# Sapphire Black BMW 335d M Sport Coupe



## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

Well this is my first write up on DW, apart from a teaser vid I posted a few weeks ago I have finally had the chance to finish the detail on my car.

The car was new in June 2008 and has covered just over 23k miles, 6 of which are down to me. It has been owned by me since early June this year and within that time I have carried out a two stage paint correction over the course of a number of weeks due to weekend commitments and time constraints. I have not wanted to rush the process and although many of the pros on here could have carried out the work in half the time it has taken me, I have found it to be a learning and enjoyable process.

I have endeavoured to get the best finish I am able to with the limited newbie skills that I have. I can honesty say that it has been fun and I have only gained knowledge through reading various threads on this forum and also the very beneficial tuition of half a day spent with Tim from Envy Valeting of this parish.

I had a lot of firsts to achieve with this detail mainly due to the fact that my previous car was a ten year old VW Passat which when part exchanged had just over 268k miles on it and was put through a weekly automatic car wash .

Call me ignorant, but before I stumbled on this forum a few months ago I had no idea that detailing even existed. Within that time I have learnt so much from reading hundreds of threads and slowly gaining the knowledge, coupled with the practical supervision from Tim Envy, to be able to carry out the following work. Anyway enough chat on with the show.

So this is how the car was just after I got it. From day one I have only carried out washing using the appropriate 2BM method but the previous owner to me was less than proficient in that area, allowing a number of swirls and scratches to be caused within the cars relatively short life so far.










Not looking too bad but it is a black car and it was a sunny day.

A few of the scratches that were evident after the first wash. This one was on the roof in front of the sharks fin, bear this in mind for later.










Evidence that the car has seen it fair share of automatic car wash machines.










One scratch that would need filling a sanding, beyond my skills at present.










A bit hard to see fully with my poor photography skills










Water spots and generally dull paint with metallic flake struggling to show through










Grubby wheels, lightly covered in brake dust a road film.










I was to remove one of the wheels (still need to do the other three) so that I could gain access to the rusty wheel hubs and brake callipers. It is hard to believe that a manufacturer of BMW's obvious high standards could finish these area so poorly that in just over a year from brand new they look this bad.










I firstly cleaned the arches using a 4:1 mix of Megs Superdegreaser and a long handle Halfrauds brush to clean the muck off.

Grubby.










After a quick going over.










I then got busy on the hubs and calipers with a wire brush attachment on a cordless drill. Certainly made light work of it.










Better, ready for masking up before painting.










Masked. I used electrical tape to "bend" round the radius of the hub to maintain a nice finish on the edge of the disc where it meets the hub sides.










I then got bust with a Halford High Temparature paint. Two coats were applied before moving on to the brake callipers which also recieved two coats of a high temp paint, applied using a brush to ensure even coverage.

Finished.



















Whilst I was waiting for the paint to dry on each application I got stuck into the alloy wheel. No before pictures :wall:

I used a combination of Gloss-it Signature Wheel Gel Diluted at 4:1 and Gloss-it Aggressive Clay. It took over at hour to get all bonded contaminants off the inside of the rim, I think it was worth it.



















No for those of you with a ken eye you will note that I have only done one wheel / hub / calliper. I will complete the oher three when I can get hold of a proper jack and vehicle stands cos it just takes too long to do one at a time.

So it was then on with the wash process. Firstly, because I didn't know what, if any, protection there was present on the paint surface, I decided to foam the car with R222 Total Auto Wash the remove any LSP that may have been present. This was added at a dilution rate of 1:10 with warm water into a HD Foam Lance.










This was left to dwell for about five mins which left the following.










I then pressure washed off the foam and re-foamed with Megs Hyperwash, this time diluted with warm water in the HD Foam Lance bottle at 5:1 and the sun even came out for a bit.










Whilst the foam was dwelling again I ran round the door, bonnet and boot shuts as well as the badges and fuel filler cap using the foam that had run down to clean and agitate the areas with a Megs Slide Lock Brush.

