2014 BMW M5 Critic and Jsmooth Tag team!

[Jsmooth]

Hi guys this is my first post here! I'm Joe and I own {sorry non site sponsor info removed}. We specialize in making cars as blindingly shiny as possible! My good friend Mike aka "The Critic" is a regular on this forum so I thought I would post this us! We had a grand time doing it and it took some real effort to achieve these results, you aint getting a car to look like this with 105 and an orbital!

Bring on the M Car! I absolutely am in love with the sound of these cars. You'd think losing the high revving V10 for a small block turbo 8 you'd lose some harmony. Nope these cars just sound evil! Lucky me the only one's I've worked on all had the competition package so all 4 pipes are always open and breathing fire. Some of you guys out there probably get the "numb" to cars feeling when your around nice cars all the time. So its awesome when a car really creates that feeling of joy that only other car lovers can relate to and ends in a very big smile!

Lets get on with it!

Fresh off the boat! Euro plates and all. The M car was picked up in Germany and got its first 1200 miles of drive time on the Autobahn! Can only imagine how awesome that was!

Looking the car over it didn't look horribe, I was a little concerned with the bird poo possibly etching the paint in a few place. Other than that the car had several random scratches all the car and minimal swirling.

I started with the exhaust.

Megs wheel bright is my favorite exhaust cleaner. Make sure you mix it about 8:1 for this. After the initial cleaning I hit the pipes with BF Wet diamond metal sealant

And Handled! Yes I am an expert pipe polisher when on my knees. Check results above if you doubt me!

On to the wheels. This should tell you how much I love this car. I've been blessed to have a lot of really capable employees and almost never have to do anything except polish and walk away. This is one I wanted to do all this, I had fun cleaning the wheel!

Because of the massive openings in the spokes I was able to the calipers with pulling the wheels off. After the wheels I went ahead and washed/Iron X'd/wash.

It was like 6:30 when I finished my decon so fast forward to the next morning when Michael other wise known as the "Critic" on this forum decided to come by and help me out. The Critic lived up to his name, and was very eager to learn while constantly seeing how much Autogeek I've read to verify my expertise. Little did he know and quickly found out, you can read all you want but nothing can replace doing it 1000 times!

Working with rupes21 on the curved hood of this M5 proved to be a bit challenging for the young Jedi. So after I showed him 5 or 6 times how I did it, he decided that I'm just the Mother F'n MAN with a rupes and went to working on flat panels while I took care of the curved ones! Later in the day he did get it figured out with some patients and awesome instruction from your truly. Side note if some of you remember from when I was teaching my little brother....The Critic has no ideal how lucky he is since Ryan broke my airsoft gun! We kept working on till about 630pm and called it.

Fast forward to the next day, with most the big stuff having been completed by self and the critic the day before.... It was time to go after all the things that separate the good and the great!

Polishing under the mirror??? The sun will never hit this... Why go through the trouble.... Because when some one wants a 99% "Full" correction. At {non site sponsor info removed} we WILL give it to them!

14 man hours later of polishing all the small stuff me and my little brother had stripped the paint to get it ready of Opti Coat Pro!

3 hours later the had been coated!

On this one we wanted to go the whole 9 yards on it so we used 25cc's of opticoat pro total. We did 2 full layers an hour apart on the paint, wheels, and glass(Opti Glass Pro). This is the MOST OC pro I've ever put on a car. and the 2nd coat really seemed to add some depth to the already outstanding finish.

No sun shots, here's some shots of the area's that took the most time but showed the attention to detail.

We even polished above the exhaust tips. This was all done by hand and fingers almost fell off getting defects out of this rock hard German paint.

Customer sent me this shot the next day! Talk about crisp reflections!

[img:left]http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b479/gavsauto/BMW Opti Coat Pro/12947_zps17bdf78c.jpg[/img]

Out in the sun! When using Opti Coat Pro because it WILL NOT bond if there anything on the paint you know these are true results! No Hiding defects here!

Handled! Got gloss????? Almost 40 hours into this one. Shout to the Critic for his help!!!
If you guys have any questions or comments I'll gladly help!

Thanks For Looking
Jsmooth and the Critic!

 

[Jsmooth]

Out in the sun! When using Opti Coat Pro because it WILL NOT bond if there anything on the paint you know these are true results! No Hiding defects here!

Ah HA guess I ran out pic posting room!

 

[Barkleymut]

Glad to see someone still takes pride in their work. A guy in my neighborhood owns a mobile detailing service....his truck looks awesome, but his customers are never happy. He skips some of the more labor intensive steps and it shows. A full detail in his opinion is under two hours total work.

 

[Pablo]

You really made those wheels pop. Nice!

I've been wondering what to do for my exhaust. I guess I'm going to try Meg's!!! Thanks.

