Detailed the E39 for a local car show

Hi everyone,

So a few days ago I decided to detail the E39 for a local car show (Another Level Car Show, in Illinois) and I thought that I would share some pics of how it looked. The entire process took about 12 hours start to finish and I worked on it over a two day period.
Products used/ Steps:
1. Vacuum all carpets,seats, and doors
2. Meguiars Vinal cleaner (non shinny) all door panels and dashboard.
3. Clean and condition all leather seats (Warm water(clean), Condition with Meguiars Leather)
4. Remove all wheels and clean off car (Simple green and Meguiars car shampoo)
5. Clean and dress all wheel wells/ brake calipers/ Coilovers (Meguiars vinyl cleaner and Meguiars Car Shampoo)
6. Clean engine (Meguiars car shampoo, Simple Green and Meguiars Engine Dressing)
7. Wash car #1 (Meguiars car shampoo)
8. Wash all Floor Mats (Meguiars Car Shampoo)
9. Clay car and windows (Mothers Clay Bar)
10. Wash #2 (Meguiars Car Shampoo)
11. Compound paint (Meguiars Professional Diamond Cut Compound)
12. Wax car (Meguiars Gold Class Wax)
13. Polish all window trim/ Magnaflow Muffler (Never Dull)
14. Dress all door moldings and rear valiance (Meguiars vinyl)
15. Clean All Windows (Eagle 1 Glass Cleaner)
16. Dress all Tires (Meguiars Tire Shine)
17. Final inspection. (Make sure all wax and cleaners are removed)

Here are a few pics that I took really quickly before I went on vacation of the car detailed. Sorry that the picture quality is not the best.


Interior Pics

VERY clean.. No pics under hood?

Talk about showroom new!!! All you need now is that new car fragrance (lol).

Great job!!! Let's see the engine bay when you get the chance.

Q) How long did it take to clay your vehicle?

Q) Is there a particular method to using the clay effectively?

She is very easy on the eyes. Thanks for the post and the details of what it takes to make her look new again.

+1 I would also like to see pics of your engine bay

Originally Posted by Coochie_Bandit

VERY clean.. No pics under hood?

Thank you very much Coochie_Bandit!!!
I have a few that i will post later tonight!!!

Originally Posted by seemyad

Talk about showroom new!!! All you need now is that new car fragrance (lol).

Great job!!! Let's see the engine bay when you get the chance.

Q) How long did it take to clay your vehicle?

Q) Is there a particular method to using the clay effectively?

She is very easy on the eyes. Thanks for the post and the details of what it takes to make her look new again.

Thank you very much seemyad!!!

1) It took about 45min to clay the car

2) I use dish soap with warm water and then out it into a spray bottle instead of using the quick detailer that comes with the clay. make sure the area is always wet when you are using the clay bar, always apply light pressure and at least a rule for me is i always go the same direction when i clay the car and not in circles. If you have any other questions feel free to pm me and ill be more than happy to help.

Originally Posted by matt540

+1 I would also like to see pics of your engine bay

I will post pics of the engine bay asap

I agree... Where are the under the hood shots?

Here is an under hood shot that i found that i took.

The intake is different now as of a few days ago.

style 66 is sexy as hell

Originally Posted by united2512002

Here is an under hood shot that i found that i took.

The intake is different now as of a few days ago.

Wow! Nice! You could eat off that engine.

Thanks for the pic.

Q) You have a part that I don't have. It is a bar that is going across the width of the engine connected to the top of your shocks/struts. What is that?

Q) Where is your air filter? Mine sits behind the driver's side headlight and takes quite a bit of space. Your air intake hose drops down out of sight.

Worth your time, it looks fantastic! Congrats to you.

Originally Posted by seemyad

Wow! Nice! You could eat off that engine.

Thanks for the pic.

Q) You have a part that I don't have. It is a bar that is going across the width of the engine connected to the top of your shocks/struts. What is that?

Q) Where is your air filter? Mine sits behind the driver's side headlight and takes quite a bit of space. Your air intake hose drops down out of sight.

It's a strut tower bar... Many options available for them. Nice touch to any engine compartment and there's minimal but some performance gain from them.

