# My BMW E39 530iA Sport



## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

I bought a BMW E39 530iA Sport a few weeks ago, and then drove it 500 miles home! As you can imagine, it was pretty mucky by the time it reached Pixor Towers, and I've been dying to give it a good clean and sort a few things out ever since. When it's mostly dark, below freezing and raining, playing with my 6 month old son has a greater attraction, but some better weather this weekend gave me a chance to get some basic cleaning done 

Here it is...I had managed a quick wash since buying it!



















First thing was to try my Valet Pro - PH Neutral Snow Foam with a new foam lance I had just bought from cleanyourcar.co.uk. It was fun!










This was my first use of these - I shall try a bit more next time and see if I get the foam to cling better.










Still, it must have been better than before - my wife said the car looked as though it had been eaten by a giant marshmallow 

It did a good job - a quick blast with the pressure washer after 10 minutes of dwelling, and a lot of the worst stuff had come off.

Then, 2-bucket method and another pressure wash.

I used some AG wheel cleaner I had in the garage, and a Megs wheel brush, but there was still some tar left on the wheels. I shall order some Bilberry wheel cleaner to try, as everyone on DW seems to like it. The wheels aren't in brilliant nick, to be honest - theres some mild kerbing and some laquer coming off on all of them. I may get them refurbed and powder coated when funds allow - I quite fancy a slightly smoked look. What do you think?










Pressure washed the wheels and wheel arches, then dried off the car with one of those big waffle-weave cloths.

Now, here's the only blemish on the car - the seats. Cream leather, high mileage and one of the previous owners a smoker. Uh oh.










I had bought a leather care kit from LTT to try. TBH I wasn't expecting miracles - good job!










Half and half.

The kit (Auto Ultra 150) consists of Foam (heavy duty cleaner), Maintain (mild cleaner) and Protect (final layer of protection). I followed the instructions, and used the Foam on the seats to remove the worst of the grime. The problem I found was, the foaming action worked well on the area it first touched, but spreading it around to get good coverage meant the other areas didn't clean so well. On cream (BMW Champagne) seats that were this dirty, this meant you could see the initial contact areas on the seats were lighter than the secondary contact areas. I guess it was too much to expect them to come up really clean. Mind you, you can see just how much grime was removed - impressive, I think you'll agree! I then used the Maintain followed by the protect. They looked a lot better!

One of the previous owners had been a smoker, and the smell still lingered. Although the guy I had bought the car from had maintained it meticulously, he was a smoker too (not in the car), so had not noticed the odour as much as I did (being a life-long non-smoker).

I cleaned every surface (and I mean every surface) with diluted Ecover APC and a micro-fibre. I used this APC because I don't like artificial smells, and it uses natural lemon. I was amazed at the amount of muck that showed up on my white micro-fibre cloths. To the normal eye, all the surfaces looked clean. I guess that is tobacco tar for you  I even went to the lengths of using cotton tips and APC to get inside the air vents. Believe me when I say I wiped everything - especially the headlining.

I then got the carpet cleaner out and did the carpet and mats. Then glass cleaner on all the windows.

Next was my first use of another new product to me. 303 Protectant wiped over all the rubber/vinyl surfaces. I hate the wet/sticky finish you get with the silicon-based dash products, and I was very impressed with this. All the surfaces looked "newer" and "richer", but not shiny, and there was no residue. A big thumbs up for 303 Protectant.

I had been to a demo day at Polished Bliss earlier in the year, and had bought some Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish and Blackfire Midnight Sun Ivory Carnauba Paste Wax, so I used the polish, followed by 2 coats of wax.

My car is a BMW Individual, and is apparently the only E39 painted in Sepia Metallic in the UK. It's a blue/grey with gold metallic flakes that sit beneath it. Depending on the sun, it can look anything from near black, through dark blue/grey, to a quite bright blue. The Midnight Sun gave it a lovely deep, dark sheen. Well worth the work!

Then, Autosol and wire wool on the exhaust and some tyre gel on the tires, and I was finished.

Unfortunately it was getting dark up here in the frozen North, by then, so I took some more pics today.
































































I want to do an engine bay detail in a few weeks.

Thanks for looking.


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## trimmtrabb (Oct 6, 2008)

Nice motor mate,and good results. A lot of car.:thumb:


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## Vyker (Sep 17, 2008)

How much did it set you back? [if you dont mind]

And whats the high mileage?

Great looking car, good job


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

You'll probably think I paid over the odds - £6,600, mileage is 126k and it's an 02 plate.

