Alpine White BMW 330D - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

Overall the paint on this car had minimal swirls, but there were about 5 'patches' on the car where the paint was really bad... they were in random sections and are presumably from someone getting very aggressive when washing off ?Dirt/birdbombs? The paint was also pretty thin (got readings ranging from 64µ upwards, but mostly around the 80µ mark) and so the plan was to use Menzerna 3-in-1 on the whole car, then go and 'spot repair' any of the bad areas where the 3-in-1 couldn't cut it (pun intended :lol: )

So on to the detail itself, working from 'dirty' to 'clean'....

Engine Bay
-Clean with Cyclo APC and various brushes and MF towels and protected with Aerospace 303. No water was used and no real before/after pics taken, save for the 2 below....

Before

During

Arches
-HP rinse (a lot for the carpeted liners which can be a real PITA to get clean)
-Clean with Cyclo APC using a Mothers Fenderwell Brush
-HP rinse
-Dressed with Aerospace 303

Tires
-Clean tires with Valet Pro Billbery Wheel Cleaner @ 1:6 and a Mothers Tire brush.
-HP rinse
-Repeat tire cleaning
-HP rinse
-Dressed with 2 coats of Optimum Tire Sheen 12 hours apart

Wheels
-HP rinse
-VP Bilberry Wheel Cleaner @ 1:6, Daytona and Daytona Jnr brushes and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP rinse
-Dry
-Remove tar using VP Citrus Tar Remover
-Spray with APC and HP Rinse
-Dry
-Remove bonded and embedded ferrous contaminants on wheels and brake calipers with Autofinesse Iron Out, Daytona (big and small) brushes and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP Rinse + flood rinse
-Dry
-Polished with Meznerna FG400 and a MF applicator by hand
-Protected with Collinite #845

Before

After

Before

During

After

Door/Boot Jamb/Petrol Flap
-HP rinse
-Clean with Cyclo APC and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP rinse
-Autofinesse Tripple

Wash
-HP rinse
-Gyeon Q2M Foam - mixed at 1:5 / MTM Hydro / Karcher K7 .
-HP Rinse
-Charchem Shampoo
-2 Buckets
-Grit Guards
-4 x Lambswool Wash Mitts
-HP rinse
-Flood rinse
-ONR at QD ratio
-Waffle weave drying towels

Decontamination
-Shield Heavy Duty Clay / ONR - the vehicle had a LOT of contamination on it, especially for its age.

Paint correction
Paint Readings
-64µ to 108µ - mostly around the 80µ mark...
Bumpers
-Flex 3401
-5" Lake Country Hybrid White / Menzerna 3-in-1
Door handles
-Meguiars Ultimate Compound / MF applicator
B-pillars
-Shield DA
-Menzerna PF2300
-4.5"Lake Country White

Before

During

Remainder of vehicle
-Flex 3401
-6.5" and 5" Lake Country Hybrid White / Menzerna 3-in-1.
-For the really bad sections I then did one pass of Menzerna PF2300 on a Orange Lake Country Hybrid, not to get it perfect but just to get it acceptable. With the car being so new (its a 2014 model but new to this owner) and the paint being so thin, it was decided to preserve as much of the clear coat as possible.

Before

After only 3-in-1

After PF2300

Before

After 3-in-1

Tailights
-Flex 3401
-Menzerna PF2300
-5"Lake Country Hybrid White

Protection
-2 Coats Collinite 915. This was my first time using this wax and I am really impressed with it. Looking very forward to using it on the next detail, which happens to be a black car

Glass
-Shield Heavy Duty Clay / ONR
-Glossworx Glass Cleaner
-Wynns C-Thru

Badges
-Autofinesse Tripple
-Cotton buds

Before

After

Door rubbers, window rubbers, exterior plastic trim
- Cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner
- Protected using Aerospace 303

Interior
-Blower
-Autofinesse Spritz
-Autofinesse Hide
-Collinite #855
-Vacuum (Flex)

Exhaust Tips
-Cyclo APC
-Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish
Before

During

After

Some shots of the car still in the garage

And outside in the dying light just before the owner came to collect

Total time spent = 25 hours

Thanks for looking and as always and comments or questions are welcome.

:hi:

 

[Sicoupe]

Lawrence my friend, you are very gifted with what you do. Another outstanding job on a beautiful ride buddy!

 

[AZ Mike]

Great job. I always like your write ups, because you include all the steps and products.

 

[CaveRacing]

Lawrence my friend, you are very gifted with what you do. Another outstanding job on a beautiful ride buddy!