As for the intake, I'll let him answer that for ya... It's a cold air extension putting it lower to get colder air. I just haven't seen them before for the BMW.

Mist under that under hood with armor-all and you have a winner

Originally Posted by bkovalick

It's a strut tower bar... Many options available for them. Nice touch to any engine compartment and there's minimal but some performance gain from them.

As for the intake, I'll let him answer that for ya... It's a cold air extension putting it lower to get colder air. I just haven't seen them before for the BMW.

Ahh. Thanks.

IMHO our cars come stock with cold air intakes basedon the location of the opening. I've seen what I view as counter productive mods where they suck in air under the hood from the top of the engine compartment.

I think your assumption is correct based on the direction the hose is going in. I imagine he has one of thosecone shaped filters down there.

Originally Posted by BigCo540i

Mist under that under hood with armor-all and you have a winner

I have never thought about doing that ill have to keep that in mind.

Originally Posted by seemyad

Ahh. Thanks.

IMHO our cars come stock with cold air intakes basedon the location of the opening. I've seen what I view as counter productive mods where they suck in air under the hood from the top of the engine compartment.

I think your assumption is correct based on the direction the hose is going in. I imagine he has one of thosecone shaped filters down there.

The intake idea is correct however i have changed it since i have taken that picture. That intake however worked very well. The intake temps were around 69 to 70 which actually improved horsepower according to the last dyno run that i had done with it. I showed an increase in horsepower by 10hp.

Originally Posted by united2512002

The intake idea is correct however i have changed it since i have taken that picture. That intake however worked very well. The intake temps were around 69 to 70 which actually improved horsepower according to the last dyno run that i had done with it. I showed an increase in horsepower by 10hp.

Yours makes more sense than the ones that have the intake basically sitting on top of the engine under the hood. You appear to be scooping air near street level under the bumper. I never understood placing the intake near the hottest area under the hood like others have done vs following your technique.

I can see where your option could improve HP. The 2nd best option is stock. The worst location is on top of the engine under the hood.

Great job on your vehicle. You have done us all proud. Thank you for sharing your pics and info. I'd pay to get the same results you have achieved.

Originally Posted by seemyad

Yours makes more sense than the ones that have the intake basically sitting on top of the engine under the hood. You appear to be scooping air near street level under the bumper. I never understood placing the intake near the hottest area under the hood like others have done vs following your technique.

I can see where your option could improve HP. The 2nd best option is stock. The worst location is on top of the engine under the hood.

Great job on your vehicle. You have done us all proud. Thank you for sharing your pics and info. I'd pay to get the same results you have achieved.

Thank you very much seemyad!!! I detail cars on the side as well so when im not detailing other peoples cars i detail my own

Originally Posted by seemyad

Yours makes more sense than the ones that have the intake basically sitting on top of the engine under the hood. You appear to be scooping air near street level under the bumper. I never understood placing the intake near the hottest area under the hood like others have done vs following your technique.

I can see where your option could improve HP. The 2nd best option is stock. The worst location is on top of the engine under the hood.

Great job on your vehicle. You have done us all proud. Thank you for sharing your pics and info. I'd pay to get the same results you have achieved.

Wait. Did you really say stock intake is better than aftermarket? Cuz aftermarket ones almost all show power increase. I know my AFE had a significant increase

Originally Posted by bkovalick

Wait. Did you really say stock intake is better than aftermarket? Cuz aftermarket ones almost all show power increase. I know my AFE had a significant increase

Nice. Good for you.

However, I did not say "stock is better than aftermarket". I did say I see how the location of the ops aftermarket intake is better than stock reference cold air intake.

I also said that people who put the intake under the hood (basically) on top of the engine is the worst option for cold air intake. I say this based on the engine heat. Our cars (basically) come stock with cold air intake if you look at the location of the opening.

The way you phrased it I thought you were saying his intake was the best option and stock was the second best. Guess I misunderstood. My bad. Cuz my intake is under the hood still... But there's a heat shield and the ducting from the fender is still there blowing cold air into the vicinity of the filter.