99 Cosmo black m3

[imported_Grouse]

It looks to be in good condition.

Here is what was hidden by dirt.

This was the only picture of the water etching i could find consistently get. The car was covered in traces of etching. From the pics below i am beginning to think the car was wet sanded to remove the etching. Many of the area's were super thin. So much so i did not want to compound heavily.

On to the claying.

This is the first pass of a 16x16 inch area on the roof. In all i clayed that same section 3 times. it was still pretty mediocre. The car had alot of pitch/sticky pollen tar. I ended up having to step up to a solvent to remove 95% of that goo.

This is a heavy duty clay. It is a bit more abrasive. This cemented the need to step up to solvent. This pass was my 3rd pass before the solvent was used.

well Here is my blue hand it is auditioning for the blue man group. This shows you how thin the paint has become in area's. for reference my car is 180+,

 

[imported_Grouse]

Interior before

Interior after

 

[imported_Grouse]

exterior after.

 

[imported_Grouse]

So let me start at the begining.



The wash was simple.



Foam gun cg super suds II

P21s auto wash on tires and wheel wells along with wipe down scrub of all the plastic trim. The dealer had waxed that trim at 1 bazillion rpm. :S

P21 wheel gel on the wheels.



After the wash I started the Paint depth readings. I could not get consistent readings. The build up of sticky tree sap and gunk. I would get readings of 300+ and then a second reading of less than 100. I clayed a section and was able to get decent readings.



So i decided to clay first. I spent about two hours claying about 6 sqft. The clay was not taking the pitch/sap off.



The next morning i applied a bit of solvent to the pitch/sap and got the edge removed from it. Claying took the better part of 1 man hour after that. From there you can see the paint readings i was getting.



The average was less than 120 with some areas being 160-170. After close inspection i was able to find tell tale traces of wet sanding the car. I am guessing the water marking on the rear deck lid was over most of the car. The dealer wet sanded the snot out of it, then aggressively buffed it to get it sold. With that i proceeded fairly carefully. I was not able to really remove more than 70-75% of the marring.



2 layers of FMJ

1 layer of 50/50 wax.



FWIW i tried the first layer of fmj using poly charger and spent over an hour getting all the streaks and smears off. I will not be using it again with FMJ. I do like poly charger with JWP. and JWAJ but that is h20 version of poly.

 

[optimusp517]

wow man seem slike tons of work! jeeze...

 

[Woob]

Lookin good Aaron. Did you think of getting a probe for the DFT, as well where did you get the DFT (and how much hehe)? I think a decontamination kit would really help there!



That BMW generation isn't too hard to do, most of them are in bad shape for the year.

 

[imported_DieselMDX]

where can i buy one of those gauges?





thanx

 

[imported_Grouse]

Lookin good Aaron. Did you think of getting a probe for the DFT, as well where did you get the DFT (and how much hehe)? I think a decontamination kit would really help there!



That BMW generation isn't too hard to do, most of them are in bad shape for the year.

I picked it up from here. No remote probe for it. Does aluminum and steel.

Paint Gages, Paint Meters, Mil Gages for measuring Paint Thickness on Automotive Cars, Trucks and Vehicles.

 

[gmblack3]

Nice work Aaron. Did you use an extractor? If so process please.

 

[stilez]

Aaron, killer work!



I love what you do with interiors, especially around the pedal area. Do you have any close-ups?

 

[DetailersDomain]

Great work Aaron!

 

[JAMESZ]

I have a 99 Cosmos Black M3 to detail in two weekends, luckily the one I'm doing is in really good shape with only some light straight line marring. Good turn around on the M.

 

[1 Clean WS6]

Stunning detail and great process write-up!! :waxing:

 

[Woob]

I picked it up from here. No remote probe for it. Does aluminum and steel.

Paint Gages, Paint Meters, Mil Gages for measuring Paint Thickness on Automotive Cars, Trucks and Vehicles.

Coating Thickness Gages



Few more bucks, some users have told me having a probe is really useful. Has the DFT worked out? I remember you wanted a pretty strict setup.

 

[DetailersDomain]

silvabimma, I was thinking about the one on the link much cheaper than the one Aaron got.

 

[Scottwax]

Excellent improvement, especially in light of how thin the paint was in some places.

 

[Woob]

silvabimma, I was thinking about the one on the link much cheaper than the one Aaron got.

It's either that or the ETG1 from AutoInt. Most of the ones available from the big distributors are generally quite good for the duties. Nothing too unrealistic like a PosiTec 6000 or 200.

 

[DetailersDomain]

very true but I do like how the positec looks

 

[imported_Puckman]

Aaron, great work and thorough process. Nothing like restoring what many consider to be the finest M car to near perfect condition. GREAT color combo too.



I'm looking to get the ferrous/non-ferrous (combo) PTG for wide applications on several different makes and models. Is that what you have?

 

[imported_Grouse]

yes this is a ferrous and non ferrous meter. Steel and aluminum. No composite. So far i like it, it worked out execelent. I really like the simplicity. KISS keep it simple stupid.

Lookin good Aaron. Did you think of getting a probe for the DFT, as well where did you get the DFT (and how much hehe)? I think a decontamination kit would really help there!



That BMW generation isn't too hard to do, most of them are in bad shape for the year.

there is no probe for this one. It does not seem to hinder it's abilities at all. you can flip the screen so it shows right side up as you use it.

Nice work Aaron. Did you use an extractor? If so process please.

Sure,

dry vac

dry vac.

Pretreat with bi-o-kleen traffic lane cleaner

brush in.

extract with dry slurry rinse agent.

Dry vac again (to remove any excess moisture.

set up blower to aid in drying.

Aaron, killer work!



I love what you do with interiors, especially around the pedal area. Do you have any close-ups?

No i do not have any. The key to those areas is to remove the tool from the end of the HWE hose and extract with the hose. Mist with the tool, extract witht he hose. Rinse and repeat.

Coating Thickness Gages



Few more bucks, some users have told me having a probe is really useful. Has the DFT worked out? I remember you wanted a pretty strict setup.

I did my best to get a hold of them for questions before i bought a PDM/PDG Over a 3 day period i was unable to get any response. Delfesko answered the phone and all my questions on my first attempt. I went with the one i did because i don't see a real need for me to store the measurements in a graph. The dft uses the same software and processor of the 6000. It just does not have a probe or computer storage capabilities.

It's either that or the ETG1 from AutoInt. Most of the ones available from the big distributors are generally quite good for the duties. Nothing too unrealistic like a PosiTec 6000 or 200.

I think the closest thing to what i got would be the ETGII that you can get from Autoint.