Exterior Car care for new M3

[BayBayBay]

Dumb question, but I was wondering how some of you are protecting your car after picking it up from the dealer?

Is a good coat of wax required or does the car already come pre-waxed?

[mgx]

If you have Jet Black tell your dealer to NOT wash/detail the car prior to your pick up or else you're going to have a major league mess on your hands.

All of the other colors (excluding Frozen Gray) are metallic and are cared for in the most common practices which are posted here

http://www.m3post.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=189

Congratulations!

[Brosef]

Depends on how anal you are. The dealer will put on a coat of wax as part of their Oreo, but if you want to do it right, tell them not to touch it and take it straight to a professional detailed that you trust. A full new car prep is much like a full detail, so it is quite a bit if work.

[llis]

Welcome to a whole new unexpected hobby! See http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9145 for a fabulous walkthrough of all the steps.

[dirtyfreebooter]

Yea, I detailed cars at a garage when I was an undergraduate in the summers and on winter breaks.. Now I crazy about automotive detailing/cleaning.. My dealer will be getting strict instructions for no washing (interior and exterior).. I want to prep the car myself. I see me getting zero sleep the night of delivery. All-nighter in the garage detailing!!

For me, it going be a wash/clay/wash/wax for the exterior on delivery day

And ditto on the links posted.. there is plenty good information on the forums for detailing and waxing here.

[llis]

Originally Posted by mgx

If you have Jet Black tell your dealer to NOT wash/detail the car prior to your pick up or else you're going to have a major league mess on your hands.

Interesting. I'm curious: How is JB different? I did a quick search but didn't find anything that stands out. (My friend has a jet black Z4, and we were going to share washing/detailing product [aside from the mitts/buckets/towels].)

[dirtyfreebooter]

^^ black will just show swirl marks from washing with dirty wash mitts more easily. Often dealers use a shared bucket and wash many cars with the same bucket of water. Usually some part-time kid is in charge of washing.

The best way is to use a rinse bucket and separate wash bucket, optimally with grid guards in both buckets. You won't find many dealers going to that level...

[Raz335]

The clear coat on Jet Black is much softer than the clearcoat in the Metallic colors (Jerez, Space, Interlagos, etc). I believe it's the lack of metallic flake that makes the clear so prone to swirls and marring. The metallics also hide swirl marks better. Jet Black will swirl if you look at it wrong. If swirls bother you, then you have the wrong color. lol JK, def get your own bucket and use the method described above.

[mgx]

Originally Posted by llis

Interesting. I'm curious: How is JB different? I did a quick search but didn't find anything that stands out. (My friend has a jet black Z4, and we were going to share washing/detailing product [aside from the mitts/buckets/towels].)

weeeeeeeeee

[signes]

Originally Posted by Raz335

The clear coat on Jet Black is much softer than the clearcoat in the Metallic colors (Jerez, Space, Interlagos, etc). I believe it's the lack of metallic flake that makes the clear so prone to swirls and marring. The metallics also hide swirl marks better. Jet Black will swirl if you look at it wrong. If swirls bother you, then you have the wrong color. lol JK, def get your own bucket and use the method described above.

I've had JB M3s for 8+ years and never heard this. Do you have a source?

[eclipsisNA]

Originally Posted by Raz335

The clear coat on Jet Black is much softer than the clearcoat in the Metallic colors (Jerez, Space, Interlagos, etc). I believe it's the lack of metallic flake that makes the clear so prone to swirls and marring. The metallics also hide swirl marks better. Jet Black will swirl if you look at it wrong. If swirls bother you, then you have the wrong color. lol JK, def get your own bucket and use the method described above.

That's incorrect. Jet Black has the exact same clear coat formula on top of it as any other color.

[Tim B.]

Originally Posted by mgx

weeeeeeeeee

WOW. And i thought my swirls were bad! Nice save on that one......beautiful shine!

[BayBayBay]

Thanks for all the great advice. I'm going to take it to a detailing shop in San Francisco to wax her up. Thank goodness I have Mineral White, so swirling won't be as visible.

Has anyone had any experience with:

California Detailing Inc.
340 Fell St.
San Francisco, CA. 94102
Phn: 415-626-3691

[MuttGrunt]

If you want to go to a quality detailer in the bay area, you'll want to check out Aaron from AC Detailing, Bob Willis of Auto Concierge, or Jeff from Immaculate Reflections. Those are the types of guys that do quality work that are known and respected around the nation.

[w00tw00t]

Zaino and a lot of TLC

[BayBayBay]

Originally Posted by MuttGrunt

If you want to go to a quality detailer in the bay area, you'll want to check out Aaron from AC Detailing, Bob Willis of Auto Concierge, or Jeff from Immaculate Reflections. Those are the types of guys that do quality work that are known and respected around the nation.

I'll look into them, thanks for the heads up. You have their contact info?

[ersin]

Whether the dealer waxes or not, clay the car first (after a good wash of course). I doubt many, if any, dealers clay the car as part of prepping it but it needs to be done. Then you can put the wax or shine or whatever you want on top (if there are no swirls or scratches). Wax the wheels too.


Cheers.

[Gkap]

I told the dealer when my car arrvies not to touch anything.

I will peel the plastic cover's off and will take it home and detail
it myself. They just do a quick wax job and swirl your paint.

[BayBayBay]

Man all the shops I called want me to leave the car with them for a full day. I don't have that time since my car is a daily driver.

Anyone have rates of some good mobile detailers in Bay Area?

[Envious Eric]

mobile or fixed location, your car is still going to have the down time. a new car prep is roughly 6-7 hours for me

In fact, if you take it to a shop, you can probably get it back sooner since there will be a couple guys working on it.

Also, as a side note, my average detail is in the 10-12 hour range...some in the 20+ hour range

[dirtyfreebooter]

I just did mine.

Cleaned wheels and tires, rinse, foam, 2 bucket wash, rinse, clay, foam, 2 bucket wash, rinse, electric leaf blower dry, masking tape black exterior moldings, random orbital wax (2x), clean door jams, and finally express wax over entire vehicle.

The only thing I didn't get to was wheel wax and tire protectant.

All in all, it took me ~7 hours. If you want the place to take care, not have wax in every little place and such, it's definitely an all day job.

[llis]

Originally Posted by aznduece

Man all the shops I called want me to leave the car with them for a full day. I don't have that time since my car is a daily driver.

Anyone have rates of some good mobile detailers in Bay Area?

Considering a) most mobile detailers are going to be younger (less likely to have bricks and mortar), b) detailing is generally a younger-person's business (because it seems it's something that requires some pretty good physical agility, flexibility and endurance to do it as a regular gig), and c) you're in the Bay Area which is tech geek capital of the world, I would think you have a good chance finding someone online. If you cross-reference with Yelp, Google, etc. you may find customer reviews, etc.