# Polished Bliss: Super rare Alpina B8...



## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Due to a crazy busy workload at the moment we haven't managed to get the Ne Plus Ultra pics and footage put together yet so I figured I'd post up this one that was done last month just to make sure you don't forget about us!

I didn't actually realise how rare this car was until the owner e-mailed through some stats on it, some of which I'll list below:

- 78 Coupes were made, all LHD.
- 4.6 V8
- 0-60 5.5 secs
- 0-100 12.7 secs
- 333bhp (hence the number plate!)
- 347 lb ft
- Price when new - £63,000.

This particular one, finished in Alpina Blue was the 1996 Frankfurt Motor Show Car which makes it that little more special 

Upon arrival it was obvious that it had maybe sat around for a while and gathered a bit of dust etc...


















































































So, to try and loosen some of this I foamed the car with APC...










...Left for 5 mins...










...Then thoroughly rinsed off at high pressure...










The wheels were starting to pit quite badly...










...after various strengths of Wheel Brightener I eventually had to use it neat on a microfibre towel (whilst wearing gloves!) then Tardis which just left a few areas that needed to be clayed...



















Tyres and arches were then sprayed with Meguiars Super Degreaser and scrubbed:










All shuts, exterior trim, badges etc were then sprayed and agitated with APC before being rinsed:























































Tar spots were then removed with Tardis:










I then moved the car inside for claying, megs mild was used:










Surprisingly little contamination came off...










A final rinse followed and I then dried the car off with the Black Baron drier:










The 1st of 3 coats of Gloss-It Signature Tyre Dressing was applied:










I then took detailed paint readings on all metal and plastic panels:










Most metal panels were healthy enough with some areas having seen paint in the past...










...although some areas were rather thin...










Plastics were all nice and healthy, although this isn't an overly accurate reading (as the graph shows the signal bounced a few times):










*Defect shots*:























































Due to the rock hard Alpina paint polish and pad of choice for this one was Meguiars 105 and Gloss-It Fast Cut Pads. The polish was spread at 900rpm's, worked for one pass at 1200rpm's then bumped up to around 1800-2000rpm's with medium pressure and then backed down to 1200rpm's with very light pressure which gave a 99% LSP ready finish with a total of 2-3 microns of paint removed after 2 hits (removal rate measured with the laser pen method and all readings were taken when the paint had fully cooled down).





































Sometimes I've found the Fast Cut pads can generate alot of heat very quickly so I occasionally swap to a Gloss-It Light Cut pad on plastics:



















Quite a deep scratch on the O/S rear quarter:










After 2 hits:










Buffer trails before:










After:










One of the most time consuming things on this car was the gold pin striping along the sides. These were made from Vinyl (why oh why couldn't they have been painted!?!? ). Obviously I couldn't machine over them so I had to mask them off in various ways to get in about all the sections with a 4" pad:

Taped one way:










Then the other:










This seemed to take forever and I went through 4 rolls of tape on this car!

It was worth it though as the level of correction was very pleasing...




























Once all the correction work was done I refined the finish with Gloss-It Finishing Pads and Menzerna 85RE:










Followed by a wipe down to remove all oils:










The area on the bootlid where the paint was measuring around the 70 micron level was given 1 hit with Menzerna 203S and a Polishing Pad. Obviously this didn't give great levels of correction as there were too many random scratches but sometimes you can only work with the paint you're given...










LSP was Project Awesome, machined into the paint at Speed 5:










Then left to cure for an hour:










While the Sealant cured I sealed the wheels with Blackfire Metal Sealant and gave the Tyres a final buff:










Interior was fully detailed...




























...As was the Engine...

Before:



















After 303 Protectant and Prime Strong:










And after a final wipe down with Gloss-It Gloss Enhancing QD this is how the rest of the car looked 






























































































































































































Total Work Time: *32* Hours.

Thanks for looking 

Clark


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## golf548 (Feb 27, 2008)

Once again Clarke great work on a classic.......


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Lovely work as per usual - nice colour as well 

"The laser pen technique" for measuring paint removal - is this using averages or single measures? I know you will be, but anyone reading should be very careful with lasers - I've seen even sensible folk loose part of their sight with relatively low powered sources...


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

great work Clark - love the alpina alloys :argie:


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## wedgie (Apr 5, 2008)

very very nice :thumb:


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Nice ! Quite like the pin striping on the outside, always like the alpina attention to detail on the interiors the diagonal stitching etc

Baz


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Dave KG said:


> Lovely work as per usual - nice colour as well
> 
> "The laser pen technique" for measuring paint removal - is this using averages or single measures? I know you will be, but anyone reading should be very careful with lasers - I've seen even sensible folk loose part of their sight with relatively low powered sources...


