# Refined Detail -v- BMW E91 320d Touring



## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

:wave:

I was contacted by the owner last month - he'd recently purchased the car, and wasn't happy with the dealer preparation, and felt it could look much better.

I inspected the car prior to making a booking, and it was clear that the vehicle could indeed be improved on - it appeared very hazy and almost grey in some lights. It was clear the car had been subjected to machine polishing in the past, and paint readings confirmed this - a car that would normally have healthy readings of ~120 - 130 microns was struggling to make it into 3 figures! :doublesho

With this in mind, and the fact the car lives right next to the sea so will pick up wash marring throughout the year regardless of how carefully it's washed, the car was booked in for a customised version of my Enhancement Detail with anti static sealant for LSP to try and make the paintwork as slippery as possible and prevent dust and sand building up on it too easily!

4 weeks on, and I finally had space in my diary to tackle it.

Upon arrival:




























No engine bay on this one as the service was tailored to suit budget, and the paintwork was the main focus.

Tyres and arches thoroughly cleaned & degreased with the new formula Autosmart G101 (great stuff!) wheels with Autosmart Smart Wheels - needed to be removed to make a better job of them, but came up pretty well with a decent scrub with various brushes.

Pre-rinsed at high pressure, then foamed with ValetPro Orange pre wash and left to dwell whilst I cleaned the fiddly bits with a detail brush, and door shuts with Megs APC:



















Re-rinsed, and washed using the 2 bucket method and ValetPro concentrated car shampoo - a brilliant shampoo, but will be off my list once finished with, as it dries my hands out something chronic! 

Re-rinsed, and CarPro Iron X applied and left to work it's magic:



















Not all the visible on black, but you could just about see in this shot it was working well:










Re-rinsed again, dried, and de-tarred with Autosmart Tardis, and clayed with Bilt Hamber Regular clay which pulled off a fair bit of contamination:










Re-rinsed again, and dried with Autosmart Waffle weave towels, revealing the true state of the paintwork:



















and once of the more noticeable bits of burn through:










Numerous pad & polish combo's were tested, I eventually settled on Menzerna 203s on a 3M yellow pad which after an average of 3 hits per section was yielding some pretty good results:

Before:










After:










Before:










After:










and 50/50:










and complete:










by no means perfect, but this is an enhancement detail after all!

Some pretty bad bird etchings remained on the bonnet, but with an average of 90 microns present, I didn't fancy pushing it!










Some nasty nail scratches around the handles were improved on greatly with the same combo:

Before:










After:










Before:










After:










50/50:



















Before:










After:










By this point, time was pressing on, so the photo's stopped, and the head went down!

Paintwork was cleansed and a few light hologrammes knocked out using Zaino PC-Fusion via the DAS-6 Pro, followed by a coat of Z-AIO, and topped with 2 coats of Chemical Guys Blacklight (with Zaino Z6 wipe downs inbetween) and a final wipe down with Zaino Z8.

Glass cleaned with Espuma Crystal Blue (Screen sealed with Carlack Twins) Wheels sealed with FK1000P, Tyres dressed with FinishKare TopKote tyre dressing, arches dressed with Autosmart Rubber & Plastic.

Kidney grilles tidied with Carlack NSC, exhaust polished with fine wire wool and autosol.

10.5 hours later, the car was looking a little more lively:










Badges removed during detail at owners request:























































And a couple I had waiting in my inbox this evening from the owner using his SLR 



















The car is now signed up to quarterly maintenance :thumb:

Don't forget you can keep up to date with my day to day movements on Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks for looking,

Rich @ Refined Detail


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

Lovely finish Rich:thumb:


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Cracking detail. 

I've just bought a E91 320d m sport touring in exactly the same colour and i cannot wait to tackle it. Dealer prep sucks balls big time mine is covered in marks!

Edit: Oh - i did a mates E92 coupe last year and the paint levels on the doors on that where about 90microns - must be BMW thing for extreme thin paint?


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## Beau Technique (Jun 21, 2010)

I know you said it was bad but...... Ooh ya blighter! Very thin paint and hasrh defects dont mix well at all. For what you used and the time put in though it looks fab mate.


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Cheers guys, much appreciated.



Dan Clark said:


> Edit: Oh - i did a mates E92 coupe last year and the paint levels on the doors on that where about 90microns - must be BMW thing for extreme thin paint?


Really?! In general I've found this shape to still be pretty healthy - normally 120 - 130 in most places, but thinner on the curves (80 - 90) -as you could see though, this one definitely had been machined before, there were wet sanding marks in places too, but I couldn't capture them on camera


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## Dizzle77 (Mar 27, 2010)

great turaround. 
looks spot on by time you finished with it


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## uzi-blue (Mar 16, 2011)

Great Job, the car was in a poor state, nice to see it turned round. :thumb:


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## James_M (May 22, 2009)

Top work dude, it looks spot on once finished!


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Refined Detail said:


> Cheers guys, much appreciated.
> 
> Really?! In general I've found this shape to still be pretty healthy - normally 120 - 130 in most places, but thinner on the curves (80 - 90) -as you could see though, this one definitely had been machined before, there were wet sanding marks in places too, but I couldn't capture them on camera


I'll have to get my PTG out and measure mine and see how it compares. :thumb:


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Nice one, shocking state especially the strike through :doublesho

Big improvement.


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## 888-Dave (Jul 30, 2010)

Bloody good show old bean.

Seriously well done with the given time scale. 
You know when your up against it when the photo's have to stop :thumb:


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Cheers chaps, yes it was certainly looking a little sorry for itself -another car that once fully decontaminated, the true state of the paintwork was revealed!

Simon - that was one of several burn through's unfortunately 

Dave - thanks mate  Yup, completely run out of time for photos in the end!


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Very nice...you did great turnaround..


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## The Beast (Sep 16, 2009)

Superb Work!


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## 3976 (Nov 20, 2006)

Great turnaround!


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

top work there fella :thumb:


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## Sportspack Mark (May 24, 2007)

excellent work! I thought chandlers prep is normally very good


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks all, much appreciated.

Sportspack Mark - It wasn't from Chandlers this time round 

And a nice little testimonial from the client 

_*"A pleasure to meet a true gent with a professional work ethic that many would do well to emulate. The job he did on my BMW E91 was simply stunning. If the devil's in the details, then Richard is the exorcist. Many years ago I worked in the vehicle refinishing game, so I know a little about the skill and sheer graft involved. I knew from initially speaking with Richard that I was dealing with a dedicated, knowledgable man, but there's only so much one person can achieve in a day and I was well aware of some problem areas that would throw up a few challenges. I was expecting to see a significant improvement, but after putting in a solid 10-hour day the result Richard achieved blew me away. I've now signed up for a regular maintenance program."*_


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## matt_83 (Apr 28, 2009)

Lovely work as usual! :thumb:


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## black_civic_si (Feb 27, 2011)

Great job!


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