BMW Z4 Detail Write-up Premier Shine Auto Detailing

[premiershine9]

Hey guys,
First posting here on MM for me, just put out an intro post earlier today. Glad to be on here finally. As promised I will be posting my detailing work here from time to time. I will take as many pics and come up with as many how-to's and write ups to bring up important topics, discussions and questions about proper detailing and car care. This past weekend I had a long time client bring me her new Z4 to have me do a full basic detail.

so....lets go! Warning- detail write-ups are always picture heavy......the more the better :thumbup:

As said before the client is a long time customer of Premier Shine and recently picked up a 2008 BMW Z4 3.0 6 speed with close to 18K on the clock.
Time to complete- 5 hours
Package chosen- Full Basic Ext/Interior Add-on- Paint Sealant application / scotch guard application


First- some before pics when the car arrived.
Besides the single bird bomb, just normal oxidation, thick pollen, dirt and a good layer of brake dust








The leather was filled with the typical amount of soil, some color transfer from clothing, and the usual slick/ greasy look.
For heavily soiled leather i begin the detail by first putting on a coat of Leatherique Rejuvenator oil and let it sweat out the leather for a good hour. (More on that in another write up about Leather care!) And yes you can let this stand in the sun...it works better with time and heat!




Once the leatherique was applied to do its magic i got out my ridgid shopvac and the Porter Cable air compressor. Using compressed air allows you to loosen all dust/ dirt and debris trapped in-between the dash controls, tight areas such as the gap between the seat and tranny tunnel and other places such as the instrument cluster and defroster vents.
After a thorough vacuum i got my extractor ready - my mighty bissell green machine, yes it works well for me, is cost effective and has lasted me on around 80+ interiors :thumbup: More on carpet extraction in another write up!





After the carpet had been thoroughly agitated with the brush and extracted I then thought a proper pic of the amount of dirt i extracted in my waste tank was needed:


After this I thank began the leather cleaning process by first stripping the Leatherique that had been sitting on the buckets for close to and hour and a half. Sorry for the poor pics, I was trying to work fast and my friend takin pics didn't have time to focus here and there...



Matte (NATURAL) finish starting to come back....


Write up on leather care and a demonstration coming soon as well but for now i'll keep it simple:

The polisher is my older Porter Cable with a brush attached, I find that it scrubs the leather gently while cutting the time and effort taken to effectively clean one seat by more than 75%




Workin it up to a foamy lather:



Next up.... plastic trim, dash center console etc.
Tools- various brushes, swabs, dentists pick, citrus degreaser- various dilutions, simple green diluted 3:1, MF towels, air compressor







Interior Afters: only got a few....camera battery was dying and lunch time came around



EXTERIOR TIME
Movin on to the exterior......

The exterior begins with a thorough pre-rinse

The car obviously had some form of LSP (wax) or protective coating which needed to be stripped before any machine polishing or protective layer could be applied. More on that in the future....

Next up a Citrus Degrease is sprayed heavily on the lower areas, wheel wells, front and rear bumper and in the door jambs to loosen the grease, dirt, grime etc.






Next- Westley's Bleche white- EXCELLENT side wall and white wall cleaner....strong stuff

Agitation:



WHEELS- This is going to be saved for a write up on proper wheel cleaning and care....i will post the pics but not the chemical I use......






This product goes on neon green and after 10 minutes slowly changes to a blood red...it begins to safely attack the iron and metal (brake dust) and lift it off the wheel. pH balanced wheel cleaner that is safe on ALL types of wheels and safe on the new big buck carbon ceramic brakes found on Ferrari, ZR1's etc.
More awesome wheel cleaning beefness:


Gettin the inner drums requires some large tools:


Using the DESIGNATED wash mitt for the wheels to finish her off:




After the wheels, lets begin the decontamination wash, followed by a clay treatment, then a rewash again....
Two bucket method wash system....safest way to wash and minimize swirls etc.

Chemical guys Maxi Suds....real great with a foam cannon and pressure washer....more on that some other time


Thick and rich shampoo

Soft brush to get in and around the jams and cracks:




After this, the car was once again rinsed down and dryed using a electric leaf blower....BEST way to dry a car without using a towel or microfiber.....even some of the most plush and softest microfibers will marr or scratch your cars finish when drying your car after a wash.....especially if you live in an area where the water is hard (thank you NJ)
After it has been dried, we will then once again wet the car down and begin our clay decontamination.
I plan on doing a demo and how=to and all about claying from a-z soon as well
some pics for now:

Blue uber clay, using only water for lubricant





After a proper clay, the car is rinsed down again and also WASHED AGAIN......many detailers miss this step.

The car is then dried once again properly....all the cracks, emblems, crevices, jams etc are blown out with the air compressor so that as little water is left on the car.....nothing is more annoying than polishing out a door and having a bead of water run down onto your polish and ruin your work area. :roll:

The camera then went ahead and died and we had to resort to my small point and shoot.....couldn't get any pics

Because the customer chose the basic detail package Premier Shine offers this only includes a proper clay treatment followed up by 2 layers of a carnauba wax, the client chose to finish off with a paint sealant (wax on roids) gives you 3 to 6 months of protection other than the 4 to 6 week strength most carnaubas under $200 a pot will give you.
The hood and deck lid were also chosen to be polished out- Flex orbital polisher w/ orange LC pad and Menzerna 106 Fa polish were used....the car was newer and did not need any paint correction MORE ON POLISHING AND PAINT CORRECTION ANOTHER DAY.....
The Z was then wiped down with our IPA dilution to strip any oils and a sealant was applied to cure for an hour, glass cleaned inside and out, trim properly dressed and a final inspection was performed.
Eye candy time......

