(2nd) Alpine White BMW 135i - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

As always on a full detail I will tackle the engine bay first, so that any dirt that happens to find its way on to the paint (typically its the front fenders and front bumper) will get cleaned up when the car is washed. The prevents you having to wash the same area twice, reducing the chance for swirls and saving time and product.

It wasn't all that dirty but did have some oily type dressing everywhere, and so the a basic 'cosmetic' clean was performed - everywhere was cleaned using Carchem APC, MF towels, Q-tips, a blower and various brushes. The plastics were then dressed using Autofinesse Dressel and the painted surfaces cleaned/polished/protected using Autofinesse Tripple.

The under side of the hood

Finished

Then the fender liners, tires, wheels and brake calipers were detailed.

Fender wells - HP rinse | Clean with Carchem APC | HP rinse | Dry | Dress with Autofinesse Dressel
Tires- HP rinse | Clean with Angelwax Billberry | HP rinse | Dry | Dress with Gyeon Tire Coat
Wheels - HP rinse | Clean with Angelwax Billberry | HP rinse | Dry | Seal with Gyeon Wetcoat
Brake Calipers - HP rinse | Clean with Angelwax Billberry | HP rinse | Dry | Seal with Gyeon Wetcoat

After

Next a couple of shots of how the rest of the car looked - it wasn't very dirty, but man was the painted hacked up....

Next, washing and decontamination.

Pre-wash - HP rinse | Valet Pro Citrus Prewash | HP rinse | Angelwax Fastfoam | HP rinse
Wash - Carchem Luxury Shampoo | Lambswool wash mitts
Dry - Waffle Weave Drying Towel | ONR as a lubricant
Tar removal - Valet Pro Citrus Tar Remover
Iron removal - Carchem Revolt | HP rinse
Clay - Shield Heavy Duty | ONR as a lubricant
Inside Fuel Flap / Door Shuts - HP rinse | Carchem APC | HP rinse | Dry | Polish and Protect with Autofinesse Tripple

The door jambs and boot jamb were then cleaned/polished/protected - Autofinesse Tripple | Q-tips | MF towels.

Then it was time to correct the paint.

Paint readings 76µ to 182µ
Paint Correction - Menzerna FG400 | Blue Lake Country Hybrid Wool Pads / Flex 3401 x2
Paint refinement - Menzerna 3-in-1 | White Lake Country Hybrid Pads | Flex 3401
Paint Inspection - Gyeon Prep

Before

After compounding

After refinement

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Tailights were corrected using Menzerna 3-in-1 | White Lake Country Hybrid Pads | Flex 3401

Before

After

The interior was then sorted out

Glass - Autoglym Fast Glass
Plastics - Clean with Carchem APC | Wipe with damp MF towel | Protect with 303 Aerospace
Carpets - Vacuum | Brush | Vacuum
Leather - Clean with Carchem APC | Wipe with damp MF towel | Protect with Collinite 855
Door rubbers - Clean with Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner | Protect with Aerospace 303

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Finally the exterior rubbers and glass were tackled.

Exterior Rubbers - Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner | Aerospace 303
Exterior Glass - Gyeon Prep

 

[lawrenceSA]

Some after shots with my cell

And some with my DSLR

Total time spent = 46 hours

As always, thanks for looking, and any comments or questions are welcome.

:hi:

 

[emmjay]

Nice!! Even white looks great after that turnaround.Love the wetness! :urtheman:

I see you used ONR as lubricant (referring to my towel scratch thread) - What ratio is it diluted in? I've tried looking everywhere and its 8oz to a gallon or x parts to x parts for QD, what is that in english (lol) ? 'x' ml Onr to 'x' ml water.

As I have plenty ONR left i've pretty much narrowed it down to using it as my drying aid with the purple plush towels after blotting with a Waffle.

1. Do you wipe/swipe the paint to dry if you have ONR on the towel, or is that not a concern here as you will be correcting the paint either way. I guess in my case I would have to blot to be safe and follow with a plush/onr.

2. For the engine bay I see you did not mention HP rinse this time. So was APC (1:4 i'm guessing) just sprayed on, agitated and then wiped off with a microfiber / air?

Thanks as always for answering my questions bud , means a lot :dblthumb2:

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work Lawrence! That Alpine White 1 looks great now. Nice transformation.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[jamesboyy]

Who's the real Leonardo da Vinci then??? You perfected that BMW/Alpine White in general to a whole new standard that it can be considered the Automotive version of Mona Lisa, keep up the outstanding work LawrenceSA

 

[Paul A.]

Outstanding work on white! I love that 3rd wheel shot...artistic.

 

[Sicoupe]

Another beautiful job my friend!

 

[Priyaka]

Lovely work! Great pics as well.

 

[haris300]

Great job! I always enjoy your write ups. Thanks for sharing. The car looks stunning.

 

[Marc08EX]

Amazing work as always, Lawrence! That alpine white paint was trashed but you revived it very well. Now, you can see how glossy and wet the paint looks.

That car is looking sweet! :dblthumb2:

 

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

Awesome work as always

 

[Aaryn NZ]

Hey Lawrence. :xyxthumbs:

Beautiful work my friend. Personally I like white . . . I know, strange choice for a Detailer but hey, when you see how great it looks when done properly - like you have done here - its easy to understand. Great turn around mate & as usual, the write up & pictures are first class! rops:

Done two Alpine white BMWs last week, a 135i M spec hatch & a 528i sedan . . . & a 120 Cab but that was black so that doesn't count.