Great job. I always like your write ups, because you include all the steps and products.

:iagree::iagree:

Fantastic job!

 

[Dereksdtail]

You got that white looking right!

 

[tenblade2001]

GREAT! THANK YOU THANK YOU! That's a great how to for Alpine White.

 

[lawrenceSA]

Thanks very much guys
:thankyousign:

 

[Tato]

There's a very good job my friend, I really love the 330's!

Congrats, thanks a lot for sharing.

Kind Regards.

 

[lawrenceSA]

There's a very good job my friend, I really love the 330's!

Congrats, thanks a lot for sharing.

Kind Regards.

Thanks Rafael:dblthumb2:

 

[Aaryn NZ]

Hey Lawrence.

Outstanding workmanship my friend. rops:

Beautifully detailed example of a great looking car, followed with a beautifully detailed post right here for all to read. Much appreciated Lawrence - thank you for your hard work creating the threads & sharing the hard work you do! Top work mate! rops:

I was thinking of you today when I was working on a blue 08 GTi, thinking how jealous I am of you because you seem to work on a few Dubs & I don't see all that many. German cars are bliss to work on huh.

Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

 

[lawrenceSA]

Hey Lawrence.

Outstanding workmanship my friend. rops:

Beautifully detailed example of a great looking car, followed with a beautifully detailed post right here for all to read. Much appreciated Lawrence - thank you for your hard work creating the threads & sharing the hard work you do! Top work mate! rops:

I was thinking of you today when I was working on a blue 08 GTi, thinking how jealous I am of you because you seem to work on a few Dubs & I don't see all that many. German cars are bliss to work on huh.

Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

Thanks so much Aaryn - I really appreciate your kind words:xyxthumbs:

Yeah most of the work I do is on VW's - well in fact it is mostly on German cars - so I guess I have become accustomed to working on what I guess can be called 'harder' paint....

And just for the heck of it.... being a little OCD I keep records of everything.... here is a little breakdown of the number of cars per manufacturer I have done 'full details' on....

Alfa x 2
Audi x 12
BMW x 12
Ferrari x 1
Honda x 1
Hyundai x 3
Kia x 2
Lexus x 2
Mazda x 2
Mercedes x 1
Peugot x 1
Porsche x 1
Renault x 1
Seat x 5
Subaru x 3
Toyota x 5
VW x 39


:buffing:

 

[Aaryn NZ]

Wow!

Very cool. Interesting numbers. A bit greedy with the VWs there mate! :hungry: I may do on average - 6/8 a year. I have a soft spot for the Golf GTi. Having previously owned Mk1, Mk2 & Mk4 GTi's.

Are Japanese cars not all that common over there Lawrence or is it just how its worked out for you?

A great insight, thank you for sharing that information mate, keep recording those numbers too, I'd love a recap in a few months . rops:

Aaryn.

 

[lawrenceSA]

There are plenty of Jap cars over here, mostly Toyota and Hondas. I would hazard a guess that as many Toyotas are sold as VW's, both of which I think far exceed the likes of BMW and Mercs.

I think the reason I have done so many VW's is my direct involvement with the local VW Club. I was chairman for the local chapter for a while and spend a lot of time on their forum trying to create awareness and educate the guys on detailing. A natural consequence is that a lot of my work comes from my fellow club members.

To be honest, I have never advertised (apart from posting my write up's on their forum) and everything has been word of mouth. I have enough work stemming from that source that I haven't even tried to 'target' any of the other car clubs for fear of having to turn people away due to my unavailability (right now I am booked up all the way through to August).

Were I to do so though, I would suspect that there would be a more even spread of manufacturers but I am a 'dubber' at heart and so reckon I will always detail more of them than anything else....

Another Ferrari or Porsche would be most welcomed though:buffing:

 

[Rod73]

I do get very autogeeked out (pun intended) admiring your work. You do a lot of white cars.

I was immediately struck by how thin the paint was considering how new the car was.. I believe you said 2014. Was it a repeat customer?

 

[lawrenceSA]

I do get very autogeeked out (pun intended) admiring your work. You do a lot of white cars.

I was immediately struck by how thin the paint was considering how new the car was.. I believe you said 2014. Was it a repeat customer?

Thanks

Yes it was a 2014 model - produced in March if I am not mistaken. So far I have detailed the owner's Silver Grey E46 M3, then I did his Alpine White 1M and now this.... But he only purchased the 330d about a month ago, so all the 'damage' was inflicted by the previous owner.

