# M5 Full Detail - From Beast to Beautiful Beast



## Tiauguinho (May 1, 2007)

I made a promise to a friend that one day, when the time would allow, that I would give some TLC to his car, by the form of a complete detail. The perfect opportunity appeared between Christmas and New Years Eve, where 2x 4 days weekends would give me the time to work on his car.

This is a 1999 M5 with 268 000km on the clock and it really hasn't seen much love (in a detailers perspective, of course) until the day that he left the car with me when he went on Vacations to Seattle, so he could go crash a Ford Explorer against some fences 

I set off outside on the 25th of December, to give the car a wash and clay it, so I could store it to continue on the next day, before the cold front would arrive to NL (we had negative temperatures everyday since then).

This is what I had ahead of me...




























I always start with the wheels first, so that whatever dirty and wheel cleaner that spits around to the paintwork, will get rinsed and washed.

For the wheels I washed them with some Autosmart Smartwheels, which is a non-acidic cleaner, diluted to a 3:1 ratio. I let it stay on the wheel for a minute and then work it on the insides of the wheel with an EZ Detail Brush and the oustides with a Swissvax Wheel Brush.

The tires are scrubbed well with Megs APC diluted to 10:1.




























They were true Shadow Chrome instead of just being brown!










The tires are scrubbed well with Megs APC diluted to 10:1




























Off to the other side of the car to do the passenger side wheel, which was even dirtier...



















The tar deposits were now clear to see, which were removed using some Autosmart Tardis.




























After all the wheels were done, time to pass to the paintwork. I foamed the car for 5 minutes with some APC and Snowfoam, to help degrease the dirty and unstick it from the paint as much as possible.










Car was then washed with two bucket mode (I miss pictures from the whole wash process, since I was starting to lack time).










With the car washed, time for the clay. I selected the Sonüs Grey for its aggressiveness in removing the contaminants. With the cold temperatures, it was proving to be quite a challenge to keep the clay warm and it was slightly marring the paint, but that was no worry, since those defects would be removed by the polishing.




























Car was then stored in the workshop, warm and away from the freezing temperatures, so I could continue on next day.

For the whole polishing I opted to use the following.










3M Fast Cut Plus, Menz 3.02, Menz 106FA and the brilliant Menz 85RD for the finishing, together with the range of 3M pads (not pictured).

Time to turn on the Halogens...










I sensed some work ahead with the show of swirls and marring from the clay.

BMW paint being hard as nails, the strategy taken was 1x Fast Cut Plus, 1 or 2 hits with 3.02 and finish with 85RD.



















A clear finish was showing up!










I knew that this colour had a lot to offer, but it was requiring some hard work, but it was going to get there.




























I always used my Paint Thickness Gauge to measure how much I had to play. I did saw some areas which were scary low, too low to do anything... I recalibrated my PTG and it was still showing readings of high 40s on the roof of the car. Lots of care and slow speeds were used to correct the roof, using 106FA for its low cut properties.










Then continuing on the side panels










it was shaping up nicely  pity that it was showing up some rust on the left of the filler cap door.










I was starting to love the deep reflections that this green gives, which is something that my Le Mans Blue can't offer










More polishing work














































This car had the Vorsteiner Carbon Fibre hood, which was installed and painted last year, so it only required 2 hits with 3.02 and finishing with 85RD to get to this.



















Polished and non polished panel...










I thought it was time to show the owner a serious 50/50, of how polishing can be so rewarding,, when you correct every little blemish and scar that the paint has, leaving it perfect with nothing to disturb the light reflection.










I masked the drivers door on the middle of it.
































































After finishing the whole polishing process on the car, I dusted it all (FCP leaves lots of dust behind..) and I did the windows.



















I couldn't say that I did the whole car alone, since my girlfriend came to help me with the exhausts, while I went around with the 85RD finishing up some panels. Believe it or not, to remove them from the black tips that he had (scroll up to see the first pictures), she took 45 minutes with steel wool and some NXT metal polish.Thank you so much! :* :*



















The car was looking starting to look good to my eyes and finally it could start displaying how glossy and deep the green could be...




























The interior was cleaned, vacuumed, all plastics cleaned with APC and the leather cleaned and fed with LTT products, which I find to be outstandingly good.



















The whole car was then fed with a Zymöl HD Cleanse glaze and took one layer of Zymöl Concours to protect the finish and enhance the gloss.

This is what I had now on my hands...

It went from this...










To this...









































































Like a friend said to me when I showed him the car on one of the nights that he passed by, it went from the dirtiest M5 in the Netherlands to something a bit more respectful 

All in all and after many many many hours of work, I was very happy and satisfied with the results achieved. It took me a bit more then 30 hours of work to turn this car around, but it was well worth it!


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## HC1001 (May 27, 2007)

Very nice work, those reflection pic's = WOW.............:thumb:


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

very nice.

not a bad colour either


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## tdekany (Jul 22, 2006)

What an awesome turnaround. The owner should be really happy.


