# Silver Grey BMW E46 M3



## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

I got my "new" E46 M3 from Scotland in December, landed the day after the hurricanes and the day before 4-5" of snow, bloody lucky if you ask me! Roads were obviously pretty horrible though since it was -4 or -5 up there so a fair amount of salt was around.

I'm no pro at this, but I do enjoy to get my cars looking as good as my equipment and knowledge allows me.

The car has been taken off the road for me to carry out a general/winter detail. I know the car was taken care of before my ownership, but I'm pretty sure it was in a usual bucket/mitt type way so I wanted to give it a good going over.

Firstly, car was foamed and washed as normal as it had quite a lot of crud on that I didn't want while I was doing the rest of the work:







(Did my mum's aswell while it was there as it needed it too.)

Washed with a grit guard, two buckets, Dodo Juice Born to Be Mild (fantastic stuff!) and a Dodo Juice washmitt.









First wheel was then removed, I'd recently purchased Autobrite's Purple Rain so I thought I'd give it a shot on a filthy wheel to see how it came out.

Before (Rinsed)









During









Forgot to get a pic of it after, but since I hadn't cleaned it at all beforehand and didn't agitate it and just went straight on it with the pressure washer some small bits still remained. I then used some APC and agitated it, pressure washed and then Purple Rain applied again to get rid of the last few remaining bits.

Did the fronts with some APC, aswell as the tyres:









I then dried it, polished it up a bit and applied some Poorboys Wheel Sealant that I needed to use up.

Poorboys curing:









Finished product:

























I then started on the arch as it also needed a lot of attention, despite running the PW in there every time the car is cleaned there's a lot you can't access easily. Since the car had a long drive back on salt roads and had probably encountered a lot of salt in Scotland while it was there I felt it was a good opportunity to get rid of as much crap as I could!

Here's how it started:









APC applied and then agitated:









Rinsed









Purple rain applied again to get rid of some of the nastier stuff:









Arches dried and plastic dressed using Autobrite Bubblegum









All finished, Bubblegum added to the tyres aswell:

















I didn't bother to get pictures of the other arches being done since it's all the same job, the wheels were all fairly recently refurbed by the previous owner so all came up a treat. Sadly it got too dark (after 5 hours!) for me to do the last arch so that will be done first thing tomorrow.

Day 2:
Got up nice and early today to start off day 2!

It started off with giving the engine bay a going over, it wasn't in bad nick as the previous owner had obviously given it a nice amount of attention which was good to see.


































Once cleaned it was left to dry off for a while, partly with the engine running. This gave me a good job to get the door/boot shuts done with APC and rinsed.

















































Engine bay was then dressed, apologies for only one pic, the others came out blurry due to getting some water on the camera! 









My hands didn't particularly enjoy cleaning the engine:









Onto the final arch that I didn't manage to finish yesterday.

How it started:









After 1:10 dilution with APC and agitated









I wasn't happy enough with how it'd come out, so I moved onto 1:5 dilution and agitated again









Final wheel cleaned and sealed with Poorboys Wheel Sealant

















Car was then washed again to remove the crap that had got on the paint from doing the arches and engine.

Pic of the Wheel Sealant beading









Here's my Autobrite Repel in action, really pleased with it, great stuff. :thumb:

















At the end of the clean:









The car was then clayed, it was definitely in need of it as the claybar looked like this after most of the panels, I swapped half way as it was looking pretty bad!









Rinsed and dried, showing a bit of shine now!

















And finally, after spending several hours in the garage I can now say that the bonnet, driver side wing, door and rear wing are polished. Fear not more taping was done as I moved around the car so no polish was stuck in the unwanted places!

































Eventually I managed to complete the detail and it probably took me about 5 full days altogether, it was a pretty in-depth detail though and some areas got extra attention.

Sadly my camera decided not to work for a few days, I think I got it wet in the previous photos! Once I had got it working it seemed pointless taking 50/50 photos in the garage as it was nearly done.

