2001 BMW 740iL Black - 6 years of neglect

[Totoland Mach]

Toto is this the Magic Dressing you where referring to? Thanks JoeD

Yessir! That's it. He buys it in gallon quantities. Thanks.

Toto

 

[Craig]

Your employer sounds like a great guy. The garage is awesome. Having the tools, or willing to get, makes the progress of the job much better.
Then there's your finished work :applause: . What you do is unreal.
My hats off to you sir.:cheers:

 

[abrcrombe]

Nice work TOTO! Love the new wheels, I like the black look a lot right now. Although I would be hard pressed NOT to get some CSL reps for an e46!

 

[Woob]

Great work! Again shop is pretty sweet. Did you end up using purely using the Fexstool (sp?) with Opt Compound? Odd, never seen the lower sections with so much plastic.

 

[Totoland Mach]

Great work! Again shop is pretty sweet. Did you end up using purely using the Fexstool (sp?) with Opt Compound? Odd, never seen the lower sections with so much plastic.

Woob: Thanks. I used the Festool for all the plastic body panels (bumpers, mirrors, headlight covers, rocker panels) and other metal areas where the rotary is too cumbersome (like the windshield pillars). For the metal, I used a rotary with Opt Compound and a glaze pad instead of a cutting pad. That black paint was so soft, the cutter was creating problems galore.

Toto

 

[Totoland Mach]

Inside Photos of Finished Paint

Well, the monster is done exterior wise. I power washed it to remove excess compound/glaze from the body seams and added a coat of #26 to the hood while the rest of the car got a coat of NXT.

Enjoy!

Really has depth!

Toto

 

[Nica]

Toto

:iagree: just look at the reflection and the depth on that paint...wow you sir do great work :applause:

 

[Woob]

Awesome work, thoughts on Ultrafina SE? I've heard for some of those European cars you need a glazing pad or a glaze to do the final finishing just because they are finicky.

 

[sparkie]

Toto, you are just good, I mean good. Awesome work:applause:

 

[Totoland Mach]

Awesome work, thoughts on Ultrafina SE? I've heard for some of those European cars you need a glazing pad or a glaze to do the final finishing just because they are finicky.

Woob: Ultrafina SE is good and seems to work. I'd like to try it out on my own car for longevity/car washes/etc. They say (3M) it will provide swirl elimination for many months and many washes. I don't personally buy a lot of that, but overall it's very nice. The product has a special foam pad to apply the product which is ultra soft foam (much softer than any finish pad I've used before).

The black paint was very soft and unlike some previous black BMW's I've done. It wouldn't take a cutting pad with compound as that was too aggressive, so I switched to a softer pad to correct the paint.

Thanks all for the compliments!

 

[V-DUB]

Wow!!! Great Job I Never Thought Someone Can Do That To A Car That Was In That Bad Of A Shape.. Can You Let Me What You Used For The Whole Thing Start To Finish. I Have A 1985 Toyota That Kind Of Looks Like The B4 Pics I Would Like To Do That To Mine.. I See That You And Others Are Taping Trim What Is That For So You Dont Get Them Dull From The Products.

 

[67Customs]

Very nice work. That thing was swirled all to heck.

 

[Totoland Mach]

Wow!!! Great Job I Never Thought Someone Can Do That To A Car That Was In That Bad Of A Shape.. Can You Let Me What You Used For The Whole Thing Start To Finish. I Have A 1985 Toyota That Kind Of Looks Like The B4 Pics I Would Like To Do That To Mine.. I See That You And Others Are Taping Trim What Is That For So You Dont Get Them Dull From The Products.

V-Dub: Here's the products I used Start-To-Finish

1. Clay bar to remove surface contaminants
2. Optimum Compound
3. Rotary cut pad (which was too aggressive for this soft black paint)
4. Rotary glaze pad (used 1 for compounding and another for glazing)
5. PC Finish pad for applying #26
6. 3M Glaze
7. 3M Ultrafina SE
8. Meguiar's #26
9. Plush microfiber towels for buffing
10. Blue painter's tape for trim.

You can substitute another Glaze for the 3M like Meguiar's #7
You can substitute 3M Ultrafina SE for Klasse AIO

I tape the trim to prevent the rotary from burning the plastic/rubber and to minimize the amount of compound and glaze which will cake in body seams. I power wash the car following everything but the #26.

Totoland Mach

 

[V-DUB]

Thanks!!!! Will Do

 

[Totoland Mach]

Outside Shots At Last!

The good ol' Sun tells all! And the Bimmer just soaks up the rays!

Here ya go folks:

And, 1 more indoor shot of the fender...absorbing the lighting!

The dealer bought an identical 740iL (except for the tan interior) to the shop tonight...this one isn't as bad.

Toto

 

[ltoman]

toto, wish i had your skills!

 

[Nica]

toto, wish i had your skills!

:iagree: But with time and lots of practice I'm sure one day I will be as good as you and other members....the nice thing is that I'm only 27 so I got many....many years to perfect my process and detailing techniques.

Toto, you do amazing work. That vehicle looks like new, it doesn’t even compare to the first pictures you posted of it, very nice Toto :applause:

 

[Totoland Mach]

toto, wish i had your skills!

Thanks so much Lauren. Just remember, 7 months ago, I had never used a rotary, never wet-sanded, thought cutting pads were a last ditch fix, didn't even know that plastic body panels could burn so easily, never used glaze (except for XMT Glaze with Carnuba)....

I've had a good teacher with the dealer. But we've had our differences and work them out. For instance, his prior detailer came from a body shop environment and could cut paint, wet sand, and would use the rotary with a cutting pad/compound until the sheet metal (hood, trunk, etc) "popped" from the heat. The dealer thought this was the way to compound paint and I disagreed.

Well, just a few weeks ago, the dealer went to his painter and the guy told him that excess heat is flat wrong on today's paint. Using different pad and product combo's are the correct way with today's paint. Super heating painted metal is walking a fine line between correction and disaster.

So, now the dealer likes the way I use products safely. It's always a learning process in this field.

If there is one major point I've learned: Try an area start-to-finish (trunk, fender, etc) before tackling the rest of the car. That way you have the process of what's needed.

Toto

 

[Nica]

Thanks so much Lauren. Just remember, 7 months ago, I had never used a rotary, never wet-sanded, thought cutting pads were a last ditch fix, didn't even know that plastic body panels could burn so easily, never used glaze (except for XMT Glaze with Carnuba)....

I've had a good teacher with the dealer. But we've had our differences and work them out. For instance, his prior detailer came from a body shop environment and could cut paint, wet sand, and would use the rotary with a cutting pad/compound until the sheet metal (hood, trunk, etc) "popped" from the heat. The dealer thought this was the way to compound paint and I disagreed.

Well, just a few weeks ago, the dealer went to his painter and the guy told him that excess heat is flat wrong on today's paint. Using different pad and product combo's are the correct way with today's paint. Super heating painted metal is walking a fine line between correction and disaster.

So, now the dealer likes the way I use products safely. It's always a learning process in this field.

If there is one major point I've learned: Try an area start-to-finish (trunk, fender, etc) before tackling the rest of the car. That way you have the process of what's needed.

Toto

Toto I really like listening to your wisdome my friend thank you so much for sharing and please don't stop sharing :applause: nothing but respect for you my friend.