BMW E46 330d Tourer

[Jimmeh]

BMW E46 330d Tourer – Minor Correction with full Interior Detail and Leather Care.

23 hours put into this one – a fine turnaround I’m sure you’ll agree..

Product
• AutoSmart G101
• AutoSmart Bio-Brisk
• AutoSmart Tardis
• AutoGlym Glass Polish
• AutoGlym Vinyl and Rubber Care
• Dodo Juice Supernatural
• Dodo Juice LimePrime
• Dodo Juice Born To Be Mild
• LTT Auto Ultra Foam
• LTT Auto Ultra Protect
• Meguiars Last Touch
• Meguiars Super-Degreaser
• Menzerna 203s
• Super Snowfoam
• Sonus Green Mild Clay
• Zaino Z8

Inspection Photos.

Exterior

Engine

Misc exterior

Interior

 

[Jimmeh]

Nice. Huh?

As it sits, the wheels really let the car down – contact details for a recommended alloy-refurber have been passed on. There was little I could do to revive the wheels; HEAVILY pitted, corroded and curbed. I’ll do what I can!

The doorcards on the inside were sticky to touch and the leather was filthy.. I’ve got my work cut out that’s for sure!

The plan for Day 1 was to transform the interior and to get the wash stages finished and out of the way, allowing for an early start the next morning for machine polishing.


First job, bag the bits! All obvious rubbish was thrown away, other belongings and bits were bagged.

Mats come out..

Before hoovering, I brushed all loose debris out of the crevices/channels/vents and onto the floor.

With the hoovering behind me, I started with the doorcards. They were nasty!!

This is the muck picked up off the drivers door alone:

Remember that handle?

Continued my way around the car with various brushes, cloths and G101 to clean.

Moving in slightly, I start with ‘things up high’:

As the sun-roof ‘visor’ had been pushed partially back for prolonged periods, an impressive dirt build-up had accumulated.

50/50:

Now onto the leather.

Ever wondered why your leather looks ‘shiny’? (See top half of next photo for example)

That’s because, chances are, it’s filthy!

Because it was so heavily soiled, I made a pass with a light mix of G101 to clean the majority. All photos were taken at this stage... Two more passes were then made with a gentler cleaner, LTT Auto Ultra Foam. This was followed by a series of ‘damp wipedown’ with a wet towel; trying to give back some moisture.

Once dry, all leather was then protected with LTT Auto Ultra Protect.


Interior ‘wet-work’..

The floor mats I took out earlier were pretty ‘engrained’..

Out with the VAX6131, AutoSmart Bio-Brisk, a Vikan upholstery brush and lots of microfibres!

50/50 on the rears:

50/50 on the passenger mat once in position:

Clean passenger vs dirty driver:

 

[Jimmeh]

‘Clean’ driver after several minutes scrubbing, soaking, agitating, wetting, sucking and wiping.

Not 100%. The worst areas are those that have been worn by the drivers’ heels.


Stripped and ready to go:

And then the dirty water that was collected in the machine:

Interior carpets then went through a similar process:

^stain near the seat-rail on the above – couldn’t quite fully shift.


So I’ve spent the best part of a day working already, I’ve only done the interior basics!

Next up, sills and shuts.

More G101, Degreaser here and there and the odd spot of Tardis.

Petrol filler housing before:

After:

Then worked the engine bay in a similar way; G101, Degreaser, various brushes and lots of microfibres. Tardis also used to shift stubborn grease on the underside of the bonnet.

Dressed with AutoGlym Vinyl and rubber Care: (photos from Day 3 when entirely finished&#8230

A quick reminder of the before:

Before:

After:

Dark is falling now, no chance I’ll get the wash and clay stages finished today. Before I ran out of light completely, I thought I’d give the alloys and tyres a good scrub.

*as previously said, the alloys were shot. No cleaner, acid, brush or ‘tool’ will bring them up.. They’re due a full refurb.

End of Day 1. ~8 hours.

“Wakey wakey, hands off snakey” and I’m back with the car for 9am.

A few snaps of the ‘nearly finished’ interior after the leather had been fully worked:

And one dirty (..but with clean wheels!) BMW that needs a good wash.

Lots of time spent first of all ‘hitting’ the car with water. There was so much crud collected in all gaps, openings and joins. In the snowfoam stages, I tried to clean all ‘green’ areas the best I could..

Again, more thorough pressure washing ensuring all grit particles had been flushed away, and, trim pieces such as bump-strips, mirror-housing etc, were free of debris.

After this, a good wash. Warm water used along side a healthy serving of Dodo Juice’s Born To Be Mild.

Sonus Green Clay and Last Touch were used for the first step of the decontamination stage..

Here’s the bar after a small section of the roof:

 

[Jimmeh]

I included the glass and light clusters in this stage; it surprised me how much it lifted off of the rear-window!

Rinsing as I go..

Said pick-up that was brought up off of the rear screen:

I only clay (at this stage..) as far down as the bump-strips. These areas need hitting with Tardis first to rid of all tar deposits as these instantly clog up your piece of clay..


