[mjh93sa]

I ache! 9 hours of washing cleaning, polishing, waxing today. Despite the iffy weather we (little sis did her 118d as well) managed to get through a full days work before it finally started to rain.

The prep by the dealer wasn't bad. It didn't look they had done much beyond wash it and black the tyres, which at least meant that there weren't swirl marks everywhere. However, after a wash there was no evidence of beading.

A quick summary of the work:
Windows: Rinse with water - Clean and seal windows with Carlack 68 Glass Sealing Kit
Wash Car: Rinse - Foam with Zymul Clear - Rinse - Wash with Zymul Clear
Dry: Sonus Der Wunder Drying Towel (didn't even wring out once)
Seal Wheels: 2 coats of Jetseal 109. (6 hours between coats)
Polish: Zymul HD-Cleanse (330d) / Clearkote Vanilla Moose Hand Glaze (118d)
Wax: Zymul Concours (330d) / Dodo Juice Light Fantastic (118d)
Black Trim & Tyres: Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel
Leather (330d only): Zymul Treat
Exhaust: Solvol.
Final Buff: Zymul Field Glaze

Very impressed with the sheeting qualities of the Z.... Concours. At this stage I would say that the Dodo Juice is about equivalent to the Z3 Zymul that I use to have. It's not as good as the Concours, but at the price point looks good so far. I'll report more on longevity as time pases.

Pics (difficult due to colour and failing light):

[G33]

nice. but i think you will find its ZYMOL :P

[peterg1965]

Matt, that is commitment for you and the results are very impressive; the cars look fantastic. I now feel very guilty for not even looking that closely at my paintwork! So what are your first impressions of the 330d? I see you have your Blacklines on already

[booforty]

Looks the bees knees Matt!

[hmi1750]

look great!

[mjh93sa]

Originally Posted by G33

nice. but i think you will find its ZYMOL :P

It is, but it's a habit from detailing world to disguise it. See here: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...929#post160929

Originally Posted by peterg1965

Matt, that is commitment for you and the results are very impressive; the cars look fantastic. I now feel very guilty for not even looking that closely at my paintwork! So what are your first impressions of the 330d? I see you have your Blacklines on already

Blacklines were on it for collection

To be honest I haven't driven it that much yet. Too busy cleaning it. Now that I'm getting past the point of disbelief that I've finally manged to get one it's really growing on me. The past couple of days have been a discovery of one cool feature after another. Despite all that time at UK2 in the dark I had forgotten how cool the puddle lights were until I went out to try something last night.

There have also been a few instances of my ignorance leading me in circles for a while. I lost all the iDrive settings that the sales guy and I set after stopping for fuel on the way home. It took me a while to realise I'd swapped to the other key. Then the mirror dip in reverse stopped because I had the switch set to the wrong mirror.

iDrive is good, but not intuitive. It's a lot better than the journalists make out, but only once you get your head around when to use up and down or rotary movements. Using the controller NAV entry is much slower that my portable Garmin with a touchscreen. I know, I know, Viv - use the voice control! (Voice control has to be one of the coolest gizmos on the car) However, it's accuracy of position and speed of recalculation knocks the Garmin into the weeds. With the Garmin you're often not sure of where to turn as the position on screen lags your position slightly. Having the arrow display up with the countdown marker makes it childs play.

Coming from an E46 SE, the MSport kit is the dogs danglies. The sports seats are great and the chunky steering wheel is light years ahead of the little bit of liquorice in the old car. The only down side is that the wheels are sods to clean.

HiFi sound is good and the 6FL a must have, don't go near the 6CD as it's more expensive and less capable.

Ride is good and the steering has a decent weight to it. After a week with a Focus following the sale of my E46 it's also nice to get back to the more positive feel of BMW brakes.

[vivekk]

I've been playing with Photoshop CS3 for the last few days, so I thought I'd give it a go on one of your beautiful shots, Matt!

Enjoy your baby!

All the best.

Viv

[OriginalFrak]

Lovely job Matt - as an obsessive compulsive myself I know what you went through....(and having just done my wife's Honda CRV Family Shed my lower back feels the same way)

Still - now you can lie back and bear the fruits of sundays off for the next 4-5 months.

