Xcellere Detailed: rickc's 2008 AW M3

[Eclipsis]

CG CWG
CG Grime Reaper
CG Speedwipe
CG Fade2Black
CG Metal Polish
CG Water Spot Remover
CG Wheel Cleaner
CG Glass Cleaner
P21S TAW
DP Tire Dressing

Interior:
Lexol Shampoo
Lexol Conditioner
CG VRP Dressall

Clay:
CG Green/Blue
CG SQD (lube)

Paint Correction:
Menzerna 106ff
Megs M105
LC Yellow Pad
LC Orange Pad
LC White Pad
LC Purple Wool Pad
Zymol Duster

Equipment:
1000w Halogen Lamps
Makita 9227C Rotary Polisher
3M Backing Plate
Mothers Tire Brush

Protection:
CG JetSeal109

LSP:
CG 50/50

This is user rickc's 2008 AW M3. The paint was dull, had minor swirling, waterspots, and bird dropping etchings. The job took approximately twelve hours.







Front dirty, rear clean.





Tips were extremely dirty.





Right tip after P21S Metal Wash.



Tips after CG Metal Polish.



Pre-soak.



Dull paint and minor swirling.



After claying just the trunk.





Halfway through polishing.





Left half polished, right half not polished.





Trunk finished.



Hood.



Out comes the heavy duty Megs 105.



Hood finished.

[JEllis]

Nice job

[Blake]

damn, i wish you were near me. your work is among the best i've ever seen.

[Scorpion]

Much better lol.

[Socale92]

nice work

[watrob]

Nice job, bet your glad you don't have to do that every week?

[Nate@IND]

Great job! I see he needs an exhaust and some AW reflectors

[KKSigua]

great job, too bad you don't live in Indy.

[Rick]

My M3 was significantly dirtier than the "before" photos show. Eric was able to eliminate all the bird crap/bug-tar/tree-sap etchings and minor swirl marks. This was my first professional detail since acquiring my car in early May 2008 and I have to say... it looks better than the day I took delivery.

Excellent work Eric , WELL WORTH the final product!!

[MDCTFTW]

How much does it cost to get that done? And how long does it take?

[eagletangogreen]

nice job! wish you were local.

[Radiation Joe]

Nice.

I tried to clay my hood the other evening and was shocked at the amount of junk I got off of a 3 week old car. I was even more shocked that I didn't get all the contaminants off.

I highly recommend having a pro get the car right the first time. If you're good you can maintain it for 6 months or a year and then bring it back to be restored. If you're not that good or don't have the time, set up regular appointments. Your car will thank you, and your neighbors will envy you.

[ArsenalFC]

How much does the process cost?

[Sedan_Clan]

Great work! I love seeing his detail pictures.

[RandyB]

Great work! Thanks for posting all of the details. I like to see what everyone else likes to use.

I clayed my AW '09 M3 as soon as I got it. It had quite a few contaminants bonded to the surface. Then I used a polish, sealant and tried some liquid souveran on it. It took me a good while with the clay but I took my time to try to keep micro marring minimal. I'll get out the PC and the Menzerna at a later date and go for full correction. I also clayed my wheels and tried some DP wheel glaze on them.

[Zirenz2006]

What a great job! Looks amazing!!

[jamesisel]

nice! looks good!

[Bimmer Nerd]

damn, amazing job, everytime i see it i am never disappointed.

[e46e92love]

Originally Posted by Radiation Joe

Nice.

I tried to clay my hood the other evening and was shocked at the amount of junk I got off of a 3 week old car. I was even more shocked that I didn't get all the contaminants off.

I highly recommend having a pro get the car right the first time. If you're good you can maintain it for 6 months or a year and then bring it back to be restored. If you're not that good or don't have the time, set up regular appointments. Your car will thank you, and your neighbors will envy you.

As a former pro detailer I can't tell you how much of a waste of money the delivery charge is. 90% of cars need to be clayed before being delivered to customers because of rail and brake dust that gets on cars during shipment. Rather than hand wax, they should get a great wash, clay bar with a light spray wax followed by a very good hand wax with paint sealant. This is why I tell my dealer not to wax or deliver my car normally, because I just wind up having to strip the wax off to so I can do it properly, which is just more time consuming.

I always feel the paint and use that as my judgment of whether a car is clean, if its not smooth as class then there is still shit in the pain and its not clean. To me the feel is as important as the look, its how my cars at 150k always look like they have 20k on them.......but it takes some time, patience and know-how......

[M2381]

Geez Rick you are a DIRTY man

How do you even stand having a car that dirty? let alone an M3 lol

GJ though Xcellere as always

[RandyB]

Originally Posted by e46e92love

As a former pro detailer I can't tell you how much of a waste of money the delivery charge is. 90% of cars need to be clayed before being delivered to customers because of rail and brake dust that gets on cars during shipment. Rather than hand wax, they should get a great wash, clay bar with a light spray wax followed by a very good hand wax with paint sealant. This is why I tell my dealer not to wax or deliver my car normally, because I just wind up having to strip the wax off to so I can do it properly, which is just more time consuming.

I always feel the paint and use that as my judgment of whether a car is clean, if its not smooth as class then there is still shit in the pain and its not clean. To me the feel is as important as the look, its how my cars at 150k always look like they have 20k on them.......but it takes some time, patience and know-how......

I picked my car up dirty at delivery to avoid what they might do. I saw a few new M3s sitting around on the lot with paint swirls and definitely wanted no part of that. I ran my hand across the paint of a shiny new M5 on the showroom and it had more stuff on the surface than mine did. It looked shiny but that's about it.

[tightie]

good job eric