# BMW Alpina D3 Touring - Building a Base to Build On...



## Serkie (Dec 8, 2007)

Evening All,

Thought I'd share some pictures of today's efforts on my BMW E91 Alpina D3 Touring.

For those that don't know the D3 is a Diesel powered Alpina tuned take on the standard 320D. Essentially Alpina take the stock 320D, fettle around in the engine bay, change the suspension and carry out some cosmetic surgery before putting their exclusive badges on it. The result in the D3's case is a 200bhp Bavarian barge that likes to have some serious fun.

My new work placement see's me commuting 70 miles a day into Hammersmith in London and as a result I wanted something frugal but fun and able to soak up some serious mileage. I set my budget and started looking around at BMW's, Merc's and Audi's. Looked at A4's, A6's, CLK's and at the top of budget some CLS's too but I kept coming back to the curious Alpina D3.

I collected the car last weekend, its a 68K one owner example and has spent the bulk of its life on the motorway. As a result it's an honest example with the road rash and pitted windscreen to show for it. Plans are to tidy up the front end and get the wheels all refurbished. Then its a case of keeping it clean and mechanically sound as the miles gradually increase.

Today saw me wanting to get to a decent base level to work with. No polishing today, just a deep clean, decontaminate and quick seal in preparation for when the rotary comes out.

Not many befores but I'm sure you'll get the idea...


















































Headlights need some serious polishing!!!









You'll have to take my word on this but the engine bay was nasty, I used a pump sprayer and Surfex HD, coated everything and worked the areas with a selection of brushes. I then rinsed with a low flow hose, dried and dressed the plastics.










Dressing still wet hence gloss.

























Hit the wheels next with a some Bilberry and a selection of brushes. To be honest the baked on dirt at the back of rims wasn't shifting and I wasn't happy with the finish. So I went to plan B which I'll come back to later.


















I then got the foam sprayer out and gave the car a coating of Bilt Hamber AutoWash through the sprayer.









Car was then rinsed and with a Mitt washed the car with some Iron-X Gel Shampoo and left it to do it's business.


































This was then rinsed off and I set about claying the car with some mild Cleanyourcar clay. Not too much contamination. Clayed the whole car and then rinsed the car off again.










I then went back to the wheels, I hit them with some more Bilberry and Wolf's Decon Gel but still wasn't happy with the finish so I cracked open a product I try to use as rarely as possible which is Carplan Wonder Wheels. I used a sprayer and worked one wheel at a time and to be fair it made light work of the remaining baked on crap.


























I then thought, wheels must be clean now but out of curiousity gave them a spray with Wolfs Decon Gel and viola...



















All wheels were treated with Decon Gel and I was finally happy with the wheels.

I then washed the car again with some Zymol Autobathe and dried with Sonus towels.










I then wiped the body work down with C3 spray and put some protection on the wheels in the form of Poorboys Wheel Sealant. Tyres were dressed with Zaino Z16.

Remember no polishing just a deep clean and wipe down. Hope to get the rotary on it in the coming weeks and sort the swirls and plastics. Until then some afters...



























































































Didn't do much with the interior today as it's still clean. Just wiped down with a damp microfibre.









With its Italian Girlfriend...


















Thanks for reading...


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## Alpina-d3 (Mar 16, 2011)

Great MT, so is it logged on thealpinaregister then?


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## t_zetec (Feb 8, 2007)

Lovely car. My mate had the B5 what a monster it was.


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## awallacee30 (May 4, 2011)

Love the D3's, fine looking machines.

Wish my 320d M Sport Touring was packing 200 horses 

Oh, and nice work too ! :thumb:


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## Alan W (May 11, 2006)

Nice car, good start and a great base for further fun! :thumb:

Enjoy,

Alan W


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## Serkie (Dec 8, 2007)

Alpina-d3 said:


> Great MT, so is it logged on thealpinaregister then?


Thanks. I think the car was already logged via the previous owner. This is D3 No: 231.


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Great work on a lovely motor.


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## Alpina-d3 (Mar 16, 2011)

Serkie said:


> Thanks. I think the car was already logged via the previous owner. This is D3 No: 231.


Ah right, mine is #284


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

What a beast! You certainly went with the drivers choice out of the lot of them! Good work, looks great even without the rotary!


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Nice start there - lovely car too


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## drewjak (Jun 25, 2011)

nice work,good to see another owner giving their alpina care and attention 

(e46 coupe #60 owner)


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## ITHAQVA (Feb 20, 2011)

Stunning silver Alpina Racing Tank, great work :thumb:

Amazing how the origianl Alpina wheels still look good on the newer beasties, real style is timeless :thumb:


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## Serkie (Dec 8, 2007)

ITHAQVA said:


> Stunning silver Alpina Racing Tank, great work :thumb:
> 
> Amazing how the origianl Alpina wheels still look good on the newer beasties, real style is timeless :thumb:


I think so too, very clean timeless styling. Took me a while to master getting to the valves behind the centre caps, clever engineering though!


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Looks nice..


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## Dizzle77 (Mar 27, 2010)

you've got a cracking motor :thumb:


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## Scotland (Jul 18, 2011)

Stunning. I really like the D3 and you've made a huge difference already, well done!

In your "before" shots, the wheels looked quite corroded for such a young and low mileage car. Is it just kerbing?


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## awallacee30 (May 4, 2011)

Serkie said:


> I think so too, very clean timeless styling. Took me a while to master getting to the valves behind the centre caps, clever engineering though!


Plus they're an absolute doddle to clean which is a plus ! :thumb:


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## Serkie (Dec 8, 2007)

Scotland said:


> Stunning. I really like the D3 and you've made a huge difference already, well done!
> 
> In your "before" shots, the wheels looked quite corroded for such a young and low mileage car. Is it just kerbing?


Yep unfortunately the rims are kerbed and have a small amount of corrosion on the inners too. Nothing major though and I have plans to get them refurbished soon.


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## Jimmy The Saint (Sep 19, 2010)

A great choice pal - you won't pass too many of these on the road. Very tidy :thumb:


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## rds1985 (Mar 7, 2009)

love these!


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## NickP (Nov 20, 2005)

Looks great, you did really well getting one with Xenon's - quite rare on the D3's as most are normally a single spec, specified by the UK importer - Sytner.....


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## uzi-blue (Mar 16, 2011)

Nice work, car looks amazing:argie:


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