My wife has a 1985 BMW E30 track car. She doesn't take care of the paint at all (I've only seen her wash it once in the two+ years she's had it). We bought the car because we wanted a "disposable" car that if she had an incident we could leave the car imbedded in the tire wall and walk away without feeling nearly as bad as we would if it were her 70K Porsche that was cracked up. It's been an excellent learning track car.

However, she's thinking about selling it and getting a faster E36 M3 to replace it, so I want to make it look a little better for the sales process.

Exterior:
It's a white car, factory BMW paint. It's very rough to the hand, almost sandpapery. Paint looks to be in decent condition except for a few spots but needs some TLC.


This link has the full sized picture from the image above http://www.somniplex.com/gallery/e30...MG_7320?full=1


I have a PC 7424 but haven't had occasion to use it yet, so I figured this car would be great to practice on.

Exterior Issues:
1) Black rubber bumper is in pretty rough shape (see pic) and faded. I have some products like 'Black Chrome' and 'back to black' that I plan to use on it, any other recommendations?

2) There are some road tar, etc items behind the front wheel (see pic) I'll use bug & tar spray remover on before claybar. Any other recommendations?

3) Paint - on a car like this should I just plan to start with more abrasive products? I'm not going to do this multiple times, just once before selling.

Interior:

Well, there is none. This car has been gutted for weight savings and is just basically a shell with race seats and a cage. Exposed wires so I can't just turn the hose on it like I'm want to do.

Plan to generally use Aerospace 303 to wipe down dash, etc. Not quite sure how to tackle the rest.



I'm not certain if these little squiggly things on the back behind where the seats will come off, don't recall ever feeling them but I want to try.

 

Interesting car Dave.

I'll try to keep this pithy (as much as these things can be pithy);

Bumper / Quickest route...Add Forever Black to the list. Can be a bit streaky on some items but longevity is much better than the Mother's product.

More work but better return; degrease it, then spray it with some satin trim bumper paint (they do sell it in shaker cans) and that might be the most uniform/ permanant solution.

Paint. If you're seeking the least steps and grunt work, maybe some Klasse AIO would be suficient, though it *sounds* like that would only help "some" and you'll need more.

It actually sounds like a candidate for wetsanding / buffing, but I also suspect you're not amenable to that much of a job considering what you'll get out of the car, so...

The reality is, unless you're prepared to really dive in head first and spend a good deal of time on the paint, your improvement to it will be directly proportional to the steps involved.

Compound it with a rubbing compound via the P/C and cutting pad (you won't get the results you would with a rotary, that's a given, still, it should bring it up a lot and get the dead paint off) and then use a swirl remover witha polishing pad to mitigate the swirls and bring up the clarity more. Then wax or even AIO.

That's why AIO might be just right alone. It won't make you go "oh wow " so much as a 5 step process, but it'll save you time and money, and you WILL see a difference. Whether that difference is enough is something only you can answer.


How much time can you commit to it?

I'm sure others will have a different course of action, but that's my best advice. Good luck!

P.S. Damn, that wasn't too "pithy" after all was it!

 

Gah I did some detailing to a car similar to that. The paint was horrid because it was oxidized and there was tar everywhere. It took my friend and I one whole day to clay bar the car alone. We tried to use the PC on the car and it was just too much hassle. Dumped the slow PC and busted out the rotary with some pretty aggressive cutting pad (wool). Definitely helped out with time issue as I was able to finish in 8 hours (relative to forever with the PC). After that, it was all smooth sailing with the usual polish and wax.

Basically we did this:
1. wash car
2. clay bar
3. wool pad with 3m rubbing compound via rotary
4. less aggressive cutting pad with Meguiars Dual-Action Cutting Polish via PC
5. Sourveranne paste wax

If you plan on getting the job done correctly, Expect to work on the exterior more than two-three days. Can't really cram everything in one day if your paint is that bad, even if you just want to sell the car asap. But in the end, it's worth it if the buyer sees the car in "great" condition. she/he will probably pay you more for the car

The idea of a PC on a poor paint irks me. If you have the patience, go for it.

 

I was trying to be polite about using the P/C Dave, but you should know I'm with GSteg on the P/C thing, it would be like using a mop try to deal with a tidal wave.

This just happens to be the case in point where an orbital is just overwhelmed. It winds up being so painfully slow that you're almost better off compounding via hand and arm pressure, because if you don't have heat (i.e. rotary buffer) you have to make up for it with something (arm / hand pressure) to remove the dead paint.


Good luck though, I'm pullin' for ya.

 

Lol, sounds like it may be worth it to pay my detailer to come in with his bag of heavy duty detail toys.

 

And that's exactly what I did, lol.... told him to bring the big guns (cyclo, heavy duty buffer). He used Einzett Ultra polish with his Metabo rotary to get the heavy scratches and oxidation, then brought up the paint with a mix of polycharger with NXT and buffed with his Cyclo.

It doesn't show in thes pictures too well but the turnaround in the finish is amazing... compared to the light-absorbing dull it was before.




You can spot the replacement for this car in the driveway, her new track ride 1998 E36 M3

 

Any thoughts on treating / painting the interior floor where it has a little surface rust from a previous leak?

My initial idea is some sanding, then paint with KILZ... not sure if that'll be tough enough for driving duty though or will look good enough.

 

Dave, those results are definitely noticeable, kudos to your detailer!


On the floorboards, sand off the loose surface rust and treat it with either a rust neutralizer like Ospho or equivalent, or 2 coats of POR 15. You should do 2 coats of either to insure optimum sealing, especially with POR 15 (good stuff BTW). Kilz is a bit out of its intended engineering scope (rust) here. It's more a stain blocker / sealer. Any rust you don't get off will come through it.



Links; Por 15 http://www.por15.com/


Ospho http://www.ospho.com/