However, I spent a long time looking, and this car has a full service history, every receipt since it was manufactured, and the previous owner worked in the car industry and maintained it to a very high standard. It was apparently ordered for a BMW UK director, and had just about every option you can think of - sunroof, dual-zone climate, widescreen sat nav, xenons, auto lights/wipers/dimming mirror, heated seats, memory seats/steering wheel, steptronic gearbox. You get the picture! It originally cost 46k 

Would you believe it doesn't have a single squeak or rattle? Better than my previous RX-8 at 25k miles!


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## nick1275 (Jun 7, 2007)

nice result. like the little touches like the carbon badges and black kidney grille. 126k is nothing on one of those, we had one in our family, we got it with 9k just under a year old 3 yrs later when it went it had 95k on it and it still drove like new!


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## wrx man (Apr 18, 2008)

Nice work mate

I like it alot :thumb:


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## martyp (Oct 24, 2006)

Great work on the E39 - especially the creme leather! Another vote for LTT from me though, it really is great stuff.

Still one of my favorite shapes of the 5 series, although the new one has seriously grown on me.


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Nice tidy up.


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## mccalia1 (Mar 1, 2008)

I love the 5's but this is in a class of it's own. Lovely colour interior and fantastic detail

Personally I'd keep the wheels the same.


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## Guest (Dec 15, 2008)

looking good there mate.:thumb:


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## david g (Dec 14, 2005)

Looks great ,hope u enjoy diving it


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## Altered Carbon (Apr 17, 2007)

Still a great looking car the E39 - always turns my head when I see a nice looking 5 series Sport. :thumb:


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## Gravy (Nov 17, 2008)

love the badges, and the car!

where are the badges from mate? would like them on mine


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## s-line (May 14, 2006)

lovely work and an amazing colour, would like to see some more pics if you dont mind?


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

What a beast of a car! :thumb:

Any final pictures of the seats mate?


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

I do leather restoration and re colours if you are interested.


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## 116ies (Oct 4, 2008)

Immense, i love it mate, the fact that it's an individual makes it that bit more special... what a transformation (Y)


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## Torby (Jul 20, 2007)

Great job, mate. The car looks spot on. Would be nice to see some photos of the paint in better light conditions! Oh and those wheels are some of the coolest OEM wheels imho! :thumb:


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

nick1275 said:


> nice result. like the little touches like the carbon badges and black kidney grille. 126k is nothing on one of those, we had one in our family, we got it with 9k just under a year old 3 yrs later when it went it had 95k on it and it still drove like new!


The previous owner is a body shop technician, and he did a lovely job painting the rubbing strips in Sepia Metallic. It was the attention he'd lavished on the car that sealed the deal for me.

He painted the original chromed grille, but it's showing up a few stone chips, so I need to touch them up. I do like the de-chromed look 

Thanks!


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

s-line said:


> lovely work and an amazing colour, would like to see some more pics if you dont mind?


I'll do my best - the problem is that by the time I've cleaned it, it's getting dark or chucking it down, then I have to use it and it get dirty again - doh!


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

MatrixGuy said:


> What a beast of a car! :thumb:
> 
> Any final pictures of the seats mate?


The seats are a lot better, but still less than the state I'd like to get them in. I think I may try using the cleaner on a cotton bud to get in the creases, then maybe re-colour. I think Furniture Clinic do re-colouring kits, and I may try them. It's the only thing that lets the car down IMO. The bodywork and rest of the interior are in great condition.


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

Torby said:


> Great job, mate. The car looks spot on. Would be nice to see some photos of the paint in better light conditions! Oh and those wheels are some of the coolest OEM wheels imho! :thumb:


The Paras are my favourite on that age of car too. It took me ages to find a car with everything just right, although I was originally looking for a Champagne or Champagne II edition (basically the same, except black).


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Gorgeous E39 one of the better 5 series range.:thumb:


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## Paulo (Aug 11, 2007)

_Nice Car and work Pixor, and a change from the RX8:lol:

I too recently sold my RX8 for a 4 door barge, namely an S-Type Sport, soon to be detailed.... Take it easy..._


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

Gravy said:


> love the badges, and the car!
> 
> where are the badges from mate? would like them on mine


They were from ebay in USA, but you can also get them from CA Automotive here.

