Had it 6 months so far - E46 M3 Vert (pic heavy)

[Horico]

Hi

I haven't really posted on here very much but hope to do so more in the future so though't i'd introduce my M3. I've taken bits from my ongoing thread on another (similarly named!) UK forum. Here goes.

I bought the ///M on 23/11/11 and since then have spent some time on it and generally had my spare time devoted to M3 related shenanigans and I don't see this stopping so thought I'd keep track of things on here. It will be good for me to look back and see what's been done and where I've been with it as I hope to keep it for while.

Spec as bought:

53 plate E46 M3 vert with most factory options including heated seats, HK sounds, Nav, folding mirrors, black nappa. Extras include AC Schnitzer exhaust, strut brace, pedals and handbrake lever as well as gloss black kidney and side grilles and gloss black bonnet vent and stubby aerial. Full tints all round.

These are a couple of seller pics before I picked her up.





In preparation for her arrival, I had been busy on A world for detailers... doing some research into some good kit for keeping her in good order. The first batch of kit is below. This has been added to since.



Now armed with several hundred quids worth of products I finally got some time to spend some time with the car getting her nice and clean. I have a lot of pictures on this thread here:

http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/...-noob-t103336/

The end result..





Also got my old plate on as seen in the pics. I bought it when I had my old 330Ci Vert - some might think it was all planned!

Next was Xmas and new year where not much happened, although I think SWMBO is trying to tell me something..



I then went out looking for some good photo locations and after seeing some graffiti wall pics - I found one in St Neots. Unfortunately when I arrived it was dark and gloomy and I was ill prepared with just an iphone to take pics. I'll go back one day and do some better ones but these were the best.




I've also washed the car about 4 times after the detail and each time, I'm annoyed by the crap in the brake light, the fact that I haven't had the wheels off yet to do the arches and that I haven't done the engine bay yet. These are all jobs to do when time allows.

I originally saw the car on The M3cutters - UK BMW M3 Group Forum and it's full of excellent M3 related tricks, including the excellent drain pipe air box mod. I though's I'd have a go so yesterday went to B+Q and gathered the required bits - glue, a 68mm 92.5 deg drain pipe bend and a bird feeder.



A bit of snipping and glueing later...



And installed this morning.



I know it's hard to believe but early impressions are that the jerkiness when cold is improved dramatically. I need to see what it's like on a really cold morning on the way to work and see how it is but for the money it's a no brainer.

Also today, you wouldn't believe but there is a graffiti wal right near SWMBO's house so armed with her new camera, some photos were taken.








New metal pressed plates arrived...

Out the box



On

[Horico]

Got the chance to clean the car again a couple of days ago and as it was still feeling lovely and smooth, I applied another layer of Colly 476 - managed to catch some shots of the beading today...





Kind of a shame it will all be removed at the end of the month when it's booked in for a professional enhancement detail and ceramic protection!! Update will follow afterwards!

A small update - had my car detailed professionally by Clean Detail on Doncaster - included wet sanding the bonnet, machine polishing and a ceramic protection. Also, I added a boot lip spoiler half way through. The full write up is being done by Clean Detail but here are a few teaser shots for now. The car really looks amazing and stands out so much more than before. The ceramic left it with a lovely glossy wet look to the silver. I parked in Tesco on the way home to pick up some tea and words can't describe how good it looked in a car park full of family barges! Oh, and the day before, I spent 6 hours on my dads 530D tourer - thread here: http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/...ourer-t105576/

Teaser pics below:

Exhausts polished with great reflection off the bumper



New spoiler added and a lovely shiny arse



One of the final shots (it got dark by this time!)



So, my detail write up was completed by Nick at Clean Detail yesterday - the hread is below if you're interested.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...d.php?t=252510

Basically, Nick did as much as he could to enhance the paintwork prior to adding the G3 Glasscoat which bonds to the paintwork giving very hard wearing protection and a glossy look that is amazing. While Nick got on with the wet sanding, machine polishing and ceramic coating, I pottered about doing the interior, wheels (wheels off - ceramic coated inside and out!) and a few other jobs. One of which was the third brake light. The picture below is from an earlier detail I completed and I ran out of time to sort the light as it had green grime on the inside.



after a good scrub..



