E39 BMW M5: JL and Karl team up on a basket case!

A couple weeks ago, I went out to JL's place to help him detail a big black Suburban. We hit it off, and decided to do it again. This time, our man JL came out to Raleigh, to help me with this Imola Red BMW M5.

This car belongs to a racing buddy of mine, who bought it at Carmax for a good price. It's a nice car, but was in need of some serious help!

Before I get on with the job description and photos, an apology for the photos. For some of the befores, I think I forgot to take the Canon off of manual focus. So the interior shots, and the shot of the engine bay, were useless. I threw them away. For the afters, I was stricken by a different problem...rain! I was to deliver the car today, and it rained off and on all day. I could only sneak the car out of my tiny one-car garage for minutes at a time for pictures, for fear of getting it rained on before delivering it. The photo thing for this job frustrates me a lot, so I'm going to go back to the customer's place of work and take some pictures, and post those later.

Anyway, on with the detail. I'm going to try and mirror JL's style of writeups by breaking stuff into sections - I like how readable that is.

Wheels, wheel wells, and tires
The wheels on this thing were bad - really bad. BMWs, as you all know, are notorious for brake dust, and this one was no exception. The right rear had some kind of goop on it - near as we can guess, it must have been some fix-a-flat that had come out of the valve stem somewhere along the way. So we rinsed with the pressure washer, and went to work with some Meguiar's Wheel Bright (4:1) and my arsenal of brushes. Much improved, except for that fix-a-flat gunk. For that, we broke out Majestic Solutions' Body Solvent. As a just in case, JL suggested I pre-soak with Majestic's Super Green Stuff to counter any acid in the solvent. It worked like magic. Finally, for the lips on the rims, JL'd brought some Autosol metal polish, and I'm now a believer. Much better than my standard Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish.

The wells got soaked and scrubbed with Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff (3:1) and eventually dressed with Stoner Trim Shine. The tires were cleaned with the same SGS and eventually treated with Stoner More Shine, Less Time.

Exhaust
Another JL trick of starting with Meguiar's Wheel Bright was used with #0000 steel wool. Once they looked like metal again, they were polished with more #0000 steel wool and the same Autosol we used on the wheels. What great stuff. I'll be buying some for sure.

Engine
The method I learned from JL works like money. Rinse off the cold engine with low pressure water. Soak with Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff (3:1) and agitate where needed. I'm telling you, SGS is the best APC I've used. Cheap too. Blow it dry with the leaf blower, and treat with Meguiar's Hyper Dressing (3:1). Run the motor for 20 minutes to set it up, and wipe off the excess just before delivery. It works great.

Wash
First, a pre-soak of the front with Majestic Solutions' Bug Off, which is great stuff. Those of you who haven't checked out Majestic Solutions, you should. Their stuff works well and is well priced. 2 oz. of regular Dawn blue into JL's foam cannon...another toy I'll be buying. JL you are costing me money man! :applause2: Wiped that down with microfiber mitts . The whole process, by the way, was using JL's CR Spotless system. I can't decide which big ticket item to save for first - a CR, or an extraction machine. I want both...

Clay
This was done using Riccardo clay and ONR clay lube. This was my first time using Riccardo and I really liked it. Nice and pliable, and it didn't try to break apart on me. Sigh, if only it were easier to get...

Glass
All the glass got Stoner Invisible Glass and Majestic Solutions microfiber window towels, which I really like. These towels last forever! Good for the planet, and they work great too.

Black plastic trim
The rub strips down the sides of the car got Lexol Vinylex. The black underspoiler, and the black mesh grill, both got Stoner Trim Shime.

Weatherstripping
Lexol Vinylex, which was thoroughly buffed so it wouldn't leave itself behind on the windows when they are closed. I think Vinylex is an underrated product - behaves similarly to 303, is less expensive, and easier to find. I've tried a bunch of stuff, but keep coming back to Vinylex.

Interior
This is an interesting interior. Most of it is swathed in leather! Obviously the seats, but also the center console, the door panels, even the dashboard! I wasn't sure, so I poked around on the web, and sure enough, it's the real thing.

