# Polished Bliss®: Ne Plus Ultra - BMW 730...



## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

If you're newish to DW and don't know what our Ne Plus Ultra service is then there are more details here: http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/detailing-services-service-options.html

This job was carried out last summer but I've only just got round to putting it all together after going through all the pictures (note to self - stop taking so many!)

The owner of the car came to us after seeing a previous Ne Plus Ultra we carried out on a Bentley a while back (here for those that haven't seen it: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=159405 )and decided they wanted the car back to showroom condition again. This obviously wasn't going to be the cheapest of jobs but the client's opinion was that they'd lose a load of cash on trade in anyways and as they really liked the car they'd prefer to pay to get it back to how it should be 

Before any detailing work could be started we'd arranged for the car to make a trip to Kinghorn Body shop as there was a rather large crease in the O/S rear door that PDR couldn't remove.

*During repair*:










There were also signs of a bad previous paint job on the roof :




























Clear coat peeling away in places too:










The roof was taken back to bare metal and done properly this time and then 4 or 5 days later I brought it up to PB HQ ready for me to do my thing 










A few quick pictures to give you an idea of the overall condition of the car:



























































































Usually we'd start by doing the wheels but they were to be sent up to PPS in Inverurie to be powder coated so this stage was skipped and we began with the arches:.

Meguiars Super Degreaser sprayed:










Then agitated:










The arches would get a more thorough going over once the car was up on axle stands but it's always good to get the majority of dirt removed outside.

Same process applied to the engine bay:



















Rinsed at medium pressure with water at a temperature of approx 60 degrees:










Door shuts/petrol cap/exterior trims and badges were cleaned with Meguiars APC (4:1):










This was followed by a 2 bucket wash and rinse...










...and then the paintwork was chemically cleaned to remove tar spots and iron filings etc:










Tar build up in the engine bay too:



















After a wipe over with an old MF towel:



















After a final rinse the car was brought inside and clayed with Meguiars Aggressive Clay although there was barely anything removed. If I'm going to machine polish the car I'll generally use an aggressive clay as it doesn't matter if you marr the finish slightly.

After a thorough dry off with PB Luxury Drying Towels and the Black Baron drier the car was put into position where it would stay for the next week or so and then had the wheels removed:










Tyre Devotion then turned up to remove the tyres so we could take the wheels up to PPS for them to work their magic:










Before starting any machine work I removed a few bits and bobs including the front grills and side repeaters:



















I then took a few snaps to show the condition of the paintwork:























































(You'll notice the defect free paintwork on the door of the above pic - this was a result of the re-sprayed panels from the body shop which were 99% perfect and only needed a very light refine :thumb




























As the car was at a nice comfortable height on the axle stands I decided to start on all the lower parts first, but not before taking some paint readings:










Nice and healthy on the rear bumper as it had been re-sprayed previously.

Defects were removed with Lake Country Foamed Wool pads, Menzerna S500 and the Makita at approx 1800-2200 rpm's:


























After each panel was corrected with the wool I did a 2nd stage of polishing with a Lake Country Cyan HT Pad and Menzerna 203S:










A few more correction shots:

































The N/S of the rear bumper was really orange peely so a short session with some 2000 and then 3000 sand paper sorted that out:

















Side Skirts next:

















Boot Lid:

















O/S front wing:

















Bonnet:

















After the first 2 stages of polishing the car was needing a good rinse to remove all the dust. Luckily the wheels were back from PPS and Tyre Devotion had re fitted and balanced the tyres (highly recommended if you're in the Aberdeen area):










They were given a clean up with APC to remove the soap residue from the sidewalls and then given a couple of coats of Swissvax Autobahn. Finally the centre caps were given a machine polish to brighten them up again:










All ready to go back on 










One last job to do before the wheels went back on was to paint the bolts silver:

















With the wheels back on and torqued to the correct settings I put the car outside to rinse off all the excess dust, including all the shuts:



















After sheeting the water off with an open ended hose and then drying off with the Black Baron again I refined the whole car with a 3M Finishing Pad and Wolf's WP-1N, using the long work time of this polish to really burnish the clear coat:










After an IPA wipe down Wolf's Body Wrap was applied and buffed off after about an hour:










Wolf's Glass Guard was applied to all exterior glass:










Wolf's Nano Trim Coat was applied to the exterior trim:

































The door shuts and chrome work were polished and protected with Werkstat Prime Strong:

















Grills also polished with Prime Strong:

















Cleaning with APC before refitting:

















Interior wise it wasn't too bad, it just needed a thorough hoover and wipe down more than anything.

