# rgDetail - BMW 330d: Paintwork Correction & Alloy Wheel Re-Finishing.



## rgDetail (Jul 16, 2009)

rgDetail

BMW 330D Paintwork Correction and Alloy Wheel Repair

Booked in was this already well kept 330D to remove the usual swirls, bring the finish back to life and also strip and re-finish the alloy wheels.

First off, the wheels:

A few before:



















Cleaned off and iron filings removed with CarPro IronX prior to stripping the tyres, weights, valves and stickers off the alloys:




























As you can see from the 'before' pictures the overall condition of the wheels weren't too bad, with minimal kerbing - the main reason for refurb was a complete strip back and re-finishing in the original OEM colour silver on each wheel to have them all matching and looking like new again.

Wheels repaired and painted up:




























Ready for several coats of lacquer:














































The callipers, hubs and wheel nuts were also re-painted, new centre caps fitted and 'M-Sport' badges stuck on.

Now on to the paintwork correction and work on the exterior trim:
Prior to any correction the usual wash & cleansing was carried out; snow foamed, two bucket wash, rinse, tar splatter removal, iron filing removal, clayed top to bottom, dried and moved inside ready to get under the lights.

*A few 'before' and 'afters'*































































































































*And a few 'after' shots:*
































































Thanks for looking, any comments or questions welcome!

Rob​


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Lovely detail 

What was the compound and pad combo's?


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Looks fantastic mate. Dropped you a PM.


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## h13ulk (Oct 31, 2008)

i really want one of them that came out stunning


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## Glennroy (Jul 12, 2006)

Looks good, nice finish on the wheels


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## ITHAQVA (Feb 20, 2011)

Ace job mate, bloody nice racing tank too :thumb:


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Brilliant job - looks like new again! Nice to see a well looked after one, they're normally reps cars and therefore filthy!


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## rgDetail (Jul 16, 2009)

Cheers for the comments everyone, much appreciated 

Polish and pad combo's were all 3M - Fast Cut Plus, Extra Fine Compound and Ultrafina SE with the respective pads, with a few areas being worked with the wool pad.


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## Dizzle77 (Mar 27, 2010)

Nice one Rob :thumb:

I've just come back from holiday, so car was covered in tree sap amongst all kinds of other dirt. Just washed the car for the first time since you 'worked your magic' and it's shining up as good as new once again 

Had the car nearly two years now, so good to clean it and not be seeing any swirls.

You did a great job on my car as a whole and the wheel refurb was just simply fantastic. They all look as good as new.

Anyway thanks again for taking time out to answer all my many questions in the weeks leading up to the work. You're a top bloke.


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## lethbridge (Jul 12, 2008)

Looks fantastic, great work!!!

I'm collecting the exact same model and colour on Friday (2008 plate), the hubs and callipers are all rusty so plan on rubbing them down and re-painting, what paint did you use for the job?

Any other advice for polishing this paintwork would be much appreciated, my polishing armour is mainly Menz and chemical guys hex logic pads.

The wheels look stunning!


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## NickP (Nov 20, 2005)

Looks great good work, the best colour too


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Great job..


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## rgDetail (Jul 16, 2009)

Hello Chi, 

Thanks for the kind words matey, much appreciated  glad to hear it is still looking it's best! Anything else you need just pop by or give me a call :thumb: hope the holiday went well 



lethbridge - for the hubs and calipers I used high temp engine and caliper paint, you can pick the same paint up in your local Halfords. As for the paintwork, I found the clear on this particular car pretty tough to remove the deeper defects from, although very rewarding to refine to bring back the gloss and depth in the paint. With a variety of menz and hex logic pads you should be able to achieve a good result - don't forget your IPA between your polishing stages though!  


Cheers for the comments everyone :thumb:


Rob


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Nice work Rob, glad to see your busy, keep those write-ups coming:thumb:


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## matt_83 (Apr 28, 2009)

Looks superb! Great work on the wheels too! :thumb:


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## alcarp (Apr 28, 2010)

Really nice detail there mate


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## sarefeet (Oct 10, 2007)

Outstanding finnish there, love how clean the inner arches came up,
What did you use to achieve those results?


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

stunning work


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## Guest (May 7, 2011)

fantastic mate


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

Rob great work i can see the mrs wheels will be in good hands


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## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

Great results and outstanding job on the wheels!


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

Stunning finish Rob


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## john2garden (Nov 16, 2006)

Excellent work, who refurbed the wheels for you?


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## lethbridge (Jul 12, 2008)

Can I ask what you polish / pad combo you used on the black gloss trim?

Thanks


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## Beau Technique (Jun 21, 2010)

Nice work Rob.


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## rgDetail (Jul 16, 2009)

sarefeet said:


> Outstanding finnish there, love how clean the inner arches came up,
> What did you use to achieve those results?


Meguiars Super Degreaser, AutoSmart G101 and later Dodo Juice Tarmalade left on any tar spots to soften them later wiping them off and rinsing again, with Aerospace 303 to finish off with :thumb:



john2garden said:


> Excellent work, who refurbed the wheels for you?


I did 

Tom - cheers buddy, look forward to doing them for you 

Thanks for the comments everyone - much appreciated!

Rob


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## rgDetail (Jul 16, 2009)

lethbridge said:


> Can I ask what you polish / pad combo you used on the black gloss trim?
> 
> Thanks


If I remember 3M spot pads (yellow and blue) with the associated polishing & finishing compounds :thumb:



Beau Technique said:


> Nice work Rob.


Cheers matey  much appreciated.


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## ROMEYR32 (Mar 27, 2011)

Awesome work, how long on the machine??


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## rgDetail (Jul 16, 2009)

Three days if I remember correctly


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## BrianD1991 (Mar 30, 2011)

fresh looking car wheels are nice !


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