Enhancement Detail - Total Surface Protection
The BMW M135i to most probably looks like a standard one series, it's not the most lary looking hot hatch but to the trained eye or any enthusiast it's certainly far from any normal one series. Under the bonnet is a three litre straight six engine with an additional twin scroll turbo which combined packs a punch of 320BHP. Not that normal little on series any more is it?
This particular M135i is owned by a soldier and it is his pride and joy. A little toy for the time he spends at home he wanted his pocket rocket looking its finest and booked it in with me after seeing my recent post about the Estoril Blue BMW 435D Gran Coupe I detailed a few months back. He wanted his to bounce with gloss and be rich in clarity as such booked it in with me to receive and Enhancement Detail along with my Total Surface Protection bolt on for the ultimate protection.
Over a 200 Mile round trip It was an early start, I travelled up to Oxford to Detail this little beauty leaving nice and early to get a good days work in. First up was a good deep clean, pulling cobwebs, dirt, leaves, grease and grime out of the engine bay, door and boot jams and then the arches. Meguiars Super Degreaser was the perfect product for the job breaking down the dirt and grime with ease. I then moved on to decontaminating the wheels. Bit Hamber Korrosol was applied liberally and let to soak. Using a variety of brushes and techniques this was agitated around the wheel to break down brake dust and fall out that had built up in the spokes and crevices of the alloy. The next step was to lay down a thick layer of snow foam, left to dwell and then rinsed. This ensures that the paintwork was free of loose dirt which helps prevent further damage when washing as I won't be dragging the loose dirt around the paint. Out came the trusty buckets and my nice big fluffy wash pad. Now the car had been safely washed it was time to decontaminate the paint. First up Bilt Hamber Korrosol was now applied to the paint and left to dwell then rinsed, then the exterior dried. Why dry it now? For tar remover to work effectively the paint needs to be dry, it does work wet but is 10x more effective when dry and quicker! Tar remover applied, dwelled and rinsed then finally the paint and glass were clayed using a clay mitt.
Now the car is clean and decontaminated and safely dried its time to tape up and prepare for depth readings and inspection before the polishing stages. I work around the car methodically taking paint depth readings to ensure all panels have safe levels of paintwork on them to ensure the polishing can be performed safely. Readings taken and recorded I began testing on the bonnet trying a variety of pads and polishes to see which achieve the desired result. Taped up, Earphones in and Polisher on I worked around the car performing a single stage machine polish lifting light defects from the paint and restoring depth and clarity to the clear coat. After successfully lifting 90% of the defects from the clear coat leaving the odd RDS (Really Deep Scratch) behind due to it being an enhancement and not full correction. After the polishing stages were completed the paintwork was inspected using another pair of eyes (the mrs) and mine with a Sun Gun Torch which will pretty much find anything you can't.
Happy with the results it was time to seal that finish in with the first part of my Total Surface Protection. Polish Angel Cosmic always looks stunning on German Paintwork so I decided this would suit best, the paintwork was prepped with Polish Angel Primer which contains compounds that are crucial to the bonding process of Cosmic and ensure it bonds properly to the surface of the paint. Now the paintwork was properly prepared I started applying the coating, once applied it was then layered to ensure optimum levels of protection and ensure durability. While these layers were curing I moved onto the wheels, applying two layers of Gtechniq C5 Alloy Wheel Armour and Gtechniq G1 to the glass. With the exterior coatings complete it was time to move onto the finer details. Firstly giving the exhaust a good polish to remove soot and coking, unfortunately the tips of these exhausts had perished so they were not immaculate but im sure you will agree a vast improvement was achieved. Once cleaned and polished the Tips were sealed with Gtechniq C5 which is also a heat resistant coating so can be used on the exhausts as well as the wheels. Next up is rubber and plastic trims, sealed with Gtechniq C4 and Tyres dressed with the only tyre shine that should be used, Meguiars Endurance Tyre Gel.
The exterior complete it was time to move inside. Matts removed, hoovered and wet vac'd to remove stains and soiling, especially from the drivers matt. While they were drying I hoovered the interior lifting loose dirt in order to clean and coat all interior surfaces. Using Auto Finesse Leather cleaner and a leather brush I agitated the product to lift several years of embedded dirt from the leather pores. Once the leather was properly cleaned it was protected with Gtechniq L1 along with the Matts protected with Smart Fabric adding hydrophobic properties to the fabric.
Onto the last part of the Total Surface protection, Sealing the engine bay. Trying out a new product on this M135i, Koch Chemie Nano Plast Care, This product forms a highly durable chemical bond with the surface and restores a satin black finish to the plastic and protects it form further deterioration. I was highly impressed with the product and it'll certainly be used again.
The owner was blown away with the end result, commenting how he wasn't expecting such high levels of attention to detail, another transformation complete. Next!
