Uber M3 - Fast and the Furious Movie Car

Posted by DanPonjican March 05, 2008

Uber M3 - Fast and the Furious Movie Car

For most automotive enthusiasts, the 2003 “Uber M3” built by Craig Lieberman (of Fast and Furious fame) needs no introduction. Run a google search for Craig Lieberman’s Uber M3 and you’ll find dozens of articles profiling this over-the-top M3 build. Initially slated to appear in the third installment in the F&F movie series, its appearance was cancelled after producers decided on the “Tokyo Drift” theme.

When the Uber M3’s current owner gave DetailingGurus.com a call to take out the swirls from years of unfortunate neglect due to improper washing and detailing methods, we gladly accepted the job. We traveled to CES Motorsports in Monroe, NC to perform the detail, where the Uber M3 was getting top treatment to an Active Autowerks supercharger install to help bring the mostly stock S54 3.2 liter M3 motor up to the level to which the rest of car had been treated.

Enough about the car, though. Suffice it to say this is one impressive machine that really needs to be seen in person to really be appreciated! On to the detail.

The car started out Schwartz (black), but when the Flosman wide body kit was installed, they decided to go with Lamborghini Candy Blue by using 2 coats of PPG base Lavender, 4 coats of Metallic Blue, and 2 coats of clear. (http://www.e46fanatics.com/features/picturepage.php?imagename=uberm3_10.jpg )

The effect is startling. The color is so deep and rich, it is a shame that it had become masked by significant swirling and water etching. While one might not expect that a repaint would match the hardness of the OEM BMW clear, major kudos has to go to Quigley’s Paint for this $14,000 paint job, because it was some of the hardest clear we had ever encountered. It required the use of a twisted wool pad on areas with water etching and even some westanding on some of the more stubborn swirls and light scratches. We normally wouldn’t wetsand a standard Premium Detail, but Dan just couldn’t help himself when striving for perfection in one particular area!

A general breakdown of products used and the order in which they were performed is as follows:

ONR wash – This was performed indoors in the CES Motorsports shop. The car was relatively free of dirt, and severe thunderstorms kept us from going outdoors to wash, so Optimum No Rinse came to the rescue.
Mothers Yellow Clay – The bonded contaminants in the paint came off easily with the yellow clay, leaving the surface clean and ready for polish.
Wheels cleaned – The massive HRE wheels were cleaned with a mild, diluted citrus degreaser solution.
Interior – After a quick vacuum, the composite surfaces in the interior and trunk were treated with Duragloss 265 to restore factory sheen.
Engine – John and the guys at CES keep a clean shop and left us with an engine bay that was relatively clean after the supercharger install. A wipedown with quick detailer followed by more Duragloss 265 Vinyl treatment left it gleaming.
Exterior Polish – Starting out with the mild cut Purple System One wool polishing pad, we quickly discovered just how hard the PPG Clear was on the Uber M3. We finally settled on the following steps:
- Step One –Wool Pad with System One X3 nanopolish.
- Step Two – Edge 2k Purple Mild Cut wool polishing pad with System One X3 nanopolish.
- Step Three – Edge 2k (reverse side) White Waffle foam finishing pad with System One X3 nanopolish.
ONR Quick Detail – After several hours of perfecting the paint and revealing the insane depth to the stunning finish on this car, the car was cleaned up with Quick Detail to prep it for LSP.
LSP – We used a Synthetic Polymer sealant under development at DetailingGurus to provide long lasting protection and a “wet look” that really accented the Candy Blue.