The car in question was a Phoenix Yellow E46 M3 that had been very well cared for by all of its owners. The car had been corrected by a previous owner several years ago and its current owner had done a great job of keeping her in tip top condition in the laws few years that he has owned her. The Car was covered in light marking and needed a bit of a lift. The real truth is that I have always thought this colour can be so much better than you normally see it so I was really looking forward to see how it will turn out. As the car was not heavily marked it means we could focus our effort on getting it to the best possible condition and considering this is a daily driver, we had our sights set high on having it as one of the best finished about. Some of you may have seen some pictures of her that went viral recently shutting down our site in the process lol!! That’s the power of the interweb for you! Now onto the wash process. The car was initially washed and prepared with Orchard Autocare Citrus Preclean to remove any road grime. Before the decontamination process to begin, and boy oh boy did it begin!!!! After Orchard Autocare Iron Cleanse was applied and allowed to do its thing!! This is one application and left to dwell over a 15 minute period. Due to the shear amount of reaction this process was repeated to ensure complete fallout removal and to be totally truthful there was only a small amount of residual reaction. This was then powerhosed off and some Orchard Autocare Tar Cleanse was applied to the arches, left to dwell for 10 minutes and hosed off. Finally as it was after midnight the car received a coat of Orchard Autocare Cotton Candy left to dwell and power hosed off before being put back in the garage for an early start later on that morning lol! Next morning the wheels were removed, arches were sprayed with our all purpose cleaner and left to dwell as the wheels were treated for Iron and tar contamination on the inner face. Then the arches were scrubbed and rinsed clean. The arches were also treated with Orchard Autocare Tar Cleanse to remove tar staining. The wheels were dried and treated with several coats of Orchard Autocare Speed Seal and the Tyres were Dressed with Zaino Z16. Wheel nuts were also sanded and repainted factory Satin Black. As we were doing the wheels, we completed removing the rest of the tar, then we fully washed the car using a single bucket method as we were going to correct the paint anyhow and by this stage most of the dirt has been removed. The car was also clayed using Regular Bilt Hambre Clay. Now for the correction stage. As you can see there was not much in the way of defects, but the paint in my opinion was very dead so we managed to get about 95%+ correction (I never say perfect as there are the odd wee marks that are too deep to realistically remove) but we placed a large emphasis on improving the gloss and finish. For correction we used the trusty Meguiars Microfibre system, then to refine we started with Megs 105 on a 3M yellow pad, Stepping down to refine with Megs 205 again on a 3M Yellow pad, and finishing with our new finishing compound on a 3M Blue Pad. In total about 30 hours was spent on correcting and finishing. The Wing vents were removed to assist cleaning once removed the inner wing was sealed with Speed Seal but the vents themselves needed a tidy up. The plastic was cleaned and dressed with our trim restore and the bright work was cleaned using our Chrome cut+ on a microfiber cloth and buffed. It was then sealed using our Chrome Polish Before: After: The exhausts were also cleaned using our Chrome Cut+ on a foam applicator pad and then sealed using our Chrome Polish Before: After: Now for the afters! The car was finished with 3 Layers of Zaino Z2 with Z6 applied between each coat then as we were also testing some new production ready products we applied our Own Orchard Autocare Perfection multi sealant to all surfaces including paint and glass. This product has been designed to bond to pretty much any other product and will improve the finish giving a very rich finish. On glass it gives great water repellence on par with the best on the market and for a spray finishing sealant will give about 4 weeks durability. And a few arty afters! Once again many thanks for taking time to read out thread and if you wish leave a comment below as its good to get feedback and all C&C are welcome. Many thanks Rollo
Incredible gloss in the after pics. When I was looking for an E46, I really wanted Phoenix Yellow but my wife said it looked like pee. :shakehead: Had to settle for Imola Red.
Looks great! I love the attention to detail you guys provided!! The work you put in to this car really shows in the results!
Looks fantastic. One of my best friends has this same car. I detailed his whip and it turned out very nice. Here's the link if you haven't seen it. http://www.detailingbliss.com/forum/show-shine/32641-2004-phoenix-yellow-m3-correction-interior.htm
