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



## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

So This is what I've been working on for the last 4 days and if you rewind back to last year I also spent 4 days on this car back then too, previous write up 
here

The car has changed quite a bit sinec lst year and had some new paint in a few places too so there was quite a bit to do as supposed to just a top up detail which it what was originally planned

This car is a perfect example of how an immaculate E36 should look a credit to the owner...

So Another 4 days and an antlatis blue 328i sport begins again!

*Day 1*

So the car ready for detailing to commence





































So first things first a foam through the HD foam lance with valet pro snowfoam





































While the snowfoam was dwelling i cleaned the wheels and tyres using G101










They were newly fitted so didnt need too much work (this wasnt the case as i found out later!)

Rinsed










The plastic trims were removed to make for easier polishing and also to clean behind them.










Note this piece of flat wood i found aka the scrape ramp came in very handy as due to the cars ride height getting it in and out of the garage was tight to say the least!

Plastic areas behind trim, doro mouldings and the other nooks and crannies were cleaned with G101




























The car ws then rinsed @ high pressure










And washed with maxi suds 2 and a lambswool mitt using the 2 bucket method



















After another rinse the car was clayed using bilt hamber soft and water as lube










Not too much contamination at all really



















After claying the car was dried with a miracle dryer and last touch










And it was time to start with the correction, my goal for this evening was to get the N/S/ rear quarter corrected as best as I could as it had recently had some paint and yep you guessed it orange peel with added swirls!



















Readings were checked with the PTG










To asses the hardest of the paint and for the orange peel removal I started with a 3M green comounding pad and then stepped up to a 3M lambswool pad with Fast Cut Plus aswell @ 2000rpm with firm pressure but all this did was remove the swirls and the paint was very hard.










So it was time to get the PC out and the only thing I use the PC for nowadays is wet sanding.










Starting with a 2000 grit disc I wet sanded the orange peel'd area which was above the swage line for the rear quarter, the abralon pad was liberally spitzed with last touch along with the area that was beeing sanded.



















Sanding haze after 2000 grit










This was then followed by 4000 grit



















After polishing with a lambswool pad & FCP










50:50



















So quite an improvement had been made on the orange peel, and checked the PTG readings afterwards










So a reduction in 4 microns which wasnt too bad, I then proceeded to wet sand and flatten the rest of the area





































I also noticed a few lacquer patches underneath the swage line



















These were flattend back and tidied up with some meguiars 2500 unigrit



















And the rear quarter fully corrected














































I then started on the roof and noticed a blend line along the edge of the pillar ont he roof



















This was wetsanded










Corrected



















A few more deeper RDS's on the roof too



















More wetsanding



















After



















Roof corrected










After filling in a couple of stone chips on the roof I decided to call it a night



















*Day 2*

The owner wanted some new door mouldings fitted without the recess for the ///M logo so the existing ones were removed



















Quite a bit of muck behind them which had built up over the years










This was cleaned with a microfibre and G101, the Passenger door had a few light marks which I couldnt capture on camera










These were easily corrected using Menz IP 3.02



















I then moved onto the N/S front wing which had a few deeper marks










After some wet sanding










Corrected




























The bonnet had also been re-sprayed and this was suffering from some holograms and hazing










After correction










I then moved onto the bootlid which was in pretty good condition apart from a couple of deeper marks



















Deeper marks were corrected with a wool pad and FCP and the rest of the bootlid was polished with Menz IP 3.02 on a compounding pad




























The O/S door had a few marks










These were easily corrected with Menz IP & compounding pad.










There were also a few scratches under the door handle










After correction quite an improvement










*Day 3*

The front bumper and nosecone had also been re-sprayed and yep more orange peel, so one of my goals this evening was to get the nosecone and bumper flattend back and orange peel reduced

So I started by removing the front grills










Orange peel





































Started by wetsanding with mirka abralon 77mm 2000 grit discs










Flattend





































This was then followed up with 400 grit and polished using FCP on 3M yellow polishing pad twice














































Once this was complete the rest of the 1st stage correction / polishing was complete so the car was given a foam and rinse to remove all of the dust










The refining was done using Menzerna PO85RE on 3M blue wallfe finishing pad and an 80mm yellow menzerna finishing pad for the smaller areas



















Some shots after the refining stage no LSP yet





































LSP of choice was Dodo Juice Supernatural










Applied via a new finger mitt applicator which I have to say is very good










Left to cure for 10 mins










Before buffing off with a plush microfibre










It was approaching the witching hour again so I decided to call it a night with 70% of the car complete I had one day (evening) to go

*Day 4*

Most areas were complete and LSP'd with supernatural it was just the smaller remaining tasks I had to do including flattening the side skirts too...

