krshultz detailed: E39 BMW M5
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From: NC
krshultz detailed: E39 BMW M5
A couple weeks ago, I went out to my buddy JL's place to help him detail a big black Suburban. We hit it off, and decided to do it again. This time, JL came out to Raleigh, to help me with this Imola Red BMW M5. Some of you may know JL from detailingbliss.
This car belongs to a racing buddy of mine, who bought it at Carmax for a good price. It's a nice car, but was in need of some serious help!
Before I get on with the job description and photos, an apology for the photos. For some of the befores, I think I forgot to take the Canon off of manual focus. So the interior shots, and the shot of the engine bay, were useless. I threw them away. For the afters, I was stricken by a different problem...rain! I was to deliver the car today, and it rained off and on all day. I could only sneak the car out of my tiny one-car garage for minutes at a time for pictures, for fear of getting it rained on before delivering it. The photo thing for this job frustrates me a lot, so I'm going to go back to the customer's place of work and take some pictures, and post those later.
Anyway, on with the detail.
Wheels, wheel wells, and tires
The wheels on this thing were bad - really bad. BMWs, as you all know, are notorious for brake dust, and this one was no exception. The right rear had some kind of goop on it - near as we can guess, it must have been some fix-a-flat that had come out of the valve stem somewhere along the way. So we rinsed with the pressure washer, and went to work with some Meguiar's Wheel Bright (4:1) and my arsenal of brushes. Much improved, except for that fix-a-flat gunk. For that, we broke out Majestic Solutions' Body Solvent. As a just in case, JL suggested I pre-soak with Majestic's Super Green Stuff to counter any acid in the solvent. It worked like magic. Finally, for the lips on the rims, JL'd brought some Autosol metal polish, and I'm now a believer. Much better than my standard Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish.
The wells got soaked and scrubbed with Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff (3:1) and eventually dressed with Stoner Trim Shine. The tires were cleaned with the same SGS and eventually treated with Stoner More Shine, Less Time.
Exhaust
Another JL trick of starting with Meguiar's Wheel Bright was used with #0000 steel wool. Once they looked like metal again, they were polished with more #0000 steel wool and the same Autosol we used on the wheels. What great stuff. I'll be buying some for sure.
Engine
The method I learned from JL works like money. Rinse off the cold engine with low pressure water. Soak with Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff (3:1) and agitate where needed. I'm telling you, SGS is the best APC I've used. Cheap too. Blow it dry with the leaf blower, and treat with Meguiar's Hyper Dressing (3:1). Run the motor for 20 minutes to set it up, and wipe off the excess just before delivery. It works great.
Wash
First, a pre-soak of the front with Majestic Solutions' Bug Off, which is great stuff. Those of you who haven't checked out Majestic Solutions, you should. Their stuff works well and is well priced. 2 oz. of regular Dawn blue into JL's foam cannon...another toy I'll be buying. Wiped that down with microfiber mitts . The whole process, by the way, was using JL's CR Spotless system. I can't decide which big ticket item to save for first - a CR, or an extraction machine. I want both...
Clay
This was done using Riccardo clay and ONR clay lube. This was my first time using Riccardo and I really liked it. Nice and pliable, and it didn't try to break apart on me. Sigh, if only it were easier to get...
Glass
All the glass got Stoner Invisible Glass and Majestic Solutions microfiber window towels, which I really like. These towels last forever! Good for the planet, and they work great too.
Black plastic trim
The rub strips down the sides of the car got Lexol Vinylex. The black underspoiler, and the black mesh grill, both got Stoner Trim Shine.
Weatherstripping
Lexol Vinylex, which was thoroughly buffed so it wouldn't leave itself behind on the windows when they are closed. I think Vinylex is an underrated product - behaves similarly to 303, is less expensive, and easier to find. I've tried a bunch of stuff, but keep coming back to Vinylex.
Interior
This is an interesting interior. Most of it is swathed in leather! Obviously the seats, but also the center console, the door panels, even the dashboard!
So, first the mats were removed and brushed, then dry vacuumed. Same brush and vac for all the interior carpets, including the trunk. The mats got Folex, scrubbed with my carpet brush, vacuumed again, and set aside. I couldn't tell if Folex was any good or not. The carpets on this car are deep black, and if they were dirty...I couldn't really tell by looking. Still, I cleaned them anyway, because I'm a wacko
The interior plastic, vinyl and leather all got Majestic Solutions Leather and Plastic Cleaner, 1:1. The only thing I don't like about this stuff is the smell - very chemical. Otherwise, it's great stuff, and cleans extremely well.