Awesome job Lawrence, thanks for sharing!

Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

 

[lawrenceSA]

Nice!! Even white looks great after that turnaround.Love the wetness! :urtheman:

I see you used ONR as lubricant (referring to my towel scratch thread) - What ratio is it diluted in? I've tried looking everywhere and its 8oz to a gallon or x parts to x parts for QD, what is that in english (lol) ? 'x' ml Onr to 'x' ml water.

As I have plenty ONR left i've pretty much narrowed it down to using it as my drying aid with the purple plush towels after blotting with a Waffle.

1. Do you wipe/swipe the paint to dry if you have ONR on the towel, or is that not a concern here as you will be correcting the paint either way. I guess in my case I would have to blot to be safe and follow with a plush/onr.

2. For the engine bay I see you did not mention HP rinse this time. So was APC (1:4 i'm guessing) just sprayed on, agitated and then wiped off with a microfiber / air?

Thanks as always for answering my questions bud , means a lot :dblthumb2:

Beautiful work Lawrence! That Alpine White 1 looks great now. Nice transformation.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks bud.
When using ONR for clay lube I will dilute it @ 1:64 or 2 oz/1 gallon or 60 ml to 3.84 liters of water (15.6 ml per liter) *I just throw in 20ml for convenience
When using ONR for QD I will dilute it @ 1:16 or 8 oz/1 gallon or 240 ml to 3.84 liters for water (62.5 ml per liter) *I just throw in 70ml for convenience

When drying, after rinsing then I spray the car itself with a decent coat of ONR, then spray into the drying towel, then:
-if it is a car I am about to correct, I will lay the ww towel down, lift 2 corners and gently drag it across the paint to grab the bulk of the liquid off - shortly thereafter I am going to clay anyway, so the drying phase is really just to get most of it off to avoid water spotting - its not to get it 'perfect'
-if it is for a car I am not about to detail (say my own daily drive) then I do the same as above, except I lay the ww drying towel on the paint, blot up the bulk of it, then follow again with a plush MF towel (usually a chinchilla) dampened with ONR.

On this one, the owner wasn't comfortable introducing water, so yes, after wiping/agitating with MF towels/brushes, a damp (with clean water only) MF towel was used to wipe down the bay to try and pick up any remaining APC residue.... then I used the blower to dry it, and dressed.

Who's the real Leonardo da Vinci then??? You perfected that BMW/Alpine White in general to a whole new standard that it can be considered the Automotive version of Mona Lisa, keep up the outstanding work LawrenceSA

WOW what a humbling comment - thank you very much for your kind words.:dblthumb2:

Outstanding work on white! I love that 3rd wheel shot...artistic.

Thanks very much

Another beautiful job my friend!

Thanks Kyle

Lovely work! Great pics as well.

Thank you Priyaka

Great job! I always enjoy your write ups. Thanks for sharing. The car looks stunning.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read through my work and for your kind comment!

Amazing work as always, Lawrence! That alpine white paint was trashed but you revived it very well. Now, you can see how glossy and wet the paint looks.

That car is looking sweet! :dblthumb2:

Thanks so much Marc!

Awesome work as always

Thanks

Hey Lawrence. :xyxthumbs:

Beautiful work my friend. Personally I like white . . . I know, strange choice for a Detailer but hey, when you see how great it looks when done properly - like you have done here - its easy to understand. Great turn around mate & as usual, the write up & pictures are first class! rops:

Done two Alpine white BMWs last week, a 135i M spec hatch & a 528i sedan . . . & a 120 Cab but that was black so that doesn't count.

Awesome job Lawrence, thanks for sharing!

Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

Thank so much Aaryn - I always appreciate your kind words and hope that you are looking after yourself my friend!

 

[vdevan]

Great Results Lawrence!:dblthumb2: The gloss is insane!

 

[emmjay]

Thanks bud.
When using ONR for clay lube I will dilute it @ 1:64 or 2 oz/1 gallon or 60 ml to 3.84 liters of water (15.6 ml per liter) *I just throw in 20ml for convenience
When using ONR for QD I will dilute it @ 1:16 or 8 oz/1 gallon or 240 ml to 3.84 liters for water (62.5 ml per liter) *I just throw in 70ml for convenience

When drying, after rinsing then I spray the car itself with a decent coat of ONR, then spray into the drying towel, then:
-if it is a car I am about to correct, I will lay the ww towel down, lift 2 corners and gently drag it across the paint to grab the bulk of the liquid off - shortly thereafter I am going to clay anyway, so the drying phase is really just to get most of it off to avoid water spotting - its not to get it 'perfect'
-if it is for a car I am not about to detail (say my own daily drive) then I do the same as above, except I lay the ww drying towel on the paint, blot up the bulk of it, then follow again with a plush MF towel (usually a chinchilla) dampened with ONR.

On this one, the owner wasn't comfortable introducing water, so yes, after wiping/agitating with MF towels/brushes, a damp (with clean water only) MF towel was used to wipe down the bay to try and pick up any remaining APC residue.... then I used the blower to dry it, and dressed.

Thanks Lawrence, really appreciate the reply and help :dblthumb2:

 

[lawrenceSA]

Great Results Lawrence!:dblthumb2: The gloss is insane!

Thanks my friend :dblthumb2:

Thanks Lawrence, really appreciate the reply and help :dblthumb2:

Only a pleasure bud. Hope it helps a little, and hope you come right with your 'soft paint issues' rops: