# 4 days and a Individual E36 Atlantis Blue 328i Sport...



## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

for the last 4 days I have been working on this rather nice E36 328i Sport in Individual Atlantis blue, I knew this was going to be a big job as when me and the owner Ram spoke a few weeks back about what he wanted done the list seemed to get bigger but I'm always up for a challenge!

The car was dropped off to me on Thursday evening and Ram had a few bits from the bmw stealers in the back seat some new rear window seals and some touch paint too as there were a few stone chips he wanted filling in on the bonnet.

*Day 1 *

A few arrival style pics!





































I started with the wheels which didnt look too bad, armed with the following










I sprayed on Meguiars wheel brightner 4:1 and the insides were cleaned with the Ez Detail brush and faces with the swissvax brush




























some tar spots were removed using tardis










The tyres were cleaned using G101



















The wheels were then rinsed @ high pressure










I then removed the trim from the front and rear bumpers as these are very easy to remove and saves taping them and makes them easier to clean & dress.



















The areas behind the trim where sprayed with G101 and cleaned with a swissvax brush along with the other shut areas.




























The car was then foamed using a mixture of snowfoam and an orange degreaser.



















And then rinsed @ high pressure










And washed using the 2BM & a lambswool mitt










I then went about claying the car and started with sonus green but this was struggling to shift the bonded conatiments which there were a lot of so I stepped up to sonus grey and this seemed to do the trick



















You can see the nice black colour the last touch has turned into










Once the car was clayed it was re-washed & rinsed due to the amount of dirt that had been lifted from the bodywork, it was then dried with a waffle weave and taped up ready for polishing.

I took a few PTG readings around the car and there was a healthy level of paint on all panels










With only the O/S rear quarter showing signs of a re-spray which had been done to a high standard










Total wash & clay time = 4 hours

*Day 2*

I started on the bootlid an the initial polish and pad combo of Menz IP 3.02 and a Meguiars polishing pad gave around 80 correction with the deeper scratches and swirls still remaining so it was clean I would need to crack out the big guns!










Swirls on the bootlid










50:50










Correction was carried out on all panels using the 3M FCP & Ultrafina combo on an orange 3M compounding pad @ 1800rpms

There were a few scratches under the door handle










So using my special FCP on a rubber wrapped in cloth technique i polished underneath the door handle by hand.



















After










Swirls on the front wing










Polishing










After










You can just make out the buffer trails in the above pic, this is from using an agressive polish & pad combo, this will obviously be followed up with a finishing polish to refine the finish and remove the buffer trails.

I then moved onto the roof which as you can see had it fair set of scratches and deeper marks










So having already had some meguiars unigrit soking in some fairy liquid I wet sanded the marks using 2000 grit and then following up with 3000 grit










Quite a few as you can see!










After polishing with FCP



















The pillars were polished with a "4 cutting pad & FCP










There were a few stone chips on the bonnet that needed some attention




























Ram has supplied some touch up paint










After cleaning the chips with some IPA I filled in the chips using a fine no 2 artists brush




























And carried on with the rest of the car whilst the paint dried.

I had noticed onw of the previous owners of the car before ram had been quite touch up happy, which is good in a way as it prevents scratches and chips that are exposed to bare metal rusting

chip on front wing










After wet sanding










After polishing










There was a deep mark on the door which had been touched up previously










It needed a littbe bit more paint so out came the touch up stick



















I aided the paint drying time by pointing one of the halogens at it, after sanding and polishing it was looking a little bit better than before and only really noticeable close up










Swirls and marring on the door



















50:50



















Corrected










The lower areas and side skirts were polished too



















The rear quarter was supporting quite a few swirls










50:50




























Corrected










There was a scratch that had been filled in










This was wet sanded










And looking much better after polishing



















The top of the rear quarter was just as bad










Corrected










Back to the stone chips filled in on the bonnet



















After wet sanding




























Only shot I had after polishing some more paint was added to a couple of the chips










I moved onto the bottlid where there were some more scratches that had previously been touched up










So as per usual they were wetsanded and flattend down to remove the excess paint














































Ram has also asked if I could de-badge the car and remove the 328i badge










Using a thin bit of flexible plastic I was able to slide this behind the badge and remove it










Sticky residue left behind










This was easily removed using some tardis, swirls and marring on the rest of the bootlid.