Dusted down and Hoovered first:










Then a thorough wipe down of all plastics and vinyls followed by the cleaning of the leather using Swissvax products:

















Swissvax Wood Polish applied to all wood surfaces:










The seals were fed with Swissvax Seal and glass cleaned with 3M Glass Cleaner.

Spare wheel also cleaned and tyre dressed 










The engine bay was dressed with Swissvax Motorshine, I love this stuff and have done my Impreza engine and suspension with it - just make sure to mask off any necessary areas first:




























After a good check over and final hoover of the interior this was what we were left with :thumb:











































































































































































































































Thanks for taking the time to have a look, the next Ne Plus Ultra should be on a Ferrari Enzo which we had planned on having done in August but it was moved to next Spring 

Clark


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

Impressive! Even by PB standards!


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## amiller (Jan 1, 2009)

Great photography!

Interesting to see a few detailers posting up their 'ultimate' details recently and the noticing differences. Goes to show it really is an art.

Thanks for posting. :thumb:


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

Very nice :thumb:

Nice shots too


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Excellent work Clark, enjoyed that!!!


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## Brummie_Nige (Sep 5, 2011)

Nice one!

Swissvax Motor Shine look great in the engine bay! Might have to save up for some of that! :thumb:


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## Guest (Nov 8, 2011)

very nice and ditto on the motor shine great product


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Amazing work Clark. I've been looking forward to this after following it on Twitter! Looks amazing, glad to see its protected up with the Incredible Wolf!


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## Deeg (Mar 30, 2009)

Fantastic work... I was watching the previous Ne Plus Ultra detail videos on youtube just last week and was wondering when the next one would be on show. :thumb:


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## hotwaxxx (Jul 12, 2007)

Absolutely superb detail and as ever - I love the write-up. 

You need to start posting more details though Clark. I miss my fix of PB details.


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

stunning work Clark as always... I see you guys too the offer on the £1million wheel nut paint booth as well lol!!! love these types of turnaround details!


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## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

Very nice Clark! Nice to finally see some of your work again, I missed it 

We need some more


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## Huw (Feb 16, 2007)

Top quality work. Do you often get tar spots in the engine bay? Can't say I've seen it before.


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## id_doug (Apr 6, 2011)

Excellent detailed write up. Stunning finish and attention to detail, not that I would of expected anything less from PB. Thanks for sharing.


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## samm (May 19, 2006)

Stunning work, a pleasure to read.


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## Johnnyopolis (Oct 25, 2005)

Great Work there Clark, an excellent read :thumb:


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## Auto Finesse (Jan 10, 2007)

Now thats a detail, far to many people these days think detailing's just about the paint correction, the little bits like the trim and those door pins finish it for me. 

Top work.


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## John @ PB (Aug 25, 2010)

I actually said very similar to Clark, James! 

My favourite picture in the whole write up is the bonnet latch being polished - how sad is that?!


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## ITHAQVA (Feb 20, 2011)

Cracking work on the Racing Tank, Polished Bliss people! :thumb:


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## kings.. (Aug 28, 2007)

cracking work and great attention to detail.... im sure it didn't cost the owner 6 k too!


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## *MAGIC* (Feb 22, 2007)

Good stuff Clark.

Swissvax Motorshine looks interesting.

Robbie


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Great work there mate.


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

Fantastic work as ever.


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## alfajim (May 4, 2011)

that was a big ol bus. fantastic work.


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## dazzyb (Feb 9, 2010)

great work as always
loving the attention to detail tht u guys always have


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## LindenH (Oct 25, 2011)

Very nice work - I enjoy these sorts of posts.

I think it's the finer points, the elements that the owner may not even notice, that make the difference ..... polished door catches, painted wheel nuts, etc, all demonstrate that doing a job particularly well matters to you.

