From the Pistonheads show 'Iconic Cars' stand, 1990 BMW E30 M3 Sport Evolution
I first met the owner of this stunning 1990 BMW M3 Sport Evolution at the Pistonheads/Autosport show where it was to be displayed as part of the ‘Iconic Cars’ stand, as voted for by members of the Pistonheads forum. Swissvax had agreed to take part in the show and offer a detailing service to the cars being displayed. As soon as I heard about the idea I knew there had to be an E30 M3 amongst the cars and requested that it be mine to work on. Sure enough, the list was released and there was ‘my’ E30!
To cut a long story short, things didn’t quite go according to plan at the show and we, as the Swissvax team, were rather compromised on what we could achieve due to a lack of time and manpower. However, the owner, Craig, spoke to me at length and whilst the car is generally in fabulous condition, the paint was one area that definitely had room for improvement. Once the show was finished, Craig got in touch and booked me for 2 days to lavish the car with some TLC.
I arrived at the car’s hiding place on a very cold and miserable rainy late January morning. Having not been used since driving back from the show a couple of weeks earlier, it was only wearing a very slight layer of grime that was quickly washed off before getting the car into the garage. Craig looks after the car very well, keeping it well waxed, and I myself had added a layer of Best Of Show whilst it was being displayed, so this was no chore.
Having discussed the aim of the detail with Craig at the show, to safely correct where possible and improve the paint as much as possible, I cracked on. The paint is straight black, the worst colour for showing every single little mark, of which there were plenty. A thorough inspection of the car with a paint depth gauge gave me a better picture of what I had to deal with. The picture to the left below shows the offside rear wing, the picture to the right shows the boot lid with the spoiler removed for access.
To get a feel for the paint and run a test area, I placed some tape across the middle of the boot lid. Starting with a mild polish, I soon discovered it did little other than add gloss. The paint turned out to be exceptionally hard and need quite an aggressive approach using a hard compounding pad together with a heavy cutting compound. After a couple of attempts a big improvement was visible, and after a final buff with a fine finishing polish to restore the gloss, I was happy with what I had achieved.
The rest of the car proved to be equally challenging, the weather only adding to the issue with cold, damp air negatively affecting the way the polish was working. So with slow progress, I worked my way around the car, although I didn’t take too many pictures in the process. Some of the deepest marks still remained, but after removing approx 10 microns of clearcoat and still no visible improvement in the really deep marks, I deemed it safer to be happy with the vast improvement made.
Returning for the second day, I still had some correction to complete, which I did first, then came the enjoyable bit. After a careful dust down of the whole car, the first job was to prepare the paint for wax. I applied Swissvax Cleaner Fluid panel by panel, buffing off as I went. This removes any remaining polishing oils or other contaminants that might adversely affect the way the wax adheres to the paint. The wax chosen for this detail was the flagship product, Swissvax Divine, known for it’s luxurious depth of gloss and wetness, and outstanding durability. Whilst a recent price increase has seen the cost rise to nearly £1500, Divine is such a wonderful wax to use you can almost justify its cost. I did say almost….
Gently applied to the whole car, it was left to cure whilst I attended to other areas. The tail pipes were polished, all unpainted trim treated with Swissvax Protection Matt to give an ‘as new’ rich satin sheen, wheels painstakingly covered with Autobahn wheel wax (I have the same cross spoke wheels on my own E30 and knew only too well what a torture they’d be to wax!). The glass was cleaned inside and out, the interior thoroughly vacuumed and wiped down, the rubber door seals nourished with a special product designed to restore and maintain their flexability and finally the tyres dressed with Pneu to give a natural looking satin finish.
At last it was time to effortlessly buff of the wax using a light mist of Swissvax’s own carnuba containing quick detailer, Quick Finish, before moving the car outside to take some photographs.
This is a car that would definitely be in my fantasy garage, and I enjoyed spending some time photographing it. However, it’s no stranger to the modelling world, having already appeared in several high profile magazines such as Evo and Autocar, and even appearing on television! As such, it posed beautifully while I composed some shots.
I’d like to say a big thank you to Craig for letting me loose on this iconic piece of automotive metal.
Testimonials
“I would definitely recommend anyone to use Shine On regardless of marque, Paul is a genuinely nice bloke who has the rare attributes of actually loving his job and doing it to the best of his ability (bordering on OCD). I personally plan to use this service at least every 8months to keep the cars looking at their best.
And to top it all off…..even my wife commented on how and I quote ‘amazing’ it looked, that testimony alone is worth its weight in gold!
Andy (M3 and Battle Bus!)”