This was corrected using the FCP & ultrafina combo on a "4 cutting pad.










Corrected










The rear lights were also corrected using the "4 cutting pad & Menz IP 3.02

Before










After










The rear bumper also had quite a few scuffs some of which had been touched up before



















So i'm sure you can guess what happens next... yep more wet sanding!










After polishing



















With all of the initial paint correction work done I set to refine the rear end of the car before calling it a night

the refining stage was done using a Meguiars Polishing pad & Menzerna Final Finish PO106FF and also 3M Ultrafina SE on a blue 3M waffle finishing pad on lower & curved areas like the rear bumper where its more difficult to keep the panels warm for the Menzerna to work at its best.

Here a few shots of the car after the finishing polish / refining stage no LSP























































The paintwork was really starting to glow and come alive 

by this point it was approaching 1am so I decided to call it a night

*Day 3*

When discussing with Ram what bits he wanted done on the detail he had told me that his rear window seals were quite tatty, mouldy & falling apart

He wasnt wrong!



















Quite a common problem on the E36 and I have changed them on my M3 so I said I would change them for him, he had aquired the new parts from BMW










So i got to work and removed a few covers inside and the seatbelt bolt before beeing able to get access to the two nuts that held the window in place










The window then came out










The old trim was removed and glue residue removed using tardis before sticking the nice new seal in place, looking much better...



















At this point my external contractor / wheel specialist aka the mrs arrived and finished the wheels for me.










She polished & cleansed the wheels using dodo lime prime, protected them with jetseal 109 and dressed the tyres with chemical guys new look trim gel.

She always does an excellent job on the wheels 

I then carried on and finished refining the few remaining panels with Menz PO106FF

Which was breaking down nicely










After










A few more shots after refining





































Once all the panels had been refined the car was given an IPA wipedown before aplpying the LSP of choice which was... yep Victoria concours!

A few pics after waxing














































And now for the remaining jobs.

The chrome grill surround was polished with einzett chrome & metal polish and the plastic slats dressed with 303 aerospace protectant.



















Bumper strips were cleaned with G101 and dressed with chemical guys new look trim gel










This always brings them up nicely



















With all of the exterior work complete it was getting quite late so it was time to call it a night and bring day 3 to a close!

*Day 4*

Only a few jobs remained the interior and a general tidy up.

First up the mats were removed










They were sprayed with G101 and aggitated with a brush










And then pressure washed










They were then extracted using my wet & dry vac and left inside to fully dry.

Interior was hoovered and dash and plastic surfaces cleaned and dressed with 303 along with the rubebr seals.

Leather was cleaned using gliptone leather cleaner and a soft brush.










Door cards were cleaned too










Leather was then conditioned using gliptone leather conditioner and glass was cleaned inside and out using autoglym glass polish

Finished Interior










Exhaust tips before










After some autosol, a scotchbrite pad and some einzett metal & chrome polish










Engine bay just had some light dust and dirt










This was cleaned with G101 and dressed with 303.




























The car was then given a final wipe down with some chemical guys synthetic QD and complete ready for the obligitory after shots...

and The Afters!


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## Tyrrell (Jan 29, 2007)

can't see the pics


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Tyrrell said:


> can't see the pics


They seem to be loading fine a freind of mine said he has just seen them?


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## Saqib200 (May 13, 2008)

Stunning. That's some hard work you put in there!!


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## golf548 (Feb 27, 2008)

*E36*

Hi.....I really look forward to your threads.....another great job done there and so much attention to detail on every job that you do.

