# e46 BMW M3 - Carbon Black - Correction - 80 pics



## JBR09 (Mar 10, 2009)

*BMW E46 M3 in Carbon Black - 2 Day Correction Detail*

Hey all, this is my own car that has been desperately in need of detailing since purchasing late January time. The car itself is in generally good condition with straight bodywork and original paintwork. The only thing letting it down was the alloy wheels and swirls etc on the finish. To date the car had only seen a few coats of Collinite from when I first got the car home just to give it some protection until I could get around to doing this!

Anyway, I'll get on with the pics now as they do most of the talking…

*Car Upon Arrival*

As mentioned, the car was wearing a few coats of Collinite wax but at the time was looking a bit grubby as it hadn't seen a bucket and mitt in 2 weeks.














































The original wheels were in a terrible state with the typical lacquer peel that is all too common on the polished OEMs. I had my own 'special' plans to resolve this though…



















*Arches*

As we had the time, we wanted to pay a bit of attention to the hidden areas of the car. The arches were filthy. We was pulling out handfuls of dirt from crevices. It was truly shocking! The car was propped up on axle stands and wheels popped off…



















Condition of the arches…



















Degreaser was sprayed on, agetated, rinsed, sprayed on scrubbed, rinsed again. AutoGlym Tar remover was also applied getting rid of some of the worst tar spots…



















Leaving this…



















*Wash Stage*

With the arches complete, it was now time to begin washing the car. We rinsed it with pressure washer to remove loose dirt and then did an APC foam to help remove grime and aid in the removal of the already present wax.




























This was then rinsed. We foamed the car again with a nice thick mixture of Snowfoam.




























At the same time we quickly went round and scrubbed up the shuts and hidden areas etc…










These were then rinsed, along with the car.










The car was now washing with the typical two bucket method, Meguiars Gold Class and a Lambswool mitt. We went straight on to clay the car whilst still wet with BiltHamber AutoCaly with water as lube. Each panel was leaving the clay like this…



















It was now lunch time, so we felt it appropriate to pop up to our local KFC for fuel, with half the reason for this being to sort out these babies….

*Wheels*










As mentioned already the original wheels were very tired with a lot of lacquer peeling etc. As much as I love these wheels, research has told me the trouble in having these refurbished and the inability to get a finish that is durable on them. With this in mind a full set of new CSL replicas were ordered…



















It is in my plans to eventually get these finished in Shadow Chrome / Black Chrome effect. The tyres were swapped over from my original wheels at a local garage.










I got to work in getting a coat of Wheel Sealant on them.










Which brought the shine of them up a treat…




























Much better!

*Correction*

With the wheels back on and the car on the ground, the car was rolled into the garage and taped up for correction.



















The last photo goes to show the finish after the cleaning stage, not too bad really, however under inspection lighting, it was a different story…










We taped up the boot for a 50/50 shot…










We took a paint depth of 137 for reference. I was aware and expecting the paint to be hard, but I was shocked on exactly how hard it was! We were only using DA Machines but in the end managed to gain about an 80% correction I would say. Unfortunately we didn't have a more aggressive pad but in the end had to settle with a pass of Menzerna Power gloss on a polishing pad and the refined down with Menzerna final finish on the same pad. It would also be Lime primed once machining had been done.

The work we were carrying out removed around 4 microns from the paint thickness.

This was our first experiencing using the power gloss. It was very hard work, it felt very dry, and ofcourse with such an aggressive polish the finish was good albeit poor at the same time as it needed refining. It took a lot of patience, but after testing out the combination and then trying some lime prime on top it was worth it.

Here is a 50/50 with no lime prime…










And some general shots showing our correction levels.























































A whole 24 hours later (with sleep in that too) the car was corrected. It was very hard work and has led us to the conclusion that we need to learn to use rotaries!!

Due to all the dust we had created we felt it best to give the car a contact less wash. The car was blown down using the airline and then rolled out the garage a foamed up and rinsed down.



















It was then put back in the garage for its session with the Dodo Lime Prime…










Affect of the Poorboys wheel sealant repelling water… lovely…










Another coat of the Wheel sealant was added to the new wheels once dried off…



















We finished the car off with two coats of Victoria Concours Wax, with the second being applied the next morning. And here are the results…

*Finished!*















































































































































































































































































All in all, very happy! The car now has added gloss to it which has made the car appear to be new looking! This added to the new wheels has really helped!

Thanks for taking the time to read, any feedback is greatly appreciated as always!

JBR


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

Cracking write up matey, stunning looking car:argie:


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## schaeffs (Mar 27, 2009)

Awesome mate, love the E46 shape and that is now one special M3! Exactly what I now want to do on my car - given me the perfect template - thank you!!


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## Alfa GTV (Apr 18, 2007)

Great turnaround, some nice 50/50's on a great car :thumb:


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## Clio1.4s (Sep 20, 2008)

Great job the paint looks very glossy and i love the new wheels:thumb:


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

love it vert mean looking 

tom


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## megaboost (Feb 4, 2007)

Very nice indeed and a great set of pics, thanks for sharing.


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## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

Looks better than new! Pretty shots in the shade!


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## Anzafin (May 18, 2008)

Excellent job done there! I love the E46, especially the M3.
Pictures and writeup are excellent too! Congratulations.