 

[RTexasF]

Glad you are pointing out that The Critic is still in the learning process.......as we all are if we are wise. The fact that he is so anxious to learn speaks highly of him. The work done (with his help) is incredible. All the book learnin' is nice but it's time in grade that gets the results and pays the bills. Knowing how much work that one was it makes me glad I retired from detailing a few years ago.

 

[JHZR2]

Yeah wow that's a long job. Guess its necessary to get the opti coat to bond. How sure are we with the true longevity of that stuff, to justify the time it took?

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Jsmooth

Customer sent me this shot the next day! Talk about crisp reflections!

Thanks For Looking
Jsmooth and the Critic!

This reflection picture says it all. Very nice job.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: RTexasF
Glad you are pointing out that The Critic is still in the learning process.......as we all are if we are wise. The fact that he is so anxious to learn speaks highly of him. The work done (with his help) is incredible. All the book learnin' is nice but it's time in grade that gets the results and pays the bills. Knowing how much work that one was it makes me glad I retired from detailing a few years ago.


Thanks - and I'm glad that I have made great progress with Joe since this car was done.

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Yeah wow that's a long job. Guess its necessary to get the opti coat to bond. How sure are we with the true longevity of that stuff, to justify the time it took?


While it is ideal to get the paint as close to perfect as possible for Opti-Coat, it is not mandatory. There are many individuals out there who will do a one-step correction and Opti-Coat afterwards.

As long as the surface is perfectly clean and oil-free, Opti-Coat will bond. However, this means that you must do at least one polishing step as the abrasives are key in ensuring that any residual waxes or sealants are removed.

 

[Vikas]

If you did not make four figures on this job, you were robbed! This brings the issue. What should be the net worth of an individual who can afford to do this on their daily driver? 5 big ones or over 10 big ones?

 

[qwertydude]

Anyone who can afford to pay for this quality on a daily driver, I'll take the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous quote. If you have to ask it's too much.

Because in order to maintain such perfection on a daily driver the car would likely need monthly touch up polishing, since people who have their car detailed never take care of them in the first place. And then the paint probably wouldn't last more than the lease payment. But by then it would be someone else's problem.

But when I did have my detailing business, I'd never tell these individuals the downside to such a rigorous polishing schedule. They were happy with the perfection and to heck with the paint life. They were leased, that way when the new model comes up it's an easy trade in since BMW doesn't put a paint thickness gauge to the paint, they just want to see it in ok condition.

And those rich dudes were some of the best most regular customers. So why chastise them for their [censored] treatment of paint? I'm not a dentist and shame my clients. I say bring it on, it just means steady work. If we all brushed, flossed, and gargled after every meal, snack, nap and sip of juice they'd be way down on business.

 

[Vikas]

I was not chastising the owner at all! I was just curious and I agree with you that as a detailer, why would you ask those type of questions to the owner?

I was and am still wondering if the owners are high worth individuals or they want to be high worth individuals.

 

[Jsmooth]

Originally Posted By: Barkleymut
Glad to see someone still takes pride in their work. A guy in my neighborhood owns a mobile detailing service....his truck looks awesome, but his customers are never happy. He skips some of the more labor intensive steps and it shows. A full detail in his opinion is under two hours total work.

Thank you Sir I do take pride in what I do for sure!
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Yeah wow that's a long job. Guess its necessary to get the opti coat to bond. How sure are we with the true longevity of that stuff, to justify the time it took?

Actually it wouldn't of mattered if I finished the car off with turtle wax. The customer wanted absolutely perfect paint under any light source so we gave it to him. The choice of Opti Coat Pro was great IMO because I've first hand seen it do things no wax or sealant on the market can do. And although it suppose to be permanent even if it last 5 years that a big win to me.
Originally Posted By: RTexasF
Glad you are pointing out that The Critic is still in the learning process.......as we all are if we are wise. The fact that he is so anxious to learn speaks highly of him. The work done (with his help) is incredible. All the book learnin' is nice but it's time in grade that gets the results and pays the bills. Knowing how much work that one was it makes me glad I retired from detailing a few years ago.

Yeah The Critic is still learning as we all are but I'll personally let him detail any of my cars or my clients! He does amazing work and catches on very quickly!
Originally Posted By: Vikas
If you did not make four figures on this job, you were robbed! This brings the issue. What should be the net worth of an individual who can afford to do this on their daily driver? 5 big ones or over 10 big ones?

Actually while this is over 100k car, The customer is by no means super loaded as your implying. He worked very hard and saved money to buy his dream car and wanted the best for it. So we gave him the best! As for what I got paid on this I'll just say I wasn't robbed that's for sure!
Originally Posted By: qwertydude
Anyone who can afford to pay for this quality on a daily driver, I'll take the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous quote. If you have to ask it's too much.

