# E46 M3 Enhancement (pic Heavy)



## BRUNBERG (Oct 21, 2010)

This write up is for another M3 i have had the pleasure of working on recently, it belongs to a good friend of mine who called me and asked if I would carry out an enhancement detail for the BMW show at Gaydon which was last Sunday.
He made it very clear to me that he trusts nobody with his car, but I like a challenge. 
The car had a professional detail around a year ago so it was never going to be a difficult job.

Here are a few pics of the car upon arrival


























































































































My first job was to sort out the arches, so 1 corner at a time, wheel off. I didn't have a safety socket for the 19mm locking wheel nut so I improvised by taping one up










This was the condition of the inner arches










































The stunning DPE Wheels


















Soaked in Bilberry










Arch Pressure washed










Arch attacked with IronX










IronX rinsed, then attacked with Megs Degreaser


























The arch was then cleaned with Megs APC, then dried and the Caliper sealed and polished with Zaino Z2










The wheel was then dried and sealed with Gtechniq C5 wheel armour










Arch lining dressed with Aerospace 303










Zaino buffed










Wheel put back on and bolts torque to owners spec










This procedure was carried out on all 4 arches, then it was time for an exterior pre-wash. My standard mix of snowfoam, Megs APC and shampoo










Obligatory foam shots

[

































Buckets prepared










While the foam was dwelling I attacked the engine bay with Megs APC


















Pre-wash rinsed and onto the usual areas with Megs APC










































































































At this point my OCD kicked in and this was really bothering me









Out came the Dremel and I now had this










50/50


























OCD satisfied (or at least I thought)

The sun was out in force making life difficult so I foamed the exterior again


























Foam rinsed and time to wash using the 2 bucket method










Car rinsed again but my OCD kicked in once more. The pollen filter cover was bugging me. These always fade from sun damage on E46's.



















As if by magic


















Now time to de-tar with Autosmart Tardis


















Tardis rinsed and side grills/ repeaters removed










Next it was time to hit the paint with IronX


























































IronX rinsed and it was time to clay, I opted for Sonus blue with Dodo BTBS lube










Clay work done










Time to foam again


----------



## BRUNBERG (Oct 21, 2010)

Rinsed and then pat dried with a Chemical guys wooly mammoth










Once dry it was time to get her in the garage get the lights out and inspect the paint


































































She was then taped up and ready to have numerous paint measurements taken


























The plan of attack for the enhancement was Scholl A15 on 3M blue pads, however i noticed a few RDS when inspecting the paint so got the S17+ out to address those areas (massive thanks to Russ @ Reflectology for your help here)










Much better


































She then got 3 IPA wipe downs and the sun came out which gave me the perfect opportunity to roll her outside and inspect my work


































































I was satisfied with the correction work. Although I found the Scholl to produce very little dust, the tape was removed and she was foamed again


















Rinsed, dried and a few more shots taken


















At this stage I usually go to glaze but the weather forecast for Wednesday was terrible so I decided to do a few jobs that were easier to do outside

ACS babies removed to be wet vacd










Leather was steam cleaned to open the pores


















Then cleaned with Gliptone










Once dry the leather was also conditioned with Gliptone

Looking better










Nice and matt










Back in the garage and a coat of Zaino Z2 was applied with ZFX


----------



## BRUNBERG (Oct 21, 2010)

The following day it was time to apply the first coat of wax


















While the wax cured I addressed the engine bay


































Engine bay plastics dressed with Aerospace 303










Painted rocker cover strut brace etc polished and sealed with Zaino Z2










Engine bay done


































Wax buffed










































































Glass polished with Zaino










Side vents etc cleaned and protected with Zaino Clear seal


























The following day another coat of wax was applied and once buffed off she was pulled out of the garage into the sun to improve the lustre of the wax finish


















































































Tyres dressed with Zaino Z16. They will be buffed later to reduce the gloss


































Leather was conditioned again and the rest of the interior was dressed


















here she is finished with plates and grills etc re-fitted, water repellent applied to glass.


































































































Thanks for looking, constructive criticism always welcome


----------



## MAXI-MILAN (Oct 26, 2008)

Top work :thumb:


----------



## aarondenney (May 3, 2011)

what a motor, love that shape compared to the new shape.

