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2009 BMW M3 – Paint Correction Detail

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Nearly 20 hours was spent on this turnaround.  I performed a two-stage paint correction (two polishing steps) on a white car and some interior work.  The owner had just purchased a 2009 BMW M3 from the dealership weeks prior, so this was a nice cleanup for a new car owner.

The bumper (above) received a pretreatment spray of P21S Total Auto Wash for about a minute prior to washing.  P21S Total Auto Wash is a high quality (mildly alkaline) all-purpose cleaner.  I wanted to loosen up the plethora of foreign objects stuck to the bumper prior to washing.  I would wash the car with Wolfgang Uber Rinseless wash.

The importance of Iron Removers!  Carpro Iron X was used (pictured below).

From experience, vehicles with scrapes and chips bleed off the most ferrous metal.  This was no exception.  Although detailing clay can remove this as well, the clay bar might not remove all of it.  The number one reason a car has paint is to prevent corrosion (stop rust).  Iron removers are used on paint with the intention of preventing corrosion (damage that rust causes).  For a car in this condition, a product not commonly used by professionals, I consider it one of the kindest things to do to your paint.  The combination of using an iron remover and a clay bar on moderate to severely contaminated paint is also a more efficient process of removing contamination.

I actually sprayed significantly less Iron X on the carbon fiber top.  I noticed it took me much longer to remove bonded contaminants from that area with a clay bar.

The clay bar pulled a severe level of contamination from this vehicle.  The owner said the dealership detailed the car.  This is something to be mindful of when you purchase a new or used car.

You can see in the right lighting the defects present.  Removing these defects can still bring additional improvements to the clarity of the paint.  These same abrasions in the paint would stand out much more on a black car.

A mild two-step paint correction with Menzerna polishes:  FG400 was used for the initial first (aggressive) polishing step.  This was followed by Super Finish 3500 for the less aggressive second step (refinement).  Rupes Duetto with the Rupes Green Medium Foam Pads and the Porter Cable with the Lake Country CCS Orange Pad was paired with the aggressive FG400.  I followed up with the Yellow Rupes Polishing Pad for the Duetto and the White CCS Pads with the Porter Cable with the refinement process.  Carpro Eraser was used to strip the paint of the polishing oils that the polish left behind.

I also performed some interior work removing quite a bit of dog hair.  There is nothing that compares to patience (time) and a very good dog hairbrush.  No fancy power tools used here.  This brush (pictured above) was used for most of the dog hair.  I used the nitrile gloves to create an electrostatic effect pulling hair from crevices that the brush could not reach.  Moving your hand back and forth rapidly (wearing the nitrile gloves) you can create a similar effect to a dog hairbrush.

DI Brushes Pet Hair Removal Brush

DI Accessories Nitrile Gloves Powder Free Black

Fabric cleaned and protected with Optimum Carpet & Fabric Clean & Protect.

Paint Protected with Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0.

Headlights were ceramic coated.

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