and seal the wheels (Rimwax topped with 845), and apply the finishing touches (Satin Prot all round).

Finished wheels...




Tailpipes in the natural light (indoors and outside)




Trim



Sunlight peeking through highlighting the flake and colour





Some more reflection and detail shots in the daylight
















Orange peel was quite bad at the back end...















And finally some full sun shots...













As always thanks for looking