Now clean, the leather got Chemical Guys Pure Leather Conditioner. JL gave me this stuff, since he's an Einszett guy now, but I really like this one a lot. The almost gel-like thickness makes it easy to apply with getting it all over, it smells nice, and just a quick wipe down and you've got a nice, natural looking finish, but one where you can tell the leather's been treated. Which is what the customer wanted - "not too shiny."
The rubberized plastic bits got Vinylex, and the button consoles, gauge cluster, and nav screen got Einszett Cockpit Premium. I even took a dry microfiber and "combed" the alcantara headliner so it was all laying in one direction when I was done.
Paint
Out of curiosity, we put JL's paint thickness gauge on the car. Driver side of the car was showing about 140, the roof about 100. Now the hood...showed as much as 340! So we went down the passenger side of the car, and it looks like that whole side has been in an accident and repainted! A good repaint, but a really thick one.
The hood was, by far, the worst panel on the car. It was like the rest of the car had been washed with a brillo, but they saved the brick for the hood!
I'd asked JL to bring his Meg's 105 and a wool pad, and we didn't have a lot of luck with that it - it flashed super fast. So, the eventual combo for the hood was 3M Perfect-It II 1200-grit rubbing compound with an orange pad - the most aggressive stuff we had between us. We then put Menzerna Power Finish PO203S to work with another orange pad. The results were amazing - but still, some minor defects showed. We both decided that since it was a repaint, they were definitely under the clear. Time to move on.
The rest of the car was done with Power Finish and orange pads, JL working one side, me the other. We'd decided early on that I'd be following up with PO85RD, but upon examination of our results, didn't think it necessary. Power Finish is AMAZING stuff for a one-step. I think JL would agree that there wasn't much left on the table after Power Finish. You guys really should try it if you haven't.
Protection and LSP
This car's owner wanted the best, so he got it. First, I put down a layer of Jetseal. This was my first time using Jetseal, and can I just say the stuff is incredible. And removing it is the easiest thing in the world! While it was curing, I fiddled around in the interior, the car safely in the garage and out of the coming rain now. The following morning, the car got a coat of Rubbish Boy's Original Edition, and as others have said, this combination is money! RBOE is so good that I hardly see the point in having any other high-end wax.
Anyway, here are some photos.
The car as I got it:
Shots of the nasty wheels:
Here's the wheel with the mystery goo on it:
Shots of the hood. The car is stored outside, in a very wooded area, and near as we can tell, washed with either steel wool or bricks:
Driver side hood:
More hood:
You can see here that the paint needs help, but has the potential to be beautiful again:
Gas filler area dirty, pine needles all over, nasty wheels:
Driver side exhausts:
Passenger side exhausts:
There's a spider nest in the M5 badge on the trunklid! And lots of scratches too:
Another shot of one of the wheels. This one close up to show some weird staining that we figure was someone having used the wrong kind of wheel cleaner, and/or leaving it on too long:
A close-up of the hood. The chips are goners...
And now, some after shots...engine bay:
Paint looks a million times better, and so do the wheels:
Trunk. Those are the owner's trash bags, so I left them where I found them:
The exhausts are actually made of stainless - not metal painted with BBQ grill paint!
Fuel filler area, wheels, and the paint in general actually looks Imola Red now. And there's no pine needles coming out of everywhere!
Some interior shots:
Yep...this is the same hood, on the same car, as before:
A quick profile shot just before it started to sprinkle rain again :sorry: :
Thanks for looking!
This car belongs to a racing buddy of mine, who bought it at Carmax for a good price. It's a nice car, but was in need of some serious help!
Before I get on with the job description and photos, an apology for the photos. For some of the befores, I think I forgot to take the Canon off of manual focus. So the interior shots, and the shot of the engine bay, were useless. I threw them away. For the afters, I was stricken by a different problem...rain! I was to deliver the car today, and it rained off and on all day. I could only sneak the car out of my tiny one-car garage for minutes at a time for pictures, for fear of getting it rained on before delivering it. The photo thing for this job frustrates me a lot, so I'm going to go back to the customer's place of work and take some pictures, and post those later.
