Following a decent reaction to my E34 BMW here's a thread i'll keep updated and whore with piccies 
It explain what is was like when I bought it and hopefully will end up with what I want at the end....
Firstly, here's some of the other cars I had last year, not exactly retro - but awesome non the less. Well in my opinion anyway....
BMW 328i Sport Individual Manual - Avus Blue
Volvo V70R FWD Manual - Saffron
BMW 328i Convertible Manual - Montreal Blue
(I wasn't responsible for the M3 plate!!)
BMW 328i Sport Manual - Montreal Blue
So on to the 5er...
Spec:
530i V8 - 120k miles - Manual (oh yes!)
Techno Violet
Sport kitted added at factory
17" contours (OEM copies - deeper dish)
Eibach springs (30mm I think...)
Front strut brace
Powerflow exhaust
M5 boot lid insets
Cream leather & Walnut trim
Sunroof & interior light pack
When I bought it, back in November, it looked like this:
After an initial test drive I walked away from it.. It needed a bit of work and I was really looking for a 540i 6speed. It did however, have 12months MOT - happy days.
Service history wasn't brilliant, with a gap up to the present mileage and only 2 old MOT's, but after a check on the VOSA site I was happy with the mileage being genuine.
So the jobs:
- It needed a service - deseparately!
- Tax,
- Detail like crazy,
- Wheel refurb,
- Tyres,
- Air box inlet pipe work,
- Cruise control not working,
- Rear passenger door not opening/closing on central locking,
- Upper and Lower front bushes (powerflex) to be fitted - when they arrive!,
- Clean leather (its all in good condition and not riped, just dirty),
- Bottom front splitter needs painting,
- Radiator could do with being replaced,
- Minor dings to be removed
The owner rang me back, as it was SORN, he wanted rid. We agreed a price and I drove it home.
Despite the shimmy at 50+ mph, it drove well, pulled strong and sounded awesome!
It went straight in for a service and a thorough check over. Apart from a slight leaking radiator and the bushes, it was given a clean bill of health
When I got it back I tackled the minging interior first.
Befores:
Afters:
Was the interior dirty? Yes!
Still need a bit of work on the leather, but its an improvement.
Being 14yrs old, the exterior was tired, dull and lacked any sort of reflection. My arsenal of detailing products where grabbed and I set about sorting it out.
So here's what was really dealing with:
Front grille and light surrounds are chipped to hell and nice to see the missus has been doing some off roading!
Swirlies and marks galor - great!
It lacks any gloss, depth or overall luster.
The car was foamed, APC'd to death everywhere possible with an array of bushes, foamed again and then washed extremely throughly.
After the wash process it was clayed with Bilt Hambers auto clay with water as lube, couple of pics sum it up really, one from the drivers door and one from the boot:
14yrs of curse word! Never clayed in its life. Poor BM!
Anyway, after the clay it started to look a lot fresher, its was all starting to condensate up, so I called it day after these piccies:
It was prep'd ready for a machine polishing session.
Process was:
Menzerna 3.02 + a blob of Menzerna 106FA on a yellow 3M polishing pad,
Menzerna 85RD on a meguairs orange polish pad,
Lime prime on a white sonus pad,
Nattys blue wax (cheap and cheerful for now
),
Exhaust done with autosol,
Plastic insets with meguairs trim detailer,
Glass and final wipe down with Meguairs last touch.
The BM is a huge motor to squeeze into one detailing session. I still need to sort out the roof, boot lid, lower door sections & bumpers.
None machine polished panels where polished by hand with SRP and topped with Nattys blue. So here we go...
Befores:
During:
Afters:
Over the Xmas break I sorted out the grille and Wrapped myself up and gave the car a bit of a clean to add a bit more gloss and depth to the finish. My new polish/glaze (Deep Reflections XP) and sealant (Finish Kare 1000p) turned up. So it would have been rude not to try them.
Very impressed with both products. The FK1000p is awesome - I recommend this to everyone!
Also, I pulled off the dodgy black grille. I stripped off the black rubberised paint by soaking them in boiling water and fairy liquid. The paint just peeled off with a little help from a blunt knife. As the chrome was marked, I rubbed it down with some 3000grit sand paper and applied some lime prime cleanser. Looks better imo.
The colour is looking nice and strong now.
Lots of refining and more machine polishing required to get the finish I really want.
The weather has put halt to proceedings at the moment...
Thats its so far....more updates and, of course, more photo's to come.