Keep up the good work my man.:thumb:


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## Mark J (May 10, 2007)

Great attention to detail - crackin' job there fella ! :thumb:


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## stevie_b (Dec 14, 2005)

I can see them ok, that's a brilliant transformation! Car looks great!


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## andyteg (Mar 5, 2007)

Excellent work Pav! I think your best detail to date!


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## TeZ (Oct 28, 2007)

wow what a great job.

But it says " 2000 grit and then following up with 300 grit "


TeZ


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## REFLECTS (Apr 7, 2008)

Very nice mate :thumb:


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## t_zetec (Feb 8, 2007)

Top job geezer


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## Tyrrell (Jan 29, 2007)

Breezy said:


> They seem to be loading fine a freind of mine said he has just seen them?


Just finished looking at your write up which i must say was brilliant !!!!!! you always do a really good job i think that you are a well skilled detailer, have you body shop experience? or did you learn it all yourself ?

I think that the pics weren't working as i must have looked as soon as it went in the system, anyway they are there now !!

Well done mate, i think your Mrs done a good job of the wheels aswell !!

Dave


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

Amazing defect correction and removal as usual.

Fantastic in-depth write up, you can see where the time went.

Cheers


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## K.LAM (Sep 19, 2007)

WOW WOW :doublesho NICE JOB, EXCELLENT WRITE UP :thumb:


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

TeZ said:


> wow what a great job.
> 
> But it says " 2000 grit and then following up with 300 grit "
> 
> TeZ


whoops that prob wouldnt work to well! I meant 3000 grit 



TeZ said:


> wow what a great job.
> 
> But it says " 2000 grit and then following up with 300 grit "
> 
> TeZ


whoops that prob wouldnt work to well! I meant 3000 grit 



Tyrrell said:


> Just finished looking at your write up which i must say was brilliant !!!!!! you always do a really good job i think that you are a well skilled detailer, have you body shop experience? or did you learn it all yourself ?
> 
> I think that the pics weren't working as i must have looked as soon as it went in the system, anyway they are there now !!
> 
> ...


Thanks for the kind comments Dave, I have no bodyshop experienced but always thought it would be "interesting" 

And I have learned everything myself really through practicing on my own cars and through trial and error so knowing what works and what doesnt...

Yeah she always does a good job on the wheels and helped me to the window seals too although to re-pay the favor I have to go take her to see sex & the city :tumbleweed:


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## TeZ (Oct 28, 2007)

No i think the 300 would certainly get rid of the defects...... and the paint for that matter.


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## 1996a6v6 (Feb 8, 2008)

Wow, detailed write up, superb picture series and top quality detailing, awesome


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## Huw (Feb 16, 2007)

Nice write up, cracking results.


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## willhouse (Jun 9, 2007)

Great work and a lovely BM, is that the original colour for the car?, or has it been re-sprayed as ive never seen a 328 in that colour before.


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

willhouse said:


> Great work and a lovely BM, is that the original colour for the car?, or has it been re-sprayed as ive never seen a 328 in that colour before.


Its the original individual colour from factory and also very rare....


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## S-X-I (Sep 6, 2006)

Looks like alot of hard work went into that and it shows.

Excellent work.


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## paddy328 (Mar 4, 2007)

Top work as per mate. That write up must have taken nearly as long as the detail itself. Loving the after shots.

The window rubbers did the same on my old car, makes a world of difference to replace them.


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Blimey that's some work you've done there  nice attention to detail....

Superb result and some great pictures both during and afterwards. Bet the owner was well pleased with the finished result


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## craig79 (Apr 17, 2008)

Outstanding, absolutely outstanding, a true credit to
your trade mate :thumb: Someone that is exceptional at
something always makes it look so easy !! Keep it going buddy.
Craig.


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## gardian (Apr 4, 2008)

Great job, nicely done, owner must have been happy with it!