After the previous photos I did the following:
Polishing with Megs 105 polish via G220 DA with a medium cutting pad.
Polishing with Megs 205 polish via G220 DA with a finishing pad.
Poorboys Black Hole applied.
Poorboys EX-P applied.
2x coats of Collinite 476S for some winter durability.

Here's some pics of it after, my photography really doesn't show how well it's come out, which is disappointing but I am truly delighted with the finish and it honestly came out better than I had imagined which was a great feeling!

















































Then decided to take it for a drive as it was actually a nice day for a change!

































































One happy owner!


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

Thats looking very clean, great job on the whole car, specially the engine and the arches, very impressive work there.

Thanks for posting up, great new car by the way.


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## *MrB* (Feb 20, 2011)

Great work and nice car :thumb:


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Trip tdi said:


> Thats looking very clean, great job on the whole car, specially the engine and the arches, very impressive work there.
> 
> Thanks for posting up, great new car by the way.


Thanks mate, pretty gutted that I couldn't get pictures of the polishing in progress, it wasn't as bad as some of the cars on here but it definitely had some stuff that looked pretty mean under the right light!

Did want to go quite in-depth, got a daily driver which I'm looking to sell soon so it was a good opportunity to get as much done as possible.

Thanks, still getting used to the car as it's quite different going from a high powered FWD to a high powered RWD!


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Oh, and if anyone is worried about the wheels being face down, the tyres have an outer stretch which went further than the alloy so they were 100% safe.

PW'ing was done up against the wall so no lose stones to scratch it.


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

*MrB* said:


> Great work and nice car :thumb:


Thanks mate, nice to get a compliment from you, your car is absolutely stunning :thumb:


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## jebus (Jun 2, 2009)

nice job, car looks great and shows silver can come out really really well, fancy one of these in a couple years for myself  also is the leon cupra yours as well?


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

bildo said:


> Oh, and if anyone is worried about the wheels being face down, the tyres have an outer stretch which went further than the alloy so they were 100% safe.
> 
> PW'ing was done up against the wall so no lose stones to scratch it.


Looks very nice, did make me squirm a little when looking at the pictures of the alloys.


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## jon-v8 (Jan 26, 2006)

Great work, looks stunning matey.

Love the E46 M3's, SMG too, better than a manual?



bildo said:


> Oh, and if anyone is worried about the wheels being face down, the tyres have an outer stretch which went further than the alloy so they were 100% safe.
> 
> PW'ing was done up against the wall so no lose stones to scratch it.


That was my thought exactly when seeing the wheel face down!! :doublesho


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

jebus said:


> nice job, car looks great and shows silver can come out really really well, fancy one of these in a couple years for myself  also is the leon cupra yours as well?


Thanks mate, Silver Grey is the actual name of the colour, it took over Steel Grey in 2003 for M3's. It's a kind of dark silver, and it can look fantastic in the right light. They're a fantastic car, not to be underestimated as they can enjoy catching you out as I've already realised a couple of times!

Yup, the LCR is mine, it's remapped to 260bhp/300ft/lb torque, fun little thing but I really had the RWD bug and wanted the luxuries/gadgets that the M3 has.


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Gleammachine said:


> Looks very nice, did make me squirm a little when looking at the pictures of the alloys.


Thanks mate, haha I knew someone would have something to say about it :thumb:

I can assure you they were only placed there for that stage and I could fit my finger underneath the alloy so not to worry!


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

jon-v8 said:


> Great work, looks stunning matey.
> 
> Love the E46 M3's, SMG too, better than a manual?
> 
> That was my thought exactly when seeing the wheel face down!! :doublesho


Thanks for the nice words!

Honestly never drove the manual, while I do like the full control of manual I fancied a change, test drove an SMG and really enjoyed it, suited my needs more for what I wanted it for at the moment and didn't really feel the need to try the manual.

There's a HUGE SMG vs manual debate, they both have their ups and downs really. The SMG can sometimes shift down just as you want to move off on its own, which can be a bit surprising but you do get used to it and learn to know what's happening and when. If you put the SMG into S6 and put your foot to the floor I can't see a manual competing with it. It absolutely chucks you about and just delivers full power and seamless gear changes in the blink of an eye. I love it so far, but I can at the same time understand why it's not for everyone.


