Nikku Detailed: 17 year old BMW 320i.. grrr

[nikku]

Ok so lets get started.

This was a real tough one. I was very surprised when I saw the condition of the car. First off the car has been resprayed at least twice. Paint was measured
to be as low as 36 and as high as 430. Yes i know. Not only that the clearcoat varied. While some areas
were semi soft white others were super hard. So lets just say I had to pretty much use everything I had.

I spent about 18-20 hours just on the paint and nothing else. I did not do any wetsanding as that would have
taken too much time and considering the amount of variables I was up against I left that out and focused on the
overall outcome. I was aiming for 75% but I think I was able to attain 80%. You be the judge.

Anyways on to the detail.

Wash
Optimum No Rinse
Groute Sponge
Two Buckets
Two Grit Guards
Waffle Weave Drying Towel
Buffing Towels

Clay
Riccardo Yellow
Chemical Guys Synthetic QD for clay lube

Paint Correction
Meguiars M105
Menzerna SIP
Menzerna PF
Menzerna PO85rd
3M Ultrafina
Tufbuf Wool Pads
Sonus Yellow
Sonus White
Sonus Blue
LC Yellow 4 inch
LC Orange 4 inch
LC White 4 inch

LSP
Collinite 476

Window
RainX

Equipment
3M Sungun
Fenix TK10
Halogens
Positector 6000
Metabo
PC7424

BEFORES









































Paint Measurement

[nikku]

During

Apparently the hood was "repainted" and then apparently it was sanded to hell and yes with the
low paint readings in the first place. Boy what can you do...

So with the hood having such low paint readings varying from 36-70+ microns I had to be very careful.
I made a call to the client to let him know the situation with the hood and how he would like me to proceed.
He told me to do the best that I could and the best that I could it was. I settled on SIP, PO85rd and ultrafina
but after each I took measurements so I'm within a comfortable means. The area where it was 36 microns I only went with
one pass of Menzerna Powerfinish.













Trunk.
Yes... the trunk. It has been repainted at least once. It was just as much a headache as the hood
without the low readings but boy was it touchy.







Menzerna SIP broken down.



After SIP wiped off.



More compounding and polishing...

[nikku]

Refining stages...

[nikku]

Refining stages...

[nikku]

Some of the paint was so sensitive that wiping with my microfiber towel enduced marring...
So to solve this issue I had to use minimal pressure. Talk about touchy.















Applying 3M Ultrafina with Sonus Blue pad.

Remember how it looked like before? Yea I know.







FINISHED PRODUCT.

[nikku]

Thanks for looking.

[ColinAndrews]

Kudos on your hard work man. I think the outcome is exceptional with that you were given. Having so many different combinations of hard/soft paint is a nightmare. You must have had to test an insane number of pad/polish combinations.

If I was the owner, I would be very satisfied with how many years you took of that car's age.

[hoppy6698]

Incredible job given its age and poor paint work. I truly hope the owner is investing some $ into some wheels to match the stellar finish now. Would be a shame to let that look go to waste.

[nikku]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The paint was headache to deal with I think just for the polishing pad I used 30 or so.

In terms of his wheels those are just his winters. He'll be slapping on his summers soon :)

[doubleu8]

Why cant I find someone in my area who does this kind of exceptional work?
The best I have found locally is someone who I will NEVER let touch my car again... They mad it look like they were prepping it for a used car lot