During the detail...



In all, it was a long 8 hour day which wasn't helped by the 3 power cuts but Nick got there in the end. The results, as you'll agree are stunning. Someone at work said that my car now looks 'abnormally shiny' as if it was some special black magic or something.

Oh, also, during the detail, we fitted my new boot lip spoiler - something which I feel the vert misses as it finished the rear off nicely.

Before:


After:


I left the car to gather dirt for two weeks before washing it (snow foam, wheels with bilberry and 2BM wash) and it came up just like it left Clean Detail.






And here's a shot of the beading on the roof as this was protected also..

[IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/Horico/f45758a5.jpg[/IMG


Next up is an oil service at BMW to keep the history up (happily, the price is reduced to a still ridiculous £169) and I need to check the RTAB's as I think the drivers side may have gone as the car now likes to get a bit too lively at the rear under hard power and the right rear tyre is wearing a bit too fast...

EDIT: now added the link to the detail write up! DOH!

So. The time came to get my tints off. I purchased a steamer off ebay for about a tenner as I had read that this helps to loosen the glue. I started by steaming the film hoping to warm it up and it started to come off quite easily. I didn't realise at this time though that there was a lot of glue still left on the glass. I got the film off in one piece tho and then used some sticky stuff removed to soften the glue and a credit card to scrape it off. Things got a bit messy for a bit with glue everywhere but after a clean up, all was ok and the nearside was done.

I've still got the offside to do and will get round to it next week.

Steamer


Started


All off


Lots of glue left


Sticky stuff remover sprayed on


About finished


I also had my RTAB's renewed. I went for standard bushes even though I know the powerflex ones are considered much better due to the subframe issue and wanted to keep them standard for now so as not needing to change them again if I discover any cracks by October next year. No pics of these but I saw the nearside one and this had a crack in the rubber and I was told that the offside was knackered! After they were changed, the car puts the power down much better and is far more stable over the ground. Also had a look at the adjustable AC Schnitzer / Bilstein coilovers and springs - the springs could do with a painting and I'll get them done in the future.



Then today, I had a little spare time and had always meant to spruce up the engine bay so out came the Aerospace 303 and a healthy spraying was given to the 'bay. I had scrubbed it previously but ran out of time to finish it. I also APC'd the underside of the bonnet and cleaned off the muck.




Next up was the leather and roof cover seeing as there was a bit of sun. More 303 on the pastics and Megs Gold Leather cleaner for the rear seats as well as a good vac all round. APC'd my pedals which are another future job to get repainted as I'm not happy with the flaking paint.

[Horico]

And finally, as my door handles were a little stiff, I adjusted them a little using an allen key in the hole you can see in the picture. Just tighten it up and the handle is nice and easy to use.



OK. A small update - no major changes but I purchased a few more detailing bits and the ///M was due some wax being applied as nothing had been put on since the ceramic a couple of months ago. Before I got round to this though some bloody birds decided to decorate my bonnet, windscreen and both doors!



I couldn't get this off right away due to a some bad family news so it was left for 3-4 days. Luckily, the ceramic coat protected the paint and when it came to removal, it was a case of Megs APC, leaving to work before agitating and wiping and hosing off. Interestingly, the paint that was APC's no longer beaded like the rest. Remember, this was only the ceramic making it bead so I'd be interested to know exactly why this is the case. Either way, I knew I was going to be waxing shortly and the beading would be back. See the second pic for the beading on the right and none on the left.




Last week, a couple of new toys arrived. A Karcher 3.575 pressure washer and an autobrite snow foam attachment. It came a week ago but been too busy to have a go. I managed to get an hour yesterday and gave it a try...




Left to dwell before being PW'd off.




Now, on to today. I had a new wax arrive which was the limited edition Autofinesse Desire. I had heard some good reports on Detailing World and I wanted a good premium wax as while the Colinite 476 was hardwearing, I wanted more 'wetness' in the paint. Today's process was snowfoaming, rinse, claying, snowfoam, rinse, dry, Prima Amigo, Wax, Glass, Exhaust, Tyres. Pics are below.