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## jonny2112 (Apr 6, 2010)

Very, very nice :thumb:


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## *MrB* (Feb 20, 2011)

bildo said:


> Thanks mate, nice to get a compliment from you, your car is absolutely stunning :thumb:


Cheers fella, I used to have an E46 M3 myself. Good solid cars and eat up the miles very easily :thumb:


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

*MrB* said:


> Cheers fella, I used to have an E46 M3 myself. Good solid cars and eat up the miles very easily :thumb:


Agreed, how does it compare with the GT-R? Very different cars I'd imagine?


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

looks good mate, job well done..

:thumb:


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## stuart5760 (Jan 22, 2008)

Excellent work there and very nice car indeed


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## mitrasca (May 3, 2011)

one of my favorite bmw....what dressing did u use on the engine?


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

mitrasca said:


> one of my favorite bmw....what dressing did u use on the engine?


I used Autobrite Bubblegum, I really liked it after my first time using it, used it to dress the arches, tyres and engine bay.


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## North east Car Care (Jan 14, 2008)

Cracking work matey


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## Anzafin (May 18, 2008)

Lovely!

- Antti -


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## Legacy (Oct 7, 2011)

These ///M's are the best, I love mine to bits! Fantastic detailing job it really looks like new! :drool:

Just for future reference, removing the side grills takes about 15 seconds a side and its allot easier than using about 10 pieces of tape 

Edit: Did you give the exhaust some love, if you do they come out like this:


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## *MrB* (Feb 20, 2011)

bildo said:


> Agreed, how does it compare with the GT-R? Very different cars I'd imagine?


Both very comfortable (heated, leather etc) but the GT-R is in a different league performance wise tbh

Still like the M cars tho but (mapped) 580ish hp twin turbo is mind blowing!

Got any plans for your M? Mine had CSL reps, Eibach lowering springs, Carbonio carbon intake system and an Eissenman exhaust. Some quite tasty bits and sounded sweet on full chat :thumb:

I used to post a lot on M3 cutters, used to be a fairly good, informative forum


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Legacy said:


> These ///M's are the best, I love mine to bits! Fantastic detailing job it really looks like new! :drool:
> 
> Just for future reference, removing the side grills takes about 15 seconds a side and its allot easier than using about 10 pieces of tape
> 
> Edit: Did you give the exhaust some love, if you do they come out like this:


Good advice mate about the side grills, I did actually do a much better job of taping them up than it looks, but I got a rather nervy phone call half way through the detail which made me fiddle about with the tape quite a bit :lol:

Great job on your exhausts there mate. I did spend quite some time on them (pics don't really show it off), admittedly yours probably do still look a bit better though. I used Autosol and some very very fine wire wool, what was used on yours?

I've also got an issue with the exhaust hanger sagging a bit on the right side so it's sitting lower than it should which prevented me showing them off too much :lol: that and a faulty parking sensor seem to be the only issues I have though so can't complain too much!



*MrB* said:


> Both very comfortable (heated, leather etc) but the GT-R is in a different league performance wise tbh
> 
> Still like the M cars tho but (mapped) 580ish hp twin turbo is mind blowing!
> 
> ...


Figured that'd be the case, I barely make use of the M3's power on the UK roads so I need to do a track day soon, that'll be the real decider of how much I'm playing with. Feels like quite a lot to me coming from 260bhp FWD but that is a whole other matter with 580!

At the moment I'm taking it easy, had to borrow a bit of money as I ended up paying more than I expected to due to this one popping up, but it was exactly what I wanted and the guy had great rep on owners clubs which means a lot.

Initially I was going down the CSL rep route, they can be had for great money really for what they are, still undecided though. On M3Cutters they seem to be on each and every car which has turned me off a bit, but then again locally I've never seen them on another car (never seen a CSL driving about) so I may still go with them.