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## stargazer (Aug 9, 2006)

Very nice. Well done :thumb:


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## Swanny_UK (Sep 12, 2006)

Looks a fantastic job there! Very thorough!

Well done!


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

thanks for the kind comments guys and yes it did take quite a bit of work I must have had the car for nearly a week and yes paddy the write up has taken nearly a week too Lol


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Pics are fine for me. Cars looking nice now :thumb:


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## Tyrrell (Jan 29, 2007)

Breezy said:


> whoops that prob wouldnt work to well! I meant 3000 grit
> 
> whoops that prob wouldnt work to well! I meant 3000 grit
> 
> ...


YOU KNEW YOU'D HAVE TO DO THIS AND STILL LET HER DO THE WHEELS !!!! lol:doublesho:lol:


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

That looks fantastic now, cracking work mate. :thumb:

Bet the owner was chuffed to bits


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## OrangePeel (Feb 19, 2007)

Top job mate, paint seems glowing now...

A brilliant write up also. Very well done!


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## Mr Singh (Apr 4, 2006)

Looks excellent. Attention to detail is superb, the smart repairs went well! finish looks great. Awesome write up.

I give you 5 stars for that :thumb:


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Tyrrell said:


> YOU KNEW YOU'D HAVE TO DO THIS AND STILL LET HER DO THE WHEELS !!!! lol:doublesho:lol:


I had no idea she would hit me with that!

she always does a cracking job on the wheels though...


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## Phil H (May 14, 2006)

very nice work indeed!


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## uberbmw (Jan 31, 2006)

Well done buddy, cracking job!


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## CupraRcleanR (Sep 2, 2007)

Great correction work and very good results with the wet sanding. Looks knockout.


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## DE 1981 (Aug 17, 2007)

thats a cracking job that mate.


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## silver bmw z3 (Apr 30, 2007)

Excellent results. I need to do some paint touch-up, can I ask...it looks like in one photo you have two parts to the colour system, paint & clear coat - did you use both or just paint, or am I wrong and it was mixed with clear coat in?


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## Maxx? (Aug 1, 2007)

Fantastic job there mate!


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

silver bmw z3 said:


> Excellent results. I need to do some paint touch-up, can I ask...it looks like in one photo you have two parts to the colour system, paint & clear coat - did you use both or just paint, or am I wrong and it was mixed with clear coat in?


I find with smalelr chips you can just apply the basecoat as to be able to use the clear coat too you need to amke sure you dont fill the base coat above the surface level, so with bigger marks like the scratch on the door the basecoat once flattend was just below the surface level of the surrounding paint so i filled the rest with lacquer.


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## Zukabak (Mar 7, 2008)

Absoluteley cracking job..


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## Big T (Mar 20, 2007)

WOW WOW and WOW.:doublesho

Fantastic job and fantastic write up. Thats how it should be done:thumb:


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## PDK (Apr 14, 2008)

Fantastic attention to detail.

Stunning work.


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## Ska (Jan 11, 2007)

Great attention to detail and loads of cracking correction, Weldone fella:thumb: and doubly weldone for getting the Mrs to help, now that seriously impresses me


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## rob750 (Apr 17, 2006)

Great job


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Breezy

Super meticulous detail as usual - the end result is stunning :thumb:


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## Petrol-head (May 26, 2008)

Car looks fantastic and great work with the new trim


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## Mattieuk (Oct 26, 2005)

:thumb:That is brilliant:thumb:


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## Mark M (Nov 29, 2006)

Superb work there!

Great attention to detail and restoration in general :thumb:


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Some serious work and effort went in there and it looks great. Well done


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## Liverpool-Lad (Jun 27, 2006)

Thats some writeup, very well done!


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## Trist (Jun 23, 2006)

Brilliant work :thumb:


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## irumbold (Apr 20, 2008)

Quality writeup mate, enjoyed the read!


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## rockape (Feb 18, 2007)

brilliant work and write up :thumb:


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## s-line (May 14, 2006)

great work!


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