E30 Zone

This is my workhouse, I bought her a year ago in quite a sorry state (rust free though) and started using her in June post-this detail - the plan was to restore the finish with some serious detailing hours involving at least a day and a half polishing alone.

Total Work Time: 32 Hours + 18 hours on the later detail = TOTAL 50 hours.

On Arrival













Very faded and riddled with swirls and scratches that would get the wet sand treatment.

First thing to do was to remove the 318i badge.

Badge Before



Badge During



Badge After



The vehicle was then snow foamed and washed using the 2bm:


The vehicle was then clayed, was surprisingly not as bad as I thought:


Once decontaminated I took some paint thickness readings:


Lots of paint to play with all round the vehicle ranging from 180-300, especially helpful when wetsanding.

I then wet sanded the scratches, RDS' and bird etchings around the vehicle and began machine polishing:

Bonnet Before












Bonnet During





















Bonnet After





Drivers Wing/Door 50/50



Drivers Wing After





Drivers 3/4 Before



Drivers 3/4 During



Drivers 3/4 After



Still some deeper marks remaining here but massively improved.

Passenger Wing Before



Passenger Wing During



Passenger Wing After



The vehicle was then completely the same throughout. Valentines Concours was the wax of choice. The plastics/rubbers were treated, as was the glass, alloys and tyres.

The Results

































Front Before



Front After



Rear Before



Rear After



Plus a few favourites from the day...







6 months on she received a 2-step machine polish and wax to lift the paintwork even more plus get some fresh protection on there for the winter - plus in the meantime I have done a full interior and engine bay tidy, here are some pics in the moody December sunset:













Thank you for looking and reading as always...

Very very impressive work there.

Good effort! You wanna do my e34 for me.

Very nice

Awesome

Any advice on how to remove the gunk left over from the badge?

Just what i was looking for, just bought a cabby in brilliantrot, has the same problem as yours did lots of pink dull patches, do you have a step by step guide on how to get it looking so pristine or am i better off just dropping it off at the local bodyshop for them to detail.
excellent work mate and the car looks a million times better, brilliantrot is a beautiful colour seems to suit every type of e30.

Thats lovely mate, great results, I mopped my brilliantrot bonnet over summer, its a beautiful colour once its gleaming! How are you going to stop it fading in the future?

robbo86 wrote:Good effort! You wanna do my e34 for me.

Cheers mate. I'd be more than happy to, just drop me a pm to discuss.

jalfa wrote:Awesome

Any advice on how to remove the gunk left over from the badge?

Tar/glue remover or degreaser usually does the trick for removing any unwanted residues.

LagunaE30 wrote:Just what i was looking for, just bought a cabby in brilliantrot, has the same problem as yours did lots of pink dull patches, do you have a step by step guide on how to get it looking so pristine or am i better off just dropping it off at the local bodyshop for them to detail.
excellent work mate and the car looks a million times better, brilliantrot is a beautiful colour seems to suit every type of e30.

It isn't really something that you can just go out and do, especially the wet sanding. Where are you based, I might be able to offer my services.

Kemix wrote: Thats lovely mate, great results, I mopped my brilliantrot bonnet over summer, its a beautiful colour once its gleaming! How are you going to stop it fading in the future?

Makes all the difference! The key to red is keeping it nourished. Every few months strip down the wax and reprep the paintwork with a pre-wax cleanser and reapply your wax/sealant - I would recommend sealants on reds - e.g. Duragloss 601/105TPP combo.

You will still find yourself having to mop the paint every so often to give it the lift it needs.

Thanks for all the amazing comments guys

Nice daisies, car looks well too.

Thanks Ad... think Milton Keynes is a bit of a drag to get my car done and to be honest im not that fussed! Nice to know your probably would have though!

Good effort.

that looks awesome !

it has been done over 7 days now..is it pink again yet ?

My e30 was in that state years ago, nothing that a bit of paint correction could'nt sort out,
and has not faded since, due to being sealed,waxed and ph neutral shampoo's.
it's an absolute joy bringing tired paint work back to life.
top job there matey.

Fantastic job

Sh!te, mine is looking like your before, the bonnet needs some serious tlc
Inspiring post though, shows what can be done

You've bought that back to life! Superb job!

briliant job

Excellent results top job

excellent work mate, nice to see !!

any chance you can edit the post with the products and what was used etc ? i do have a red ford escort im going to do, although it looks glorious as it is and no fading etc ,but its not waxed or been cleaned in over a year in the garage

recently done 3 days on my black e30 just getting in to the detailing thing myself and learning

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=193065


just an observation- but that clay bar looks way too big ? clay bar instructions say to break off a lump the size of a large coin, and kneed it supple, then use, and keep on folding it over and re kneeding it and not to use same side for long ?

polsta wrote:excellent work mate, nice to see !!

any chance you can edit the post with the products and what was used etc ? i do have a red ford escort im going to do, although it looks glorious as it is and no fading etc ,but its not waxed or been cleaned in over a year in the garage

recently done 3 days on my black e30 just getting in to the detailing thing myself and learning

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=193065


just an observation- but that clay bar looks way too big ? clay bar instructions say to break off a lump the size of a large coin, and kneed it supple, then use, and keep on folding it over and re kneeding it and not to use same side for long ?

That is a 1/4 size of Bilt Hamber Auto Clay - perfect size for a vehicle, it is close up to the camera in all fairness.

I have been a detailer for 5 years now, kneading constantly between panels is imperative to reduce clay hardness - and hence marring. Have a clean fresh kneaded side of clay for each medium sized panel (wing) - larger panels may require to be done 2-4 sections in order to keep the clay fresh.

Process was:

2 bucket method with grit guards, lambswool mitt, duragloss drying towel and duragloss 901 shampoo.

De-tarred using Autosmart Tardis.

Alloys treated with ValetPRO Bilberry and agitated with various brushes - then sealed with Migliore Wheel Sealant.

Clayed using Bilt Hamber Auto Clay.

Tyres & Arches treated with Autosmart G101 APC and agitated with various brushes - then dressed with Meguiars Endurance & Autosmart Vinyl Gel Conditioner.

Rotary Machine Polished using 3M Fast Cut + on a Fast Cut + pad, then refined using 3M Ultra Fina on a Ultra Fina pad.

Paint was then protected with Valentines Concours Wax, glass treated with Duragloss 751 Rain Repellent.

Cheers for the feedback guys

nice

Very inspirational write-up!

i recognise them pictures, you have it for sale on ebay ??

also had a Mauritius blue one too

Thanks for the superb feedback guys!

It's very very similar to the one I have on eBay - this one was my pride and joy but I sadly had to sell her this time last year as I couldn't justify the miles I was putting on her with work .

I specialise in classic BMW's now, the J reg on eBay wasn't quite in such a state as this one - plus she's only done 77k with low owners. I sold the Mauritius Blue one in September, I was so tempted to keep it for myself!!

Fantastic, that is all

Very cool! You are an artist.

Beauty!

Thank you! Sold her many many years ago now . Still busy detailing though.