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JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
02-01-2009, 04:36 AM
Post: #1
JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
Well this car has a real good story behind it. It all started with my wife seeing a white BMW 325i at a car dealer here in town, with the owners of the dealership being very good friends of ours. My wife had said how much she liked it and thought she might want it. Well I told her she needed to drive it as she has not owned a car since 1995. She has only had SUVs since then so I wanted her to drive one before saying she wanted one. Well long story short the car belonged to a gentleman here in town and it was a lease that he was way over his mileage on and he owed more than it was worth and before my wife could get a chance to drive it he took it back home.

Well jump ahead about 3 weeks and the owner of the dealership calls me and says she has another one that was bought for a girl here in town and she will be coming to pick it up the next day. I call my wife and she goes on her lunch hour to drive it. She calls me after the test drive gushing about how much she loved the car and how nice it was. Well the next day the owner calls my wife and leaves her a message that the girl didn't want it and if she wanted it she could get it. The dealer then calls me and tells me about it. Well while talking I tell her I want it and we decide to do this as a surprise Christmas gift.

So when my wife calls me back to tell me the car is available I tell her that Teresa (owner of the dealership) had called me too and told me that and then called me back later and said the girl changed her mind and decided to buy it. My wife was livid to put it mildly, and I'm thinking "Damn I'm good!" Well I play this up the whole night and my wife is crushed that she got her hopes up and now the car is gone. Well the next day I go to do the paperwork and realize that my kids are with me and there is no way in the world they will be able to keep this a secret for a day so I decide to take it to her work and get one of the girls up front to get her and tell her to come look in the parking lot. So I dress the kids up in Santa hat and reindeer antlers and put a bow on the car and park it in front of the office where my wife works and one of the girls up front goes and gets her and she comes out to see her dream car with a bow and the kids standing in front of it! She was surprised to say the least. Well sorry for the long story but I was really proud of myself for pulling this off.

Well the car is a 2006 Jet Black 330xi with 20k on the clock. The car was pretty clean but man was it swirled up when you got it under the lights. I also think that I got the best compliment to my abilities when I asked my wife how she liked it and she said I love it but I can't wait to see it after you detail it. This detail took a couple of days to complete and here's what I did:

Tires/Wheels/Wells: First of all the wheels were in pretty good shape especially for BMW wheels. One thing aiding that is the installation of covers inside the wheel to cut down on brake dust. I'm still on the fence if I like these or not so guys weigh in if you like them or not and help me out. They do seem to be doing their job as they are keeping the brake dust down to a real minimum. Well I started with CGs Sticky Wheel Gel cut 1.5:1. I used a green foam finger pocket, lug nut brush and Swissvax wheel brush.

For the tires and wells they got the ol' standby Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff at 2:1 in a Solo 418 handheld pressurized sprayer, and some of the brushes I got from Home Depot. The tires were first dressed with Megs Hyper Dressing @ 1:1 with a round Majestic Solutions tire applicator which makes for easy application on the lo profile tires. I then dressed them with the same method with another Majestic Solutions tire applicator and Swissvax Pneu. Wells were dressed with my combo of MS Mr. Natural/Megs ASD.

I also coated the wheels with MS Enviro Shield. Man this product has done so well on my Jeep that I put it on all my cars' wheels, exhaust, and glass. It is just so easy to use and the protection results are phenomenal. I mix up 3 oz of Enviro Shield in a gallon of demin water and put it in a Solo 418 handheld pressurized sprayer. While the wheels are wet spray them down and let them sit for a couple of minutes then rinse off and dry. I really love this stuff and in '09 it will be an upsell for me for protecting the wheels and glass.

Exhaust: I used Megs Wheel Brightner first on the exhaust with 0000 steel wool and then polished them with Autosol and 0000 steel wool. These were also protected with MS Enviro Shield.

Wash: Well this was done in a couple of ways since after the first one my wife was wanting to drive it to show her friends and family what she got for Christmas. The first time was to make sure if there was any kind of LSP on the car it came off so I went with the foam cannon with 2 oz of CGs Citrus Wash Clear and 1 oz of CGs Strong Wash. I used a Swissvax Waschpudel wash pad and man I love that thing. The bugs got CGs Strong Wash @ 4:1 in a Solo 418 handheld pressurized sprayer, and a Majestic Solutions bug sponge. The entire wash including wheels and engine were done with the CR Spotless System. The car was then dried with the leaf blower, and a Vroom drying MF.

