# Black E46 M3 full correction by pride & performance



## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

Here we have an E46 bmw m3 that came in for a full correction detail,

The car was dropped off outside my house at 5am and the keys put through the door which drove the dog mad so i was up very early and off i went to the workshop,

some initial pics of the car on arrival























































i started the wash process off with espuma activo snow foam,




























and i took care of the detailed areas with some G202










the car was then washed with a 2BM and dodo juice born to be mild,

the door shuts, engine and under arches were cleaned using surfex hd























































you will have to excuse me here i forgot to take any pics of the engine bay after :wall:

once the washing was complete the swirls and defects were plainly visible in the sunlight




























i then moved inside and clayed using dodo juice gentle grey and born slippy



















after a quick re wash and dried the car was moved into the lighting area so i could inspect some more of the defects i was going to be dealing with,










before any machine work was carried out i took paint depth reading from around the car,










as you have seen i was dealing with a lot of swirls and scratches so a lot of compounding was needed,

this was carried out using 3m fast cut plus and a lake county wool pad,










and then polished up using a yellow 3m foam pad and extra fine compound




























this left me with a finish like this *before* being refined with a finishing polish,
































































some of the smaller areas were taken care of with the spot pads,










leaving the bonnet like this, again before i have refined



















some other smaller areas were taken care of with the DA

before










after










the front wing before










and after




























a quick action shot of me wool compounding,



















roof before










after










the rear boot lid before



















and 50/50s




























some of the tighter area's on the plastics were done with the DA




























the rear quarter before



















After



















mirror before










after










all of this compounding had created a little bit of a mess,

either that or it had snowed in my studio and i didn't notice :lol:





































so another quick wash then the car was refined and finished off with 3m ultrafina and a blue finishing pad,

a layer of auto glym liquid hard wax was applied then a coat of dodo juice blue velvet to all the body work,

tail pipes were polished with peek
wheels were sealed with opti seal
glass was cleaned with auto smart glass cleaner
windscreen was treated with chemical guys rain off
tyres were dressed with highstyle

so after 3 days here is the finished vehicle :thumb:






















































































































thanks for looking and comments of questions welcome

Nic
www.prideandperformance.co.uk


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## Ultra (Feb 25, 2006)

The e46 is nice but i am more interested in the tech2 e30 lol


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

very nice work Nic, thats a stunning colour :argie:
whats your thoughts on Activo foam?..


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Very nice tranformation Nic, some of those initial pics are pretty gruesome.
End result is very sharp:thumb:


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## Miglior (Feb 12, 2006)

very nice nic!


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

dennis said:


> The e46 is nice but i am more interested in the tech2 e30 lol


:lol:

that E30 is imense :thumb:

it's running a new 325 24v engine and a LSD, :doublesho it is great fun



-Kev- said:


> very nice work Nic, thats a stunning colour :argie:
> whats your thoughts on Activo foam?..


thanks Kev,

it is really good stuff, really does tackle the road grime we have at the mo :thumb:


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

thats why i like - best foam ive used so far, along with actimousse


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Not bad...... Top work as always mate, nice car too


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## chrissam (Aug 17, 2008)

Great work! Any chance of a couple of pics of the Caddy? Love them!


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## ashk (Aug 11, 2008)

Nice work buddy good results


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## ntynan528 (Aug 20, 2009)

Great work. You can see the plate in one of the pics tho.


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## DSW (Jul 20, 2008)

Great job! :thumb:


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## FrazzleTC (Jul 4, 2009)

Very nice work, superb transformation! As has been said, the plate is visible in one of the photos.


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

chrissam said:


> Great work! Any chance of a couple of pics of the Caddy? Love them!


i will clean it up at weekend and take a few for you mate :thumb:


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

ntynan528 said:


> Great work. You can see the plate in one of the pics tho.





FrazzleTC said:


> Very nice work, superb transformation! As has been said, the plate is visible in one of the photos.


thanks for the heads up guys :thumb:

it was only removed due to habit not by customer request :thumb:


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## rob929 (Aug 15, 2010)

Brilliant job, loved the 50/50s :thumb:

What lighting did you use?


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## *MAGIC* (Feb 22, 2007)

Looking sweet mate.


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks guys :thumb:



rob929 said:


> Brilliant job, loved the 50/50s :thumb:
> 
> What lighting did you use?


the lighting is all day light florescents and 500w halogens :thumb:

my workshop is rigged up with them all around and above the cars :thumb:

i'll try upload a vid from my phone now to show it :thumb:


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

a bit of a dodgy vid of the lighting in the unit :thumb:


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## Beau Technique (Jun 21, 2010)

Nice work fella.
Those lake country wool pads arent a bad bit of kit, used to use them a bit but changed over to 3M perfect it and flexi woolies.
If you want slightly heavier cutting try the 3M ones at some point:thumb:


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

Killer work man, some of the best 50/50s Ive seen in a while!


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## Keefe (Jun 30, 2008)

Wow! Amazing!! How much paint came off in the end? Do all BMWs (swirled like this) require compounding-polishing-finishing?


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## mundo (Sep 7, 2010)

yep some good 50/50 shots going on

nice finish mate

mundo


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks guys :thumb:



Keefe said:


> Wow! Amazing!! How much paint came off in the end? Do all BMWs (swirled like this) require compounding-polishing-finishing?


thanks mate, any car will swirl like this if not looked after properly and washed poorly,

bmw's do require a little more machine work how ever because they have rather hard paint,

it's hard to answer how much paint was removed as it did vary from panel to panel and from different defects :thumb:


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## squeakyclean32 (Mar 13, 2010)

What a difference.....the colour looked great once you had finished too....great turn around :buffer::thumb:


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## audi2k40 (Dec 17, 2008)

Great turn around :thumb:


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## kakeuter (Nov 3, 2010)

Very nice work there, the car looks like a different color now.

