O.C.Detailing (Lynchburg, VA.) - 2007 BMW 530i SMG

[O.C.Detailing]

This very nice gentleman, Randy, was a referral from Mr. Mark Barker, owner of M.B. Euro Service here in Lynchburg, VA. Mark owns the 1987 Mercedes Benz 300SDL I posted a while back. Anyway, this customer actually has 5 cars in total that he needs detailed, but I will only be able to do 3 of them in the immediate future. The first car is this beautiful 2007 BMW 530i SMG. At first glance, it looked to be in very good condition with only light swirls in direct sunlight. That changed VERY quickly once it got a proper wash. Apparently, the dealership he bought it from used a glaze on the paint and filled in the horrors you'll see below. I also seriously underestimated the hardness of the clearcoat on this car so had almost 2 full days of work on it. Onto the process.

PROCESS:

- Wash via 2-bucket method with Vroom Micro-fiber Chenielle (sp?) mitt and Super Suds Car wash
- Clayed with Griot's Garage fine clay using Showroom Shine as Clay lube (the paint LITERALLY felt like sandpaper after the wash and before I clayed it).
- Wheels were cleaned with Meg's Wheel Brightener and my leftover clean car wash solution then aggitated with several brushes to get into all of the nooks and crannys.
- Correction was obtained with M105 on 6.5" CCS Yellow pad using the Griot's garage followed up with (believe it or not) Ultracoat Polish AIO on white 6.5" CCS to remove the hazing and marring left by the M105.
- Interior was lightly detailed using 10:1 APC solution, vaccuumed, windows cleaned with Meg's Glass Cleaner etc. No before or after pics of the interior as it was pretty much new and only a few spots needed to be cleaned with APC in the carpet and they were perfect.

PICTURES:

BEFORES:

I FINALLY got my wife to let me use the point-and-shoot camera again...so I have some nice pictures to post this time. lol No more iPhone pics.

Some of these don't look TOO bad, but believe me, everything was MUCH harder to remove than it appeared...kinda threw me off my game for a while. Here we go.

Scratches in the roof that didn't come completely out. I lightened them the best I could with a bit of wet-sanding.

This one went pretty much across the entire roof...

Hood scratches.

And someone tried to fix some spots as you can see by the few areas with holograms...

Rear bumper

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Now the AFTERS! The owner was AMAZED at how much better the paint looked and tipped me VERY well for the work I did. I called him after it was washed to come inspect the car to see the damage that was in his paint for himself, so the afters really took him by surprise. I can't wait to get started on his e39 528i. I was in a huge rush to get out of there to get ready for my Wife's birthday dinner last night, so didn't get a ton of after photos.

Remember all, this is a daily driver and I was not going for 100% correction, so forgive the few rids and scratches I couldn't get out. Considering what I started with, it came out great!

This is my favorite picture of the afters. lol

This one has dust on it, but you get the point.

My beast in the background, the perfect example of "the cobbler's son has no shoes" statement. lol

And the last one of a mirror with the sun reflecting off of it.

Thank you so much for looking. Constructive comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated!

 

[TheGLL]

The "before pics" were not pretty!! Great job there.

 

[Birdhunter]

You are doing great work!!! Great wright ups and pics every time. :dblthumb2:

 

[Matt S.]

Holy ****! Nice job dude! :cheers:

 

[CEE DOG]

Wow, what a mess. Nice work cleaning it up:xyxthumbs:

 

[O.C.Detailing]

The "before pics" were not pretty!! Great job there.

Thank you so much GLL.

You are doing great work!!! Great wright ups and pics every time. :dblthumb2:

I appreciate the compliments Bird. I sometimes think I take too many pictures, and I'm sure some agree, but I like to show what I start with and end up removing as clearly as possible. Pictures give me that ability to do without having to use many words.

Holy ****! Nice job dude! :cheers:

lol Matt, I take it as a HUGE compliment when a moderator leaves comments like this for me. Thank you!

Wow, what a mess. Nice work cleaning it up:xyxthumbs:

As always, thanks so much CEE DOG.

 

[A4 1.8tqm]

That car came out looking great, nice work as always OCD. :applause:

You did advise the owner against washing with handfuls of beach sand, right? :laughing:

 

[O.C.Detailing]

haha Thanks A4 1.8tqm. He bought it looking okay, but once it was washed it's true identity was revealed. Hell, even I was surprised! I thought it would be a 1-step job. I never thought it'd turn into a hardcore 3-step. Took at least 2-3 passes of M105 on 6.5" Yellow CCS to get it clear enough to polish...my back, arms and shoulders are sore for having to do it, as are my hands and wrists, but it was so worth it!

EDIT: OH, and I must say, the owner asked a TON of questions on which products and materials he could buy to keep it looking good and I gave him a ton of information and he followed through. He went and bought 2 buckets, Meg's Gold Class shampoo, both a 100% natural lambs wool mitt AND a Microfiber Chenielle mitt, an absorber and he'll hopefully be hitting AG up to buy some quality microfibers. He will only wash it occassionally he said, but he wants me to wash it the majority of the time. I love a customer who takes my advice and actually uses it.

 

[Rsurfer]

Super turn around Adam. What happen to your helper John (VR8)?

 

[jmp09fg2]

When I first saw the pictures of the rear I honestly said, out loud, OWWWWIIIIEEEE. Nice work.

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Super turn around Adam. What happen to your helper John (VR8)?

We're sharing the same bay and all, but we had a difference of opinion and decided it'd be best to work on our own projects. We're fine and still friends and chatting like crazy detailers, but working on our own things. We have a vehicle coming up we'll be doing together though. I'll post pics when we get it started and when it's finished. John's still awesome, we just have different ideas on certain things and that's understandable.

Thanks for the kind words Rsurfer.

 

[O.C.Detailing]

When I first saw the pictures of the rear I honestly said, out loud, OWWWWIIIIEEEE. Nice work.

lol Yeah, thanks Jonathan. I busted my hump on this one. I almost called you to come see it, but got too busy. I have an e39 528i to start on tomorrow. You should come see it while I'm getting started. I'll call you man. L8rz.

 

[killrflake]

Judging from the before pictures, he must have been overjoyed with the results your work provided. Nice write-up and super job.

 

[O.C.Detailing]

He was amazed (by his own words). He's very excited to see what I can do to his e39 5-series now. I hope I can get it to look as good as his 2007.

Thanks so much for the compliments killrflake.

 

[detaildave]

Excellent work...nice turn around!!! I can see why the client tipped ya.:xyxthumbs:

 

[fancyfootwork]

Much respect to that amazing job. That car looked like it was attacked by a grinder.

 

[SRHTX]

VERY NICE detail young man. Awsome correctional work. Im the MAN

 

[Shane731]

Oh poo, I can do that.
















NOT! Holy toledo! You didn't just do a detail, you did a makeover on that bad boy! Most impressive! Great job! :dblthumb2:

BTW, what did you use for an LSP?

 

[Fred114]

Very nice work Adam. Just gotta say...Wow