Anyway, on with the detail.
Wheels, wheel wells, and tires
The wheels on this thing were bad - really bad. BMWs, as you all know, are notorious for brake dust, and this one was no exception. The right rear had some kind of goop on it - near as we can guess, it must have been some fix-a-flat that had come out of the valve stem somewhere along the way. So we rinsed with the pressure washer, and went to work with some Meguiar's Wheel Bright (4:1) and my arsenal of brushes. Much improved, except for that fix-a-flat gunk. For that, we broke out Majestic Solutions' Body Solvent. As a just in case, JL suggested I pre-soak with Majestic's Super Green Stuff to counter any acid in the solvent. It worked like magic. Finally, for the lips on the rims, JL'd brought some Autosol metal polish, and I'm now a believer. Much better than my standard Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish.
The wells got soaked and scrubbed with Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff (3:1) and eventually dressed with Stoner Trim Shine. The tires were cleaned with the same SGS and eventually treated with Stoner More Shine, Less Time.
Exhaust
Another JL trick of starting with Meguiar's Wheel Bright was used with #0000 steel wool. Once they looked like metal again, they were polished with more #0000 steel wool and the same Autosol we used on the wheels. What great stuff. I'll be buying some for sure.
Engine
The method I learned from JL works like money. Rinse off the cold engine with low pressure water. Soak with Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff (3:1) and agitate where needed. I'm telling you, SGS is the best APC I've used. Cheap too. Blow it dry with the leaf blower, and treat with Meguiar's Hyper Dressing (3:1). Run the motor for 20 minutes to set it up, and wipe off the excess just before delivery. It works great.
Wash
First, a pre-soak of the front with Majestic Solutions' Bug Off, which is great stuff. Those of you who haven't checked out Majestic Solutions, you should. Their stuff works well and is well priced. 2 oz. of regular Dawn blue into JL's foam cannon...another toy I'll be buying. Wiped that down with microfiber mitts . The whole process, by the way, was using JL's CR Spotless system. I can't decide which big ticket item to save for first - a CR, or an extraction machine. I want both...
Clay
This was done using Riccardo clay and ONR clay lube. This was my first time using Riccardo and I really liked it. Nice and pliable, and it didn't try to break apart on me. Sigh, if only it were easier to get...
Glass
All the glass got Stoner Invisible Glass and Majestic Solutions microfiber window towels, which I really like. These towels last forever! Good for the planet, and they work great too.
Black plastic trim
The rub strips down the sides of the car got Lexol Vinylex. The black underspoiler, and the black mesh grill, both got Stoner Trim Shine.
Weatherstripping
Lexol Vinylex, which was thoroughly buffed so it wouldn't leave itself behind on the windows when they are closed. I think Vinylex is an underrated product - behaves similarly to 303, is less expensive, and easier to find. I've tried a bunch of stuff, but keep coming back to Vinylex.
Interior
This is an interesting interior. Most of it is swathed in leather! Obviously the seats, but also the center console, the door panels, even the dashboard!
So, first the mats were removed and brushed, then dry vacuumed. Same brush and vac for all the interior carpets, including the trunk. The mats got Folex, scrubbed with my carpet brush, vacuumed again, and set aside. I couldn't tell if Folex was any good or not. The carpets on this car are deep black, and if they were dirty...I couldn't really tell by looking. Still, I cleaned them anyway, because I'm a wacko
The interior plastic, vinyl and leather all got Majestic Solutions Leather and Plastic Cleaner, 1:1. The only thing I don't like about this stuff is the smell - very chemical. Otherwise, it's great stuff, and cleans extremely well.
Now clean, the leather got Chemical Guys Pure Leather Conditioner. JL gave me this stuff, since he's an Einszett guy now, but I really like this one a lot. The almost gel-like thickness makes it easy to apply with getting it all over, it smells nice, and just a quick wipe down and you've got a nice, natural looking finish, but one where you can tell the leather's been treated. Which is what the customer wanted - "not too shiny."
The rubberized plastic bits got Vinylex, and the button consoles, gauge cluster, and nav screen got Einszett Cockpit Premium. I even took a dry microfiber and "combed" the alcantara headliner so it was all laying in one direction when I was done.
Paint
Out of curiosity, we put JL's paint thickness gauge on the car. Driver side of the car was showing about 140, the roof about 100. Now the hood...showed as much as 340! So we went down the passenger side of the car, and it looks like that whole side has been in an accident and repainted! A good repaint, but a really thick one.
