# BMW E46 330ci Cab



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

This car belongs to my younger brother, and today we were going to freshen it up, it's generally cleaned once a week and its very well looked after, but the paintwork felt like sandpaper :lol: and was in desperate need of claying/glazing/waxing. It will get a full correctional detail, but that'll be after his 19"s and Coilovers go on :thumb:

On with the detail.

The car wasn't looking too bad before, just very dirty wheels.




























I sprayed Bilberry onto the rims and let it do the business for a few minutes, can't quite remember the dilution ratio, all I know is that this stuff is the best wheel cleaner I've come across and it just gets all the muck off! Saving a lot of time on the detail, no need for wheel brushes etc (sometimes anyway) :thumb:

From this:










To this:










That was just spraying the bilberry on and jet washing it off, next up was to pre jet wash the car then snow foam it:










I love the bulky presence of the pre-facelift E46; the facelift is much slicker, but this shape much more "meaner" imo 










The foam was followed with the 2BM method using Megs wash mitt and Megs Shampoo plus and then clayed using Megs quick clay.










This was just the bootlid :doublesho










Bonnet wasn't much better :doublesho










After the car was clayed, it was then rinsed again:










The car was washed again via the 2BM and dried using the Sonus Der Wonder. The engine bay was next up, hadn't been cleaned since he got the car:










Megs Super degreaser was used to clean the engine bay and this brush (which is a must for detailing, gets in loads of spots and a bargain at £2.99!!), then rinsed off with the hose on very very light pressure. 

Once dried it was treated with some Aerospace 303 and a Megs Applicator Pad like this:










Which left this as a final result (I was very happy with this ) :










The roof was cleaned with AG Fabric Hood Maintenance Kit and the sealed with Renovo:










Following which the car was glazed using Clearkote Vanilla Moose Hand Glaze:



















The grilles and exhaust were cleaned using Megs NXT Generation All Metal Polysh:










Exhaust before:










Exhaust After:










Then I applied 1 layer of Collinte 476 and then 1 layer of Vics Concours for todays LSPs. The car was hovered inside and glass done using Megs NXT Generation Glass Cleaner, tyres dressed with Blackfire Long Lasting Tyre Gel and here are the final shots:










(Don't worry the l.e.d.s are getting ordered next week :lol














































This is my favourite shot of the bunch!










Louis has a mod list that is stacking up including, 19" grey CSL rims (with wider rears), KW V2 coilovers, new m-tec steering wheel, electric folding mirrors but most importantly the l.e.d. rear lights which are getting ordered next week! :lol:

Thanks again 

Nathan :wave:,

Info/questions/advice, all appreciated. :thumb:


----------



## Silva1 (Sep 16, 2007)

get some clothes on :doublesho

looks great:thumb: 
though might want to point out that the front plate is advertsing


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

It was hot!! haha


----------



## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Top work there mate well done :thumb:


----------



## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Very nice mate, that looks well!


----------



## 1996a6v6 (Feb 8, 2008)

Great work, looks superb, dont order the LED rear lights though, it looks superb as it is


----------



## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

A huge improvement, nice work.:thumb:


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

Thanks guys


----------



## Ady b (Oct 15, 2007)

Great Finish, and super last photo !!! :thumb:


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

I know, i love it.


----------



## pete330 (Apr 18, 2006)

So thats the vert then
Very nice
Tell him to loose that massoove aerial off it too 
I notice it has a red boot brake light,I have a spare clear one that is going on ebay soon £25 inc postage and it`s his unless he is getting an led one (£££)when doing the others?

I got my 19`s btw


----------



## mouthyman (May 1, 2006)

looking good, ive got one of these coming up, is it ok to just snow foam and 2BM the roof? and how did you dry it


----------



## dw0510 (Oct 22, 2006)

> I love the bulky presence of the pre-facelift E46; the facelift is much slicker, but this shape much more "meaner" imo


Good lad!

Need to do mine!


----------



## dw0510 (Oct 22, 2006)

pete330 said:


> So thats the vert then
> Very nice
> Tell him to loose that massoove aerial off it too
> I notice it has a red boot brake light,I have a spare clear one that is going on ebay soon £25 inc postage and it`s his unless he is getting an led one (£££)when doing the others?
> ...


