# Auto Detox: BMW M Coupe



## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

*BMW M Coupe major paint correction detail*​
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Thanks for taking the time to view another detailing thread by www.autodetox.co.uk

Yes I have been a little quiet on the forum of late this is due to me moving to a bigger & better unit, organising my Waxstock exhibit & generally working 7 days a week 10 & 12 hours a day !

I have been in the new place 3 weeks now this car was the second through the door on day one of opening ! With the new place still looking a bit rough (it has all changed since then)

The owner drove the car over to me & left it with me for a week while he was away on business, the car had 30 hours of work put into it to bring it back to life

Day 1: As always I took some time once on my own to take a look around the car & take stock of the work needed to make me & the owner happy with the result. Please excuse some of the light differences in some of the shots I was still trying to get the right setting for the new unit

Alloy:










Passenger rear quarter:










Front:





































Filler: this needed a little extra attention, the drain hole was blocked & it was full of grit










Drivers side:

Even under the strip lights you can see the previous polishing haze










Exhaust tips:



















The interior & engine bay were to receive detailing treatments too but more on these later in the detail

Outside for wash process, this was to entail:

* Wheel arches
* Alloys
* Door shuts
* Seals etc
* Engine bay
* Clay
* Tar removal

In preparation for the machine polishing stage later

First up as usual before I touch anything rinse off with the pressure washer, wheel arches jet washed out, treated to Bilthamber APC & scrubbed with 2 vikan brushes short & long























































Each corner was treated to the same process & inspected for cleanliness

Tyres were treated to the same APC but 2 different brushes stiff bristled brush & Envy detailing brush




























Rinsed the product off as I went along.

Alloys: These were in very good condition & needed no aggressive cleaning, a simple acid free cleaner diluted 10:1 worked with various metal free wheel brushes, swissvax for the faces, wool mini mitt for behind the spoke, wheel woolie large for the inners














































Bodywork:

This had a multiple stage cleaning routine, starting with a thorough jet wash of course.

A good soaking with PM3



















Left for a minute or two & thoroughly jet washed off. I picked up the APC bottle once again plush an Envy Detailing brush to get into those small areas around the car














































Another jet wash of the car before moving on to 2 bucket wash with plush wool wash mitt










Tar remover was applied to each panel at a time, wiped gently with a disposable cloth & thoroughly jet washed the product off afterwards



















During the wash stage I had my first delivery at the new unit a huge box of Auto Finesse products !

Excellent service from the guys at AF too !










The mug was mine I was taking a coffee break at the same time 

Also a quick thanks to James for personally inviting me onto the Auto Finesse authorised detailer network which I was very happy to accept

Armed with a plethora or new products to play with I immediately put the clay to work, unfortunately I was so excited with my new stuff I totally forgot to take any pictures of the engine bay cleaning ! :lo:

Ok inside for clay time, I ventured into the staff room where the Af stuff were settling into their new home & picked up one of the clay boxes, cut me a piece off & set to work on the BMW



















Surprisingly the car was very clear of bonded contamination, altough the clay was easy to ply, glided very well & was a joy to use

After working around the car including the glass the car was dried off with a super plush microfiber drying towel










With all the shuts, engine bay, nooks & crannies dried it was time to inspect the paint properly under the 3M Sungun

Are you ready ?



























































































Just under the unit strip lights in the ceiling you can see how bad the roof was










Sungun:





































As you can see I had my work cut out, but I love a challenge !

I set up my mobile metal halide lights, these give out a white light that is much better for spotting defects which I am looking for in a light source, rather than just a yellow light that can hide defects that need to be machined out

I started on the passenger side rear quarter, taped a section off & set about finding a combo that worked well. I settled on a 3 stage process for this car first to cut out the defects that were hidden under the marring, second to remove any marring I had inflicted & finally the third for a crystal clear shine

After the first stage:




























The first stage working well I continued around the car, this stage was very time consuming

Roof:



















After first stage:



















Bonnet:



















After first stage:










Natural 50:50 on the front wing while working on the bonnet










Drivers door:

50:50 from an assortment of angles





































Pillar by the windscreen:



















After first stage:










Drivers rear quarter:










After first stage:










Before:










After first stage:










Passenger door:



















After first stage:



















Guess the lsp ???










Just kidding ! I took the car outside for a de dust after the machine work due to the amount of dust created during the correction stages

Back inside & all dried up ready for the lsp but not before a quick look around with the sungun














































Under the halide light




























Paintwork looking good, time to apply Tough Coat & Desire wax










The pad was a little linty after the washing machine, this was cleaned before application

Mint rims for the alloys:



















Applied & buffed off.

James sent me a tyre dressing sample which looked real nice



















Metal polish on the pipes, these were heavily ****ed up & came up ok but I really wasn't happy with them to be honest










My Desire wax pot & wax mate










In its natural habitat ! :lol:










Glad I bought some wax mates (5 I think) my go to wax applicator now very ergonomic & hold the wax well on the surface, I've tried them with harder carnauba waxes & work very well with them too

For the matt spolier I used the Swissvax opaque range










The interior received a full detail too.

