[FiveSouth]

This Monaco Blue 325i was in a pretty sad state. *The paintwork was riddled with RIDS, water etchings and car wash swirls. *The hood was a repaint by a body shop, and the cc was really thick! *I've never seen anything like it. *Even my trusty Cyclo was have trouble with the holograms and RIDS on the paint. *In the end, I won. *But it was a much tougher job than I thought it would be!

Here are the before pictures:




Lots of swirls and holograms. *I'm guessing the holograms are from a body shop "detailing."




The black trim was heavily oxidized:


Yikes!


A close up of the paintwork on the hood. *This is AFTER it was washed.


I found a lot of car cheese in here...


The wheels were in bad shape. *Acid stains and all...



I thought it would be best to just take them off and give them a good steaming:



After wash, clay and paint cleanse:


Some nice new racing stripes:


Time to take on the paint. *Cyclo and M105 are the first step. *I followed it up with black pads on the PC with M205:


After polishing:


Zaino time! *Z-5 with a few drops of ZFX. *Three coats with some Z-8 in between each layer:



Now time for my LSP. *Today I'm using Swissvax applied by hand:



Then I clay and steam the windows:

[FiveSouth]

And here are the after shots:








































Products/Equipment used:
Optimum No Rinse
M34 Final Inspection QD (clay lube)
Meguiar's Aggressive Clay
P21S Paint Cleaning Lotion
M105
M205
Zaino Z-7 Car Shampoo
Zaino Z-5 Show Car Polish
Zaino Z-8 QD
Swissvax Saphir Carnauba Wax
Stoner's Glass Cleaner
P21S Cockpit Cleaner
Cole Haan Leather Cleaner Conditioner
M40 Plastic & Vinyl Cleaner

Cyclo DA Polisher
Porter Cable 7424
ShopVac
Vapor Chief steam cleaner
Lake County Pads
Micro Fiber Tech towels

[OEKlM]

great job.... what did u use on the black plastic trim that was oxidized?

[OOO]

[nikku]

Very nice.

What kind of steamer is that? Looks like a nice hot sauna massage for the 325

Cheers,
Nick

[FiveSouth]

Originally Posted by oeklm

great job.... what did u use on the black plastic trim that was oxidized?

It's my own creation. I would be happy to share the ingredients, but I'm still doing R&D on it.

[drvai]

Hi! 2 questions:
-Why did you used Z8 between layers of Zaino?
They do not recomment it (?)

-Steaming the windows is just to clean?

[FiveSouth]

Originally Posted by nikku

Very nice.

What kind of steamer is that? Looks like a nice hot sauna massage for the 325

Cheers,
Nick

Its the Vapor Chief. Very useful machine. Makes my job so much easier!

[w00kiec00kie]

any tricks to cleaning the windows other than the steam / claying?
especially inside... it's hard to get a good pressure / angle on the inside and they always come out streaky when the windows fog up... :[

btw that's an insane difference...

[fanatic]

Very impressive.

[FiveSouth]

Originally Posted by w00kiec00kie

any tricks to cleaning the windows other than the steam / claying?
especially inside... it's hard to get a good pressure / angle on the inside and they always come out streaky when the windows fog up... :[

btw that's an insane difference...

Honestly, a good glass cleaner makes a world of difference. Also, cold windows are easier to clean than hot ones.

Also, get one of these:

[w00kiec00kie]

will do, thanks!

[kei169]

nice one! taking out those oxidized thing from the black trim is amazing!!

[zerox_guru]

nice job..