What aerial have you got then?


----------



## isherdholi (Sep 18, 2007)

Great work - Completely agree about the pre-facelift E46's meaner presence, over the facelifted one. I'm glad they went back to being (even more) meaner with the E90 though!

As for the 19" CSL rims - I didn't think these would fit on a non-M3 E46 due to the different offset. Did you have to make any mods, or use spacers for the wheels to fit? Also, what size rubber are you using over them? Has the overall rolling radius altered at all? If so, do you plan on re-calibrating the speedometer to ensure it continues to give an accurate reading?


----------



## REFLECTS (Apr 7, 2008)

I like it very much :thumb:

I like the idea of the LED's - they look mint


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

pete330 said:


> So thats the vert then
> Very nice
> Tell him to loose that massoove aerial off it too
> I notice it has a red boot brake light,I have a spare clear one that is going on ebay soon £25 inc postage and it`s his unless he is getting an led one (£££)when doing the others?
> ...


He's getting the clear l.e.d. strip to go with the kit its only £50 from BMW. Let us know the aerial you've got :wave:



mouthyman said:


> looking good, ive got one of these coming up, is it ok to just snow foam and 2BM the roof? and how did you dry it


Yes its okay to snow foam the roof, but I used AG Fabric kit its great and then renovo to seal.



tmlvaleting said:


> Good lad!
> 
> Need to do mine!


It'll get a correction this winter, but it does look nice and shiny :thumb:



tmlvaleting said:


> What aerial have you got then?


Indeed, I'd be interested to know!!



isherdholi said:


> Great work - Completely agree about the pre-facelift E46's meaner presence, over the facelifted one. I'm glad they went back to being (even more) meaner with the E90 though!
> 
> As for the 19" CSL rims - I didn't think these would fit on a non-M3 E46 due to the different offset. Did you have to make any mods, or use spacers for the wheels to fit? Also, what size rubber are you using over them? Has the overall rolling radius altered at all? If so, do you plan on re-calibrating the speedometer to ensure it continues to give an accurate reading?


We're gonna get replicas from SS-DD Motorsport, the front CSL wheel fits but not the rear as the offset is too low, I think the tyres will be 225/35/19 front and 225/30/19 rear or 265/30/19 rear, gonna get Toyo Proxes. The radius will be affected but isn't it expensive to get the speedometer calibrated?! :doublesho



dooby scoo said:


> I like it very much :thumb:
> 
> I like the idea of the LED's - they look mint


They look a million times better. I'll post up some pictures when we've done the conversion


----------



## pete330 (Apr 18, 2006)

my aerial is this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kurzstab-Ante...14257QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

Pete I forgot its you. Its Nathan, the one you met at polished bliss that day. This is my bros 330ci, if you remember me!


----------



## ryanuk (Jun 22, 2007)

very sexy! not you the car lol.

nice work mate!


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

:lol:Long way to go, but thanks Ryan


----------



## Tone Loc (Aug 22, 2007)

Definately go for the LEDs... he's my standard ones on the M3










I agree about the prefacelift thing, mine is a post 2003 M3 but the M cars never actually got the facelift side lights/grilles so i didn't get a choice :thumb:

What did you use on the black section that covers the roof when down, 303?

Tony.


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

Hi Tone,

Your M3 is looking GORGEOUS. Yeh 303 and your right M3 never got the facelift! Leds are coming very very soon...


----------



## pete330 (Apr 18, 2006)

N8KOW said:


> Pete I forgot its you. Its Nathan, the one you met at polished bliss that day. This is my bros 330ci, if you remember me!


Yip i knew it was you


----------



## honda-r (Mar 20, 2007)

Very nice, nice car, well done


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

Thanks honda-r, cheers pete


----------



## Trist (Jun 23, 2006)

Very nice, good job :thumb:


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

Cheers Tristam


----------



## BILL (May 12, 2006)

great work on a lovely car, and agree with Pete regarding the antenna, i got mine from www.bimmian.com/46/ , look for micro antenna


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

It'll be getting ordered soon. Thanks. Bill.


----------



## Tone Loc (Aug 22, 2007)

Good website that BILL.... cheers.


----------



## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

Thanks again bill.


----------

