2011 335is Opticoat

Discussion in 'Show and Shine' started by BigDreZ28, Apr 7, 2014.

  1. BigDreZ28

    BigDreZ28 Jedi Nuba

    Last year I detailed my friend's scion and his wife's 325ci at his house. He sold the scion and got this beauty so I made another trip down the road to add some protection.
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    Dirty
    He wanted the wheels protected, so I suggested we try opti-coat. He liked the idea and said let's do the whole car. My first full opti-coat job.
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    Xpel
    Owner already had full hood/mirrors/fenders/headlights/bumpers/rockers/pieces of rear bumper covered with Xpel ultimate self healing film. The installer has been very prompt about addressing a few issues with the installation and will return to fix this soon...so I didn't coat the front bumper.
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    Exhausts
    Owner informed me that the exterior of the tips are supposed to be black, however I still needed to clean up the soot deposits.
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    Not my stuff
    After my first detail for him, the owner started investing a bit of cash to help maintain his cars safely in between details. He got a water softener, foam cannon/nice two bucket setup, and a good selection of products for touchups.
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    Prep cleaning
    Did the wheels and arches first (nothing exciting to show there) then hit all the lower edges around the car with CG Bug&Tar wash diluted 1:1 in a spray bottle.
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    Foam
    Did not dwell long as sun was coming up. Detail brushed crevices and rinsed immediately. Dawn soap with a bit of CG citrus.
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    New wash mitt
    Did a supply order last week and decided to try this Gtechniq australian long hair mitt. Upon first glance i was underwhelmed...I'm used to mitts being thicker than this one is. Once I started using it, I loved it. I feel the mitt did a great job. Purchased from Autoality. Paint was silky smooth and decontamination did not take long at all.
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    Dry time
    Ridgid wd1680 shop vac...motor detaches and comes with a blower attachment. Awesome drying power. For mobile jobs I bring my metro vac and use the ridgid stritcly for drying...leave the bucket at home.
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    Bad water
    For some reason their water went to hell between now and last year when I first came to visit...even with the softener the car spotted up bad immediately. This was a major headache and severe time delay forcing extra polishing.
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    Bad water
    After I finished my polishing work (thinking that the spotting was caused by soap and not the water) I gave the whole car a thorough rinse with only water, blasting all the crevices like usual. Again, the car spotted up immediately before I had a chance to put the pressure washer down; even in cooler temperatures as as the sun began to set. I was forced to re-polish quite a few sections of the car before coating.
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    Normal polishing results.
    Taped off the edge of the xpel film. Swirlies on this side of the bumper...
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    Clarity on this side after some polishing. Used m100 on a MF pad to quickly cut the water stains then used si1500. ONLY si1500 was used on the xpel with very light pressure. Went with an enhancement style job to balance time/budget....not 100 percent flawless but I got it up to 90% correction.
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    Wheels
    Plan was to remove and fully coat all wheels. We discovered that Thor had installed the lug bolts way too tight...even after man handling the bolts loose I couldn't get the wheel off the hub. In this photo I was touching up the wheels before coating. I coated the barrels as much as I could reach ( a lot thanks to the nice open spoke design, just a few knuckle scrapes on the rotors)
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    Exhaust after
    I used a wheel woolie to scrub inside the tip during the wash...using CG bug and tar and then iron x for decon. Afterwards the interior of the tips were cleaned up with 0000 steel wool and CG metal polish. Exterior of the tips were cleaned with a microfibre and CG metal polish. Tips were coated to help fight future discoloration.
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    Interior dialed in.
    Sorry, no detailed pics here. Owner's main concern was several silverish/white stains on the seats/armrests/door panels of unknown origin. From my experience my best guess was sunscreen ruboff. Removed stains with AF hide leather cleanser and 1z plastic deep cleaner where necessary. Applied AF hide leather conditioner and 303 aerospace on their respective surfaces.
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    After coating
    I gave the owner a sample bottle of SF4500 to keep on hand in case he needs to lightly polish defects out of the coating.
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    Black trim around the side windows was hand polished with si1500.
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    I will be keeping tabs on this car to make sure everything is holding up ok since it is my first full opticoat job..i've only done a couple test panels here and there. I did spend a bit of time knocking down high spots in the morning. I of course told the owner to call if he needs me to address any issues.
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    Opticoat had a nice darkening effect on the rear bumper black trim...after ample time removing old wax.
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    Thanks for viewing
    I plan to make a return trip sometime to check on the car and try to address some of the water stains in the engine bay plastics and other places I was unable to remove. I'm proud of the effort i put in but the water issue really kicked my butt.
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    Stokdgs likes this.
  2. Chas

    Chas DB Forum Supporter

    Looks awesome, great work. That transformable shop vac looks like a beast.
     
    BigDreZ28 likes this.
  3. JordanL

    JordanL Virgin Detailer

    Great work and nice write up!
     
    BigDreZ28 likes this.
  4. BigDreZ28

    BigDreZ28 Jedi Nuba

    thanks folks!
     
  5. detailersdomain

    detailersdomain Administrator

    great job, thanks for sharing.
     
  6. Stokdgs

    Stokdgs Detail Master

    Beautiful work and write up !

    BMW wheels if they have been on for years and never off, will sometimes rust to the the axles and you have to take a rubber hammer and hit them on the back side to get them loose.. Its also good to spray some WD40 back there and let it work awhile, from top to bottom, to help start the removal process...

    Once its off it is always really good to remove all the rust on both mating pieces and perhaps coat the axle face with some Permatex Anti-Seize...
    The torque is usually 85 ft lbs and too much is always not a good thing...
    Dan F
     
  7. P1et

    P1et Official DB Moderator

    I have always loved the 335is and they looks great, especially in this shade of blue. It's "Estoril" if I'm not mistaken, right?

    Nice work!
     

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