After some light driving for a day and before I started polishing I decided to do an ONR wash. I used the 2 bucket method and a Zymol sponge. I dried with a CGs Miracle dryer MF.

Clay: Well my mainstay for clay has become the Bilt Hamber and this detail was going to be no different. Man I do love this clay better than any other clay I have used. I used the soft as there didn't seem to be a ton of bonded contaminants on the paint. Water was used as lube (man I love that) and after a good claying the paint was feeling silky smooth.

Glass: Glass inside and out got Sprayway Glass Cleaner. I used a MS blue huck window towel to apply and a Walmart WW to buff off. The outside of the glass was treated with MS Enviro Shield. This stuff is as good if not better than Aquapel on windows.

Trim/Pillars: I used my combination of CGs Trim Gel and Black Wow on a TW MF applicator.

Rubber weather stripping/Door Jambs: Well krshultz had given me a product he picked up at Majestic Solutions by Wurth. It was Wurth Rubber Care and contained no silicones. I sprayed it on the rubber weather stripping throughout the car and wiped it down with a TW yellow foam applicator. I cleaned the door jambs with CGs Speed Wipe QD and a CGs El Gordo MF.

Interior: I got krshultz to pick me up some Majestic Solutions Leather and Plastic Cleaner when he came down since he said he really liked the stuff. I see why he likes it too. I used it at 1:1. It as a chemical smell but it cleans really well. I cleaned everything including the leather seats with this stuff. I used 1z Cockpit Premium on the Nav Screen and Speedo bezel. I dressed everything with CGs Silk Shine and the leather got 1z Leather Care Lederpflege. The wood trim was waxed with Swissvax Onyx.

Paint: Well the paint was really swirled up and although it didn't look too bad in the daylight when you got it under the lights in my garage it looked like the paint had been destroyed. Like FMINUS said in his post black BMW paint is hard to correct but easy to marr. After several attempts at different pads and polish combos I finally realized this was going to be a four step process. I started with M105 and the Scholl Concepts wool pad and a LC purple foamed wool pad on 3M bp on my Harbor Freight rotary at 1800 rpms. Unlike most on here I found success by putting the M105 on the SCs pad and then buffing at 1800 rpms instead of putting it on the paint and picking it up. I was really proud of myself to get the wool and M105 to work and man it did some great clean up. I buffed the M105 off with a Scholl Concepts polish removal cloth.

Next up was Scholl Concepts S17 on an orange Scholl Concepts pad and 3M white polishing pads. The SCs orange pad has the cutting ability of a white polishing pad. These were teamed with the SCs bp on my Metabo at 1500 rpms. The S17 was buffed off with an Obsessive Detail Ultra Premium MF. The gloss in the paint was great now, but I wanted some more.

Then I wanted to really put the gloss over the top so I went with my favorite finishing polish Scholl Concepts S40 on the INCREDIBLE SCs black finishing pad. This is the very best finishing pad I have ever used and it just glides and spreads and works the polish better than all the others I've tried. I buffed it off with a CGs edgeless MF. Man this thing was how black paint was suppose to look now! My next step was another ONR wash to remove anything left behind like dust and wool fibers.

After the ONR I went with CGs Vertua Bond to get a really clean and bondable surface. I applied it with a CGs Stage 3 applicator and removed with a CGs 530XL MF.

Here are some before and afters of the paint correction:

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Protection: I used Jetseal since I was going to be topping with a nuba (a very special nuba at that). It was applied with a CGs Stage 3 Applicator and buffed off with CGs 530XL MF.

LSP: Well nothing but the best for my wife so I broke out the Vintage. I used my hair dryer method to preheat a CGs Pro-Applicator Durafoam red applicator and then applied the Vintage. I let it sit for about a half hour and then buffed it off with a CGs Edgeless MF. Then the next day I did a wipe down with Zymol Field Glaze with the Super Plush Detail MF from Ben at Rubbish Boys. Man this thing is super soft and super thick.