As you'll have no doubt found out, even using a laser point you can still get a couple of microns of difference in a reading if you dont get the probe in the exact same point every time so I always take at least 15/20 readings before and after :thumb:


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Auto Detox said:


> Nice ! Quite like the pin striping on the outside, always like the alpina attention to detail on the interiors the diagonal stitching etc
> 
> Baz


The striping does look good once you stand back and admire it at the end, however mid-detail I was begging with the owner to get the heatgun out to remove the bloody things!


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Clark said:


> As you'll have no doubt found out, even using a laser point you can still get a couple of microns of difference in a reading if you dont get the probe in the exact same point every time so I always take at least 15/20 readings before and after :thumb:


Yes - position dependence and gauge error (something like +/-3% IIRC), but 15 or 20 measures should whack that out of your stats happily enough.

I do like to see detailers measuring this vital statistic of paint _removal_ though, its a very important part of the detail as far as I'm concerned


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Dave KG said:


> Yes - position dependence and gauge error (something like +/-3% IIRC), but 15 or 20 measures should whack that out of your stats happily enough.
> 
> I do like to see detailers measuring this vital statistic of paint _removal_ though, its a very important part of the detail as far as I'm concerned


This is it, most people can correct paint - one of the skills is doing it while removing as little paint as possible


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## S-X-I (Sep 6, 2006)

Great work there Clark, top finish!


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Clark said:


> This is it, most people can correct paint - one of the skills is doing it while removing as little paint as possible


Indeed, and alarmingly often we see heavy cutting combos being waved willy nilly when it is probably not always required... yes, in the short term, the paint is corrected, but the long term effects are what worries me more... Anyways, shant pull your thread further off-topic. Good work


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## extreme-detail (Nov 7, 2005)

love the alpina B8`s and nice detail clark


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## PaulB (Mar 26, 2009)

simply awesome. Your work always amazes me.


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## Exclusive Car Care (Jan 14, 2007)

another top shelf job by one of the best detailers in the UK:thumb:


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## Phil H (May 14, 2006)

Stunning work as usual


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## jimmy_b_84 (Jan 11, 2009)

great work a really intresting read too, you did brilliantly with the gold pin stripe that would of took me forever


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## Prism Detailing (Jun 8, 2006)

Fantastic job on one of my fav cars of all time


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## Janitor (Feb 14, 2006)

Great stuff as ever Clark :thumb:


No one really ever posts what the owner's reactions & comments were though..?


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## M3_Daz (Oct 4, 2006)

Very nice work Clark.


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## StuaR32t (Jun 6, 2009)

Stunnin!!!!


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## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Nice detail Clark - The alpina is now in the shape it should be


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Truly stunning job on such a rare beast :thumb:


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## Gordonian (Mar 9, 2007)

As the owner then, I can comment that I was more than delighted with the results. This is now the 5th of my cars that PB have done (you may recall posts on an Alpina D3 Touring and an Alpina B10 V8 Touring) and each and everyone has been to a standard that is quite amazing.

Rich and Clark are great to deal with and despite me messing them around with collection times the car was still boxfresh when I got there.

So far, impressions of Project Awesome are great too.


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## ryanuk (Jun 22, 2007)

wow thats stunning


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## Waxamomo (Jun 18, 2008)

Stunning work as usual Clark :thumb:


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## Mat430uk (Sep 17, 2007)

very nice never even knew about these !


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## egon (Apr 25, 2007)

Niiiice..
I have very similar alloys on my 3 and theyre a total sod to keep clean!! They accumulate clag at a rate of knots!!


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

nice work on a awesome lump of a car . was tempted to buy a e30 alpina with the 2.7 engine i think it was but needed a lot of work doing,would have ended putting the engine in my 320 so i left for someone else to do being such a rare car


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

what an awesome car and awesome correction work yet again long live the E36


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## KleenChris (Apr 4, 2008)

Top work :thumb:


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## Claireeyy (Jul 20, 2009)

excellent work!


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## Planet Admin (Jul 11, 2009)

Liking it mate, Looks good on the last picture:thumb:


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## KKM (Dec 10, 2007)

Super Slick Mr Aitken!!

Pleasure to read....

:thumb:


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## jedi-knight83 (Aug 11, 2006)

not bad i guess 

whats the menz 85re? cant find it on the menz site?


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Bit more cut and lube than 85RD mate, you can find it on our website :thumb:


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## jedi-knight83 (Aug 11, 2006)

Clark said:


> Bit more cut and lube than 85RD mate, you can find it on our website :thumb:


and where to you find it ?


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## Select Detailing (Feb 19, 2009)

Great Work Clarke and as usual fantastic work and great write up.

I never new of the existence of this car,very special and very rare no doubt.

Regards

Gareth


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## TCD (Jan 27, 2009)

Amazing job Clark!


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## Huw (Feb 16, 2007)

Great work, glad to see the Alpina is back in its correct state.