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## hap (Mar 1, 2007)

one word......WOW, that is a fantstic credit to the detailer, im amzed at that turnaround...well done!!!!


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

What a job, truly great work from the wheels to the paint correction.

:thumb::thumb::thumb:


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Absolutely fantastic!! looks stunning now.


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## Saqib200 (May 13, 2008)

Awesome, really nice work.


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

That is abso-bloody-lutely stunning, deffinately better than factory finsih i'd say


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## Mister-Jimbo (Nov 29, 2006)

bl**dy good work there chap! :thumb::thumb:


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## winrya (Aug 4, 2006)

I think stunning says it all:doublesho


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## Overlord (Apr 22, 2008)

WOW Tiauguinho, that looks really AWSOME!!!:thumb:


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## ukimportz (Mar 23, 2007)

awesome work & a great turnaround. some gret 50/50 shots aswell :thumb:


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## axl (Mar 12, 2008)

Great job, the paint correction was very well done.

You are a lucky man, your girlfriend helps you in detailing job :thumb:


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## Pad (Jun 27, 2006)

that is lovely. I really havent been keen on that colour on any BMW previously, let alone an M5 - you have made me see it in a completely different light now Nice work.

Pad


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## SPECKY (Sep 3, 2008)

Speachless In Huddsville:doublesho


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## wookey (Jul 13, 2007)

wow...that is impressive! :doublesho

wicked reflections and a really depth to the shine

nice turnaround :thumb:


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Awesome work! 

Those reflections are just amazing, great work!


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## kenmac (Feb 19, 2008)

What a top job, amazing :thumb:


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## nighty (Jan 28, 2007)

Credit where credit is due mate thats an absoluty amzing turnaround think your friend owes you a few pints after that!


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Top job - that is a great job well done and looks fab :thumb:


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## mouthyman (May 1, 2006)

amazing turnaround :thumb:


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## Boyd (Aug 4, 2007)

Good work T. Shame I couldnt help you out. Next time better! Looks lovely. Now finally have some time to do your own M5


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## Liam (Nov 22, 2008)

excellent work


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

brilliant work, it looks great


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Excellent work, mate! Love those 50/50 and reflection shots! :thumb:


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## Piratez (Jun 28, 2008)

Astonishing result ....excellent work :thumb::thumb:


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## North east Car Care (Jan 14, 2008)

Stunning work matey:thumb:


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## Tiauguinho (May 1, 2007)

Thanks for all the nice comments! 

The owner was very very happy when he picked up the car and for me that is very rewarding. 

Now I just need to find the time to finish up with the detail of my M5, but with Boyd already volunteering, I'm going to put him with the compounding of the hard BMW paint, while I go behind him finishing up the panels


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## andye (Apr 15, 2007)

Excellent job mate, some very nice reflection shots :thumb:


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## empsburna (Apr 5, 2006)

great work!


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## Waxamomo (Jun 18, 2008)

Stunning turnaround, one of the best I have seen


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## drive 'n' shine (Apr 22, 2006)

Very nice turnaround mate :thumb: Def. something wrong with the readings on the roof! I would have thought at that low there would be no clear left on it ?????


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## Tiauguinho (May 1, 2007)

drive 'n' shine said:


> Very nice turnaround mate :thumb: Def. something wrong with the readings on the roof! I would have thought at that low there would be no clear left on it ?????


Exactly what I thought, I even changed the batteries and recalibrated the PTG again and it was still showing the same thing. Maybe the cold was making the PTG a bit crazy?


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## Enter Sandman (Mar 17, 2008)

Congrats!


Great work on a great car:thumb:.


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## Deanvtec (Mar 3, 2008)

What a brilliant job, really made a massive difference to what is a very cool car.:thumb:


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## WyattEarp (Mar 9, 2008)

Wow, very nice reflections.:thumb::thumb:


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## Racer (Oct 27, 2005)

Great Job Tiago...i hope to see ur M5 here, Detailed


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## dubbers (Apr 3, 2006)

Great work - you must be very pleased with the results


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## Noakesy85 (Dec 27, 2008)

Awesome turnaround!!

and thats a lovely colour too, im not usually a fan of green but that is one deep lush colour  i likey.


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## paddy328 (Mar 4, 2007)

Worth all your hard graft mate. Top job.


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## Cliff (Mar 4, 2007)

Excellent turnaround :thumb:


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## HAWKEY_SKYLINE (Mar 23, 2008)

great turnaround and top read  :thumb:


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## Vyker (Sep 17, 2008)

Fantastic! 

A great car, and what a great job too.

Thanks


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## Nissan SE-R's (Jan 1, 2009)

Congrats bro... very passionate work u have done.

Regards.


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## Auto-Etc (Sep 17, 2008)

Fantastic result - well done mate


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## KevSTer (Jan 20, 2008)

A job well done for a remarkable transformation:thumb:


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## rossdook (Aug 20, 2008)

Loving that work! Cracking effort and great result. :thumb:


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## bbigman2000 (Aug 28, 2006)

Very impressive indeed, and quite rare in the Green.
Thanks for posting.


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