Have heard great things about Intrax springs and thinking about maybe doing them with spacers. Thing with my wheels is they were all refurbed for £600 last year so seems a bit silly to be letting them go so quickly when they're in such good condition.

Mods are insane prices though, especially the carbon intakes and the exhausts, kinda feel like I'm happy with it at the moment, I get bored easily though so time will tell if I get the modding bug :lol:

You might be able to see my road in the background, which is completely unmade (mud in the winter, dust in the summer, it's fantastic being OCD with cleaning on that!) But hopefully we're moving soon. That's the main reason I'm 50/50 about lowering at the moment but when I'm not here anymore I reckon I might give it a go.

Cutters is a great forum, they definitely seem more interested in mods than detailing though!


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## Mike k (Oct 14, 2011)

bildo said:


> Oh, and if anyone is worried about the wheels being face down, the tyres have an outer stretch which went further than the alloy so they were 100% safe.
> 
> PW'ing was done up against the wall so no lose stones to scratch it.


I must admit i did have a look of horror come across my face when i saw that pic of wheel face down lol:lol:

Your car looks stunning, has it done a low mileage, the seats are in amazing condition.

Excellent work there on the detailing.:thumb:


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Mike k said:


> I must admit i did have a look of horror come across my face when i saw that pic of wheel face down lol:lol:
> 
> Your car looks stunning, has it done a low mileage, the seats are in amazing condition.
> 
> Excellent work there on the detailing.:thumb:


Thanks mate, it's currently on 53k, the seats were in better condition than some of the 30/40k ones I looked at!


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## Mike k (Oct 14, 2011)

Yeah they do look near enough completely unworn.

I'd absolutely love an m3. Currently got a 05 plate 330 m sport, has all the sat nav, harmon kardon etc but its not an m3. Might look into getting a small loan in the spring and trade mine in for one, got to be done before the mrs decides she wants us to have kids, bigger house etc lol


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Mike k said:


> Yeah they do look near enough completely unworn.
> 
> I'd absolutely love an m3. Currently got a 05 plate 330 m sport, has all the sat nav, harmon kardon etc but its not an m3. Might look into getting a small loan in the spring and trade mine in for one, got to be done before the mrs decides she wants us to have kids, bigger house etc lol


Got all the extras on this apart from the rear blind and extended leather, previous owner had been told it was owned by the Director at one of the big BMW garages or something! I love them all though, if you're gonna do it, do it properly :thumb:

Pretty much how I felt mate, was a kind of now or never scenario, it's the best opportunity I'll have to buy one before the excuses come along with the house, kids etc! Treat yourself and have fun while you can! :lol:


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## cheby (Jan 11, 2009)

Example example, inside of the arches look awesome. Good job


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## horico (Jul 17, 2010)

Good work on the ///M there buddy. I love Silver Grey - I was adamant I would be getting a SG vert until I viewed the one I bought in Titanium Silver - it was by far the best example I saw so had couldn't resist it.

I know how you feel with the cold weather too - it was +1 deg C when I had my first go at mine for a good few hours!


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

cheby said:


> Example example, inside of the arches look awesome. Good job


Thanks mate, they definitely needed it! Most of the stuff that came out was in the actual lip at the top of the arch too, reckon I could've got a small handful of the stuff!



horico said:


> Good work on the ///M there buddy. I love Silver Grey - I was adamant I would be getting a SG vert until I viewed the one I bought in Titanium Silver - it was by far the best example I saw so had couldn't resist it.
> 
> I know how you feel with the cold weather too - it was +1 deg C when I had my first go at mine for a good few hours!


I was opting for a vert at first, then wondered how often I'd actually use it. Read about the coupe having a stronger chassis and eventually preferred the look of the coupe over the vert (even with the hardtop on) and this example popped up. Despite being over 400 miles away I couldn't resist it! 

Nothing quite like taking every opportunity you have to give it a good going over, I reckon I'd even of done it in the snow this year! :detailer:


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## Simply Clean (Aug 20, 2011)

Gleammachine said:


> Looks very nice, did make me squirm a little when looking at the pictures of the alloys.


Yes i was thinking that:doublesho, but great job


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## stefstef (Mar 20, 2011)

Nice work there mate!
Fantastic color too..


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## dhiren_motilal (Apr 3, 2011)

that is clean as, looks awesome, good work there mate.


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## Lupostef (Nov 20, 2011)

Great attention to detail mate and cracking results


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Cracking job there mate, hopefully see it in the flesh at the next ES6 meet :thumb:


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## AlexTsinos (Oct 10, 2010)

Great work


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## 2006daryla (May 29, 2007)

Mmmmm Love these cars!!! Excellent Job and very sexy looking!


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Pretty overwhelmed by all the responses! Thought it'd of got hidden away in the archives by now! Thanks though everyone, seeing people appreciate the work I've done makes it all worthwhile. It's nice someone asking me what "shampoo" I use assuming they can get the same finish but knowing you guys respect what goes into getting a good finish and how much work it takes is what makes it all the better!



DMH-01 said:


> Cracking job there mate, hopefully see it in the flesh at the next ES6 meet :thumb:


Yeah mate, I'll keep an eye out for one coming up! :thumb:


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Looks great! Very nice job on the wheels and arches!


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## Bowler (Jan 23, 2011)

Great detailing job, love the car


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks everyone, gave it a quick clean today and it's looking absolutely spanking again, delighted with it


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## bigslippy (Sep 19, 2010)

lovely job there on a stunning car :thumb:


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## Hetz (Apr 8, 2008)

awesome looking car, great job with the detail


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## M3YUK (Aug 21, 2012)

Makes me want to go clean mine


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## neilb62 (Jul 30, 2007)

bildo said:


> Oh, and if anyone is worried about the wheels being face down, the tyres have an outer stretch which went further than the alloy so they were 100% safe.
> 
> PW'ing was done up against the wall so no lose stones to scratch it.


I must admit I gasped when I saw that pic! :doublesho


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## JwilliamsM (Dec 20, 2011)

wow, this was one of the colours i would have bought 
looks mint this one does now, hope your smg doesn't play up for you unlike my mates lol


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## TIFF (Aug 16, 2012)

Lovely.............

I have a Silver Grey Coupe......awesome cars


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## 3dom (Oct 30, 2012)

Excuse the bump! 









Stunning 
That must be Hanningfield in some of those shots? (If so there are some amazing roads around there!)

Really nice job on that mate, and I too would love to know what that other guy used on this exhausts!


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## Luis (Sep 10, 2012)

nice car :thumb: 

great job


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## tangledmonkey (Apr 9, 2012)

Lovely car!!! Nice work, looks amazing!!!


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## magpieV6 (Jul 29, 2008)

lovely buy & great clean up


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## TopSport+ (Jul 22, 2012)

awesome car:argie::thumb:


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## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Cracking work on that a ton of effort but the final pics show it was worth it.


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## cossienuts (Oct 14, 2008)

looks good...is that hanningfield resivoir?


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## beed (Dec 11, 2012)

Looks decent! nice write up


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

I had no idea this had been bumped, thanks for that, nice to see people still appreciating it!

Impressed how many of you know that it's Hanningfield where the pictures were taken too! Some fantastic roads indeed!


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## 3dom (Oct 30, 2012)

I grew up around there and still remember the roads very well


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## M3simon (Jan 23, 2012)

Looks great mate.


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## johnnykimble (Jan 14, 2013)

Cracking work!


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

Second time I have seen this thread, really great work Buddie :thumb:


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## ltec (Dec 17, 2012)

sorry for being stupid but whats APC and whats it used for


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## halam (Apr 7, 2011)

very nice mate


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## 3dom (Oct 30, 2012)

ltec said:


> sorry for being stupid but whats APC and whats it used for


All purpose cleaner

You can use it at different dilutions with water for different jobs. If you need a list of abbreviations, there is a link here as well as loads of other useful stuff
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=50574

Hope that helps :thumb:


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