BMW Z4 M Coupe - Definitive Detail / Huge Review

Good Morning Fanatics

In the past week I have had the pleasure of working on a car that not only brings excitement to the soul of many a man, but also a car which brings with it huge amounts of power, style and performance.

This car needs no introduction, no precise punctuation and would rather spend its day eating small children and spiral its driver backwards into a wall in a cloud of smoke, exhaust fumes and joy.

This car is the BMW Z4 M Coupe.

This detail took me to "Agter-Paarl" for two days, providing a Definitive Detail for the client, a fellow fanatic on this forum who had just taken delivery of his new car.

Having not seen the car prior to the detail, I was not sure what i was in for with the exception of the owner stating it has "some swirl marks I want removed". :biglol:

Day 1: Calming the beast.

So to begin with, I arrived at possibly the most beautiful location I have ever worked in at 8am on Monday morning excited to work on this beast.

This is the weather and view I arrived to:



After unpacking my equipment and setting up it was time for me to pull the Z4 outside for the first time. I was greeted by a rather dirty BMW, with exquisite rimmage and a view which was simply breath-taking.





Looking closer you can see the car was covered in quite a healthy layer of dust, grime and dirt.







To begin I started with a wash, foaming the car down with Chemical Guys Maxi Suds (love the way this product smells) and whilst this soaked I cleaned the mag wheels with a light concentrate of APC and Chemical Guys Tar and Bug remover. The arches were scrubbed with APC alone and a variety of brushes.



The car was hosed off with my Bosch High Pressure Sprayer and then re-washed with Maxi Suds by hand and then re-hosed.

With the sun coming up I could already start noticing the damage inflected to the paintwork. I suddenly became very nervous and concerned... You will see why in a few moments.

As per my Definitive Detail I then started with Claying the paintwork using an Automagic Fine Clay. Much to my surprise the paintwork contained virtually no contamination with the exception of one or two star spots.

Here is the clay bay after the entire car was clayed:



For the final time, the car hosed down and dried leaving me with the following:



At this point you may be wondering why I became nervous about the paintwork. The reason is that I have never had to tackle BMW paint that was in this condition. I have absolutely no idea what the previous owner washed this car with (a scouring pad perhaps or a broom?) but the paintwork was in absolute ruin.







Fine swirling, RDS, Holograms and more were present on the paintwork along with some very deep scratches on the roof and rear spoiler. Even more concerning was the lack of gloss and wetness in the paint. In some places the clear-coat was so affected that it appeared close to matte!

With this in mind I pulled the BMW inside and set to work.



I began by taping off a small section of the bonnet to do some testing which resulted in 4 passes of Chemical Guys Pro Cut 2 on a Heavy Cut Hex Pad followed by two passes of Pro Polish and a final pass of Ultimate Compound on a finishing pad.

Correction on the car took me 7 hours which was surprisingly good considering the condition of the paintwork. I think what may have helped was my recently updated music playlist on my phone and the magnificent view.



Throughout the correction phase I did 50/50's of various panels pulling the car into the sunlight for a few pictures. Who wants to see the power of a Rotary Polisher at 1600RPM?







The main reason for achieving such fantastic correction is due to a very popular polishing technique called the "Zenith Point" method. This method relies on various polishing speeds to break down and refine the paintwork.

Essentially this method relies on a constant buildup of RPM on the polisher reaching a maximum RPM (The Zenith Point) and then slowing down in stages top refine.

I went for the following adaption of this method:

Spreading polish - Speed 1 (633RPM)
Working Polish/Abrasive - Speed 2.5 (900RPM)
Zenith Point - Speed 3 to 4 (1400 to 1600RPM)

The Zenith Point generates quite a bit of heat so it was essential to keep the Rotary moving at all time. At this RPM with this heat the polish is able to break down from being abrasive to a finer polishing particle which provides a smoother, glossier and more detailed finish with exceptional gloss and clarity.

Refining - Speed 2 (+- 700RPM)
Finishing - Speed 1 (633RPM)

I think the results were exceptional with the paintwork returning to its former glory.



One of the problems with cutting and polishing etc. is that the actual abrasive causes lots of "dusting" leaving a fine layer of powdery dust all over the car, in the door gaps and over the detailer. :biglol:



With Compounding, polishing and refining complete I decided to pull the car outside for a final paint inspection before calling it a day. It is good I did this as the following day had no sunlight and was quite cloudy.

Starting inside the improvement was already noticeable.



However outside the results were simply astounding with almost Full Correction on every panel.





Notice the mammoth improvement in the glossiness and shine of the paintwork?

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With the first day complete the sun setting and me feeling somewhat exhausted it was time to call it a day leaving you with this picture.

[img]http://[email protected]/image/BMW%20Fanatics/BMW%20Z4%20M%20Coupe/SAM_0886.jpg

Day 2 Coming up next!

Day 2: Returning beauty to the beast.

Fully rejuvenated, I returned to re-visit the BMW to focus on waxing, interior and final details.

I began where I started, pulling the Coupe outside for a quick wash.



Because of the excessive amounts of polish dust I decided to rather re-clean the entire car including the engine bay, arches, door gaps, rubbers and panel gaps.

The magnificent engine bay before:



Being soaked in APC and Maxi Suds:



With the car re-washed and dried I pulled her inside closing the garage door and setting to work on my favourite part of detailing - Those little things!

The mag wheels were up first getting a quick pass with Chrome & Metal Cleaner followed by two coats of Rim Wax.



I then went ahead and gave the paintwork two coats of Collonite Wax, followed by a single layer of Wet Butter Wax to really bring out the gloss.



The tyres were dressed with Chemical Guys Smart Dressing, including the door rubbers and exterior finishes. Arches were also coated and the exhausts (all 4 of them!) were scrubbed with APC, and then polished with Meguires NXT Metal Polish.

