# BMW X3 - An equestrian mom's taxi...



## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Hi all! So this is one of my Ferrari customer's wife's cars. She takes her daughters to equestrian school several times a week and of course they usually pick up some friends along the way. Truck full of equestrians with dirty boots and butts combined with the muddy roads leading to the ranch... that makes for a pretty nasty looking ride. To make things even worse, this car has been washed almost exclusively in automatic car washes... It's 2 years old and has more 90k on it already! Here's the goods >>

So here's one of the wheels... They've not had a proper cleaning... ever. Automatic car washes won't do the trick, as we all know.










2 years worth of burned in, caked on brake dust... yummy.










Those of you familiar with BMW's know that the brakes dust extremely bad so if not cleaned regularly they look like this >>










Some "remnants" of the muddy, ranch roads...










I didn't waste time taking 100 pictures of the scratches on this car because well, the entire car looked like this. One good thing about automatic car washes is that they do keep us in business!  The car was foamed, rinsed and washed with Wolf's White Satin shampoo, then clayed with WC-1L Pink Slip clay lube and Wolf's elastic detailing clay... I didn't take any pics of the claying process, but you can imagine what it looked like after 2 years and no proper washings...










Exotic bug collection removed with Wolf's "The Outsider" APC 1:4 mix.










Some pictures of the paint that was on the car on the passenger side.










Claying wouldn't remove this so what I do in this situation is "pick off" the head of the paint (works with hardened sap also) with a thin piece of metal like this (a paper clip will also work) and once the "head" is off, the rest of it comes off fairly easy. You've got to have a steady hand for this because you can scratch the paint very quickly. All you have to do is go back and forth very slowly, while keeping the tool at the same level. It will usually "snap" off in one piece.










One spot of paint removed










So I started with the wheels, as usual, but I knew that these were going to take a looooooong time to get clean so all throughout the 2-day detail I periodically sprayed the wheels with Wolf's WF-1P wheel cleaner, let it dry, rinsed and then applied again. I think each wheel took about 10+ applications to get all the brake dust fully dissolved but you'll see later that it was well worth it.










Nice and thick so it stays on the wheel, not the ground.










The engine was cleaned with Wolf's WT-2N APC at a 1:4 mixture and various brushes were used to loosen up the gunk.










After about 45 minutes of scrubbing and wiping, the engine was dressed with Wolf's WO-1N tire and trim dressing.










All hoses, wires, etc. were hand-dressed










Remember the manky wheels?










After 2 rounds of WF-1P "The Brake Duster" and 0 agitation










During the day the owner requested that I wash the Fiorano, as it had a serious collection of bugs on it already. His 10 year old daughter was eager to help, so I let her loose with the foam cannon. The car was foamed with our new snow foam... no it's not pH neutral. It actually has cleaning agents in it that break down road grime so you actually _clean_ something in the pre-wash stage (and no it won't remove the LSP unless there's abrasion involved) rather than spraying suds on it and rinsing it. This product is still under development, but we hope to have it finished soon!

Foaming a car with pH neutral snow foam is about like washing your hands by putting soap on it and rinsing it off without rubbing your hands together... just doesn't work like that.










COMING SOON... AMG nice and scratchy flavored .










When left to dry completely, Wolf's WF-1P will form a hard shell on the wheel. Once it does that, it can be blasted off with a PW and the gel shell acts almost like a piece of tape, "ripping" off the loosened contaminants. Here's what it looks like when it dries >>



















Blasted with a PW. You can still see some of the gel on the rim here...










On to the interior... :doublesho The interior was cleaned with Wolf's WT-1N interior APC 1:10 dilution.



























































































Someone left a bag of these decorative, ceramic rocks in the back... and it was open... and turned upside down... made me happy .










Scratches removed, gloss restored  Enjoy the afters!



















Manky wheels: Handled. After all the brake dust was dissolved, I cleaned them one last time with Wolf's WF-1NT nano wheel cleaner. After that I gave them another coat of protection with WR-1NT nano rim sealant... that should keep them a lot cleaner .




