The car was then rinsed again before cracking on a with a 2BM wash using Polished Bliss clear buckets, Gloss-it Gloss Shampoo and a Z sponge. I started with the first few washes by using a lambswool wash mitt but I found that I would get the occasional small scratch due to my sloppy technique. I switched to the Z sponge based on readin other peoples finding on here and found that I can see when the surface is clean or it there is anything stuck on it that might mar or scratch the paint if not cleaned off between dunks in the rinse bucket. Also, because the shape is more linear than a mitt it's easier for me to push and drag the sponge across the paint surface rather than pushing down and marring the finish.

The car was then dried with a Deep Pile Luxury Drying Towel from Polished Bliss, man alive these thing are nicer than the Egyptian cotton ones that hang in my bathroom, and they were £40 each !!!










I then got on with the claying stage. I started off using Meg Quick Clay and using a weak shampoo and water mix to keep the surface nice a lubricated.

After half the bonnet.










I was finding that the Megs clay was, despite plenty of lube, marring the surface. I had some Gloss-it aggresive clay so thought I would have a go with that as well.










I found the Gloss-it clay to be very soft but it was definitely getting the contaminants off the paint with more efficiency than the Megs clay.










Checking with a clear sandwich bag.










So, not knowing what to do for the best I carried on with the Gloss-it clay which seemed to take less passes. It still took two and a half hours to get the paint surface clean.

So it was then on with the taping up and machine polishing. I got a bit obsessive over the taping because i was very worried about causing irreparable damage through being a newbie polisher so I probably went overboard on this stage, but it gave me a more secure state of mind so I was more comfortable when contemplating the polishing stage.





































(Anally retentive bit) ... I then constructed a "crown" around the edge of the BMW badge,










before squashing down to protect it.










Also any high ridges were taped on the apex of the ridge so that the pad of the machine did not cause excessive wear or heat on the section. The roof rail worried me in particular as the raised section acts as a gutter to prevent rain from running down the side windows and a build up of heat or polishing pressure here could cause the clear to wear through.










I then took some PTG readings. Consistent and healthy at about 150 microns on the side panels and 180 on the bonnet, roof and boot lid.










I then cracked on with the machine polishing. My weapons of choice.










Now since I had received some one-on-one tuition from Tim at Envy Valeting I knew I should proceed with 3M Fast Cut Plus and a drop of Ultrafina on a Menz Orange Polishing Pad (which I found very tough to do). Due to the very tough BMW clear coat previous efforts with anything less has been fruitless.

Whilst being completely new to machine polishing I was confident that provided I checked the temp of the panel, using the back of my hand for a guide, and also checking how much paint was being removed I could safely polish the panel without fear of causing any damage.

This may not be for everybody but I feel that had I not received earlier tuition I would not have contemplated on taking a rotary with aggressive polish and pad combo to my pride and joy. I wouldn't even touch my G220 until Tim had shown me how, and it was only after our half day tuition did I decide to buy a rotary.

So I masked off a test panel on the sides of the door to carry out one pass.










Dotted the polish over the area.










And worked away. Although working outside I tried to ensure i did not polish in direct sunlight. With the selected choice of polish and pad, coupled with a black car on a sunny day the polish would certainly have dried out before the abrasives broke down.

I used Dave KG's Guide and adopted the Zenith Method spreading the polish for two passes on speed 1, about 600 rpm. I then moved up to 2-3 about 900 - 1200 rpm for two to three passes, carrying out the correction phase of the work at speed 4 for three to five passes before working back down through the speed range and finishing off by doing two or three slow passes at 600 rpm to burnish as best I could.










I found this to worked for me removing 3-4 microns and most of the swirls leaving only the deeper stuff on show.










I continued this way constantly checking panel temps and the PTG to ensure I was consistent in my method and that I was keeping things nice and safe.










I used my Megs G220 for all plastics, i.e. front and rear bumper and front wings. Each bumper was broken into four polishing areas with the front wings being polished in two. The smaller more intricate areas of the bumper not accessible by spot pads were polished with Lake and Country Light Cut Pad by hand.

