My good friend logs miles on his car. This kind of life on the road certainly comes at a price, and his daily runner is certainly suffering from severe neglect. Nicotine stained everything, food remnants everywhere, coffee spilled on the center console, the works. Depression is evident in so many places, and when my friend is down in the dumps, his car really suffers. I forced him to give me the keys and fix his car up for him to improve his outlook on life. Being his daily driver, he could really care less. With a e30 M project, an 80s M6 project, an e36 vert project, and a 20K mile 930 project, this car just gets no love. It felt like garbage to drive, and I really thought the car was going to get put out to pasture the way the owner was talking. My normal camera was dead, so the iPhone pics will have to do. Look at this mess! Upon arrival Drunk drivers doing their damage Pockets FULL of change from the Mass Pike What's for dinner? AC Schnitzer Wheels went from this: To this! SV brush Daytona brush (ruins anything you're wearing) Meg's Wheel Bright Meg's APC CWG Sealed with AJT Wells got APC, dressed with Griot's undercarriage spray Interior took 2 hours. SV brushes and some APC, and I got down to scrubbing every face of every door panel, dash, surround, and piece of trim. Some of the gunk had to be soaked and scraped out before it could be vacuumed. Windows got hit with Invisible Glass and an MF, while 1z deep plastic cleaner cleaned the upper dash and control area. Gas pedal and brake were scrubbed with 1z as well. Carpets were extracted using a mix of APC and Woolite. Ash everywhere! I disassembled a good portion of the center console to properly clean everything. All vents wiped out as well. 1z Cockpit was used for a final wipe down of everything inside, and the leather was treated with 1z leather after being cleaned. All personal items were placed in a zip lock back and put into the trunk. Just a few pics, pressed for time. Door jambs all got hit with TAW and another SV brush. Car washed with Megs Gold Class and 4oz of APC after lower panels got APC 4:1 to shift some of the grime. Clayed using ONR and some werkstatt clay. Tardis was used to move some deposits on the lower sections and wheels. Another wash followed with P21S soap. Double buckets with grits and dried off with WW. AJT was the sealant of choice due to ease/time of application. This old girl looked great once I was rushed into finishing, and it even drove better and felt smoother. The indicator stalk even worked now that all the grime was out of it, as did EVERY button on the dashboard. No time for polishing, so the 7424 and 9227 got a rest. I'll be doing a correction come springtime, but just a clean up and coat of protection was needed for now. All trim dressed as were the tires with OPT. Sorry for the quick writeup, trying to post before my daughter wakes up from her nap!
wow i cant belive it only took you 2 hours for the inside. thats working hard with some speed. thing looks great
Looks alot better that thing was looking horrible is your friend going to replace the drivers door or at least repair it? As it takes away from the look quite a bit.
Great turnaround! Almost spit out my granola bar when I saw that! Just nasty. Thing looked SO much better, even without the polish.
Thanks for the kind words everyone. My buddy said this was the motivation he needed to actually get the door fixed.
i love interior pics more than 50/50 paint correction. awesome job, you are a nice friend. I do the same for my dad, since he hasn't cleaned any of his cars since he's owned them.
Nice work. No offense to your friend but that thing was TRASHED. Shame too, because I love those E39 540i's. I agree about interior cleanups, there's just something about them that draws me in more than paint corrections
