# Auto Detox: BMW E46 M3 Cabriolet Carbon Black stunner.



## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Hello,

Thanks for taking the time to view another paint correction from Auto Detox - www.autodetox.co.uk

First of all I need to thank James @ Auto Finesse for the referral on this job, thanks James 

The client called me after James gave him my number, he had very specific requirements about his detail & in his words " I want a very high standard of detailing done "

He works a fair way away from me so all the relevant details were initially done via telephone & email, it was a number of weeks later when the very low milage, one owner last generation E46 M3 cabriolet sporting Carbon Black paintwork & red leather rumbled in to the court yard where my unit is a few sundays ago

The sun was out when I greeted the owner so I took the opportunity to inspect the paint in the sun light before moving the Aston Martin I was working on out of the way while we parked up the M3 inside

The Aston



















It's stable mate for the day



















Carbon Black & Onyx Black hard to choose a favourite colour !

I had a lengthy chat with the owner before he left & finally finished the Vantage S later that afternoon, the owner is a very good client of mine who's cars I have been looking after for around 4 years he was very happy with the car on collection.

Monday morning I drove out the M3 ready for the start of its correction detail. Unfortunately its was raining quite hard so my planned wash prep pictures were scrapped, when its wet outside my expensive Canon stays in its case 

The car was washed in the usual safe manner, wash mitt, 2 buckets, pre wash, de tar, clay & all the other little things it takes to get the car ready for machine work

The owner also wanted the wheels removed this is where I will take up the picture story

I did a cursory arch clean with the wheels on the car outside in the rain just to make things a little easier in the unit

Wheel removed



















I also took this time to clean under the sills & under the bumpers on each corner as I went along

Cleaning in progress














































With all the alloys removed, cleaned & sealed with Auto Finesse Mint Rims, I also dressed the arches as I went along too

It was time to take stock of the paintwork, holograms, swirls & RDS

3M Sungun inspection:
































































I didnt like the flat look of the pictures so I changed the setting to give a more natural & realistic look of the colour, this is what carbon black really looks like






















































































































As you can see the holograms & defects almost the same across the entire car

Before touching the machine to removed the grills & vents from the car










The grills were split, polished & sealed before being replaced at the end of the detail. The side vents were cleaned with buds & Nanolex trim restore used to protect them

The car was carefully taped up & paint readings taken










The car was treated to a 3 stage correction due to the nature of the paint

A couple of machine stage shots










Boot before










During




























The long polishing stage made its fair share of dust










This was cleaned off before the final finessing stage with 85RE on a finishing pad, all machine work was done with the Flex rotary

The paint work was treated to my favourite combo

Auto Finesse Tough Coat & Desire wax

Sitting pretty on a cloth between this products & the paintwork










But before application & residue removal wipe down a selection of post machine polishing shots under the Sungun & Halide light













































































































Time to put back the parts










Mint rims on the alloys earlier










Pipes with Mercury










Grills on










Opening her up to work on the interior & clean roof storage area










All done:

lovely interior










Engine




























Exterior






















































































































I got a little bit carried away with the job & ended up spending 35 hours on it, the comment when the owner saw the car on collection was well worth it, its a family site so I cannot repeat his words 

Thanks for taking the time to looks gent's

Cheers
Barry
Auto Detox
www.autodetox.co.uk


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## Swell.gr (May 7, 2008)

Excellent work and lovely car :thumb:
mike


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

awesome work as usual Baz, Aston is stunning too :thumb:


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## Bill58 (Jul 5, 2010)

Amazing work!


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## Miguel Pestana (Feb 16, 2012)

awesome work, well done :thumb:


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## jlw41 (Jun 5, 2011)

Great work Barry :thumb:


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## Ravinder (Jul 24, 2009)

Amazing. E46 are gorgous.


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Stunning work


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## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

A great write up of an epic detail on a special car. 

I enjoyed that one.


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## G105ALY (Dec 6, 2006)

Great work Barry. I can't believe how much blue is in Carbon Black. How many miles has it done by the way? Aly


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

I need one of those in my life. 

NEED.


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

Fantastic work Barry.


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Absolutely stunning mate.
Great correction work and that flake from the carbon black is just :argie:

Great job!! :thumb:


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## jedi16v (Oct 18, 2012)

Wow awesome work.


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Amazing work:thumb:


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## StevieM3 (Sep 11, 2008)

Ah memories :thumb: looks amazing Barry!


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## Black.MB (Aug 22, 2012)

Amazing job:thumb:


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Swell.gr said:


> Excellent work and lovely car :thumb:
> mike


Cheers Mike :thumb:



-Kev- said:


> awesome work as usual Baz, Aston is stunning too :thumb:


Thanks Kev ! A couple of my favourite cars from this month :thumb:



Bill58 said:


> Amazing work!


Thanks Bill



Miguel Pestana said:


> awesome work, well done :thumb:


Cheers Miguel



jlw41 said:


> Great work Barry :thumb:


Thank you



Ravinder said:


> Amazing. E46 are gorgous.


Cheers, I do have a soft spot for E46 M3's



colarado red said:


> Stunning work


Thanks Red



Soul Hudson said:


> A great write up of an epic detail on a special car.
> 
> I enjoyed that one.


Thanks for the kinds words 



G105ALY said:


> Great work Barry. I can't believe how much blue is in Carbon Black. How many miles has it done by the way? Aly


Exactly, its the blue in the black the makes this colour for me, milage if I remember right is around the mid 20K mark



Matt_Nic said:


> I need one of those in my life.
> 
> NEED.