Top work!!


----------



## afurness (Nov 1, 2010)

Probably the most thorough piece of work I've seen on here. Great pics of the whole process. Attention to detail, a little frightening though. lol


----------



## athol (Oct 3, 2009)

Excellent work, and very nicely written!!


----------



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Stunning car - normally i hate modded M3's, i always think they look like 320d's trying to look like an M3, but i really like that one with the Schnitzer bits and the CSL bootlit etc...

Great work, love the attention to detail in the engine bay too!


----------



## cfherd (Jan 14, 2010)

Really great write up with excellent results. Interior came up really well too. :thumb:


----------



## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Cracking job there mate.


----------



## Reaper90 (Jul 1, 2010)

stunning M3! esp those wheels and equally great work!


----------



## BRUNBERG (Oct 21, 2010)

Thanks for all the kind comments guys


----------



## Giosabcsl (May 15, 2011)

Stunnin work there. Was a great read  Look forward to seeing more of you posts.

One cant help when the OCD kicks in


----------



## rds1985 (Mar 7, 2009)

what a corking job-my fav write up for a while inc Studio write ups


----------



## rockape (Feb 18, 2007)

stunning work mate :thumb:
little tip,i made my own safety socket, using some heat shrink more durable than tape, with it being rubber.


----------



## terrymcg (Mar 19, 2007)

Great work! Horribly modified though!


----------



## Deeg (Mar 30, 2009)

Great work on a stunning car, got to agree a very through job done there.


----------



## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

This was not the "enhancement" I was expecting. Great work!


----------



## Keith McK (Mar 2, 2011)

Great job


----------



## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

Very good attention to details mate! Great job :thumb:


----------



## herbiedacious (Sep 27, 2010)

Outstanding! How did you find the time to take all the pics too? l would be panicking that the weather would change. Top job.


----------



## BRUNBERG (Oct 21, 2010)

rockape said:


> stunning work mate :thumb:
> little tip,i made my own safety socket, using some heat shrink more durable than tape, with it being rubber.


Top tip, thanks mate


----------



## UCD (Oct 27, 2010)

great job! sick car.


----------



## Demetrios72 (Jun 27, 2011)

Sunning mate absolutely stunning :thumb:


----------



## centenary (Sep 5, 2010)

Another excellent bimmer! :thumb:


----------



## Jakub555 (Aug 17, 2011)

Wooooooooooooow,,,shocked.;-)
AMAZING job...


----------



## EsiFlow (Dec 25, 2010)

Really enjoyed that mate, very impressive work. Weird i've seen it on here cos that car turned my head at Gaydon, it's got some proper tasty mods.


----------



## setupkp (Jul 7, 2011)

perfect!


----------



## ITHAQVA (Feb 20, 2011)

Stunning work mate, love the racing tank too :thumb:


----------



## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

You pinching all my customers.

Nice work and I'm glad Vu was able to get the car detailed in time for Gaydon, unfortunately I was in Spain.

Think I prefered it on the M5 wheels.


----------



## BRUNBERG (Oct 21, 2010)

Hi Rob, it was an easy job mate due to the sterling job you did on her last year. The black m3 edition wheels do suit the car but Vu has several sets for when the mood takes him.

There is no doubt in my mind that this beauty will o back to you for future maintenance, i merely helped out due to you being away


----------



## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Fantastic work..


----------



## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

BRUNBERG said:


> Hi Rob, it was an easy job mate due to the sterling job you did on her last year. The black m3 edition wheels do suit the car but Vu has several sets for when the mood takes him.
> 
> There is no doubt in my mind that this beauty will o back to you for future maintenance, i merely helped out due to you being away


No worries mate, some great attention to detail on your part.
Was gutted my holiday co-insided with Gaydon, had to turn down 4 very nice BMW details.

Once again nice work matey.


----------



## uzi-blue (Mar 16, 2011)

Wow, stunning. Amazing results buddy :argie::argie:


----------



## Tom_watts (May 2, 2010)

Stunning results on one of my favourite cars


----------

