Well I was contacted by a member on here about Detailing their BMW 550i. It is Jet Black and the paint was pretty much destroyed by someone else. I think the dealership it was bought from marred it up and was kind enough to include the hologram package. BJbuds is the member and BJs just hated seeing the car in the sunlight. Not only were there swirls and holograms but it just didn't really look "Jet Black". Well BJs left the car with me for a few days and took a trip to our beautiful coast here in NC for a mini vacation while I went to work bringing this beautiful car back to glory. We had been planning this detail since around February and I was really excited to get my hands on it. BJs had told me it was bad but most of us are more critical than the cars really deserve so I figured this was the case. Well it wasn't and BJs was telling the truth but after working on my own Jet Black BMW I felt like I was ready for this. Most know how difficult Jet Black BMW paint can be and this was no different. It was a lot of work and trials to get the right combo but it all turned out extremely well. Well here is what I did: Tires/Wheels/Wells: This thing had some great wheels on it that BJs had added. Not the easiest design to work on but damn they look good on the car. The wheel faces got Bilberry Wheel Cleaner @ 3:1 and the barrels got Megs Wheel Brightner. A variety of brushes were used including a Black Magic wheel brush bent to 90 degrees for getting behind the spokes, HD brushes for the tires and wheel wells, lug nut brush, and EZ Detail brush as well as my foam finger pocket. The Bilberry Wheel Cleaner is simply great and has become my go to wheel cleaner. It has great cleaning power and is safe as well. You can dilute it more or less than the 3:1 dilution I use depending on the condition of the wheels. For the tires and wells they got the ol' standby Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff at 3:1. I use so much of this stuff that I decided to ditch the handheld pressurized sprayer, and go with a gallon pressurized sprayer I got from Home Depot. The tires were first dressed with Megs Hyper Dressing @ 3:1 with a MSs tire applicator. I then dressed them with the same method with a TW tire applicator and my Tropi-Care tire dressing. I love this combo so much that I don't use any other tire dressing anymore. Everything else that I had is just inferior in looks from what I get with the Megs HD/Tropi-Care combo. I'll tell you the stuff is very durable as well. Wells were dressed with Adams Undercarriage Spray. I also coated the wheels with MS Enviro Shield. Engine: I gave the engine a quick rinse with the CR Spotless, and sprayed it down with MS SGS. There was a lot of dirt and dust in just about every crevice there was so I agitated it and re-rinsed. I dried most of the water with a leaf blower and then sprayed the engine bay down with Megs HD @ 3:1 in a Solo 418 handheld sprayer. I cranked the engine and let it run for about 20 minutes and it looked brand new. Exhaust: The exhaust got Megs WB and #0000 Steel wool while washing the wheels and then later polished with Autosol and buffed off with an Obessesive Detail MF. Wash: The first wash I did was just the paint so I could start polishing. I knew there would be dust from polishing and would have to wash again so I would do the wheels and such when I did the second wash. For the first wash I wanted to strip any LSP off so I went with my foam cannon and 2 oz. of Majestic Solutions Super Foam with about an ounce of MS Power Prep. The first time I used Super Foam I wasn't impressed with it at all as it didn't really foam a lot. Well that was because my Karcher was about to crap out on me. Since I have the new Northern Tool 1700 psi electric PW I decided to give it another try. Wow this stuff foamed and boy did it clean. It stripped everything but the paint off, LOL. I used my CR Spotless and the 2 bucket method. In one bucket I used Tropi Care Citrus wash and the other was a rinse bucket. I used my boars hair brush on this wash. The car was then dried with the leaf blower, and a Vroom drying MF. For the second wash or post polish wash, I wanted to be sure all the polish residue and dust were gone so I went with an LSP stripping formula in the foam cannon of 1 oz of CGs Citrus Wash Clear, 1 oz of Tropi Care Citrus wash version 3, and 1 oz of MSs Power Prep. I used a Zymol Sponge as I wanted something really soft to ensure I didn't marr up the paint I had just worked so hard on. Again I used the CR and 2 bucket method but this time I used Poorboys Super Slick and Suds in one bucket and the other was the rinse bucket. I just love how Poorboys SS&S makes the sponge just glide over the paint with all the lubricity it provides. The car was then dried with the leaf blower. Clay: Well my mainstay for clay has become and always will be the Bilt Hamber and this detail was going to be no different. This is the best clay I have ever used and the only one I use now. I clayed the car after the first wash and used the Soft Bilt Hamber Clay. Glass: For the glass inside and out I used Autoglym Fast Glass. I got this from one of my orders with Ken at Autowerkes. I think its just as good as Surf City Clearly Better and smells really great too. I used a MS blue huck window towel to apply and a Walmart WW to buff off. The outside of the glass was treated with MS ES. Interior: The interior was completely dusted down with the Swissvax look alike brush from Micheals and was vacuumed with the Shop Vac. Then everything was cleaned with Majestic Solutions Leather and Plastic Cleaner diluted at 1:1 with about an ounce of MSs Lemon deodorizer put in with it. Cleaned everything that wasn't carpet with the Leather and Plastic Cleaner and it did a phenomenal job. After cleaning the plastics were dressed/protected with Scholl Concepts Purple 9000. That stuff is awesome and leaves the perfect fisnish behind and never ever streaks. The leather was cleaned with MS Leather and Plastic Cleaner and conditioned with 1z Leather Care. Rubber Weather Stripping/Door Jambs: Well krshultz had given me a product he picked up at Majestic Solutions by Wurth. It was Wurth Rubber Care and contained no silicones. I sprayed it on the rubber weather stripping throughout the car and wiped it down with a TW yellow foam applicator. I cleaned the door jambs with a mixture of MS SGS and CGs Total Green Clean in a pressurized sprayer while washing. I used a Swissvax brush and rinsed with the