Hood before. The polishing was done with Wolf's WP-4N and a wool pad, which left me with an almost LSP-ready finish on this BMW HPS (Hard Paint Suckness as Bob would say ), so jeweling was a breeze with WP-1N and a finishing pad.










And after. The LSP for today was a carnauba wax we've been working on for a while now... So far, it's surpassed even the "best" waxes I've got in my arsenal... and I've got quite a lot of them .



















I couldn't completely remove a lot of the stains in this car and the driver's side floor (and some on the seats) was one of them. You can see here (where the right foot constantly rests) it's still a bit stained, but the harsh reality of detailing is that you can't win them all.










The driver's seat after round 3 of scrubbing. The center of it is still wet so that's why it looks darker than the rest of the seat.





































Here's the scuffed up plastic by the carpet before










After lots of scrubbing with WT-1N and a stiff brush they came out quite well.
































































Seat rails also cleaned front and back with a detail brush and WT-1N. The net isn't dirty anymore, it's just wet so it still appears to be soiled.



















All trim and plastics were cleaned during the prep stage with Wolf's WT-2N APC and a small horse hair brush. After that all outside trim was sealed with WM-1NT nano dressing.














































So the wheels took a very long time to get back to normal, but I did it without acid and with ZERO agitation (aside from the nano wheel cleaner application... you have to agitate it in this stage)... Before










After



















The view of Budapest from the owner's back garden...










It was almost a full moon this night so I started playing with my new camera while I waited for the owner to arrive . They came out nice I think!




























Thanks for reading and to all the Playboy subscribers, thanks for "reading'!

- Jesse O'Connor


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## amiller (Jan 1, 2009)

wow- very impressive sir! :thumb:

What pads are you currently using?


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

amiller said:


> wow- very impressive sir! :thumb:
> 
> What pads are you currently using?


Thanks Andrew! I'm using a new short-haired wool pad and the other (you know which ones ) foam pads that I have. The new wool pad is great, but I've still got some testing to do on it! The others are also superb, but still waiting on the manufacturer to get the material for me...


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## amiller (Jan 1, 2009)

Wolf's Chemicals said:


> Thanks Andrew! I'm using a new short-haired wool pad and the other (you know which ones ) foam pads that I have. The new wool pad is great, but I've still got some testing to do on it! The others are also superb, but still waiting on the manufacturer to get the material for me...


Thought so. Look forward to them joining the range Jesse :thumb:


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Nice save there, beige perhaps not the best interior colour for the cars use! Very good turnaround, particularly the wheels.


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## mk2jon (Mar 10, 2009)

That interior looks spot on :thumb:


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

mk2jon said:


> That interior looks spot on :thumb:


Thanks Jon! It still had a few spots that I had to let go (very unforgiving color), but other than those it came out nicely I think!


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## Waxamomo (Jun 18, 2008)

Top work as usual Jesse :thumb:

The picture of the boot finished looks like it could be straight out of the car brochure 

Chris


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## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Nice job


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## AcN (Nov 3, 2010)

Super great job here !! Love the engine bay before/after 

I really hope his wheels won't be cooked like it did anymore


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## Eurogloss (Jan 22, 2008)

Hey Jesse, you definitively had you work cut out for this car :detailer:
How do your arms feel after all this !

Great job buddy!:thumb:


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

AcN said:


> Super great job here !! Love the engine bay before/after
> 
> I really hope his wheels won't be cooked like it did anymore


Thanks mate! Well they've got some great protection on them now, so we'll see!



Eurogloss said:


> Hey Jesse, you definitively had you work cut out for this car :detailer:
> How do your arms feel after all this !
> 
> Great job buddy!:thumb:


Thanks Mario! Suck-hard paint and suck-dirty interior... I felt great after that 2 days!


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## Deeper Detail (Oct 31, 2010)

Great write up.... May have to get in touch with Chris @ Waxamomo to discuss my 'wolf' needs....


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## ashk (Aug 11, 2008)

Great turn around and like the photo of the moon


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

RuFfBoY said:


> Great write up.... May have to get in touch with Chris @ Waxamomo to discuss my 'wolf' needs....