After Foam



Clay bar after bonnet - very clean


Weak snowfoam to get rid of the dodo juice born slippy


Dried with woolly mammoth.


Prima Amigo - Smells lovely!



It was already looking good after the Prima Amigo




Desire applied 2 panels at a time.

[Horico]

Results - To say I'm impressed with the Desire is an understatement. Although it was a little tricky to buff off, especially compared with the Prima Amigo, it left a gorgeous wet look and exactly what I was after. Enjoy the after pics:






















Sorry for the large amount of snaps but I took quite a few as I wanted to see how the Desire worked out...

I forgot to add a short clip of the Desire wax beading - it's far better than the Colinite was and after a couple of washes is still beading well. I plan to apply another layer shortly when I get chance while I know the surface is pretty clean. Here's the vid - sorry for the quality - it was taken on the iphone.



I had a couple of hours spare today so I thought I'd have a go at cleaning up the AC Schnitzer foot rest as it was looking past its best. This is how it looked once removed.



First it was cleaned with Megs APC before starting with the sand paper and a bucket of water. I tried starting with 400 grit first but it was heavy going so went down to 240, then 120 to see which was working best and once I was on the 120, the smaller scratches started to come out. After the 120, moved up to 400 then back to 600 to finish off. It felt very smooth even at this so I left it at that sanding wise. Left this:



Then the Autosol came out - this was quite time consuming and I used the best part of two cloths cleaning it up!



Left this:



Next was to repaint the black - I got some Hammerite which I hoped would be ok for the job. Ideally, I wanted to use the ///M colours but for the little paint I needed and the cost of the individual colours, I stuck with black for now. After painting:



Once dry, I'll put it back in the car and compare to the other pedals. It isn't 100% perfect but compared with how it was, it's far far better.

Comparison.

[Horico]

A couple of things arrived in the post today. First were my silver bulbs. Got them off ebay and I chuckled when I noticed one was the correct offset pin fitting while one was the in-line fitting! Anyway, I got round that and here is the transofrmation.





Next was my 'Park Lane BMW' OEM tax disc holder. Looks the part and IMO is way better than a tacky silver one...





Also put my cleaned up foot rest back with some new screws...




This weekend, we took the ///M to Filey for the weekend as it was my birthday in the week. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best but managed to get a snap on the cliffs before it rained again! Also, as it was my birthday, the Mrs helped with my 'to do' list and bought me the cup holder and oddment tray I wanted (I must have mentioned it a few times haha). It just snapped in place of the old one and now brings my choice of trim fittings there to 3! I got home today about 4pm and set about giving her a wash and another layer of Auto Finesse Desire. My god it's awesome when on!! Here are some pics of the above.

Filey Cliff Top


Cup holders (arm rest up)


Cup holders (arm rest down)


Desire working it's magic


Not a happy update this one.....a Tesco trolley boy managed to drive a trolley into the ///M. It's being sorted by their insurance but it doesn't make me less annoyed! I did well not to go all Bruce Banner on the dude at the time!!





Following this, Tesco have admitted liability and are paying for the damage to be repaired. There's also a chance that I will get the use of a E9x M3 as a courtesy car!

So, that's about 6 months of ownership in one massive long post - sorry for all the pictures etc but editing would take hours!! Hope you enjoyed the read so far.

My post today is regarding 4 wheel alingment but it's waiting to be auth'd until it shows up...

Matt

[abakos]

Brilliant!!

Awesome work....I miss my vert in the Tennessee summers-

[AngryWhopper]

What did you specifically use to make your engine bay look like that?

Thanks

[Horico]

I used a combination of meguiars apc, degreaser and when clean, covered in aerospace 303.

[bmw42ofus]

Great photos and storyline.....your M3 vert is spectacular.

[sdrago2]

I just got the same one except mines a 6spd with the grey interior. Awesome car!

[328ci906]

Great work! And I want your detailing supplies!!!

[Horico]

Thanks for all the kind comments guys. I'll try and keep this updated as I go.

Not much to report recently though, the dent is being done on Wednesday so I'm hoping to have a new M3 to use for a few days. I'm looking forward to comparing it to mine!

Matt