Did you correct the orange-peel with the 2000/3000 grit by machine or wet&dry by hand?


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## paranoid73 (Aug 5, 2009)

Very nice, great work & write up, well worth the wait :thumb:


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Great work yet again, and fantastic attention to detail :thumb:


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Superb transformation Clark, attention to detail at its very highest level mate:thumb: A very enjoyable read. Was actually with one of the lads from Kinghorn a few weeks ago, you are a man held in seriously high regard Mr Aitken


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## scooby73 (Mar 20, 2007)

Great detail, write-up and photos too!:thumb:


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Nice work as always Clark

That's a big old car - how many hours in total on this one?


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## Sypher (Jul 16, 2008)

Suberb. Love these limos and really fancy owning one in the future, but the need to park it in normal spaces rules them out for now.


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## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

Brilliant detail must have been hard work as one very big motor looking it's very best Mr Wolf will be happy under the bonnet looking amazing was it the Swissvax gear you used on the black metal at the front also Clark is PPS based in Aberdeen and do they do minor repairs as well , thanks


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## Dublin2011 (Jul 25, 2011)

Really enjoyed the post and write up. Car looks fantastic.

I wonder what that would do for the capital value of the car viz. before and after?


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## pogo6636 (Jan 18, 2009)

Just amazing. 
the doors catch sums it up for me.
Ne plus ultra- No stone unturned.
:thumb:


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

You *******s... Loos like I'm buying some of that trim sealant next! Sometimes I wish you didn't do free delivery! 
Truly fantastic work once again.


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## spyder (Jun 15, 2010)

Incredible! Your work inspires me ! Thank you for sharing.


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

amiller said:


> Great photography!
> 
> Interesting to see a few detailers posting up their 'ultimate' details recently and the noticing differences. Goes to show it really is an art.
> 
> Thanks for posting. :thumb:


Cheers Andrew, I should point out that we've been doing the Ne Plus Ultra's for close to 4 years now though so it's no new thing for us :thumb:



hotwaxxx said:


> Absolutely superb detail and as ever - I love the write-up.
> 
> You need to start posting more details though Clark. I miss my fix of PB details.


I've got more to do but lack of time prevents me at the moment, it takes a good 5 or 6 hours to put a write up together for me - wish I could speed it up a bit but I always take too many pics :lol:



Ronnie said:


> stunning work Clark as always... I see you guys too the offer on the £1million wheel nut paint booth as well lol!!! love these types of turnaround details!


Don't diss the paint booth Rollo 



Huw said:


> Top quality work. Do you often get tar spots in the engine bay? Can't say I've seen it before.


Very rarely although BMW's tend to get it more often than most for some reason!



LindenH said:


> Very nice work - I enjoy these sorts of posts.
> 
> I think it's the finer points, the elements that the owner may not even notice, that make the difference ..... polished door catches, painted wheel nuts, etc, all demonstrate that doing a job particularly well matters to you.
> 
> Did you correct the orange-peel with the 2000/3000 grit by machine or wet&dry by hand?


The sanding was done by hand with a foam Meguiars sanding block 



slrestoration said:


> Superb transformation Clark, attention to detail at its very highest level mate:thumb: A very enjoyable read. Was actually with one of the lads from Kinghorn a few weeks ago, you are a man held in seriously high regard Mr Aitken


Really? That's very nice to hear mate, I'm always concerned that I come accross as a bit of a nightmare :lol: They're good guys there and like their Porsches 



Buck. said:


> Nice work as always Clark
> 
> That's a big old car - how many hours in total on this one?


It was that long ago now I struggle to remember but it will have been 80/90 hours minimum.



Sypher said:


> Suberb. Love these limos and really fancy owning one in the future, but the need to park it in normal spaces rules them out for now.


