This car was a referral from the salesperson at the Infiniti store. She had sold this car used to her client and had him contact me to get it back in shape. The paint had a lot of scratches including an area which was keyed. That area was touched up but I didn't have enough time to bring the level up high enough to make it disappear..it was a pretty deep one. The owner is a smoker so the interior was a challenge as well. This is the car that I used the Folex/Steam combo on that did so well. It is a light gray colour as you can see so it really showed the dirt. The owner was thrilled and told me it looked better than the day he bought it used. I used a variety of compounds and polishes on this one..some old friends that I haven't used for a while either... The Process: Wheels/Tires: I first tried DG wheel cleaner but they were nasty so I went straight to Megs WB...as usual, it never let me down Tires cleaned with Zep Citrus Wells cleaned with Zep Citrus Wheels re-cleaned with Zep to neutralize the acid Wheels polished with DG 501 Wheels sealed with JS 109 Tires dressed with DP gel Wells dressed with Adams Undercarriage spray Wash: Foamed using foam cannon with DG soap and Zep Citrus Floor mats removed and foamed as well Re-washed with 2bm using DG soap and grout sponge Clayed with CM blue Head/Tail lights: Compounded with orange foam pad and Ultra Cutting Creme light Polished with blue 4" pad and DG plastic polish Sealed with DG Paint: Multiple touch ups including area where keyed (leveled later using Langka) Rough spots compounded with PG and pfw pad using rotary at 1400 Compounded with orange foam pad using Presta Ultra cutting creme light and rotary at 1200-1400 Polished with XMT360 with blue pad using rotary at 1000 rpm Sealed with DG beta sealant Glass: Steam cleaned and then sealed with DG beta sealant Interior: I put several Bounce dryer sheets in the car the 1st night to absorb some of the cigarette smell. I changed them out the next day to new ones. Interior thouroughly vacuumed Rubber mats were cleaned with car and then dressed with Crappy Tire tire spray Carpeting stain treated with Folex and steamed clean Door panels and leather seating surfaces were treated with Folex, agitated with soft brush and steamed clean Leather treated with DG leather cream Wood trim cleaned and treated with AW Exhaust tips: polished with UCCL polished with blue job metal cleaner BEFORES: GETTING FOAMED: AFTERS:
Interesting, that 545i might have pleather. because it doesn't have the sports package nor does it have double stitching on the seats (leather BMW's have twin stitching running top to bottom of the covers). That's also the 2nd E60 545i I've ever seen without the sports package... But hmnn I'm about 65% sure that BMW only made the light grey interior in leather.
Nice job. You should try using your steam cleaner on the steering wheel, with a brush wrapped in a towel. You'd be surprised how much dirt and oil comes off.
Awesome job Richy.. The inside of the wheels on BMW are a major PITA for folks that don't care for those wheels. I have had wheels look exactly like that after WB. You can only do so much without taking the wheels off.
Thanks Tom..it feels good to be back in the swing of it! I don't know what variant of leather it is, but it sure felt like regular leather to me. Ken..I worked the hell out of those wheels..WB at 4:1. Nothing else even came close to doing anything. That was as good as I could get them..and I'm picky as hell when it comes to wheels!! Thanks Rocket! I appreciate it! Thanks P1et! You're right.it was rough...as it was, it took 14 hours to do. I really don't like charging more than that. You're right..I will give that a shot next time. Thanks Sal! You work with what you've got...
Ricky, yes, you have done a phenomenol job, but I have to admit, those tims (inside), they still look filthy...Maybe it's one of those things where you have to remove them to get them real clean...Wheel Brightener worked better then that for me on my wife's BMW rims...
Thanks Pat...I don't want to get into jacking up a customer's car and re-torquing wheel nuts and the like. I get them as good as I can being on the car, and that's it. I don't want to charge someone for a 20 or 25 hour detail as well..especially in the economically depressed area in which I live, that's too much. There's no question I would have preferred them to come out better but without resorting to removing them, it was the best that I could do at the time, again without charging more than I was comfortable with.