Well here are the before and after pics:

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Random and reflection shots:

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Oh this is what my wife saw when she walked out into the parking lot the day we surprised her:

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02-01-2009, 07:38 AM
Post: #2
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
Car looks really good, you wife must be pleased. Cant say that I would ever use dust covers for brakes though. I like the looks of clean calipers and rotors. Also from what I have read they inhibit cooling quite abit.
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02-01-2009, 08:49 AM
Post: #3
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
LOL, this is the best thing ever! I got goose bumps reading it Bluebiggrin nice one JL! and great work as usual Wink

I wasnt even aware that you got the E90 in a XI... suppose because it just ISNT an option here in SA

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02-01-2009, 11:25 AM
Post: #4
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
Nice work on both the thought & the detail there JL! Bluebiggrin It's intense to see the befores and afters, with the before being a "relatively" clean car. Just shows what a full detail can do! Bluebiggrin

(02-01-2009 08:49 AM)freerider Wrote:  LOL, this is the best thing ever! I got goose bumps reading it Bluebiggrin nice one JL!

Aw you big softy.... Tongue HAHA Wink

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02-01-2009, 11:49 AM
Post: #5
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
(02-01-2009 11:25 AM)MeTsU Wrote:  Nice work on both the thought & the detail there JL! Bluebiggrin It's intense to see the befores and afters, with the before being a "relatively" clean car. Just shows what a full detail can do! Bluebiggrin

(02-01-2009 08:49 AM)freerider Wrote:  LOL, this is the best thing ever! I got goose bumps reading it Bluebiggrin nice one JL!

Aw you big softy.... Tongue HAHA Wink

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02-01-2009, 01:23 PM
Post: #6
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
What does the x mean again? 4 wheel drive or something like that?
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02-01-2009, 01:50 PM
Post: #7
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
(02-01-2009 01:23 PM)calypso Wrote:  What does the x mean again? 4 wheel drive or something like that?

yeah, all wheel drive

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02-01-2009, 05:00 PM
Post: #8
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
Another great write up JL, black looks a lot darker now.
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02-01-2009, 08:39 PM
Post: #9
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
(02-01-2009 07:38 AM)calypso Wrote:  Car looks really good, you wife must be pleased. Cant say that I would ever use dust covers for brakes though. I like the looks of clean calipers and rotors. Also from what I have read they inhibit cooling quite abit.

I tend to agree with you calypso on the dust covers. I just wonder if when I pull the tires if the barrels will be a wreck as they most certainly haven't been cleaned. I must admit though it does seem that the functionality of the covers are what they should be as the wheels have almost no traces of brake dust. The cooling was something else that I wondered about. Thanks for the input it really helps for me trying to decide what to do.

(02-01-2009 08:49 AM)freerider Wrote:  LOL, this is the best thing ever! I got goose bumps reading it Bluebiggrin nice one JL! and great work as usual Wink

I wasnt even aware that you got the E90 in a XI... suppose because it just ISNT an option here in SA

Thanks freerider, she was thrilled with her present and I was quite impressed with myself to be able to pull it off. The detail was quite a bit of work but man it was well worth it.

(02-01-2009 11:25 AM)MeTsU Wrote:  Nice work on both the thought & the detail there JL! Bluebiggrin It's intense to see the befores and afters, with the before being a "relatively" clean car. Just shows what a full detail can do! Bluebiggrin

Thanks MeTsU much appreciated. Funny the dealer wanted to "clean" it before I took it to her but I quickly said no thanks. He then said "Yeah it already looks incredible not much we could do to make it look better." I thought if you only knew how much better it will get!

(02-01-2009 01:23 PM)calypso Wrote:  What does the x mean again? 4 wheel drive or something like that?

freerider nailed it, All Wheel Drive.

(02-01-2009 05:00 PM)Starvekos Wrote:  Another great write up JL, black looks a lot darker now.

Thanks Starvekos. I rode by my wife's office building the other day and man does that black really stand out in the parking lot amongst all the other cars.

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03-01-2009, 12:54 AM
Post: #10
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
Fantastic work JL, I am sure Angie was blown away by both the surprise and the finished product after you worked your magic Thumbsup2

Nice to see your little grasshoppers in the thick of things at surprise time along with all the Christmas decorations around the neighbourhood, looks like you've had a wonderfull time Clap

I really like the interior colour scheme with the black paintwork, lovely colour leather and suits the exterior colour surprisingly well Wink

Oh and can we get a mini-review of the CG Virtua Bond, it's a product a few of us are keen to try out Str8pimp

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03-01-2009, 02:50 AM
Post: #11
RE: JLs Detailing: BMW 330xi
Thanks Carn much appreciated. She was definately surprised and blown away as she thought her dream car was gone forever! Like I said I knew the kids would never be able to keep a secret like this for more than about 5 minutes so I went ahead and gave it to her. Really glad I did though as the kids got to be a part of it and it made their day too. I'll be sure to get that review for you here very soon.

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