pressure washer. Paint: Well now the fun part. I worked for over and hour just trying to find a combo that would give me the results I wanted. When I finished the paint wasn't 100% but around 90% corrected. The frustrating part was getting to the 90% mark and then going after the last 10% and making the finish worse and being at about 70% corrected again.:thud: I finally settled on a combo that gave me the 90% correction. I started out with Scholl Concepts S17 and an orange lo pro pad on a 3M backing plate with the Makita. I did one side with the Makita and it's just not as easy to use for me as the Metabo so I switched the orange pads over to the Metabo with the Scholl Concepts backing plate and M14 to 5/8ths adapter. The Metabo is so easy to work with for me that I decided to stick with it for the remainder of the polishing. The S14 did a fine job cleaning everything up. I did have a few holograms here and there and decided to give an old friend a call to do the finishing work. I decided to call on 3M Ultrafina on a 3M black finishing pad with the Metabo and Scholl Concepts bp. Both polishes were buffed off with Danase Phat MFs. These are really soft and gave me confidence that I wouldn't marr the paint when buffing off the polish. This really finished off the car and it looked like black liquid. Here are some before and afters of the correction: First my favorite pic! My little helper learning how to take paint defect/correction shots! A few 50/50s: After the post polish wash I used DG 501 with the Cyclo and two white 4" LC CCS pads. After the DG 501 I buffed it off with an Obsessive Detail Super Fly MF and did a wipe down with DG 921 Fast Clean and Shine. Now I was ready for my sealant. Protection: Well I had said that the Blackfire All Finish Paint Protection was becoming my new favorite sealant even when topping with a nuba so I was jumping at the chance to put it on this beautiful machine. Well I decided to do 2 coats because the first one looked so good. It was applied with a CGs Stage 3 Applicator and buffed off with a 530xl MF. Now on to the LSP. LSP: Well nothing but the best after such a rewarding detail so I broke out the Vintage. I used my hair dryer method to preheat a CGs Pro-Applicator Durafoam red applicator and then applied the Vintage. I let it sit for about a half hour and then buffed it off with a CGs Edgeless MF. Then the next day before BJs arrived I did a wipedown with Jeff Werkstatt Acrylic Glos and a Super Plush Detail MF from Ben at Rubbish Boys. Well BJs was thrilled with the car and happy to see it in the sun without the defects! Here are some before and afters: Well I really enjoyed meeting BJs and throughly enjoyed bringing back this beautiful machine. BJs has all the tools and knowledge to keep it looking like this so I know it will always look like this!:applause2:
You do awesome work! Really darkened the paint. The wheels look 100x better with the barrels clean, gotta love when the insides are painted.
hehe,finally seen your pic i would have bet your much older , :loud: btwi own a black car myself and i haven't washed it in a week and it looks cleaner then the beemer.. :applause2: hahaha just kidding,nice work as always :mounty:
Great job bud! Looks awesome!! I can hardly wait to try my Scholl stuff! Its been in customs since March 3. Feck!!
That's my car, doesn't it look great now! JL did an awesome job. I never knew there were two lines in the hood, but they really stand out nicely now. It looks just amazing.
Awesome work, JL! Details you do are simply amazing!!! Again, when I'm ready for a rotary, I think I'll be starting with Metabo.
Sensational! What a turnaround. Boy, whoever it was that worked on that vehicle before you should be ashamed of themselves.
JL...great, great save on the bimmer! It breaks my heart to see such a nice car butchered by someone with no clue. There is a place locally that I have had a few jobs due to their inability to properly polish. If my balls were bigger, I'd march in there and tell them to hand out my business card so when their cheap wax wears off and the car looks like shit, to call me. Back on topic, you have now set the bar very high for yourself. I'm glad to see you haven't let up once!! It's very cool to see the owner register on the board after the job...I had that once too...it's even more rewarding. Congrats!!
Man, JL, that is some outstanding work! Really blowing me away with the kind of correcting you're showing off. Classy looking BMW as well, love the M5 rims...
Thanks Reflect. This was one of my most enjoyable details, from the car to the owner everything was awesome. Thanks brother. Heck I hadn't seen you around as much and figured you were constantly washing your car trying to get it to look as black as that BMW, LOL!!!! Thanks Chas, I really think the Blackfire AFPP really contributed to the deep wet look. Thanks! Yeah it was pretty horendous. Still amazes me that folks send cars out of their shop looking so rough and think no one will care. Thanks Denzil! Thanks Ken. You will love the Scholl Concepts. Are you thinking about carrying it if you like it???????:applause2: Thanks Sal, I thought the engine bay turned out quite nicely. Thanks Pirex and a lot of credit goes to you since you turned me on to the Scholl Concepts and Bilberry, both of which are staples in my aresenal now. Thanks. My son is learning the ropes at an early age. He only gets to work on tires and wheels right now but he's getting quite good at that! Now he's learning to take pics of paint defects. BJs I had a blast working on your car and just wanted you to be happy with it. There's always a little extra pressure doing a car for someone that knows what a properly detailed car looks like.
Thanks supercharged. The Metabo is just such a joy to work with, I don't think you would be disappointed. Thanks Karl and yes whoever had there hands on it before shouldn't pick up a rotary until they come on here and learn a few things. Thanks for the kind words Rich. I have to constantly work to keep up with you guys. Many of you on here actually set the bar for me to try and attain. Wouldn't it be great if we could get the general public to spend a few days on here and then they would know the difference between detailing and car washing. Thanks Jason! Gotta have the sun shots or what's the point! If you and Asphalt Rocket taught me anything its that! Thanks Piet and you are so right about the wheels on this car. The M5 wheels just really set it apart!