I've got them on steering wheel, boot, bonnet and wheels and I like the subtley different look they give :thumb:


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

Paulo said:


> _Nice Car and work Pixor, and a change from the RX8:lol:
> 
> I too recently sold my RX8 for a 4 door barge, namely an S-Type Sport, soon to be detailed.... Take it easy..._


Cheers Paulo. I remember you from the RX-8 owners club. I think you gave me some advice on dent removal companies around here?

I see you are going to the DW meet coming up in Scotland. I look forward to saying hi in person :thumb:


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## untamed1 (Dec 11, 2008)

Looks lovely got a wet look to it or is it just me.


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## Piratez (Jun 28, 2008)

Good work matte:thumb::thumb::thumb:


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## Paulo (Aug 11, 2007)

pixor said:


> Cheers Paulo. I remember you from the RX-8 owners club. I think you gave me some advice on dent removal companies around here?
> 
> I see you are going to the DW meet coming up in Scotland. I look forward to saying hi in person :thumb:


I look forward to putting a face to a name too, I'll be the guy with the smoking jacket and bunnet:lol:


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## giblet (Feb 26, 2008)

Looks bloody awesome in that shot! Always liked the E39's, so much so that I hit autotrader after seing your pics to check out the prices for the autos


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## markb (Jan 14, 2007)

Pixor,

Looks fantastic! I really miss my e39 sport!

Any chance of a few more interior shots?


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

> Always liked the E39's, so much so that I hit autotrader after seing your pics to check out the prices for the autos


As with all these bigger engined cars, you get a heck of a lot for your money these days. People only seem to want small, economic cars, but when you look at the overall running costs and what you get for your money, these are a great buy at the moment.


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

markb said:


> Pixor,
> 
> Looks fantastic! I really miss my e39 sport!
> 
> Any chance of a few more interior shots?


I'm working from home tomorrow, so I'll get the camera out while it's daylight.

I've ordered a load of bulbs to make everything the same colour as the xenons, and get rid of the "fried-egg" indicators. I'll get some before and afters with them too :thumb:


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

Here's a few more shots a few of you asked for. It's not as clean today 

First, the obligatory beading shots 


















Some more exteriors...



















And some interiors...





































As you can see, the seats are a lot better now :thumb:

Thanks for looking.


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

nice car and brilliant job of cleaning it.


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

I thought I'd try a bit more snow foam in the mix today, it made quite a difference!

Last time (about 1 cm in the bottle)...









This time (about 2-3cm)..


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## blr123 (Oct 26, 2005)

Keep your eyes peeled pixor there will be another being detailed fairly soon.........since Stu got his every corner I turn I seem to see BMW's 

Looks like a nice car you have too.......the leather will come back it'll just take a couple of applications with the LTT :thumb:

Bryan


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Hell of a motor is that, love the de-chromed grille too


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## MrLOL (Feb 23, 2007)

Heres a suggestion for cleaning your leather mate

get yourself down to your local supermarket and get some Flash Clean and Care

http://www.flashcleaner.co.uk/clean-and-care/

its a bicarbonate of soda based cleaner and is safe for use on delicate surfaces. We used it on our clean leather sofa, and it cut through the years of grime. It brought it back to cream again with a few seconds scrubbbing. It has to be seen to be believed !

trust me, it works.


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## edition_25 (Oct 7, 2007)

ill swap ya for mine :lol:


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## Pad (Jun 27, 2006)

ah, the Sepia Sport lives on in good hands then... fantastic work Pixor.

What the great photos dont show, is the quite fantastic flips in colour this car can have depending on how its viewed. Well before it sold to Pixor, I did a little work for the previous owner setting up a decent ad and he sent me some photos... it is an astonishing colour.

I will happily post a couple, but with Pixors permission though, as it obviously is his car now...

Cheers
Pad


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## dps1973 (Dec 18, 2008)

Like the bmw badge nice little touch


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## pixor (Jan 11, 2008)

Go ahead Pad - in fact, I'll PM you my email address and could you send them to me? :thumb:

Unfortunately, it's been dark and dreary in Scotland since I bought it, so it's usually very dark blue/black. I did catch a glimpse of an almost gold flake underneath during a rare flash of sun though


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## s3 rav (Apr 30, 2008)

i think these are the best series 5.


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## SiGainey (Jan 29, 2006)

Nice car. What does the A stand for (as in 530A)?


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## Pad (Jun 27, 2006)

Auto...

Pixor, thanks for the permissions, here goes - whilst these photos dont necessarily show the car off, they demonstrate the colour contrast... in my opinion, one of the nicest 5s around.














































cheers


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