For rotary work I broke the polishing into the following: 
-Four equal areas on the roof
-Eight on the bonnet, the two long scalloped sides and six equal areas to the main centre. 
-Two on each door.
-Four on the boot lid, two on top and two side.
-Two on each roof rail.
-Two on each rear wing.
-Two on each side skirt.

That is forty four separate polishing areas :doublesho ... It certainly felt like it.

Now it is at this stage where if anyone reading this who has not embarked on this before please heed the following advice. Pick the order in which you work carefully, it will make a massive difference as to whether you enjoy it or come away hating it. I made the mistake of doing the biggest, easiest to do, easiest to reach, meatiest areas first, leaving all the small pad work, hard to reach places, stooping down till the end of a ten hour session. Do not do this ... It very nearly put me off.

After completing what I was soon to realise would be the first of a two stage correction I went round the car with Menz Top Inspection to remove all the polishing oils before applying the LSP.










Now I know the following picture looks ok but I can assure that due to my choice of polish and pad there was no way the finish was ready for LSP. SOme very light holograms were present in the finish which I struggled to get good pictures of.





































My heart sank when I realised this, I felt defeated, useless and wanted to bin all my stuff ... But I have since learnt that it is near impossible to finish FCP down to an LSP ready finish (I stand to be corrected), so I don't feel as bad now as I did then. So I decided to prtect the finish with Gloss-it Gloss Enhancer QD, Love this product, the smell and beading etc is phenomenal.

Fast forward four weeks till last Saturday and here we go again :lol: This time after a very easy wash and claying session I went with Dodo Juice Lime Prime on a 3M yellow polishing pad. Started off with a 150mm pad to see how it was ... "S" is for Simon :buffer:.










Using the same polishing method as before the oily nature and less abrasive polish and pad combo allowed a nice long work time and was knocking out the holograms with ease and making the finish nice and bright.




























After I was happy with the choice of polish and pad I switch to doing the smaller more technically difficult areas using a 75mm spot pad before tackling the larger areas.










Again mad with the masking tape :lol:










After one set.










Then moving on to the larger areas. Boot lid. Dot the polish.










Spread for two passes.










Speed up to 900 rpm for another two passes.










Faster still to 1200rpm another two passes.










Up to 1500 rpm for three passes, abrasives breaking down polish being to go clear.










Slow down to 1200rpm for a couple of passes.










Slower still to 900rpm










Burnish at 600 rpm and done.










Wipe clean and inspect with Brinkmann










Not too bad, still a few deeper rids but I have no interest in chasing them out, this is a daily driver and I want to be able to preserve as much clear coat as possible for future correction work.










I continued working round the car, finishing up with the roof and bonnet last, wiping down with Menz Top Inspection before applying Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection with the G220 on Speed 5. Left to cure for an hour before buffing off, then applying two coats of Blackfire Midnight Sun Ivory Carnauba Paste Wax before a final wipe down with Blackfire Deep Gloss Spray Sealant.

Wheels were sealed with Blackfire Wet Diamond All Metal Sealant, tyres protected with 3 coats of Blackfire Long Lasting Tyre Gel.

Exhaust polished with Blackfire FIne Cut Metal Polish and 0000 Wire wool, sealed with the Blackfire Wet Diamond All Metal Sealant.

Glass polished with Eimann Fabric Clear Vision II.

It took a while but was worth the effort in the end. Hopefully you will like the final pictures and video.
































































No scratches on roof anymore !!!










































Big thanks to Tim @ Envy for all the help and advice, also to Rich @ Polished Bliss for advice on products and excellent service. Also a thanks to Dave KG for the amount of technical information to be learned from reading all of his posts.

I hope you enjoyed my first detail ... Comments and criticism welcome.

Cheers

Simon


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## *MAGIC* (Feb 22, 2007)

Great first write up Simon the car looks awesome.

Robbie


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Simon

I really enjoyed reading that - well detailed (both your post and the car!)

Great results on a stunning motor - for a first detail that is going some!