You neeeeed some Wolf's in your life... It's there for you to buy... :thumb:


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## Deeper Detail (Oct 31, 2010)

We will have to discuss a full product range price for my new small detailing company


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

RuFfBoY said:


> We will have to discuss a full product range price for my new small detailing company


Sounds good m8! If you have any technical questions, feel free to post them in my section http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=220 ! I'll be posting an "Understanding Wolf's Polishes" in that section soon with a breakdown of which polish to use on which paints :thumb:. It's pretty easy to follow once you've familiarized yourself with them!

- Jesse


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## Deeper Detail (Oct 31, 2010)

Cheers jesse. Will be in touch


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Amazing results, especially with the wheels. 

So NO aggitation on the insides as well Jesse ? So it's just spray and leave, then rinse and re-apply ?

Looks mighty impressive stuff if that's all that required. I could do with some for the Jazz wheels after 4yrs of next to zero cleaning :wall:


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## Eddy (Apr 13, 2008)

Thats mighty impressive, the turnaround on the interior is absolutely stunning, must of been a long old job.

Keep it up


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## maxtherotti (Mar 2, 2009)

that engine bay was shocking
hope for mine yet lol

great turn around:thumb:


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## Eurogloss (Jan 22, 2008)

Wolf's Chemicals said:


> Thanks mate! Well they've got some great protection on them now, so we'll see!
> 
> Thanks Mario! Suck-hard paint and suck-dirty interior... I felt great after that 2 days!


Those are the pleasures of detailing :wall::thumb:

Mario


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## Eurogloss (Jan 22, 2008)

Wolf's Chemicals said:


> You neeeeed some Wolf's in your life... It's there for you to buy... :thumb:


You are now falling sleepy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Yun_says (Apr 8, 2010)

Those wheels turned out fantastic, I need me some wolf products for my dads X3 wheels they're in a similar state


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Yun_says said:


> Those wheels turned out fantastic, I need me some wolf products for my dads X3 wheels they're in a similar state


Thanks mate! Yeah BMW's are infamous for their brake dust and if not cleaned regularly they'll have some serious pitting on them like this one did. With Wolf's Brake Duster you'll probably have to treat them a couple/few of times to remove severe pitting, but it's much safer than with a very acidic cleaner. :wave:


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## The_Bouncer (Nov 24, 2010)

Great Job on those wheels


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

The_Bouncer said:


> Great Job on those wheels


Thanks mate! Although the Brake Duster deserves all the credit .


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## paulmc08 (Feb 3, 2009)

What a great turn around

it must be annoying though to think the car's interior will be looking like a feeding bucket in a few month's

is the wheel cleaner simular to iron cut


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## Sti_Brumby (Aug 19, 2010)

Top job jesse, like new =)


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

paulmc08 said:


> What a great turn around
> 
> it must be annoying though to think the car's interior will be looking like a feeding bucket in a few month's
> 
> is the wheel cleaner simular to iron cut


Thanks mate! Yeah I saw the car about a month after... nasty again . Yes the wheel cleaner we have is similar to Iron X!


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## Roy (Jan 17, 2007)

Great job :thumb: can Break Duster be agitated if you wanted to speed up the process? 

Roy


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Roy said:


> Great job :thumb: can Break Duster be agitated if you wanted to speed up the process?
> 
> Roy


Thanks Roy! Sure but to an extent. When the brake dust is built up into a hard pile of goop like on these wheels, it requires cleaning that only chemical reaction can provide, so agitation may not hep a whole lot.


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## oval (Feb 14, 2010)

great turn around especially liked interior and engine bay shots:thumb:


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## Guest (Jan 21, 2011)

Great job! those wheels looked like a big job to do. The engine bay came up really well aswel :thumb:


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

capri kid said:


> Great job! those wheels looked like a big job to do. The engine bay came up really well aswel :thumb:


Thanks mate! Yeah the wheels were in bad shape, but actually Wolf's Brake Duster did all the work :thumb:!


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