So, first the mats were removed and brushed, then dry vacuumed. Same brush and vac for all the interior carpets, including the trunk. The mats got Folex, scrubbed with my carpet brush, vacuumed again, and set aside. I couldn't tell if Folex was any good or not. The carpets on this car are deep black, and if they were dirty...I couldn't really tell by looking. Still, I cleaned them anyway, because I'm a detailer.

The interior plastic, vinyl and leather all got Majestic Solutions Leather and Plastic Cleaner, 1:1. The only thing I don't like about this stuff is the smell - very chemical. Otherwise, it's great stuff, and cleans extremely well.

Now clean, the leather got Chemical Guys Pure Leather Conditioner. JL gave me this stuff, since he's an Einszett guy now, but I really like this one a lot as well. The almost gel-like thickness makes it easy to apply with getting it all over, it smells nice, and just a quick wipe down and you've got a nice, natural looking finish, but one where you can tell the leather's been treated. Which is what the customer wanted - "not too shiny." The rubberized plastic bits got Vinylex, and the button consoles, gauge cluster, and nav screen got Einszett Cockpit Premium. I even took a dry microfiber and "combed" the alcantara headliner so it was all laying in one direction when I was done.

Paint
Out of curiosity, we put JL's paint thickness gauge on the car. Driver side of the car was showing about 140, the roof about 100. Now the hood...showed as much as 340! So we went down the passenger side of the car, and it looks like that whole side has been in an accident and repainted! A good repaint, but a really thick one.

JL had brought a huge selection of pads. I've figured out the problem with my prized Meguiar's Solo backing plate - a lot of other pads don't fit on it well. So I used one of JL's 3M UK backing plates on my Makita, and he another on his Metabo. We went to work.

The hood was, by far, the worst panel on the car. It was like the rest of the car had been washed with a brillo, but they saved the brick for the hood! :yikes: I'd asked JL to bring his Meg's 105 and a wool pad, and we didn't have a lot of luck with that it - it flashed super fast. So, the eventual combo for the hood was 3M Perfect-It II 1200-grit rubbing compound with an orange pad - the most aggressive stuff we had between us. We then put Menzerna Power Finish PO203S to work with another orange pad. The results were amazing - but still, some minor defects showed. We both decided that since it was a repaint, they were definitely under the clear. Time to move on.

The rest of the car was done with Power Finish and orange pads, JL working one side, me the other. We'd decided early on that I'd be following up with PO85RD, but upon examination of our results, didn't think it necessary. Power Finish is AMAZING stuff for a one-step. I think JL would agree that there wasn't much left on the table after Power Finish.

Protection and LSP
This car's owner wanted the best, so he got it. First, I put down a layer of Jetseal. This was my first time using Jetseal, and can I just say the stuff is incredible. And removing it is the easiest thing in the world! While it was curing, I fiddled around in the interior, the car safely in the garage and out of the coming rain now. The following morning, the car got a coat of Rubbish Boy's Original Edition, and as others have said, this combination is money! :worship2:

Anyway, here are some photos.

The car as I got it:



Shots of the nasty wheels:





Here's the wheel with the mystery goo on it:



Shots of the hood. The car is stored outside, in a very wooded area, and near as we can tell, washed with either steel wool or bricks:

Driver side hood:



More hood:



You can see here that the paint needs help, but has the potential to be beautiful again:



Gas filler area dirty, pine needles all over, nasty wheels:



Driver side exhausts:



Passenger side exhausts:



There's a spider nest in the M5 badge on the trunklid! And lots of scratches too:



Another shot of one of the wheels. This one close up to show some weird staining that we figure was someone having used the wrong kind of wheel cleaner, and/or leaving it on too long:



A close-up of the hood. The chips are goners...





And now, some after shots...engine bay:



Paint looks a million times better, and so do the wheels:



Trunk. Those are the owner's trash bags, so I left them where I found them:



The exhausts are actually made of stainless - not metal painted with BBQ grill paint!



Fuel filler area, wheels, and the paint in general actually looks Imola Red now. And there's no pine needles coming out of everywhere!