AFTERS:









Some nice warmth and gloss in the paint

Sun poppin out:





Hope you had the patience to read through it all! I average around 2-5 cars a week so i'll try my best to take as many pics as I can.....Red C5 Vette hopefully this weekend, still in scheduling phase with client.
THANK YOU FOR LOOKIN! Once again I will be putting more information out on how-tos and product write ups etc.
-Dan
Premier Shine Auto Detailing

*Permission to post pictures/ write-up granted by owner*

[.RJ]

Looks great. Want to detail a Ridgeline? Its waaaaaaaaay dirtier :lol:

[Jake]

Looks great! Nice to see some of the detail on how you do this stuff. I'd be interested in seeing a post on the best way of doing a simple wash after a detail like this. I'd hate to have the car detailed and put swirls back in the next time I washed it.

[Sully]

Do you have a setup like this at school, I spend along cleaning my car for results nothing close to this...I could easily justify having the full package done at least once a year if not more for both my cars

[premiershine9]

Sully- Yes I will have all of my equipment and chemicals at my new apartment next fall (August). I was in Southview this previous year but will be in North 38 next year and I got a private garage of my own specifically for detail purposes

[WRXtranceformed]

Looks great man! I spent 1.5 hours washing my car yesterday, I can't imagine spending 5 hours!

[premiershine9]

Thanks much guys!
And yes 5 hours is pretty rare for me....on average a full basic int/ ext. takes around 6 to 8 hours. Full polishing and paint correction details can take up to 9-12 hours...its mental how much work goes into it but I LOVE DOING IT!

[ScottyB]

looks insane. do you take photos of the owner seeing their car again when they pick it up? you should post the reactions!

weird question - do you wear earplugs or some kind of hearing protection when using the buffer/orbital? last i heard one, i think it was pretty loud. i used to be the trimmer/weedwacker guy for a landscaping biz back during college summers and i'm thankful i had my plugs, those guys are all half deaf.

[premiershine9]

Hahah I should...... most of the time its a smile then the mouth opens and just stays that way hahahah then usually comes the "Im never going to drive it" and the "holy $&$*# if looks new" and actually my one client (shelby gt500) pulls it right in the garage and closes the door hahah.

And yes...the polishers are quite loud. Sometime I will wear my noise canceling earphones with my "detail" playlist on (rockin out!) or a set of ear plugs with the chords on them so they can hang around my neck. After 5 hours of listening to the damn polisher you'll have a good headache without them!

The main concern- the polishing dust and other chemicals I use are pretty harsh! If you notice i wear the strongest nitrile gloves- 4 mil thick and tough as nails, the same gloves that UFC refs wear!

[Mike]

+1 to the "if you're up in nova doing this, let me know" crew.

[JustinG]

+1 to the "if you're up in nova doing this, let me know" crew.

+2 hell ill drive up to Nova, the "Detail" they did on the new SAAB, is comical, yet hopefully something that can be fixed.

[premiershine9]

JustinG- Dealership details can be fixed, i'm guessing they gave you some pretty good buffer swirls and wool burns.....BMW financial loves to stamp each one of their cars with some good wool burns from improper polishing.
There is a dealership in my town that has recently opened called Radical Motorsports....their inventory is amazing.
I walked into the showroom in an effort to become their detailer for side work, here's what was in it:
2 Audi R8 conv.
NEW 911 GT3 (white/ red wheels)
Ferrari Dino
Lotus exige
Bentley Cont-
NEW Lotus Evora
You get the picture. Both R8's were new and had terrible swirling in the paint, I don't understand how you can sell a 130k car and have the same amount of paint damage as the salesmans DD. All they'd have to do is pay up to have a correction detail. BUT, remember- its a business so the profit has to be the largest it can be.

[JustinG]

Bad thing is the dealership said if a customer wants their car detailed again, to look like it did when they drove it off the lot, $225.....ive never used a orbital buffer, but I'm pretty sure I could do a better job

[premiershine9]

Call up and ask them EXACTLY what goes into the detail lol.

[xvxax]

WHEELS- This is going to be saved for a write up on proper wheel cleaning and care....i will post the pics but not the chemical I use......

You are using Sonax Full Effect, spraying from the original bottle.

[premiershine9]

^^^ yes I am, figured it would be hard to make out. They did however recently "redesign" the bottle...good spot!
Sonax has been backordered on the stuff from the previous month and I had to wait 2 weeks for the shipment to come in. I'm trying to save each the details on each process for individual write-ups.

[Cody]

Wow, nicely done. You'll have my business when we get back to school. Also, stoked on having you in the club. My roomate is from dirty jerz, but unlike you he is a guido (but knows it and puts up with our jokes).

[premiershine9]

Thanks Cody! Cant wait to get back and into all the meetings and finally get settled into the club!