BMW M4 Detail

BMW M4 Detail

Giving this M4 some Splash lovin'

The car you see here is a recent purchase by one of our customers. He asked us if we could help and show him the basics to looking after his recent investment.

Clearly a well looked after car, unfortunately though it was in need if some attention. Soot from a nearby fire covered the gorgeous blue paintwork and carbon roof, and under direct sunlight it was evident that it had been through one too many automatic car washes.

Find out below the steps we took to transform this BMW M4 to a better than new condition. The great thing is, with a little help and guidance, you too can detail like a pro to get these great results.

 


Step 1 - WHEELS, ARCHES & TYRES

 

Let's start with the dirtiest part of the car. This is usually the wheels, arches and tyres. Complete one corner at a time. We like to do the wheels first, using our Ocean Blast Alloy Wheel Cleaner, using several brushes to agitate the grime before blasting away with the pressure washer. You can also scrub your tyres whilst you're doing the wheels to get rid of any old tyre dressing. Ocean Blast is safe to use on tyre walls - so no need to spend more money on a dedicated product.

Once we've cleaned the wheels and tyres, let's move on to the arches. Zest Citrus Degreaser is ideal here. Spray into the arches and allow the product to dwell for a couple of minutes. Depending on the level of grime, you can either blast off right away with the pressure washer, or use a brush to agitate before blasting away.

Do one corner at a time, so product doesn't dry out on your car and you'll be left with these areas looking good as new in no time at all.



Step 2 - PRE-WASH (Degrease and snow foam)
Let's start by trying to give us our best shot at not inflicting swirl marks on our paintwork. Alaska Bubblegum Snow Foam is great at soaking up any grime before we start a contact wash with the wash mitt.
It's able to get into the hard to reach areas like door shuts, behind door mirrors, door handles, grilles etc to lift out the grime. These tend to be the areas where grime builds up most. 
Alaska Bubblegum Snow Foam is hugely important in any detail. It has a long dwelling time which allows it to lift any dust or debris present so they won’t appear later on in your detail.
Use a foam lance bottle and add about 100ml of Alaska Bubblegum Snow Foam into the bottle before adding water to top up the bottle. Spray on from the top of your car down to the bottom. You'll get a nice thick coating of foam that'll look like a blanket of snow. Depending on your weather conditions, you can leave it for around 5 minutes to do its thing. You'll start to notice a change in colour when the foam pics up the dirt and falls off your car. 
Don't let the foam dry out on your paint as it could leave marks that will need to be washed again. Rinse it away fully with your pressure washer. Focus on the panel gaps too and make sure you're rid of all the foam that's sitting in the areas you can see.

You can also use Zest Citrus Degreaser on all areas of your car, including glass and paintwork for a more targeted clean. Spray the dirtiest areas first to give the most dwell time. 
Step 3 - CONTACT WASH

Once all snow foam is rinsed away, let's move on to the contact wash. The safest way to start is using the two bucket method (one bucket for your shampoo and another for rinsing out your wash mitt). Using this method will help avoid creating swirl marks to your paint.

Very Berry Gloss Shampoo is a highly concentrated pH Neutral car shampoo that will gently wash your car. It contains a high grade lubricated formula which incorporates added carnauba wax, which leaves a stunning gloss to your paintwork.

Do you have a vinyl wrapped car? Well, fear not. Providing it's a gloss wrap, you can use Very Berry Gloss Shampoo to wash your wrapped car too.

Step 4 - CLAY BAR

 

With the BMW starting to look much better, we turned our attention to the contaminates in the paint. The M4 wasn't bad at all. Very little contaminates in the paint work - it felt smooth to touch.

We use our Classiest Clay Fine Detailing Clay next to rid of all the embedded contamination in the paint. The great thing here is, unlike other clay bars that require more money being spent on a dedicated lubricant - you can use just water to lube our clay bar. 

Run the back of your hand across your paint. If you haven't used a clay bar before, you'll feel the surface being extremely rough. If it does, then let's move to to using the clay bar.

Claying your car makes a massive difference to the feel of your paint. We spray water (to act as lube) then glide the clay bar, running it back and forth until we saw that the contaminants have been removed.

 

Drying the car off with our XL Drying Towel was the next step. Being a huge 60x90cm it quickly soaked up the water and left us a nice dry surface ready for the next stage. 

Step 5 - PAINT ENHANCING

 

Now that we've prepped our paint with the clay bar, it's now safe for us to start our paint enhancing stage.

Vanity Swirl Concealer Polish contains sophisticated polymers and ultra-fine abrasives to reduce and fill in fine swirls in your paintwork. It's so good, that it sold out in the first 48hrs of release. The owner of the M4 doesn't have a machine polisher so he wanted to know what the best way to hide this unsightly swirl marks in his pride and joy.

Here's where Vanity fits in. It's been developed for hand application, but also great for anyone wanting to use it with a machine. Start on a small area of your paint and apply 3-4 pea-sized spots onto our microfibre polishing pad. 

Rub the polish into your paint with medium pressure, either in straight lines or circular motion. Work the polish down until it becomes clear. Then take a Candy Cloth Microfibre Towel and buff away the residue.

It’s perfect for hand or machine application to reduce the visibility of swirl marks, leaving a glossy, wet-look finish. Ready for applying protection.

 

Step 6 - GLASS 

 

With smudges and fingerprints all over the windows, we pulled out Clear Vue Glass Cleaner to do the job. Clear Vue is a fast drying, alcohol-based glass cleaner containing the highest level of solvents and detergents to clean your glass. It's guaranteed to leave an invisible, smear free finish every time.

You can also use it on any chrome trim you have on the exterior or interior, and even on your exhaust tailpipes. The ultimate versatile product.
Step 7 - PROTECTION

 

The owner of the M4 wanted a product he could use to protect his paint without spending a lot of time doing so. We ruled out the use of a carnauba wax and discussed Ceramicoat Hybrid Spray Sealant with him.

 

Ceramicoat simplifies the way you detail your car. This revolutionary spray on sealant adds a protective barrier of ceramic Si02 coating to all exterior surfaces, whilst washing your car. It creates instant unbelievable water beading. 

The results speak for themselves. Stand back and admire your hard work. You've now completed your Spring detail and should have a car that's looking better than new.

 

We applied Ceramicoat to a dry car first to allow for a better bond of all future wet coats. The great thing about it is that it can be used wet or dry to add stunning gloss and protection for up to 4 months. We simply sprayed to a wet M4, and then washed off the product immediately.
FINISHING SHOTS
 
We hope you enjoyed this one. We certainly did. The dull paintwork and staining on the car left it very little to be desired for. With just a few products and some knowledge on how to use them safely, we transformed this customer's car to get it looking like it had just rolled out of the showroom.
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