A nice collection of tar seen on the o/s rear bumper:

After:

And again, more seen on the o/s front arch:

After the tar was ridden, I went over the same area lifting the containments out with the clay. This was a TIMELY process; both sides were seriously pitted and even “yellowed” in certain areas due to the amount of dirt within.


After a final blast with the pressure washer, the cars looking ten times better already:

…apart from the o/s rear quarter I notice.

At some point in its life, this has been re-sprayed (to an awful finish..(There was no reflection at all!))


Finally, water sheeted with an open-hose and then toweled off and brought inside for taping and measuring.

A bit of a pick ‘n mix this car – random sprayed areas all over!

Back to the o/s rear quarter, I noticed the top section still had some ‘life’ in it (as opposed to the lower sprayed area..)

Only the bottom half had been sprayed.

A quick image showing the difference in finish:

Some overspray spotted around the o/s door handles and on the passenger door itself:

Although this car was full of defects (swirls, random scratches etc) it was hard to photograph them.

Here is a section of the bonnet before:

And after:

As said, difficult to capture defects fully on camera.

Working with a Kestral SIM180 rotary, Menzerna 203s and a Meguiars polishing pad..

Bringing the metallic flake up lovely (..apart from the odd stone chip!)

 

[Jimmeh]

More nasties surrounding the handle:

Switching down to a smaller Sonus Spot-pad for the tighter areas:

An attempted 50/50: (with added chunk of paint missing?!?)

O/S passenger door before:

Work in progress:

After:

A random before:

Random after:

A random before:

Random after:

Now down to the O/S quarter that had been sprayed..

Although I managed to lift the most of the swirls and lighter defects, the terrible orange peel remained.

Lack of clarity in the reflection:

Up the C-pillar and along onto the roof:

And some more nasties spotted down the N/S for a change:

After working my way round both sides, the roof and the bonnet, it was the end of Day 2. To complete: Tailgate. Lower doors. Bumpers. (Day 2 at ~10 working hours)

Day 3. Straight back into it.

General lower door before:

Afters:

Again, switching to smaller pads where required.

 

[Jimmeh]

Light cluster before and after:

It’s pushing midday, and, it’s time to pack-away the rotary. Single stage machine polish complete.

Time to remove the complimentary polishing dust from the awkward areas:

Tape was removed and then given a beating with the pressure washing.


Pre-LSP (before protection) beading photos:

Car was carefully dried up and prepped for the wax application.

(With added drying towel left of the windscreen – oops!)


Reflection in o/s rear door:

Reflection in o/s rear quarter:

Poor.


Visually destroys the back end..

OK, normally at this point I like to catch a nice photo of the wax in question, along with the applicator and microfibre towel. However, I forgot.

Seeing as though it’s such a great shot, I’ll make-up for this loss and use one from last week; work on and Audi S8:

Once garaged again (sheltering from the rain/sleet/snow attempts), I finished off all remaining dressings, polished the windows, gutted the boot, and, dressed the tyres. A final wipedown was given of Zaino Z8 Grand Finale and I was out to chase the sun..

And finally, tucked away in the garage up until collection. (Which is two days away, so, will do my best in the meantime to catch some better after photos) Day 3 at ~6 working hours

Although it was tough going, I really enjoyed this one. Look forward to seeing the owners reaction come Friday afternoon..

Thanks for reading – sorry it was such a slog.

Jim.

 

[N8]

Absolutley grafted that one out! See you thursday are kid.

 

[JD09]

Fantastic as always Jim, must have been a serious effort as said in text!

 

[A3-sport]

Good job mate - love the front wheel arch pic near the end. Lovely jubly.

 

[quattrojames]

Stunning job mate! The E46 3 series is a great looking shape I think.

Like the burglars ladder in the boot lol

 

[Marc1]

Wow! A serious amount of elbow grease there mate. Like James says nice ladder, been after one of them, just don't know how much they are lol!

 

[Jimmeh]

Thanks for the support all.

Stunning job mate! The E46 3 series is a great looking shape I think.

Like the burglars ladder in the boot lol

It is indeed - a classy shap IMO. NOT as good as the B6 Avant, obviously!

It was a toss up between my current and an e46 tourer for my workhorse. The bootspace wasn't up to much I found in the BMW; those wheel-arches take up loooads of room.

Wow! A serious amount of elbow grease there mate. Like James says nice ladder, been after one of them, just don't know how much they are lol!

TBH mate, I wouldn't be suprised if the chap decides to sell it now! Now its in a mint condition.. ha. I wasn going to say, the way it's been looked after in the passed, I dont think it will stay this way for long. BUT, he did mention that he'd like to have a Maintenance Plan with me, so, this is good - yar! PistonHeads.co.uk Classifields is always a good place to start looking if you haven't already..

Good job mate - love the front wheel arch pic near the end. Lovely jubly.

not seen you around for a while chap! It's Adam, isn't it? Hope things are well.

 

[StagsyA4]

Top work that mate! Boy was that one filthy car!?!?!?!

 

[The Doctor]

I can't believe that thing had ever been cleaned in its life! That interior was really bad! I think I'd have put the gloves on just to drive it.