At this point it was time to attack the interior. Here are a couple of random before pictures.





The owner mentioned there was a blue tinge on the leather which was noticeable straight away as well some well ingrained dirt leaving the seats looking glossy, uneven and mis-coloured in places like the bolsters.

A quick 50/50 of the seats. The front section of the leather has been cleaned the rest of the seat as it were.



The interior was then soaked in fabric cleaner and the carpets were wet vacuum extracted removing a lot of dirt and leaving the carpets looking plush and the interior smelling of apple and strawberry.

The leather was moisturized with Chemical Guys Leather Conditioner, the dash board meticulously cleaned with earbuds, toothpicks and light degreaser.

The door gaps were waxed with Meguires Gold Class Wax and the Piano Black Trim on the Dashboard also received two coats of Gold Class Wax.

The Glass, mirrors and dials were all buffed with Autoglym Glass Cleaner.

With the day drawing to a close, it was time get the car outside before it started raining.

Satisfied with the results I picked up my camera and snapped a few pictures of the car. Ladies, gents, BMW aficionado's - The BMW Z4 M Coupe.



















A new feature of my Write-Ups is now a YouTube Video with a walk-around of the car after the detail is completed. Here we are:

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This detail gave me space to realize a few things about Definitive Detailing & Valet. Yes, we are a company, selling an exceptional service but we are so much more than that because of what we do.

I have realized that we don't clean cars, we bring Joy. It’s ironic that a BMW would make me see this and yet it is true. We make people fall in love with machines that some have worked their entire life to earn.

My client with his Pajero was more concerned when I took the Rotary to his 11 year old Pajero, than he was when I took it to his R1 Million Porsche. I asked why and his answer was so astounding that I thought I would share it.

Many see cars as a means of getting from A to B, however there is not one moment where a car isn't part of our lives. Cars take us to places where memories are formed. The Pajero was worth so much more than the Porsche because of the life, experiences and joy it has provided him and his family.

Seeing his Pajero looking brand new just jolted a whole part of his memory from the past 11 years. The feeling of triumph when he bought it brand new, the trips to Sun City and more.

Definitive Detailing & Valet doesn’t wash cars, we don’t polish swirls. We bridge the gap between man and machine. We enhance and strengthen the love and passion people have for their cars.

But then, as BMW Fanatics you guys already knew this didn't you?

Thank you Nick for letting me work on your beautiful Z4, I thoroughly enjoyed it and cannot wait to work on your M3.

Thank you for reading!

Mike

:bravo: Awesome awesome job!!!raise:

Very thorough write up and a very nice read! raise:

Love those 50/50's, you should definitely keep posting them :inlove:

Fantastic work!

:bravo::bravo::bravo::bravo::bravo:

Great job! Nice write up too. Scary how bad that paint was

Impressive! :bravo:
...and a good write up.
All the best.

Brilliant work bud! :thumbs:

Thank you for the awesome comments! :thumbs:

For those with a very good eye for detail, the 50/50's were after compounding and no refining had been done hence you can see very very fine holograms still. :=):

awesome write up maybe look at some stabilizers for the camera to do the vids you want the camera work to look as smooth as the cars :rollsmile:

Very impressive review & workmanship indeed. Like the company description "bridging man & machine" :thumbs:

Those Boland mountain and farm views are simply gorgeous :joy:

Mike,
I was astounded as to how well she turned out. Having only been in possession of here for a few scant days I had not spent any time really investigating the detailed blemishes. . What i did know was that the swirl marks were visible from my 2nd floor window

Having said which the outcome is amazing and as I said to one of my staff you should definitely look at increasing your price..(obviously after you have done my e46 M3):rollsmile:

In all seriousness thanks for a spectacular job. You have my reference always.
Cheers

Nick

:thumbs::thumbs:Well done Mike Grrreat read good pics and as always great results.I really wish I could do a detail or two with you to learn.

Awesome work. I almost can't believe the difference in those 50/50's :clap: :clap:

Thank you once again for all the brilliant feedback.

I would love to raise my price, however the problem is that South Africa is not yet educated enough in terms of what detailing actually is.

Most people consider it as a bloody expensive car wash. They do not realize what can be done to a car or the huge potential their car has until they bite the bullet and call me over.

When people have a better understanding of the value attached to detailing then the value I charge will go up but not by much to be fair.


^^^ I like that! :thumbs:

Awesome work Mike :thumbs::thumbs:

:thumbs: great job Mike thanks for looking after my girls Sister for us. :thumbs:

MiniMike19@DefinitiveDetailing said:

Thank you once again for all the brilliant feedback.

I would love to raise my price, however the problem is that South Africa is not yet educated enough in terms of what detailing actually is.

Most people consider it as a bloody expensive car wash. They do not realize what can be done to a car or the huge potential their car has until they bite the bullet and call me over.

When people have a better understanding of the value attached to detailing then the value I charge will go up but not by much to be fair.

Definitive Detailing & Valet - Bridging the gap between man & machine.
​

^^^ I like that! :thumbs:

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Yeah I don't get why people moan about prices, go look on Detailing World, some of those details the owners pay between £2000 and £10000 for the detail.

Wow, really awesome results mike.

Nice work, car looks great.

Thank you gents. :thumbs:

I love getting feedback on my work - Its a real pat on the back for me. :rollsmile:

Yeah I don't get why people moan about prices, go look on Detailing World, some of those details the owners pay between £2000 and £10000 for the detail.

Click to expand...

The UK is a whole different market though... Most South Africans cannot understand what detailers do because there are so little companies that do proper detailing.

I only know of myself a gentleman call Vince in Cape Town which can be considered true detailers. Not just a glorified car wash. :fishwack: