# SL Restoration - BMW M3 Santorini Blue Ltd Edition 500



## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Welcome to another installment,

This BMW M3 Limited Edition 500 was brought to us as the owner wanted to put the sharpness into his new purchase & lay down some protection. With it being a daily driver, coupled with relatively low paint depths (low 60's, which seems to be very common lately on limited run cars that we see) & not the most serious of defects a GTechniq Silver detail was decided upon with a few additions

So on arrival we began assessing the task at hand, the biggest issue being the amount of water spotting & staining









First job up was to get the car on the 2 post lift in order to remove the wheels & get to work on the wheels, arches & calipers as they were looking a little lack lustre









Rust & debris cleaned away with a small wire brush









Hubs polished with Britemax Easy Cut & #00 Grade Wire Wool









Hubs & calipers then sealed with Gtechniq C5 to leave things looking much tidier









Arches steam cleaned with the Nilfish 51H & dressed with Auto Smart Finish 4:1









Next up the wheels were given a thorough pre-contact soak with Auto Finesse Citrus Power









Rinsed & given the 1st decontamination stage in one process with Britemax Iron Out


















This was then agitated with a large Auto Finesse Hog Hair brush & again thoroughly rinsed


















Brought inside & dried with a mixture of drying towels & compressed air


















Once dried the wheels were treated with Auto Finesse Oblitarate & given a Spies Hecker 7010 wipedown 









Which revealed some rather nice defects . . .









Polished with the Rupes LHR75 & Megiuars D300/MF Pad combo & refined Menzerna 106FA/Megs yellow spot pad combo









And After









Following another 7010 wipedown wheels then sealed with Gtechniq C5 Wheel Armour









Cotton buds used for the places were the fingers just don't fit









Once all completed, wheels were then refitted & torqued up to manufacturers specification

The following day the wash process got underway, always all lower areas were given a pre-contact soak with Auto Finesse Citrus Power









Grilles given some intensive cleaning with Britemax GrimeOut diluted 1:2 hog hair detail brush









Foamed with Valet PRO Snow Foam Combo 2 at 60c to soften all the bonded dirt (this has been specially designed for the preparation stage with both cleaning & degreasing agents)









Rinsed at 30c then safely washed via the 2BM with GTechniq GWash and a MicroFibre Madness Incredimitt









Then given a 2 stage decontamination with CarPro IronX & Auto Finesse Oblitarate before a final soak with the Snow Foam Combo 2, this time at 30c









Back into the unit, final decontamination stage with Auto Finesse fine clay & Glide as lubricant









Then dried with i4D plush drying towels and compressed air for all the water traps









Number plate adhesive residue soaked with Oblitarate to allow easier removal









The standard Spies Hecker 7010 wipedown before any further work commences









Delicate trims were taped up using 3M 3030 masking tape









Cutting stage carried out with the Rupes Big Foot LHR15, prototype MF pads & Zephir









Refined with Diamond Gloss/White pad combo









A few before & afters (all pre-refining) Defects by no means fully removed but things looking a great deal sharper



























Smaller areas dealt with via the Rupes Big Foot LHR75









After a 7010 wipedown the base of the protection was applied in the form of Gtechniq C1 Gtechniq, this as always was removed with two MF's to ensure no residue remained and checked with the Brinkmann for remaining residue









Tailpipes tackled with Gtechniq M1 Metal Polish and a MF then sealed with C5


















Tyres dressed with GTechniq T1









All glass polished with 3M Glass polishing compound & the Rupes LHR75/Lake Country Ultra Fibre pad









Then sealed with Gtechniq G1









Wiper blades given a thorough cleanse with G2









Everything dealt with it was time for the second stage of the LSP with GTechniq EXOv2 (this was applied with a suede MF cloth, 2 coats 30 mins apart) This was then topped with 2 coats of original EXO









Interior hoovered & wiped down with Gtechniq W2 1;5, leather protected with Gtechniq L1









And here's the end result

















































































As the car has now joined us on a maintenance programme its allowed me to grab a few shots of the beading in all its glory



























Hope you all enjoyed the write up & thanks for taking the time to read


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## Powerff (Aug 9, 2013)

extremely professional work carried out.
Well done


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## GarveyVW (Jun 28, 2013)

That is detailing at it's finest. Fabulous gloss and shine and a great write up on a lovely coloured beemer. Thanks for sharing. :thumb:


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## diesel x (Jul 27, 2013)

Great work! Excellent attention to details.


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## gtechrob (Sep 11, 2006)

epic detailing and equally top drawer pics - thanks for posting Nick :thumb:


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## evotuning (Oct 16, 2009)

Nice work, could You explain why did You put Exo v1 on top of Exo v2 ? What are benefits of such layering ?


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## fizzle86 (Apr 1, 2010)

Great work lovely attention there


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## Danny B (Apr 14, 2010)

Wow, Fantastic work Nick as always. nice to see a cool Blue M3


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## Summit Detailing (Oct 9, 2006)

Outstanding as always chap:wave:

Lovely colour for it too

How good is Exov2 on it's own? without the C1 as a base? - I'm sure you've trialled it?!


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## Scrim-1- (Oct 8, 2008)

Epic work, how come your autofinesse fine clay is blue?


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## Ryboy_23 (Feb 18, 2013)

Great write up thanks for the insight


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## Kotsos (May 7, 2011)

Nothing less than perfect


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## martin_46 (Aug 7, 2012)

Brilliant write up and a lovely example of a car!


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

evotuning said:


> Nice work, could You explain why did You put Exo v1 on top of Exo v2 ? What are benefits of such layering ?


I opted for a final topping of V1 as another 2 layers will be added every other month as part of its maintenance plan. Simply spray on & wipe off in a QD style


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Summit Detailing said:


> Outstanding as always chap:wave:
> 
> Lovely colour for it too
> 
> How good is Exov2 on it's own? without the C1 as a base? - I'm sure you've trialled it?!


Thanks Chris,
It's a very good stand alone product, but 99% of the time it's my preference to apply over C1 for the scratch resistance :thumb:


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## James Bagguley (Jul 13, 2013)

Great results, as always :thumb: Some very nifty tools you used there, always nice to see the pros at work, a sort of "how to" for attaining perfection.


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Fantastic finish:thumb:


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## bazz (May 15, 2007)

great job and looks a beast of a car


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## TonyH38 (Apr 7, 2013)

Thank you for an insight into a great detailing job on a great car


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Looks stunning :argie:


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## MarcR (Sep 30, 2013)

This is epic work and a stunning car. Well done on all the hard work.


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## StamGreek (Oct 11, 2012)

Fantastic results and superb shine


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## Spyco (Mar 24, 2011)

Very very nice indeed Nick


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## Lewis_ (Jun 29, 2013)

Great work! Love that colour so much! Also nice to see so many AF products being used.. these are also my weapon of choice


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## AGRE (Sep 25, 2008)

Great results :thumb:


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## Steve Saunders (Aug 24, 2006)

Perfection!


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## Exclusive Car Care (Jan 14, 2007)

Excellent work!!!!:thumb:


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## the rich (Jul 20, 2011)

Fantastic result on a fantastic .coloured bmw cheers Rich.


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## Bristle Hound (May 31, 2009)

Gorgeous BM :argie:

Great work & attention to detail my friend :thumb:

Thanks for taking the time to do the write up :thumb:


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## Black.MB (Aug 22, 2012)

Top work, brilliant results


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## Clyde (Feb 15, 2012)

Stunning. Love this colour


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## Carshine (Nov 11, 2009)

Car looks really smooth. What did you use to clean the tyres?


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## Fech (Jul 15, 2012)

Great job on the car. Love how that blue looks


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Another one out of the top drawer Nick, absolutely stunning results :thumb:


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## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Very nice. Lovely shine in the sunlight.

Do you ever wish to use another product when you are some what restrained by the type of detail selected?


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