The hood was, by far, the worst panel on the car. It was like the rest of the car had been washed with a brillo, but they saved the brick for the hood!
I'd asked JL to bring his Meg's 105 and a wool pad, and we didn't have a lot of luck with that it - it flashed super fast. So, the eventual combo for the hood was 3M Perfect-It II 1200-grit rubbing compound with an orange pad - the most aggressive stuff we had between us. We then put Menzerna Power Finish PO203S to work with another orange pad. The results were amazing - but still, some minor defects showed. We both decided that since it was a repaint, they were definitely under the clear. Time to move on.The rest of the car was done with Power Finish and orange pads, JL working one side, me the other. We'd decided early on that I'd be following up with PO85RD, but upon examination of our results, didn't think it necessary. Power Finish is AMAZING stuff for a one-step. I think JL would agree that there wasn't much left on the table after Power Finish. You guys really should try it if you haven't.
Protection and LSP
This car's owner wanted the best, so he got it. First, I put down a layer of Jetseal. This was my first time using Jetseal, and can I just say the stuff is incredible. And removing it is the easiest thing in the world! While it was curing, I fiddled around in the interior, the car safely in the garage and out of the coming rain now. The following morning, the car got a coat of Rubbish Boy's Original Edition, and as others have said, this combination is money! RBOE is so good that I hardly see the point in having any other high-end wax.
Anyway, here are some photos.
The car as I got it:
Shots of the nasty wheels:
Here's the wheel with the mystery goo on it:
Shots of the hood. The car is stored outside, in a very wooded area, and near as we can tell, washed with either steel wool or bricks:
Driver side hood:
More hood:
You can see here that the paint needs help, but has the potential to be beautiful again:
Gas filler area dirty, pine needles all over, nasty wheels:
Driver side exhausts:
Passenger side exhausts:
There's a spider nest in the M5 badge on the trunklid! And lots of scratches too:
Another shot of one of the wheels. This one close up to show some weird staining that we figure was someone having used the wrong kind of wheel cleaner, and/or leaving it on too long:
A close-up of the hood. The chips are goners...
And now, some after shots...engine bay:
Paint looks a million times better, and so do the wheels:
Trunk. Those are the owner's trash bags, so I left them where I found them:
The exhausts are actually made of stainless - not metal painted with BBQ grill paint!
Fuel filler area, wheels, and the paint in general actually looks Imola Red now. And there's no pine needles coming out of everywhere!
Some interior shots:
Yep...this is the same hood, on the same car, as before:
A quick profile shot just before it started to sprinkle rain again :sorry: :
Thanks for looking!
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,818
Likes: 3
From: SE Michigan, USA
wow i don't know whats better- the befor and afters or the write-up! thanx for all the awesome details of how things went and the mini-reviews of all the different products used. i too love jetseal (even if it's durability is questioned) and i can't believe how super crazy stupid easy it comes off. i've heard tons of great things about RBOE and if it wasn't for getting souveran and supernatural not all too long ago - i'd most def buy some. who knows - maybe one day i'll be able to try it out.
the rims and exhaust cleaned up nicely and really made a huge difference i think, and i like the final look of the tires - nice and deep black without drawing too much attention.
the attention to detail i think truly pushed this detail over the top. everything being dressed and taken care of like all trim and rubber, and boy will the owner be suprised the next time he/she has to get gas - CLEAN gas area - one of my pet peaves
nice job!
the rims and exhaust cleaned up nicely and really made a huge difference i think, and i like the final look of the tires - nice and deep black without drawing too much attention.
the attention to detail i think truly pushed this detail over the top. everything being dressed and taken care of like all trim and rubber, and boy will the owner be suprised the next time he/she has to get gas - CLEAN gas area - one of my pet peaves
nice job!