I felt pleasure reading the story, thank you.


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Truly stunning results! love the wheels too!! :argie:


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## tmclssns (Dec 28, 2006)

What a car and those CSL wheels are just amazing! Some great photography work there as well.
I like the colour as well. I had a Mini last weekend which was Astro Black - somewhat comparable to this colour (although I think the Astro is a bit lighter in blue shade).


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## JBR09 (Mar 10, 2009)

Anzafin said:


> Excellent job done there! I love the E46, especially the M3.
> Pictures and writeup are excellent too! Congratulations.
> 
> I felt pleasure reading the story, thank you.


I'm glad you found it so good! :thumb:


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## JBR09 (Mar 10, 2009)

tmclssns said:


> What a car and those CSL wheels are just amazing! Some great photography work there as well.
> I like the colour as well. I had a Mini last weekend which was Astro Black - somewhat comparable to this colour (although I think the Astro is a bit lighter in blue shade).


The whole blue thing is so so strange... Once it was corrected, in direct light it was so blue, more than i have ever noticed, to the point where i wish it was just black. But it typical light it looks much deeper and somewhat more black?

Quite cool really i guess


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

nice work, like the way it looks near blue in the sunshine


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## A20 LEE (Feb 20, 2007)

looks fantastic. How do you rate the replica wheels and where did you get them? I'm thinking about a set of 4 rears on my RS4.


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Top job - looks great.


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## DE 1981 (Aug 17, 2007)

looks good mate


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## Tom|nbk (Apr 9, 2007)

Nice job.


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## RobA3 (Jun 14, 2007)

JBR09 said:


> The whole blue thing is so so strange... Once it was corrected, in direct light it was so blue, more than i have ever noticed, to the point where i wish it was just black. But it typical light it looks much deeper and somewhat more black?
> 
> Quite cool really i guess


 Yeh I know what you mean mate, that is lovely shade of Black or is Blue, my partner has a BMW in the same colour.
Stunning.


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## Deanvtec (Mar 3, 2008)

Very nice work on a beautiful car, I soo need an e46 M3.
Nice photos aswell, all that hard work definately paid off. :thumb:


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Very nice job :thumb:

You can see still see some of the reg plates in reflections/distance if you're worried about it.


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## MATTYP (Feb 11, 2009)

Good job, where did you get the csl wheels from?


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## JBR09 (Mar 10, 2009)

A20 LEE said:


> looks fantastic. How do you rate the replica wheels and where did you get them? I'm thinking about a set of 4 rears on my RS4.


The wheels are lovely, however they definitely have the replica 'quality'. The paint finish on them is very soft and easily marked i have discovered. I almost expected this at the price though (a third of OEM CSLs!).

I got them from this place, one of the few places recommended on BMW forums...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=400035444545


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## ALANSHR (Jun 29, 2007)

Great job and turnaround as she was a bit of a mess. Do you fancy a touch of CF instead of the chromed side grills just to change the look a little?

Out of interest, did you weigh the csl replicas to see how much more they weigh over the original 19s and have you noticed any change in the drive because of that?


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## bluebro (Dec 29, 2005)

Car looks stunning now, i too had the same wheel dilemma.

I had polished 19's but the car now wears CSL's, much better looking IMO.

Great work. :thumb:


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## Bellas Rodas (Mar 9, 2009)

Nice work, love the new wheels.....you thought about getting the originals powdercoated? Two sets of wheels is better than one!


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## Noakesy85 (Dec 27, 2008)

Wow buddy... that car... beautiful :argie: and in my favourite colour too :thumb:

I'd give my left nut to have one of those :devil:

Shame about the orriginal wheels though, given a bit of tlc they could have been brought back to life... i hope u got some money back off of them in the end 

Karl


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## Noakesy85 (Dec 27, 2008)

Bellas Rodas said:


> Nice work, love the new wheels.....you thought about getting the originals powdercoated? Two sets of wheels is better than one!


funny you should say that... my OEM 18" e46 M3 wheels have been powdercoated... i got them up on ebay for £350... 4wheels each with new tyres... propper bargain if u ask me lol.


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## dizzydiesel (Aug 12, 2008)

great car........love the wheels


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## JBR09 (Mar 10, 2009)

ALANSHR said:


> Great job and turnaround as she was a bit of a mess. Do you fancy a touch of CF instead of the chromed side grills just to change the look a little?
> 
> Out of interest, did you weigh the csl replicas to see how much more they weigh over the original 19s and have you noticed any change in the drive because of that?


Nice idea about the CF, although not too sure it is me, there are a few other bits i want done first too... revised rear end, and general tidying up of stone chips and minor dents.

Regarding the weight, there has been a post about this on the MTorque forum, i can't remember exact figures but i beleive the CSL reps sat midway between the weight of Genuine CSL's and the polished 19's....


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## mikist (Nov 10, 2008)

Extremely good work, nice wheels better than original


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## JBR09 (Mar 10, 2009)

Bellas Rodas said:


> Nice work, love the new wheels.....you thought about getting the originals powdercoated? Two sets of wheels is better than one!


Nice idea, although i think what i like about the original 19's is the polished look. I Think it is what makes them...


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