(well maybe a quick pressure wash across the body - drag of the Sonus and a dry with some QD )

[SoYank]

Originally Posted by G33

nice. but i think you will find its ZYMOL :P

That's OK, he's taking spelling lessons from Carlos.

[hmi1750]

looks fantastic... is the mirror dipping a feature of electric seats or do normal seats get it too?

I am looking forward to giving my car a full clean too soon.

[mjh93sa]

Originally Posted by OriginalFrak

Lovely job Matt - as an obsessive compulsive myself I know what you went through....(and having just done my wife's Honda CRV Family Shed my lower back feels the same way)

Still - now you can lie back and bear the fruits of sundays off for the next 4-5 months.

(well maybe a quick pressure wash across the body - drag of the Sonus and a dry with some QD )

nah, more like a wash and another coat or two of the Concours before I give it a rest. Though it's all rather dependant on the weather. As you would expect, having done all that it's now p;ssing down.

Originally Posted by hmi1750

looks fantastic... is the mirror dipping a feature of electric seats or do normal seats get it too?

I am looking forward to giving my car a full clean too soon.

Mirror dip for me is as a consequence of interior and exterior dipping mirrors (with power fold). I think you get it with power fold mirrors, int & ext dip mirrors and the full electric seat package.

[dxb335d]

looks good mate, isnt beading a anal sexual thing?

[red355]

looking good..well worth the effort at this time of year.



I use the Zymol Titanium Glaze
# Contains 51% Carnauba Wax (80% Yellow & 20% White by Volume)
# Ingredients derived from nature include banana, coconut and montan oil.
# Great for cars on track days or completing heavy motorway mileage.
# Provides protection that polishes do not.

its a fair bit cheaper £67 vs £164 than the Concours Glaze you used - and has more overall Carnauba content 51% vs 47% but a lot less of the more expensive white variety.

* Contains 47% Carnauba Wax (10% Yellow and 90% White by Volume)
* Ingredients derived from nature include banana, cinnamon, coconut and montan oil.


I would love to try their more (ultra)expensive wax on say just one panel to see I can tell the difference.

Anyone know if can you get trial tubs anywhere?



I have another week off work and intend to give our motors a zymol treatment (will help sell the MINI). I find that if I do 2 or 3 applications in early autumn & then retreat late spring then that gives a pretty much year long finish.

Today looks an ideal day thru the window @ 9am and I can smell a bacon being prepared from the kitchen. Must go and make the coffee

[mjh93sa]

They used to do a trial pack of something like the vintage and royale, but they don't seem to do it anymore.

As you say it would be great to be able to trial against something like the Titanium or Concours and see if they really are that much better.

[- Paul -]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

looks good mate, isnt beading a anal sexual thing?

You sound as if you know mate - tell us more.

Matt - Nice job on the detail mate - kind of looking forward to doing mine again

[silverbmwz3]

Looks awesome Matt. Tough to get a good reflection on silver cars I believe (at least it was on my z3) but looks like you've managed it !

[NFS]

Matt - you are a detailing GOD !

My wife would call the 'authorities' if I spent 9 hours cleaning my car.

[squeezebm]

Matt,well worth the effort

[silverbmwz3]

Originally Posted by needforspeed

Matt - you are a detailing GOD !

My wife would call the 'authorities' if I spent 9 hours cleaning my car.

As would mine if I stuck a steering wheels and pedal to the desk in my study and spent time racing pretend cars

[red355]

Originally Posted by mjh93sa

They used to do a trial pack of something like the vintage and royale, but they don't seem to do it anymore.

As you say it would be great to be able to trial against something like the Titanium or Concours and see if they really are that much better.

Ordered a tub of concours last night as I've just done the wifes MINI and started to see the bottom of the pot of Ti.
So I will find out the difference between these two (cheaper) waxes soon





i think it has helped keeping a 2002 car with 51k miles look good

[silverbmwz3]

Superb photos - looks like you know what you are doing with a camera!

[squeezebm]

Originally Posted by red355

Ordered a tub of concours last night as I've just done the wifes MINI and started to see the bottom of the pot of Ti.
So I will find out the difference between these two (cheaper) waxes soon





i think it has helped keeping a 2002 car with 51k miles look good

Absolute amazing although i am easily pleased......