:thumb:


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## Vyker (Sep 17, 2008)

Fantastic attention to detail!

Great car too!

Good work


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Fantastic first write up mate, great use of photos and descriptions. 

A stunning finish too!! :thumb:


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## Copey (Aug 15, 2009)

Love the car and the finish was amazing, you lot on here really know your stuff.


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## weemax (Sep 30, 2008)

fair play to you lad, job well done. love the motor as well ya jammy git! lol

10/10


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

If anything ... Apart from Tim's help which I cannot stress enough how valuable it was to have somebody guide you on your first steps with a DA and rotary, particularly on a tough clear coat ... 

Apart from that help all the rest has been learnt from the forum only, reading the Threads in the Gallery and Dave KG's threads on machine polishing plus all the pros that pay their subscriptions to post in the Studio, as well as some of our Foreign contributors from across the pond and also Mr Clever Nickname from Hungary. Reading through these peoples posts, the time and trouble they take to explain their decision making process has spurred me on to have a go. 

I started out very slowly and eventually built up to polishing with the help of a Pro to oversee my first few sets. 

All the other tips which aren't concerning paint correction have also only been learnt from this forum. It is a testament to the quality of information available here.

It's all good.

Cheers

Si.


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## Teabag (Dec 17, 2008)

great finish there and lovely car... you can get started on the little pinky vauxhall in the background next:buffer::lol:


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Stunning work and great job on the hubs and callipers :thumb:


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## tosh (Dec 30, 2005)

Fantastic write up - good to know that Lime Prime can actually remove holograms...

--Tosh


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## ZedFour (May 6, 2008)

Nice car, great choice of colour :thumb: and really good write up. 

Like the hint on the starting with the smaller panels and moving up to the bigger ones as it is so easy to get craking on say the bonnet ready to stand back and admire your work, only to realise you have the bumpers still to do :wall:

Good stuff, car looks great :thumb:


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

peaulocke said:


> great finish there and lovely car... you can get started on the little pinky vauxhall in the background next:buffer::lol:


I was gonna do a wicked 50/50 on it ... It's my parent 12 year old Corse and is being traded in under the scrappage scheme ... They were given £2650 for it :doublesho ... A new Fiat Panda will be arriving late October. I'll be getting me mitts on that one too :buffer:


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## Ebbe J (Jun 18, 2008)

Great work on a great car. Beautiful with the flakes popping out. Awesome selection of products and tools you have there too, would love to try the Shinex. I really like my Makita, but the Festool may be worth a try. 


Kind regards,

Ebbe Jørgensen


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

Ebbe J said:


> Great work on a great car. Beautiful with the flakes popping out. Awesome selection of products and tools you have there too, would love to try the Shinex. I really like my Makita, but the Festool may be worth a try.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Ebbe Jørgensen


The Festool Shiex is my first rotary polisher so I have nothing to compare it to. I will say however that having attended Robbie's (Valet Magic) Tuition Day yesterday, in comparison to the Makita it is much quieter, and although not much lighter in feel others agreed that it would be noticeable when working on side panels.

The difference in size is not great but the Shinex seems to be more rounded when compared to the squarer dimensions of the Makita HTH.

Cheers

Si.


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## Modmedia (Jul 25, 2008)

Fantastic first writeup! And a lovely car too!

After spending a day on an 08 320D M-Sport in a Similar Colour, I feel your pain! lol!


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## Culainn (Sep 2, 2009)

*Great Job*

Great Car, Great Detail and a Great Write Up. Congrats


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## detailersdomain (Sep 13, 2006)

awesome!


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## VWDriver (Mar 5, 2009)

Great write up and photos,.. enjoyed reading it.. as i am new to all this too it gives me hope !...