Comments welcome.
Dan
It explain what is was like when I bought it and hopefully will end up with what I want at the end....
Firstly, here's some of the other cars I had last year, not exactly retro - but awesome non the less. Well in my opinion anyway....
BMW 328i Sport Individual Manual - Avus Blue
Volvo V70R FWD Manual - Saffron
BMW 328i Convertible Manual - Montreal Blue
(I wasn't responsible for the M3 plate!!)
BMW 328i Sport Manual - Montreal Blue
So on to the 5er...
Spec:
530i V8 - 120k miles - Manual (oh yes!)
Techno Violet
Sport kitted added at factory
17" contours (OEM copies - deeper dish)
Eibach springs (30mm I think...)
Front strut brace
Powerflow exhaust
M5 boot lid insets
Cream leather & Walnut trim
Sunroof & interior light pack
When I bought it, back in November, it looked like this:
After an initial test drive I walked away from it.. It needed a bit of work and I was really looking for a 540i 6speed. It did however, have 12months MOT - happy days.
Service history wasn't brilliant, with a gap up to the present mileage and only 2 old MOT's, but after a check on the VOSA site I was happy with the mileage being genuine.
So the jobs:
- It needed a service - deseparately!
- Tax,
- Detail like crazy,
- Wheel refurb,
- Tyres,
- Air box inlet pipe work,
- Cruise control not working,
- Rear passenger door not opening/closing on central locking,
- Upper and Lower front bushes (powerflex) to be fitted - when they arrive!,
- Clean leather (its all in good condition and not riped, just dirty),
- Bottom front splitter needs painting,
- Radiator could do with being replaced,
- Minor dings to be removed
The owner rang me back, as it was SORN, he wanted rid. We agreed a price and I drove it home.
Despite the shimmy at 50+ mph, it drove well, pulled strong and sounded awesome!
It went straight in for a service and a thorough check over. Apart from a slight leaking radiator and the bushes, it was given a clean bill of health
When I got it back I tackled the minging interior first.
Befores:
Afters:
Was the interior dirty? Yes!
Still need a bit of work on the leather, but its an improvement.
Being 14yrs old, the exterior was tired, dull and lacked any sort of reflection. My arsenal of detailing products where grabbed and I set about sorting it out.
So here's what was really dealing with:
Front grille and light surrounds are chipped to hell and nice to see the missus has been doing some off roading!
Swirlies and marks galor - great!
It lacks any gloss, depth or overall luster.
The car was foamed, APC'd to death everywhere possible with an array of bushes, foamed again and then washed extremely throughly.
After the wash process it was clayed with Bilt Hambers auto clay with water as lube, couple of pics sum it up really, one from the drivers door and one from the boot:
14yrs of curse word! Never clayed in its life. Poor BM!
Anyway, after the clay it started to look a lot fresher, its was all starting to condensate up, so I called it day after these piccies:
It was prep'd ready for a machine polishing session.
Process was:
Menzerna 3.02 + a blob of Menzerna 106FA on a yellow 3M polishing pad,
Menzerna 85RD on a meguairs orange polish pad,
Lime prime on a white sonus pad,
Nattys blue wax (cheap and cheerful for now
),Exhaust done with autosol,
Plastic insets with meguairs trim detailer,
Glass and final wipe down with Meguairs last touch.
The BM is a huge motor to squeeze into one detailing session. I still need to sort out the roof, boot lid, lower door sections & bumpers.
None machine polished panels where polished by hand with SRP and topped with Nattys blue. So here we go...
Befores:
During:
Afters:
Over the Xmas break I sorted out the grille and Wrapped myself up and gave the car a bit of a clean to add a bit more gloss and depth to the finish. My new polish/glaze (Deep Reflections XP) and sealant (Finish Kare 1000p) turned up. So it would have been rude not to try them.
Very impressed with both products. The FK1000p is awesome - I recommend this to everyone!
Also, I pulled off the dodgy black grille. I stripped off the black rubberised paint by soaking them in boiling water and fairy liquid. The paint just peeled off with a little help from a blunt knife. As the chrome was marked, I rubbed it down with some 3000grit sand paper and applied some lime prime cleanser. Looks better imo.
The colour is looking nice and strong now.
Lots of refining and more machine polishing required to get the finish I really want.
The weather has put halt to proceedings at the moment...
Thats its so far....more updates and, of course, more photo's to come.
Comments welcome.
Dan
;D