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## NeilG40 (Jan 1, 2009)

Clark said:


>


Were you able to do anything about the two white/grey blobs on the upper window rubber, I've got the same kind of thing on my Passat and nothing I've tried has worked?

Thanks


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## Foolish Boy (Jul 20, 2009)

Lovely car, end result really did it justice.


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## andrewst500 (Nov 2, 2008)

fantastic work as always


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## lego_man (Mar 29, 2007)

Wow:thumb:


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## toyhto (Jul 19, 2007)

Great work, lovely car and Alpina alloys are very classy!


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## robertdon777 (Nov 3, 2005)

Great work love it, love the car prefer one of those to a new e92 m-sport


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## Nick_S (Dec 20, 2008)

Stunning results as always, and what a fantastic car!! Great work Clark :thumb:


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

amazing work and looks superb :thumb:

cracking car as well


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## Yoghurtman (Dec 9, 2008)

Enjoyable read and stunning results


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## Ultimate Shine (Jun 3, 2008)

Nice job again Clark.:thumb:

A good point about sometimes you can only play with level of paint that is there so 100% correction cannot be achieved.


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## ROB WOODHOUSE (Nov 13, 2005)

Nice work on a beautiful rare car


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Another breathtaking detail mate, looks awesome!!! :argie:


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## Robmgti (Jun 26, 2009)

Only just spotted this - stunning  rare car, only ever seen 1 on the road, made a lovely low purring sound when the chap gave it some beans!


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## Max M4X WW (Sep 19, 2006)

Very nice.

Was only talking to the GF (lol) the other day about merging an E34 540i and E36 coupe the other day. Looks like someone beat me to it!


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## Edstrung (Apr 6, 2009)

Beautiful car, love the work, the finished product is superb A++++


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## shabba (Sep 28, 2008)

awesome work mate! really professional job as always!


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## andyd73 (Jun 17, 2009)

Great work Clark.:thumb:

My uncle used to have a B8 Alpina and it went like sh1t off a shiney shovel!!


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## mteam (Dec 8, 2007)

Superb work Clark :thumb:

Lovely motor


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Nice work :thumb:


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## s3 rav (Apr 30, 2008)

very nice car and great work as always with polished bliss.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2009)

stunning work, love to have a b8 touring in that colour combo

that interior has got to be one of the best i seen in a e36

whats this for and where is it


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## andyboygsi (Aug 30, 2007)

looks gorgeous that does, very original but i think the wheels have been replaced at some point as alpine wheels have hidden air valves im sure


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## stephen g (Apr 13, 2006)

looks stunning top work there :thumb: how much did that cost the customer to get all that work done ?


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## Gordonian (Mar 9, 2007)

Andyboygsi - The wheels are original. The hidden valves first appeared on the Softline version of the Alpina wheels.

These are known as Originals.


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Gordonian said:


> As the owner then, I can comment that I was more than delighted with the results. This is now the 5th of my cars that PB have done (you may recall posts on an Alpina D3 Touring and an Alpina B10 V8 Touring) and each and everyone has been to a standard that is quite amazing.
> 
> Rich and Clark are great to deal with and despite me messing them around with collection times the car was still boxfresh when I got there.
> 
> So far, impressions of Project Awesome are great too.


Thanks for the great feedback mate :thumb:



NeilG40 said:


> Were you able to do anything about the two white/grey blobs on the upper window rubber, I've got the same kind of thing on my Passat and nothing I've tried has worked?
> 
> Thanks


If you're talking about what I think you are, then it was removed quite easily when cleaned with APC as it was just dirt and grime, all that was left was obviously just the slight perishing of the rubber 



stephen g said:


> looks stunning top work there :thumb: how much did that cost the customer to get all that work done ?


Major Correction = Prices from £995+ VAT mate..

Thanks for all the feedback and comments folks


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## TeZ (Oct 28, 2007)

When is this NE plus write up coming then...?


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

TeZ said:


> When is this NE plus write up coming then...?


We're working on it in between a million other things


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## andyboygsi (Aug 30, 2007)

Gordonian said:


> Andyboygsi - The wheels are original. The hidden valves first appeared on the Softline version of the Alpina wheels.
> 
> These are known as Originals.


top piece of info mate mate, i didnt know that.

cheers


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## Sveneng (Apr 20, 2008)

Cracking work on an amazing car! I couldn't help but notice the poor condition of the rubber surrounds on the rear windows, a common problem on the E36 coupes. It's fairly straightforward to replace them and only costs around £30 for both sides from the main dealer, can be done in a couple of hours.


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## Kev_mk3 (Sep 10, 2007)

WOW 

love it


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## scooby73 (Mar 20, 2007)

Superb detail, write-up and photo's Clark!:thumb:

Stunning car!:driver:


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

Stunning as always! Expect nothing less from you guys these days


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## MRC (May 7, 2009)

Awesome detail & turnaround on an awesome car.:thumb:


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