Because in order to maintain such perfection on a daily driver the car would likely need monthly touch up polishing, since people who have their car detailed never take care of them in the first place. And then the paint probably wouldn't last more than the lease payment. But by then it would be someone else's problem.

But when I did have my detailing business, I'd never tell these individuals the downside to such a rigorous polishing schedule. They were happy with the perfection and to heck with the paint life. They were leased, that way when the new model comes up it's an easy trade in since BMW doesn't put a paint thickness gauge to the paint, they just want to see it in ok condition.

And those rich dudes were some of the best most regular customers. So why chastise them for their [censored] treatment of paint? I'm not a dentist and shame my clients. I say bring it on, it just means steady work. If we all brushed, flossed, and gargled after every meal, snack, nap and sip of juice they'd be way down on business.

Cpl things here, again he wasn't rich! I could go out and buy an M5 if I wanted and I'm no where near rich. As for monthly polishing.... Well That would defeat the purpose of applying Opti Coat Pro as I would be removing it with polishing. I actually see this car about once a month and he does drive a lot(who wouldn't its a beast!) And it's still swirl and scratch free for the most part. The pics out in the sun of this car were shot almost a month after the car was done. If you properly wash a car you will minimize the chance of needing to polish it again. I do get what your saying as it'll be hard to keep it perfect, I actually think more like impossible because its driven. But proper washing will for sure prolong the need and keep the car mostly scratch free for years. I don't know when you had a detail shop, but modern clear coats are very thin compared to 10 years ago... Not a lot of room there to polish the car over and over so we goto the extreme to avoid scratching or marring the car after it's perfect so we don't have to polish! And with Opti Coat Pro adding measurable thickness even if the dealer washed it with a broom...Chances are most the damage would be in the Opti Coat not the paint its self.
Originally Posted By: Vikas
I was not chastising the owner at all! I was just curious and I agree with you that as a detailer, why would you ask those type of questions to the owner?

I was and am still wondering if the owners are high worth individuals or they want to be high worth individuals.

Again because I can go buy an M5 does that make me ready for my close up on life styles of rich and famous? NO! Add that to the fact we live in one of the costly places to live... I just seem to think your having a hard time seeing value in this kind of work. When the truth is that this is an M5, But I've done this same work on a 2003 honda accord, and even an old kia... Sure I do more 60k+ cars but I have done a bunch of 20-30k cars and even a few only worth 5-10k. If you really like and care about your car no matter what it is, there's value in it. It's like when someone spend 2500$ fixing a 3k car they owed for 12 years. Well the options are simple, What kind of car you buy with 2500? One that you know nothing about and has equal problems or worse than your current one? Or do you fix the car you know the history on and keep driving it? Detailing is different but to some it's just like changing the oil... Except if you have it detailed right, and wash it right after that, you can expect maintenance to be much easier!

Thanks for the kind words about the work we did guys!

 

[qwertydude]

You should read some of my previous posts on other threads. I know very well the thickness of modern clearcoats as I have both a magnetic and ultrasonic paint thickness gauge and learned detailing not from other detailers but apprenticed in a proper paint shop so all aspects of paint are second nature to me, if you work on high end cars you'll run into aluminum and composite panels and therefore wouldn't be able to use a cheap paint thickness gauge. And if I don't have either of my paint thickness gauges available at the time a decent detailer should at least have a 10x loupe so as to be able to judge from the errant rock chip just how much clear is left.

I myself only do a compound every 4-5 years on my daily drivers and SMAT abrasives really save the paint too as you polish only to remove the defects, you don't have to polish til the polish is done and broken and therefore removing more material than necessary just to finish off well. And even then I realize polishing to perfection especially on a car that wasn't previously taken care of can drastically reduce paint life more. Especially on the newer two step or ultrahard clears as the majority of the protection is only on the upper 25% or so of the paint thickness. Remove that layer and paint life can go from 30+ years with minimal care down to just 6-7 years. And that coating is thinner than ever.

That's why I say maintaining perfect paint, and when I say perfect I mean not a swirl or holorgam in the brightest sunlight, for people who daily drive their cars is pointless. I'm sure the person who owned the BMW after reading the response isn't someone super rich but instead someone of decent means who just wanted to splurge. But some of the higher end clientele I used to detail for thought nothing of buying a new $75K car when the new car smell wore off. And those are the ones where you'd polish to perfection and a month later find the paint trashed, and lo and behold another $1000 2 day detail.

 

[jimbrewer]

Agree with JSmooth: Keeping up the cosmetic appearance of a car is well worth it. I had a car that I religiously changed the oil every 6K with M-1. It was by far the most durable car I ever owned, and i drove it nearly every day for over 15 years. The thing was, the exterior looked like the Pumpkin we left out til easter toward the end. Given its extreme age, I can't say it would have improved its resale value, had i taken better care of its appearance, but it would have been more socially acceptable for me to have driven it as long as I did.