-Kody-


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks guys :thumb:

i don't know why they call it black because it is really blue


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## Bee (Jun 1, 2010)

Looks like a completely different car top work


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## Warwickshire Detailer (Oct 11, 2009)

Great correction work. Nice 50/50 shots.


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## The_Bouncer (Nov 24, 2010)

Great turnaround - lets hope the owner sorts those curbed alloys out - that'll really finish the car :O)


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## dazzyb (Feb 9, 2010)

great finish on the m3 buuuuuuut have u done a write up on tht vectra? (wot i assume is an st unless its a rep) i do have a soft spot for them 
is it urs?


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## Racer (Oct 27, 2005)

dsms said:


> Killer work man, some of the best 50/50s Ive seen in a while!


Me too, Superb work :thumb:


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## AlexTsinos (Oct 10, 2010)

Nice work


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks for the comments guys :thumb:



The_Bouncer said:


> Great turnaround - lets hope the owner sorts those curbed alloys out - that'll really finish the car :O)


thanks mate,

:lol: funny story with that mate, my next write up is his mums fiesta that came in for full correction as well as full wheel refurb and front bumper repainted :thumb:

but he did't want any of that on the m3 



dazzyb said:


> great finish on the m3 buuuuuuut have u done a write up on tht vectra? (wot i assume is an st unless its a rep) i do have a soft spot for them
> is it urs?


thanks mate,

yeah the vectra is mine, it is a genuine ST with the V6 in it,

no write ups on that as it is a pretty poor example and has only been used as a track car :thumb:

it will be getting a full respray and then some work from me in the new year though,


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## dazzyb (Feb 9, 2010)

Get tht vectra back up to scratch. One of the best vauxhalls around. Still has great looks even now. 
Would have that over a vectra c gsi or even a vectra vxr anyday


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

dazzyb said:


> Get tht vectra back up to scratch. One of the best vauxhalls around. Still has great looks even now.
> Would have that over a vectra c gsi or even a vectra vxr anyday


i'd agree with the vec C but i would have to have the VXR :thumb:


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## DavidClark (Sep 22, 2010)

Some transformation from the fist dew pictures. Top work mate


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## detailersdomain (Sep 13, 2006)

great job!:thumb:


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks guys :thumb:


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## Nuzzy-B (Mar 26, 2010)

Good turn around:thumb:


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## Dannymct (Jul 26, 2009)

I am still amazed with results like this. Fair play to you on 
a great job. Thanks for the write up.


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks guys :thumbs:

glad you like it, it is comments like that that make it worth taking time out to write them :thumb:


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## Jamie-SRi (Oct 18, 2010)

Great turnaround, some really good 50/50s there. Does the poor Caddy and BM nt get covered in alot of polishing dust? lol


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks mate,

haha yeah they do a little but one is a drag queen and the over a drift monster so it soon gets blown off when they go out :thumb:


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## Jamie-SRi (Oct 18, 2010)

haha, Your quite right! lol

Do you have a thread up on here for the Caddy?


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## JMB (Apr 23, 2009)

Good work fella.

Some very nice 50/50 shots.

Did you find using the wool pad saved you some time instead of using a compounding/cutting pad straight away, as I've noticed using a wool pad on most german finishes speeds up the correction process?

Cheers
John


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Stunning work


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

Great work there,nice to see some 50/50s and some serious correction.


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

nice work on this, and great correction


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## littlejack (Jun 11, 2008)

Very nice work:thumb: love the E46 shape


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

WOW! The owner would have jizzed in his pants when he took the first look at it!
That thing looked more charcoal colour than blue when you started! Lovely work!


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## Tameo (Aug 20, 2010)

Looks amazing mate, owner must have been pleased!


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## Declan (Oct 3, 2008)

Fantastic wok pal

Done a similar detail in the The Showroom


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## rgDetail (Jul 16, 2009)

Looks absolutely brilliant :thumb: I bet the customer was over the moon! 

What a great turn around & perfect looking finish


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks guys :thumb:

yes the customer was actually speechless when he walked into the unit, it was quite a nice reaction when he finally started speaking,


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## scooby73 (Mar 20, 2007)

Nice work, with some great 50/50s showing the level of correction you have achieved!!:thumb:

Enjoyed the write-up too!


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## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

Great work and lovley 50/50 shoots.


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## Red_Cloverleaf (Jul 26, 2009)

That detail must be one of the "nicest" I have seen on here.


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks very much guys :thumb:


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

Some fantastic 50/50's.:thumb:

This level of correction and outstanding results is always a pleasure to read.

(Who's the bloke in the background trying to pinch the other motor ? :lol


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

Phil1971 said:


> Some fantastic 50/50's.:thumb:
> 
> This level of correction and outstanding results is always a pleasure to read.
> 
> (Who's the bloke in the background trying to pinch the other motor ? :lol


:lol:

that's the local dodgy second hand car dealer, the car had a cracked window so he came round for some window tint so he could put it on the outside and cover up the crack :lol:

after a few failed attempts he found that he could get a brand new window for £20 anyway :lol:


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## TOMMY_RS (Aug 2, 2010)

amazing job on this, had some bad swirls in the paint before the detail :O


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

thanks mate :thumb:

oh yes it was a bit of a mess this one :wall:


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## Eric_Witt (Jun 9, 2010)

outstanding Job!


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## dubber31 (Jan 8, 2006)

Awesome work!

When did Ric get the blue steels on the caddy


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

dubber31 said:


> Awesome work!
> 
> When did Ric get the blue steels on the caddy


a few months back,

he has sold it now, is was crying like a baby when it went


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