The trim on the rear quarter which had been re-sprayed had some paint on the trim










After some patience, IPA & thinners the paint was removed










The inners on the wheels had quite a bit of tar on them too










After more patience and lots of tardis










I also dressed and fitted the new door mouldings without the recess's for the ///M badge



















remaining Dust was removed from the nooks and crannies










The mrs attended to the wheels and the lips were polished with 1Z metal & chrome polish, centres polished with lime prime and protected with jetseal










The owner also asked me to replace the rear windscreen trim as it was looking a bit worn



















It came out easy enough










Cleaned all the build up of crap around the gutter










But I couldnt for the life of me get the new one back in, it just wouldnt sit in along the top it was appraching 9pm now and Ram and the boys had turned up and offered a helping hand to try and get it in whilst I finished the rest of the jobs.










But after about 45 mins of pushing and swearing still no joy! So ram said he would get his buddy with a heavy hand aka Singh to give it a good wack tommorow and from what I heard thats all it tooK!

I had the side skirts left to do and yep more orange peel



















These were flattend with 2000 grit and 4000 grit then polished with FCP and refined with 203S didnt manage to get any after pics unfortunatley.

It was getting late and the mrs decided to help with a few jobs

Engine bay cleaned with G101 and dressed with 303 aerospace protectant










Remaining trim and tyres dressed with chemical guys new look trim gel










Managed to get everything done just before midnight and added the finshing touch

a new bonnet badge










And the car was finally ready for the Gaydon BMW festival on Sunday and here are the afters taken by the owner on the day.


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## ShineyHelmet (Jul 27, 2009)

Awesome work mate, wish I was that good


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## SuperchargedLlama (Apr 25, 2008)

As always, great job there dude!

Can I pick your brains about the "chip repair" that you've done here and on a few others I've seen? What is your process? I've got a few that could do with a little touch and I'm interested as to how you do it


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Mother-Goose said:


> As always, great job there dude!
> 
> Can I pick your brains about the "chip repair" that you've done here and on a few others I've seen? What is your process? I've got a few that could do with a little touch and I'm interested as to how you do it


Cheers for the comments mate everything you need to know about stone chip repair is explained in this thread


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## rolled1 (May 26, 2008)

That is an absolutely stunning looking car,my favourite colour for a beemer and cant understand why it's not seen more often.Great job there mate,always enjoy your posts,you take it to the next level with the wetsanding,chip repair,bumper removal etc...excellent attention to detail :thumb:


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## Edward101 (Jun 5, 2009)

Cracking job there, great write up also. Lovely looking Beemer and really like that colour


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## turbulenceNL (Jul 27, 2008)

nice job!!

looked like a lot of work, but the result is stunning!! keep it up


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## SuperchargedLlama (Apr 25, 2008)

Breezy said:


> Cheers for the comments mate everything you need to know about stone chip repair is explained in this thread


Cheers dude - I'll be doing some of this over the bank holiday!


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## N-unit (Jun 8, 2008)

You always put so much effort in! Well done as always :thumb:


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Superb results... very nice!

I always like the look of the Hartge wheels on BMW's... 

How did you pop the the side trim off? did you use a small flat head screwdriver or something else? any problems getting them off?

Cheers

:thumb:


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## hmi1750 (Apr 23, 2006)

Amazing work!


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## Baker21 (Aug 7, 2007)

Your work level and dedication seems immense mate and working on such show cars are all worth the effort as it really gets shown off........:thumb:

Massive admirer of your threads and the level that you take the work too, especially wetsanding and chip repair, etc............:thumb:

Love the wheels, the stretch and the colour and I am sure it was cracking day at Gaydon...........:car:

Fair play for getting the Mrs involved...........


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Yet another stunning transformation mate :thumb:


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

The Cueball said:


> Superb results... very nice!
> 
> I always like the look of the Hartge wheels on BMW's...
> 
> ...


Hello mate no screwdriver required, once the door is open just pull from the edge and they come off its just getting the buggers back on that can be a PITA


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

Baker21 said:


> Your work level and dedication seems immense mate and working on such show cars are all worth the effort as it really gets shown off........:thumb:
> 
> Massive admirer of your threads and the level that you take the work too, especially wetsanding and chip repair, etc............:thumb:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the kind comments mate its always nice when the mrs helps as i've seen from your threads too 

Only downside was I couldnt make it to gaydon... again!


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## Teabag (Dec 17, 2008)

best colour for bmw's ever.... great work also..super


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## lando77 (Mar 10, 2009)

*Stunning Work*

I can only hope to be like you... How long have you been detailing? you said you use your PC for wet sanding only, how long have you been doing that?