Some interior shots:







Yep...this is the same hood, on the same car, as before:



A quick profile shot just before it started to sprinkle rain again :sorry: :









Thanks again to JL for the help, and for letting me learn some of his many tricks. JL, I'm Luke Skywalker to your Yoda!

 

Damn you guys did a hell of a job on that. Restoring wheels is my favorite part of the detail.

 

Damn very nice, gotta get some of those products you use to try em out

 

Amazing work!! Very nice!

 

Gorgeous car in a stunning color, great work.

No pics of the team at work though?

 

Wow I wish i had that Car!!!!!! Amazing!

 

that looks amazing. I love imola red!

 

One thing is for sure the write up is definetly JL's style. Very good read. the car came out just beautiful. Great detail...:thumb:

 

Damn guys, stunningly impressive!

 

Thanks! I think we were both really proud of this one. I know I am.

Majestic Solutions' website is...not very good, if I'm honest. They're about five minutes from where I'm living, so when I need something, I just go there. But if you have questions about something they offer, I may know, or I can even ask them the next time I go in.

JL and I agree that they really should put more effort into online sales. I'd put SGS up against any APC, and their Ultra Gloss is, hands down, the best maintenance shampoo I've used. It's like a bucket full of quick detailer.

Thanks!

Well, with one of us using a Makita, and the other a Metabo...who was going to hold the camera? J/K

It's just as good to drive as it is to sit in. There's power everywhere, great brakes, great...everything. I am completely in love with it.

Thanks! It's my favorite BMW color too. When I found out this one was Imola, I couldn't wait to work on it.

Thanks Buddy! Yeah, JL's style of writeup is a pleasure to read. Eventually I'll find my own style...

Thank you as well, Denzil!

 

Great tag team, vehicle looks bright, nice to see JL passed on some of his awesome rotary skills.

 

I wish they were that close to me. What other products from them have you tried? I'm probably going to order a bunch of cleaners and degreasers from them as they're well priced. Any luck on their dressings?

 

Thanks AR! JL's been more than generous sharing his experience with me. He's close enough that we can get together occasionally, but not so close that we'd be competing for business with each other.

Here's the list of stuff I've used from MS that I've liked. I've never tried any of their dressings, but JL has, so hopefully he'll chime in.

- Bug Off: a bug and tar remover that works very well
- Lemonator: carpet cleaner. I even use this around the house, it's great
- Carpet Spotter HD: aerosol carpet stuff. STRONG, use with care. When you use it, it's so strong, that the foam immediately comes up brown with the stain.
- Super Duty upholstery cleaner: still quite powerful but a much safer upholstery cleaner. Smells nice too.
- Ultra Gloss: best maintenance shampoo I've used. Like I said, it's like washing your car with a bucket of good QD. JL says it's great in his foam cannon as well.
- Microfiber window towels. They might be the same as all the others, but these things last FOREVER, and work brilliantly.
- Re-Kote: a bumper and trim dye. Kind of messy to work with, but if you want a black plastic mirror housing (for instance) to look BLACK and stay that way, this is great for that
- Leather and Plastic Cleaner: although I wish it smelled better than it does, I've found nothing better for general interior cleaning
- Spray Shine: a pretty nice QD. I *think* it's got silicone in it, so if you don't like that, best to avoid that one
- Super Green Stuff: JL turned me onto this APC, and it's awesome.

Nearly all of their stuff can be diluted with water, and most of it actually needs to be diluted. So it's even more cost effective.

 

Great info, do you know by any chance if they have any online sales? I see they have in store coupons. But nothing online. Which other apcs have you tried? For those prices, they seem to be a bargain.

 

Great job guys. Car looks fantastic.

 

oh come on guys double the trouble an this is the best you two could do.

just kidding came out good when you two opening shop lol.

 

Nice work guys. I like the results a lot. :thumb:
great write-up too!

 

You guys did an awesome job to that M5 :thumb: I love it when people restore the wheels.

 

Interesting....I might have to order some of this MS stuff you speak of :thumb:

 

I wish I were closer to JL's neck of the woods so that I could lend a hand and pick up on some skills whenever he gets a sweet ride to detail... :worship2: