BMW Cabriolet 330ci Sport - Full Paint Correction, Hood & Interior Detail

Our client only bought this car a couple of weeks ago – he bought it from a local dealer but he was not happy with the finish.

On close inspection it looked very flat, had some deep scratches on both the bonnet and boot lid, virtually no gloss in the paint, the hood was very weathered and mildew had set in. The wheels and the interior looked tired.

Our first job was the roof – after wetting we applied a hood cleaner and started to scrub the dirt off – after some time we were able to see the proper colour of the hood “Blue” and not as it first appeared.

We then turned our attention to the wheels – we applied a good quality general purpose cleaner and let it dwell for a while, after which we agitated it with various brushes to loosen the dirt – they were then pressure washed (including under the arches) and re-inspected. G&T was required to remove tar spots and washed off again.

Next the bodywork was wetted down, using the 2 bucket method and soft mitts. After washing off, we clayed all the paintwork, to include bumpers, lights and glass. After gently washing off the whole car it was dried prior to being taken into our workshop.

Now it was the turn of the paintwork.

Firstly we masked up the vehicle, including the roof

After a paint reading was taken we starting with the front wing. As the paint was very flat we decided on a hard pad with some good German Compound. After a few passes (8-10) the paint came back to life. We then continued around the rest of the panels.

After inspection we noted down all the scratches and attended to them with fine emery paper and more compound. This can be seen on the boot, in the following pictures.

The pad was changed to a Medium and the process continued till we had again covered all the car.

Now a soft pad was used for a final pass over the paint. Now after close inspection all the scratches were gone and the paintwork looked and felt smooth and clean. We decided on applying 2 good coats of Raceglaze 55 as a final paint sealant. This really brought out the colour and depth of shine.

The wheels were treated with a good coat of Rimwax – this really brought out the shine – great finish.

Time for the interior – to be fair it was just grubby rather than dirty – however, first it needed hovering, then the leather was cleaned as was the dashboard, vents and centre console. The seats and door cards were treated to a good coat of leather feed, the dashboard was given a coat of sealant and buffed to its final finish.

Lastly we uncovered the hood and applied 2 coats of sealant (over a 24 hour period) giving each plenty of time to cure.

The car was then taken back to our wash bay and given a good soapy wash to remove any dust and residual cleaners, dried, windows cleaned and polished – job done.

When the client arrived to collect his car he stated that he almost did not recognize it as the car he left with us – fantastic – another satisfied client.