2014 BMW 320i Full Pinnacle Black Label Coating

Tato

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Good evening,

Today I'm going to share a recent work on a brand new 2014 Black BMW 320i in form of a 'picture follow-up'.

The car ran only ~280km, but came with DISO (Dealer Installed Swirl Option), RIDS and water spots that made it looks much older.

Client called asking for something to protect her finish. Knowing it was a brand new car, I've offered my PBL full coating service and I've thought that would be 'as easy as' cleaning and coating…

I've scheduled by phone without prior seeing the vehicle. When it arrived… ... Please, see for yourself:

I've asked for 1 day and a half, and client promptly agreed.

281km (~120km was the distance between me and the client).
km-runt.png


Dealer Installed Swirl Option - The Before Pictures:

Hood DISO:
hood-DISO.png


Roof DISO:
roof-DISO.png


Side back pillar:
side-back_close.png


Trunk lid swirled and rear glass opaque, full of spots:
rear-trunk-glass.png


This is not the way your 'Brand New' car should look:
closertrunklid.png


Random deep Scratches:



Everything here starts with a solid basement, so let's do the wheels:
wheelsbefore.png


Using what I call my 'Soapy APC':
wheel-APCsoap.png


Even after APC, some major contaminants kept stick to the wheels:
wheel-cont.png


Used a claybar to get rid of it (using a back and forth gliding movement and Soapy APC as lube):
back-forth-clay.png


Looking almost Good:


Here's the wheel cleaned and coated with PBL Wheel Coating:
wheel-coated.png


After doing the wheels (but before it's coating), I've washed the car using Detailer's Xtreme Foam



The car was Clayed using Fine grade nanoskin wash mitt. Minimum (but existent) contamination had to be removed. No spot missed!:




After Drying, I went after the engine bay. It was not very dirty, so I could clean it entirely and fast using APCs, Degreasers, applied spray wax to the inside painted parts and 303 Aerospace Protectant to plastic parts:
beautifulmachines.png



To polish this car, I've 'relied on Menzerna's Shoulder'.
I've used a Flex 3401, and choosing the minimum abrasive method to get the job done I've 'played' with orange, white and gray pads, coupled with 400, 2500 and 4000 Menzerna polishes.


Most of time I've used PF2500 on a white pad.
Polish ongoing, this car design and paint were projected to reflect:
polish-ongoing.png


Look at this 'Chameleon like' reflex:
chamelion-reflexes.png



Additional Details:
Glass before / after using Pinnacle Waterspot Remover:
*Pictures are not on good focus, but are the only I had:
glass.png




Any 'screw' passes without being noticed. Look at the license plate screws before/after picture:


I've cleaned the paint using Pinnacle Black Label Surface Cleansing Polish, and finished applying the PBL Coatings late at night. Finished, I went to sleep.
before-sleep.png


When I woke up, I've faced the coated car in garage. Paint was reflecting just like glass.
reflective-glass.png



I've then, respecting 12 hours of coating application, lightly washed the car (touch-less wash) to get rid of any dust and/or compounding dust that may be at the gaps. I've joined work with joy and took the opportunity to test the just applied coatings.


Coating: Water Beading, Sheeting, and Considerations.


I've used a very low concentration of Xtreme Foam Soap.
beading.png


Roof beading shot:
roof-beading.png


Rear Glass and Trunk Lid, Beading!
back-beading.png


Coated wheels, water beading:
wheel-beading.png


Hood, start sheeting to dry the car with minimum touch necessary:
hood-sheeting.png


Just run a free flow of water, then...
hood-sheeting2.png


I could do even better if not in a hurry!
hood-sheeting3.png


One light towel pass and you're done with what was missing:




SUN shots:
(PS: At this point car was fully corrected and coated with PBL Surface, Paint, Glass and Wheel Coatings).


Hood under the sun:
hoodsun1.png


hoodsun2.png


hoodsun3.png


hoodsun4.png


Roof shot
roof-sun.png


Roof Closer (notice the flake pops)
roof-sun2.png


Side spot Shot #nomoreswirls:
side-sun.png


Trunk and rear glass


Another Spot on trunk
trunklid-sun.png


This is so inviting for a ride... Interior was fully cleaned and vacuumed, interior trim was protected with 303 Aerospace Protectant.
ride320i.png


This is how a brand new car should look:
done_5.png


done_13.png


Waiting for the owner to pick up her brand new 320i!
done12.png


It was a great moment, and I'm happy I've met expectations on this job.


Thanks to AG and PBMG I have a respectable business card:
business-card.png



Hope you enjoyed as much as I did, I'm already missing this beauty on my garage.

Questions, comments, critics, suggestions, always, always Welcome!

Thank you very much for watching.

Kind Regards.
 
Excellent write up and pictures. It is quite remarkable how much damage was already on the new vehicle.

Did you just coat the face of the wheels?
 