Started with the boot, took out what I could cleaned, hoovered & put everything back in it's place


















































































Cabin:

Hoovered, leather cleaned, conditioned, plastics cleaned & uv protector applied





































Steering wheel too, yuk !










Auto Finesse conditioner with it's its limited edition hat !



















Applied & left to cure as per directions, this was wiped over a little later in the detail










Glass cleaned too










Pipes:










After:










After a final wipe down with Finale, the finished article looked like this:

Engine:










Interior:





































Paintwork:








































































































































The new unit is almost finished now I'll post up some pictures in a week or so if you fancy a look ?

Thanks for taking the time to look 

Thanks
Barry
Auto Detox
www.autodetox.co.uk


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## Matt93 (May 23, 2012)

Looks like a beast,

great results  will be one very happy owner


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Great job :thumb:


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## moono16v (Oct 12, 2010)

Well done


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## Auto Finesse (Jan 10, 2007)

Very nice Barry, loving your work, that new unit looks a bit smart mate  you need to do some work and mess it up a bit :lol:


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## Ultimate (Feb 18, 2007)

Nice, they didn't hide that tracker very well did they!?


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Great work :thumb:


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Matt93 said:


> Looks like a beast,
> 
> great results  will be one very happy owner


Thanks Matt, yes he was very happy indeed :thumb:



DMH-01 said:


> Great job :thumb:


Cheers mate



moono16v said:


> Well done


Thanks



James B said:


> Very nice Barry, loving your work, that new unit looks a bit smart mate  you need to do some work and mess it up a bit :lol:


Howdy James, cheers dude ! yeah yeah I'm trying to tidy it up not mess it up :lol: its been 3 weeks since these pics were taken you should see it now !!! :thumb: kettle is always on if you guys are ever passing through 



AaronGTi said:


> Great work :thumb:


Cheers Aaron :thumb:

Thanks guys
Baz :thumb::thumb::thumb:


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## Scrim-1- (Oct 8, 2008)

Fantastic work Barry, Those exhaust have come up spot on imo.

How do you rate Desire then mate?


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## BNR32 (Feb 1, 2008)

Fantastic turnaround mate! Well done


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## Racer (Oct 27, 2005)

Top Work Barry :thumb:


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Great save Barry, some neanderthal had done a pretty good job at destroying the thing by the looks of it:wall: Finished results are super sharp mate:thumb:


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## Zetec-al (Feb 28, 2011)

Brilliant work.


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## elsad-140 (Dec 27, 2011)

nice work


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## deni2 (May 4, 2011)

Great finish on little M.


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## Wout_RS (Jun 13, 2012)

great work on this future classic!


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## Titanium Htail (Mar 24, 2012)

A great result from all your hard work, now I am ready for AF with your help.

Thank-you.


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## davec (Mar 5, 2012)

love those cars, looking absolutely stunning now, take a bow!


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Scrim-1- said:


> Fantastic work Barry, Those exhaust have come up spot on imo.
> 
> How do you rate Desire then mate?


Cheers Scrim, Desire is a really easy wax to use, the wax mate fits perfectly in the pot & surprisingly the smell lasts for ages on the car after applying, durability I cannot say but I've used the tough coat/desire combo on a couple of metallics (check out the Jag on my Facebook page) & it works very well indeed 



BNR32 said:


> Fantastic turnaround mate! Well done


Thank you



Racer said:


> Top Work Barry :thumb:


Thanks Rui, keep posting up those awesome details of yours too :thumb:



slrestoration said:


> Great save Barry, some neanderthal had done a pretty good job at destroying the thing by the looks of it:wall: Finished results are super sharp mate:thumb:


Hey Nick, the paint was in a really bad state some of the worst machine work I have ever seen to be honest ! if the wheels & interior were in the same state it would have taken a week to sort out, owners was happy & another saved from swirly pergatory ! :lol: hope you are well dude 



Zetec-al said:


> Brilliant work.


Cheers Al



elsad-140 said:


> nice work


Thanks



deni2 said:


> Great finish on little M.


Cheers Deni



Wout_RS said:


> great work on this future classic!


Thanks ! They are an awesome car to work on & have great looks too



Titanium Htail said:


> A great result from all your hard work, now I am ready for AF with your help.
> 
> Thank-you.


Thank you, give the range a try :thumb:



davec said:


> love those cars, looking absolutely stunning now, take a bow!


Thanks Dave, appreciate the comment 

Cheers guys
Baz


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

Cracking work Barry


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Amazing finish


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## jonnyMercUK (Apr 19, 2012)

Great detail, although I can't help but think it's one of the ugliest cars BMW have made.


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## Miguel Pestana (Feb 16, 2012)

fantastic work, great finish


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## ITSonlyREECE (Jun 10, 2012)

Fantastic work!!


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

North east Car Care said:


> Cracking work Barry


Thanks mate



tonyy said:


> Amazing finish


Cheers Tonyy



jonnystuartuk said:


> Great detail, although I can't help but think it's one of the ugliest cars BMW have made.


Cheers ! Have they ever made a pretty car ? :lol:



Miguel Pestana said:


> fantastic work, great finish


Thanks Miguel



ITSonlyREECE said:


> Fantastic work!!


Thanks Reece

Cheers guys
Baz :thumb:


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