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,511
Likes: 1
From: NC
Originally Posted by MuttGrunt' date='Jan 5 2009, 12:43 AM
wow i don't know whats better- the befor and afters or the write-up! thanx for all the awesome details of how things went and the mini-reviews of all the different products used. i too love jetseal (even if it's durability is questioned) and i can't believe how super crazy stupid easy it comes off. i've heard tons of great things about RBOE and if it wasn't for getting souveran and supernatural not all too long ago - i'd most def buy some. who knows - maybe one day i'll be able to try it out.
the rims and exhaust cleaned up nicely and really made a huge difference i think, and i like the final look of the tires - nice and deep black without drawing too much attention.
the attention to detail i think truly pushed this detail over the top. everything being dressed and taken care of like all trim and rubber, and boy will the owner be suprised the next time he/she has to get gas - CLEAN gas area - one of my pet peaves
nice job!
the rims and exhaust cleaned up nicely and really made a huge difference i think, and i like the final look of the tires - nice and deep black without drawing too much attention.
the attention to detail i think truly pushed this detail over the top. everything being dressed and taken care of like all trim and rubber, and boy will the owner be suprised the next time he/she has to get gas - CLEAN gas area - one of my pet peaves
nice job!
Regarding RBOE, currently, you can get a pot for under $60 USD, thanks to the favorable dollar to pound exchange rate. I paid $80 USD for mine, and I'd pay that again. It's that good. I've never tried Supernatural though, I'm sure it's great as well. So many waxes...so little time.
Regarding the tires - believe it or not, that's three applications of Stoner "More Shine, Less Time!" They just sucked the stuff up. I agree though, I like how they just look like tires, without being all used car lot shiny. This Stoner stuff is great for that.
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 868
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From: Ft. Lauderdale
looks great, my buddy and I just recently detailed a 335i that has been owned for almost a year and never cleaned once! took a lot of work but it came back to life. not cleaning the car must be a BMW owner thing
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,818
Likes: 3
From: SE Michigan, USA
Originally Posted by krshultz' date='Jan 6 2009, 08:50 AM
Thanks!
Regarding RBOE, currently, you can get a pot for under $60 USD, thanks to the favorable dollar to pound exchange rate. I paid $80 USD for mine, and I'd pay that again. It's that good. I've never tried Supernatural though, I'm sure it's great as well. So many waxes...so little time.
Regarding the tires - believe it or not, that's three applications of Stoner "More Shine, Less Time!" They just sucked the stuff up. I agree though, I like how they just look like tires, without being all used car lot shiny. This Stoner stuff is great for that.
Regarding RBOE, currently, you can get a pot for under $60 USD, thanks to the favorable dollar to pound exchange rate. I paid $80 USD for mine, and I'd pay that again. It's that good. I've never tried Supernatural though, I'm sure it's great as well. So many waxes...so little time.
Regarding the tires - believe it or not, that's three applications of Stoner "More Shine, Less Time!" They just sucked the stuff up. I agree though, I like how they just look like tires, without being all used car lot shiny. This Stoner stuff is great for that.
hhmmm... i sill have bout half maybe a lil less of a supernatural sampler if u'r interested in doing a little wax swapping... i could send u what i have left in the sampler and u could send it back with an equal about of RBOE...
i know they're somewhat similar - high 'nuba % waxes with slow solvents that are made to be put on extra thin and left on for a long time before buffing off.
nice app with the stoners and once again nice work. there was a guy in another section of the site trying to get pricing advice b/c he wants to sell his berlina s2k. i told him to look into having it detailed by a guy like u (he was in charlotte) but i guess he's not interested
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,511
Likes: 1
From: NC
Originally Posted by MuttGrunt' date='Jan 6 2009, 03:40 PM
hhmmm... i sill have bout half maybe a lil less of a supernatural sampler if u'r interested in doing a little wax swapping... i could send u what i have left in the sampler and u could send it back with an equal about of RBOE...
i know they're somewhat similar - high 'nuba % waxes with slow solvents that are made to be put on extra thin and left on for a long time before buffing off.
nice app with the stoners and once again nice work. there was a guy in another section of the site trying to get pricing advice b/c he wants to sell his berlina s2k. i told him to look into having it detailed by a guy like u (he was in charlotte) but i guess he's not interested
i know they're somewhat similar - high 'nuba % waxes with slow solvents that are made to be put on extra thin and left on for a long time before buffing off.
nice app with the stoners and once again nice work. there was a guy in another section of the site trying to get pricing advice b/c he wants to sell his berlina s2k. i told him to look into having it detailed by a guy like u (he was in charlotte) but i guess he's not interested
Regarding the trade - let me get back to you after this weekend. Got an F-150 Lightning coming in, which of course is a big vehicle. I want to make sure I've got plenty of the stuff to do that with.