Looks absolutely amazing! Fantastic job my friend:)
 
Amazing work and documentation as usual :dblthumb2:
 
Great work! Looks like glass. I have a c300 benz and it's black. I'm thinking going with BL coating. How do you like working with it? Also and issues with streaking?
 
Great work! Looks like glass. I have a c300 benz and it's black. I'm thinking going with BL coating. How do you like working with it? Also and issues with streaking?

I'm pretty sure you'll love it!
 
Thank you very much everyone for input, I appreciate your thoughts.

Excellent write up and pictures. It is quite remarkable how much damage was already on the new vehicle.

Did you just coat the face of the wheels?

Yes, remarkable. I believe they leave the car outside for showing purposes and when it goes inside someone installs the swirls while trying to get rid of dust. What they don't know is that (IMO) dust is much more beautiful than Swirls and Scratches... Water spots
may be there for the same reason, exposed vehicle getting rain / sun on a daily basis...

When coating wheels without actually removing them, I do careful coating over the face of wheels, and I spray and wipe the coating on the inside of wheels wherever the 'human hand' fits into. The wheels on this car was really easy to get into.

Looks absolutely amazing! Fantastic job my friend:)

Thanks my friend!

An amazing job. Looks great.

Thank you for feedback!

Amazing work and documentation as usual :dblthumb2:

:dblthumb2: very kind from you, thanks for that.

Awesome work. I wish I knew how to detail like that.

Thank you! Actually, I owe everything I'm doing detailing related to AGO community. Everything to learn is here!, and I can rely on their product selection to use and offer only the best.

Great work! Looks like glass. I have a c300 benz and it's black. I'm thinking going with BL coating. How do you like working with it? Also and issues with streaking?

Thank you. You have a gorgeous car, I'm sure you'll like BL coating very much. I do coating on many customers car, but I also have my DD coated. I'm maintaining it on a foam/rinse regimen (at least I still can take care of it!) and all time the beading and sheeting are amazing. I also like to play with my DD and use 'toppers' for testing and 'therapeutical (hehe)' purposes, so you can always add a layer of wax/sealant to your coating when you're bored. When the layer 'wash away', you go back to ... coating insane beading and sheeting again!

Having it on my own car gives me security to recommend to customers. I've tried many waxes and sealants, and apart of liking many wax and sealants, nothing I've seen works likes this product line.

Keep in mind that proper preparation is key, and we cannot rely only on LSP product to get results we want. Proper claying and polishing are essential steps before coating so you can create a swirl free and slick as glass surface.

I have a topic on Mitsubishi Outlander, the pics on there shows exactly how the claying step changed the whole look of the car. After achieving this free of contaminants surface, we should go for swirls, and always remember to test and use the least abrasive method to get the job done.

After that, a fast pass of cleaning polish and you can apply your coating knowing it'll be the perfect icing for your cake.

Streaking... yes, it does occur sometimes. It'll occur when you use to much product, when you don't spread it fast enough or don't worked it enough... It'll occur when you spray closer to an already (just) coated area and drops splattered will dry and streak.

How to deal with it? First, try to avoid above situations. It's good to work smaller areas until you learn how to properly apply. Knowing it can streak, avoid spraying where you've already coated. Also, try to follow a path where the spray will be less likely to go over your just coated area.

If you cannot avoid spraying wrong (sometimes we can't), you can use a MF towel to remove the excess.

After spreading over a panel, or half a panel if it's a large panel, I go with MF towel to level high spots (if any), you can feel under your towel. Properly leveling also helps reducing streaks.

Have plenty of lighting so you can see what you're doing, by the way, I see this coating process more about a 'touch and feel' process, because you'll feel where you've coated or not.

For the last cry of the streaking, I've found you can even remove streaking much later, on the following day, just do some light 2-3 passes with a MF towel over the streaked area.

Just be aware it can streaks, how streaking can occur (may be more reasons than I've listed), and do what you can to deal with it. It's not a major problem for me, it's like 'dried wax' on trim or crevices... I have to remove it the same way, at the end of work, the following day, or on maintenance day.

I could remove a streak from glass using only #34 final inspection and MF towel, 1 week after coating application...

I'm not talking about bad streaking, because I believe if one applies it without any criteria, it'll streak all over, and this kind of streak I've never faced and wouldn't know how to deal. If you just be careful and aware of what you're doing, BL coating application should be as easy as applying a coat of a quality carnauba wax. Just take your time.

Hope I've helped.

Great job and excellent write up..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for feedback.

I'm pretty sure you'll love it!

+1!

Kind Regards.
 
Wow incredible work Rafael! That BMW looks stunning now! I'm sure the owner was speechless!

Glad you were able to get a black BMW under your belt. It looks great now!

Keep up the outstanding work! Love to see your work. I can live vicariously through you.
 
Tremendous work done!! Quality work my friend. Loving your engine work, nicely dressed!
 
Very nicely done!

I love BMWs!, especially when they are properly done
 
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