Awesome work


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## Planet Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Very Nice mate. Great Work, some detail that!!:thumb:


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

lando77 said:


> I can only hope to be like you... How long have you been detailing? you said you use your PC for wet sanding only, how long have you been doing that?
> 
> Awesome work


thanks mate practice is definatley the key on scrap panels and your own cars of course!

Must have been detailing over 3 years now and I first used the PC to wet sand my M3 after it came back from the bodyshop a year or so ago to remove orange peel ever since its been a great wet sanding tool...


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## Bass-Evolution (Aug 13, 2009)

Great work on a great car. Love the results you have with the wetsanding.


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## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

Fantastic work and dedication mate!

I got goose bumps when I saw you wetsanding with that PC :lol:


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

toni said:


> Fantastic work and dedication mate!
> 
> I got goose bumps when I saw you wetsanding with that PC :lol:


I had to take a deep breath the first time i ever did some machine sanding which was on my car just after it came back from the bodyshop, my dad definatley thought i was nutz! :lol:


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## Sveneng (Apr 20, 2008)

Really impressive write up and fantastic work, thanks!


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## chunkytfg (Feb 1, 2009)

Fantastic work but that car is just all out of proportion for me.

wheels are dropped way to far into the arches so it looks stupid and the side skirts hang lower than the bumpers which shouldnt happen imo.


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

awesome work and write up.Good colour to


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## mwbpsx (Jun 23, 2006)

why is it that your customer, who obviously knew what he wanted, allowed a body shop to give his car back with so much orange peel. Surely if he wasnt happy he should have given them the car back and asked for it to be corrected, or told them of his intention for it to be corrected and insisted on extra clearcoat? I did presicely this when my 02 polo went in. They knew the score b4 starting and obliged


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

mwbpsx said:


> why is it that your customer, who obviously knew what he wanted, allowed a body shop to give his car back with so much orange peel. Surely if he wasnt happy he should have given them the car back and asked for it to be corrected, or told them of his intention for it to be corrected and insisted on extra clearcoat? I did presicely this when my 02 polo went in. They knew the score b4 starting and obliged


Well time was running out as they bodyshop had his car for 10 days to do the bonnet, nosecone, front bumper and part of the rear quarter so by the tiem i finished the work there was only a day left until the Gaydon BMW show.

Incidently he took the car back and had the bonnet re-sprayed again due to their beeing a hair under the lacquer and very thin and missing paint on the edges! but he is goign to take it to someone more reputable next time for any future work as he didnt want to risk him "butchering" anything else...

anyhow here are some pics of this car and mine from the Santa pod last weekend...


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

very nice work there


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## ALANSHR (Jun 29, 2007)

Great work, very thorough and a fantastic finish, well done.


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## Tobster (Dec 13, 2007)

great work, truly amazing amount of effort and attention went into to this detail, wish i had the same patience as you..


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## PLuKE (Mar 4, 2009)

Nice. 

Now my Ibiza rear 1/4 panels looks orange peeled compared to the whole car. Now doesnt wet sanding take the laquear layer off? As i thought orange peel was caused from the colour coat and then the clear coat, Or does wetsanding not get rid of all the orange peel effect?.

Would like mine to look better TBH, You cant tell unless you get really close.

Luke


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## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

PLuKE said:


> Nice.
> 
> Now my Ibiza rear 1/4 panels looks orange peeled compared to the whole car. Now doesnt wet sanding take the laquear layer off? As i thought orange peel was caused from the colour coat and then the clear coat, Or does wetsanding not get rid of all the orange peel effect?.
> 
> ...


Hi Luke, Wet sanding does remove some of the clearcoat but not as much as you think as you are not removing a consistent even layer as what you are doing is leveling the highspots with the low spots as these are what create the rippled effect so once everything is level you should have a nice sharp reflection.

There will still be some minor peel left in the paint but at least 805 of it can be removed with wetsanding and the aid of a PTG


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## jonjay (Feb 28, 2008)

rolled1 said:


> That is an absolutely stunning looking car,my favourite colour for a beemer and cant understand why it's not seen more often.Great job there mate,always enjoy your posts,you take it to the next level with the wetsanding,chip repair,bumper removal etc...excellent attention to detail :thumb:


Couldnt of said it better myself. Amazing work and a lovely car.


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## orienteer (Aug 17, 2009)

Shockingly great work chap ... further inspiration for me to try harder !! :buffer:

What a classic Beemer 

Thanks for taking time to share :thumb:

Regards, Ian


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## Planet Admin (Jul 11, 2009)

Great job mate it looks amazing.:thumb:


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## andyteg (Mar 5, 2007)

Great work as always Pav! Nice to see some show shots too!


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