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## Envy Car Care (Aug 17, 2006)

Very good write up Simon, BMW are tough cookies but the 335's seem to take the biscuit.
Deffo cant do FCP to LSP in my experience despite the best will in the world.
_Constructively_ I would suggest that some of the areas you polished seemed quite big yet others seem small to me. If it were me the roof would have been 6, the doors 4, the bonnet I agree, bootlid 2-3 but thats just me.
Looks great, now I must come and wash it with my scratchy chamois lol

Tim


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## Planet Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Superb stuff and a great write up:thumb:


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## Planet Admin (Jul 11, 2009)

Stunning job:thumb:


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## Jody 4444 (Mar 12, 2009)

WOW what a great write up, Some very good tips in there, And stunning work as well mate :thumb:


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## Gary-360 (Apr 26, 2008)

For your 1st write up it was compelling reading, with superb images.

You car is stunning, the results even better.

Well done that man!!!

Gary


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## RICHIE40 (Jul 9, 2007)

Fantastic work, the calipers have come up pretty well aswell, nice touch finishes it off nicely.


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

Thanks for all the positive comments guys it's great to know the hard work is appreciated.

Cheers also again to Tim who has certainly helped and been a shining light ever since reading his post on Married Blondes 3 series coupe, the reflection shots were amazingly deep and clear. I do appreciate the critique and any advice given is greatly received. 

I'm looking forward to the coming months, starting with a new car detail fro my parents at the end of October, squeezing in my Boss' Audi A6 which is three years and 50k miles old. There will also be a mates E46 and possibly a new shape Audi TT Convertible. That little lot should keep me going till X-mas !!!

Cheers once again guys.

Si.


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## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

A blast from the past, but I've just got round to properly reading this write up after being sent the link a month or two back. Good grief... for a first detail and write up, surely it doesn't get any better?! :thumb:


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

Cheers Rich,

Gutted to say my car got rear ended on M27 last night ... sorry for the tailback if anyone was involved.

Hopefully not written off but beyond t-cutting out, bugger !!!

I'll keep you posted of any updates.

Cheers, 

Si. :-(


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

I know its an old post, just stumbled accross it & wanted to give a big:thumb:
Awesome finish!!!!


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

slrestoration said:


> I know its an old post, just stumbled accross it & wanted to give a big:thumb:
> Awesome finish!!!!


Cheers, I might have my work cut out :buffer: for me once it returns from the menders


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Sorry to hear about that as my original post appeared i read of your bad news. All ok apart from the car i trust?

Nick


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

The usual whiplash stuff, sore neck and back, numb leg and bum down RHS.

I want my car back !!!


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## Gretschem (Aug 9, 2010)

That looks like an amazing effort for a first timer.

I bet all your friends are lining up ??? lol :thumb:


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## Ross (Apr 25, 2007)

Superb work and I love that car and with that powerhouse under then bonnet it must go like a rocket:thumb:


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

Didn't see this originally but well done


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

Ross said:


> Superb work and I love that car and with that powerhouse under then bonnet it must go like a rocket:thumb:


It did  it's at the menders now due to a careless driver Friday evening not watching what she was doing.

Ah well, it could have been worse.


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

Gretschem said:


> That looks like an amazing effort for a first timer.
> 
> I bet all your friends are lining up ??? lol :thumb:


Strangely enough, I've done a few cars since but not documented them due to working in a gloomy workshop with poor lighting which believe it or not I prefer because you can direct light exactly where you want it to show up the defects.

I will probably have to carry out another correction details once I get it back form the body shop so will update this post in due course, or start a new thread.

Cheers for the nice comments guys, it does help with the £$%^ feeling at the moment.

Si.


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## Envy Car Care (Aug 17, 2006)

Sorry to read about the rear attack mate. Hopefully it'll come back in perfect condition.
Chin up


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## ant_s (Jan 29, 2009)

very good write-up and a really nice turn around mate, looks a million miles better now!


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## Simonhi (Jun 6, 2009)

Envy Valeting said:


> Sorry to read about the rear attack mate. Hopefully it'll come back in perfect condition.
> Chin up


Cheers for the support Tim, I might need you to come and have a "once over" with me when i go to pick it up.

I've got a feeling that if they don't respray the whole car I will have one side that is manufacture orange peel (how bad was that anyway?) and one fresh side that is good.

Cheers,

Si.


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