Yes you do especially in this condition



Scrim-1- said:


> Fantastic work Barry.


Cheers dude ! :thumb:



AaronGTi said:


> Absolutely stunning mate.
> Great correction work and that flake from the carbon black is just :argie:
> 
> Great job!! :thumb:


Thanks Aaron, I do love this colour & glad BMW have kept it on too



jedi16v said:


> Wow awesome work.


Thanks !



tonyy said:


> Amazing work:thumb:


Cheers Tonyy



StevieM3 said:


> Ah memories :thumb: looks amazing Barry!


:lol: I knew you would like this detail Steve :thumb: takes us back eh 



Black.MB said:


> Amazing job:thumb:


Thank you

Cheers guys for taking the time to post
Baz


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Cracking job there mate :thumb:


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Well worth the 35 hours and at the end of the day, it is only by spending this amount of time do you really get the true beauty and clarity in the finish - the difference between simply swirl and hologram free and superb clarity. Well worth it, looks great


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## Wout_RS (Jun 13, 2012)

nice work! did you apply first coat of tough coat and after that did you apply the wax?


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

DMH-01 said:


> Cracking job there mate :thumb:


Thanks :thumb:



Dave KG said:


> Well worth the 35 hours and at the end of the day, it is only by spending this amount of time do you really get the true beauty and clarity in the finish - the difference between simply swirl and hologram free and superb clarity. Well worth it, looks great


Thanks for the kind words Dave, for me 3 is always better than 2 



Wout_RS said:


> nice work! did you apply first coat of tough coat and after that did you apply the wax?


Thank you, yes you are right, tough coat first and then desire wax


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Brilliant write up Barry, and a very enjoyable read!

Car looks stunning, great attention to detail! Thanks for sharing!


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

JBirchy said:


> Brilliant write up Barry, and a very enjoyable read!
> 
> Car looks stunning, great attention to detail! Thanks for sharing!


Thanks Birchy a lot of effort went into getting this car right for the owner cheers for the comment :thumb:


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

The owner stopped by my facebook page to post this comment after the detail.

"A big thank you to auto detox for doing a smashing job on my e46 m3 real friendly service and very professional. When I turned up to collect it I can only say the car looked brand new so pleased with what they have done and would highly recommend them to carry out work on anyone’s car ill definitely be going back to them in the future."

Always great to have good feedback 

Cheers Baz


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## Summit Detailing (Oct 9, 2006)

A good read fella, with some excellent photo's showing how carbon black should look!

Top result too of course, as Dave said the clarity is stunning - you can never spend too many hours on a car eh!:buffer:

Nice comment from the owner too


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## sidevalve (Apr 29, 2011)

Fantastic detail job, but I can't believe how much orange peel there is in the BMW paint finish!


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## aarondenney (May 3, 2011)

amazing!! Still on my cars to own list!


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## deni2 (May 4, 2011)

Great work, car looks amazing :thumb:.


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## Megs Lad (Nov 27, 2012)

engine looks ssswwweeetttt !!! superb work :thumb:


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## StamGreek (Oct 11, 2012)

lovely Barry..great work


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## unique detail (Jan 26, 2012)

Superb job excellent finish.


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## DannyMair (Jan 18, 2013)

Beautiful cars. Love it mate


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Summit Detailing said:


> A good read fella, with some excellent photo's showing how carbon black should look!
> 
> Top result too of course, as Dave said the clarity is stunning - you can never spend too many hours on a car eh!:buffer:
> 
> Nice comment from the owner too





sidevalve said:


> Fantastic detail job, but I can't believe how much orange peel there is in the BMW paint finish!





aarondenney said:


> amazing!! Still on my cars to own list!





deni2 said:


> Great work, car looks amazing :thumb:.





Megs Lad said:


> engine looks ssswwweeetttt !!! superb work :thumb:





StamGreek said:


> lovely Barry..great work





unique detail said:


> Superb job excellent finish.





DannyMair said:


> Beautiful cars. Love it mate


Thanks gents for the thread resurrection & kind words, this is a lovely car & on the 16th I am visiting the car for a top up 

Cheers Baz


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## MattTurton (Dec 18, 2012)

Wow. Love this colour. Cracking job mate.


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## StamGreek (Oct 11, 2012)

Lovely work and pAssion always gives stunning results


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## kk1966 (Aug 8, 2007)

Thats stunning !!!.....Superb work.

One question. You say you altered the setting to show the true colour of carbon black...which you did indeed as the blue was looking a bit muted in the previous photos which you dont really appreciate until you made the changes. Was this change in the camera settings or did you do it in a photo editor later.


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## Miglior (Feb 12, 2006)

Awesome work Barry


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## 330i (Feb 20, 2013)

great work


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

MattTurton said:


> Wow. Love this colour. Cracking job mate.


One of my favourites along with estoril blue :thumb:



StamGreek said:


> Lovely work and pAssion always gives stunning results


Thank you 



kk1966 said:


> Thats stunning !!!.....Superb work.
> 
> One question. You say you altered the setting to show the true colour of carbon black...which you did indeed as the blue was looking a bit muted in the previous photos which you dont really appreciate until you made the changes. Was this change in the camera settings or did you do it in a photo editor later.


Hey Marc, thanks ! Good question, the change I made was on the camera for some reason it was set to auto so I switched to manual, which is what it normally shoot in & as you can see the true colour really shines through ( pun intended ) :lol:



Miglior said:


> Awesome work Barry


Cheers dude :thumb:



330i said:


> great work


Thanks

Cheers guys 
Baz


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