I too was surprised at how thin the paint was - most of the other BMW's I have done had a lot more paint on them.

As for the volume of white cars, I think it is just representative of the market.... not sure what it is like over there, but in South Africa there are a lot of white cars on the road compared to other colors.

38 of the 101 cars I have detailed have been white
22 black
20 silver/grey
11 blue
10 red

 

[vdevan]

Excellent Work Lawrence, very shocking paint thickness-wonder if the dealership sent it for a 'polish' before owner took delivery...

 

[tenblade2001]

lawrence, did you use 303 on the black plastic part of the side mirrors? I did on my m3 (also alpine white) and I got an uneven appearance? I'm assuming application error. How did you apply?

 

[lawrenceSA]

Excellent Work Lawrence, very shocking paint thickness-wonder if the dealership sent it for a 'polish' before owner took delivery...

Thanks bud

lawrence, did you use 303 on the black plastic part of the side mirrors? I did on my m3 (also alpine white) and I got an uneven appearance? I'm assuming application error. How did you apply?

I did, and didn't have any issues.... when using 303 I typically spray a *small* amount onto a MF towel, wipe it over the area to be dressed, then buff off with a clean MF towel.

IME it doesn't like to be applied and left to dry - it really needs the 'buffing off' to give it a nice uniform appearance. :dblthumb2::dblthumb2:

 

[Aaryn NZ]

There are plenty of Jap cars over here, mostly Toyota and Hondas. I would hazard a guess that as many Toyotas are sold as VW's, both of which I think far exceed the likes of BMW and Mercs.

I think the reason I have done so many VW's is my direct involvement with the local VW Club. I was chairman for the local chapter for a while and spend a lot of time on their forum trying to create awareness and educate the guys on detailing. A natural consequence is that a lot of my work comes from my fellow club members.

To be honest, I have never advertised (apart from posting my write up's on their forum) and everything has been word of mouth. I have enough work stemming from that source that I haven't even tried to 'target' any of the other car clubs for fear of having to turn people away due to my unavailability (right now I am booked up all the way through to August).

Were I to do so though, I would suspect that there would be a more even spread of manufacturers but I am a 'dubber' at heart and so reckon I will always detail more of them than anything else....

Another Ferrari or Porsche would be most welcomed though:buffing:

I think I knew that you were involved in the VW scene somehow?

Thats great news you have plenty of work ahead of you mate! rops: Not surprised one bit though. Your work is impeccable Lawrence. Is detailing full time for you or a side obsession?

Yeah, I hear you about the advertising. Word of mouth is where its at. I had a winter two years ago that I thought was semi slow, never had a day without work but not as busy as I would've liked. So I ran ONE ad in the local paper about mid Autumn the following year & it bit me in the backside big time! I, like you, don't want to be turning away people & I got too busy. My Ange tells me I have a problem saying "no". I do say "no" but its usually closely followed by "problem". :xyxthumbs:

Keep up the great work mate, looking forward to the next post.

Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

 

[lawrenceSA]

I think I knew that you were involved in the VW scene somehow?

Thats great news you have plenty of work ahead of you mate! rops: Not surprised one bit though. Your work is impeccable Lawrence. Is detailing full time for you or a side obsession?

Yeah, I hear you about the advertising. Word of mouth is where its at. I had a winter two years ago that I thought was semi slow, never had a day without work but not as busy as I would've liked. So I ran ONE ad in the local paper about mid Autumn the following year & it bit me in the backside big time! I, like you, don't want to be turning away people & I got too busy. My Ange tells me I have a problem saying "no". I do say "no" but its usually closely followed by "problem". :xyxthumbs:

Keep up the great work mate, looking forward to the next post.

Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

Thanks Aaryn...

Its only a weekend passion for me.... I kinda got into the whole detailing thing late in life and so had already established a fairly decent career in the corporate world - I do Safety, Health, Environmental and Quality Management, for a international supply chain company (been with them 16 years now).

It has therefore become very difficult for me to replace my Monday to Friday income with detailing, especially given the market's appetite for what I do...

Also - and I mean no disrespect to anyone who does it - I don't really want to get involved in the 'production' type details (which is where the money would be in a full time business) and really enjoy being able to take a whole weekend to do a 'full detail' and restore a car.

So I don't ever see it being more than my weekend love. But I am happy with that.

I have a black Jetta (I think they are called a 'Bora' in other parts of the world?) in this weekend so I'll have the write up out sometime early next week:dblthumb2: