1991 BMW 535i Premium Detail

This customer requested a full Premium Detail package noting he had significant swirls and oxidation on his 1991 BMW 535i. Upon arrival it was evident we had our work cut out for us!

Note the oxidation mostly on the edges of the hood...


Swirly world!



To start things off the car was washed with Meguiar's Gold Class soap. The wheels were cleaned with Simple Green APC diluted 4:1 and agitated with a brush. The wheels had seen better days as well and were oxidized pretty bad. The could certainly use a few hours with a powerball!






Next the body panels were clayed using Sonus gray Medium grade clay.


This was what we got after 1/3 of the hood...






After experimenting, I went with "rocks in a bottle"... uh I mean Meguiar's #84 compound. This to me was almost like a light wetsanding. It leveled the paint and certainly took out all the defects. A twisted wool pad was used to break down this aggressive compound.


The results were a flat, clean surface.

We then followed up with the polishing step. This car was definitely resprayed more than once. We found different panels with various levels of hardness. So the polishing step was a varience of Optimum Polish and Menzerna Intensive Polish. In most areas, it was a mixture of the two. We used a white Lake Country CCS pad. The panels that needed a more aggressive polish got more IP and less OP. Here you can see the roof partially done.

The polishing was worked until we achieved a swirl free finish.

I also found a lot of the trim to be faded. I tried something new that I hadn't tried yet. I heard that Turtle Wax ICE polish works well on this type of plastic trim. The results speak for themselves... and I found a use for this almost unused bottle.



Clear, crisp reflections courtesy of Natty's Blue...


I think all detailers love it when you hear like I did when the customer picked up his car. He told me, "I can honestly say, you exceeded my expectations...". That's almost as rewarding to me as the pay day!


I just had to add this today... the customer emailed me today (3 days after picking up his car) and had some very nice words. It is always rewarding to hear comments like this from another happy customer.

Dan,

Just wanted to tell you a big thanks again. I am completely amazed with the cars paint more and more each day. I keep parking at different angles in the sun and over and over I keep seeing fresh looking black paint. Thought the car had little hope for ever looking like this. The amount of compliments I have already recieved has blown me away. Thanks for doing an awesome job and Ill definitely have to keep in touch in the coming months to have it done again.