I did approx 50/60 miles in it due to collecting and dropping it off and I really liked it - very refined with loads of gadgets 



Derekh929 said:


> Brilliant detail must have been hard work as one very big motor looking it's very best Mr Wolf will be happy under the bonnet looking amazing was it the Swissvax gear you used on the black metal at the front also Clark is PPS based in Aberdeen and do they do minor repairs as well , thanks


Yeah it was all the Motorshine under the bonnet and PPS are based in Inverurie - give them a call 01467 621907 :thumb:



Dublin2011 said:


> Really enjoyed the post and write up. Car looks fantastic.
> 
> I wonder what that would do for the capital value of the car viz. before and after?


Hard to say I guess but it certainly won't have done any harm. A Previous Client of ours with an Elise got a valuation before and after a detail we carried out on it and they offered him £1k more post detail - we do all his cars now unsurprisingly! 

Thanks for the comments guys


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## TUBS (May 9, 2006)

Looking better than the day it's stepped out the factory, amazing results !


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## GJM (Jul 19, 2009)

Clark @ PB said:


> Tyre Devotion had re fitted and balanced the tyres (highly recommended if you're in the Aberdeen area):


Only if the tyres are supplied by them, otherwise wont touch it, fairly recent change


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Superb Clark, a refreshing change to one or two recent high profile studio posts.

Keep them coming:thumb:


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## Kev_FTD83 (May 6, 2011)

Superb work! You guys are such an inspiration!


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Nice work buddy! That silver looks way shiny now !


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## gally (May 25, 2008)

Fantastic work as always guys, especially on something not as glamorous as the usual PB fleet! :lol:


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## Wax-IT.be (Feb 3, 2011)

Beautiful work as always!


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## Shug (Jul 13, 2007)

Have you ever wheeled a car out of the workshop after a ne-plus ultra just to have a ****e hawk lay its finest work on the roof?
I remember the state my car was always getting in when I lived in aberdeen :lol:


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## Performance Motorcare (Dec 18, 2005)

Fantastic job guys finished article is absolutely stunning.

Rob


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## JJ_ (Oct 26, 2005)

I really fancy this for the next car, is that the long wheel base the 730Ld? It looks great of course, noticing a lot more than "polishing" good to have an all in one location.


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## TIODGE (Jan 26, 2011)

I love the PB write ups..
Always a good read and top work as usual !!


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## Tiger 1057 (Nov 1, 2011)

Dublin2011 said:


> I wonder what that would do for the capital value of the car viz. before and after?


I suspect when taking into account the cost of the detail not a lot. However it makes the vehicle much easier to sell should you be so inclined.
Having said that what an absolute piece of first class work and craftmanship.


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## B&B Autostyle (Apr 4, 2010)

Exceptional. I love the finish from the Motorshine. Time for more purchases!


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## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

Truly outstanding work, as always! :thumb:


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Amazing job..


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## masammut (Jul 13, 2011)

Lovely car - Impressive & thorough job!


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## matzagrin (Nov 1, 2009)

Great job! Congrats


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## R0B (Aug 27, 2010)

Nice work and write up Clark


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## TCD (Jan 27, 2009)

Very good reborn work!


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## horico (Jul 17, 2010)

looks like new!


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## GolfFanBoy (May 23, 2010)

Top work as always :thumb: I really like the shine of the Body Wrap on silver, works really well.


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## badman1972 (Jun 24, 2010)

Absolutely stunning, looks better than new now :thumb:


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## JakeWhite (Oct 14, 2011)

wow........!


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Looks better than new. 

I do love a 7series.


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## Keith CSL (Aug 16, 2006)

Incredible!!! What a difference, really amazing work, great write up Clark.


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## Liverpool-Lad (Jun 27, 2006)

A question on powdercoating, is the finish as glossy as OEM wheels?


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## John @ PB (Aug 25, 2010)

Liverpool-Lad said:


> A question on powdercoating, is the finish as glossy as OEM wheels?


In my experience, more so.


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## President Swirl (Oct 23, 2011)

*bmw*

Ready for the show stand mate:thumb: excellent work. The only thing that bothers me, is that it shows me just how far i have left to go


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## Mr.Ry (Nov 14, 2011)

Great Job Kidda


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## Bowler (Jan 23, 2011)

Fantastic work with equally fantastic end result. 
Thanks for the superb pictures and write up.


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

Stunning finish Clark


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## Ali (Apr 5, 2006)

Great work!


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