How to Make Your Old BMW Look Brand New

Over the course of 15 years or so and two different detailing companies, I have worked on quite a few BMW's.  For whatever reason, the BMW's I've worked on have predominantly been the 5 Series cars.  So when a client came to me whom I have known for the better part of a decade saying he wanted his older 5 series gone through and given the works, I wasn't worried.  Maybe I should have been.

This particular BMW was a 2001 530i with the sport package which I believe meant they stuck the steering wheel from the M5 in it and not much else.  (Which isn't all that bad, it's a nice steering wheel and goes for $600 used on EBAY!!!)  The challenge was that the car was a former salvage title vehicle which means it was in a pretty nasty wreck and was slung back together.  Cars receive a salvage title when the insurance company determines that the cost to repair the damage from the accident exceeds the net result value of the car.  There was no telling how much it had been neglected till I saw it.

Historically, the 5 Series has been one of the most significant models for BMW, both financially with consistent high sales, and critically having won virtually every award car magazines put out including being listed in Car & Driver's Top 10 list six years in a row.  The 2001 model was the 4th generation of the 5 Series and it unilaterally was considered the finest production sedan in the world.  The example I renovated had the venerable BMW straight six; very smooth, tons of torque.  Although in need of a minor tune the engine in this example was strong and didn't miss a beat.  The 5 Series has that signature BMW handling characteristic so lacking in Mercedes of the same era.  With proper steering wheel feel and amazing cornering ability for a car of it's size I was impressed with the machine.

2001 BMW 530i

The Original State of the Car

 Like anything now 12 years old, however, this BMW needed some love.  Lot's of it.  The wheels were almost completely hidden behind years of brake dust accumulation and embedded road grime.  The interior, although sound, was showing heavy signs of wear and neglect.  The seat surrounds which housed the buttons for the adjustable seats were heavily  scratched and looked awful.

The Renew VALET Process

Our detailing and restoration process is pretty regimented, especially on larger projects like this.  Starting with a normal wash,  we reviewed the engine and began a full detailing process on it.  It wasn't as bad as we expected but it was apparent that when the car was in a collision, oil and radiator fluid had been spewed onto the bonnet insulation.  It was really soaked with it and when we washed it, it drained oily water for 45 minutes. After about an hour we were happy with the results and closed the hood.  We used a variety of dressings on the engine finishing it off with Meguires "Engine Kote".  (This is a professional product that looks like fat free milk but works really good.)

We then went through the exterior panels, claying the entire car, buffing out scrapes, minor scratches and other imperfections.  We used special brushes to go into the small seams of the car and remove mold and built up grime.     Then we compound buffed all the panels. While doing all that we had quite a bit of work with the wheels.  The BMW wheels on the 530i of this era are a two-piece wheel consisting of a conventional hyper-silver painted inner-component and a clear-coated brushed aluminum lip.  It was the lip that was the most damaged on each wheel and we opted to wet sand the lip with 1200 grit sandpaper and then polish out the minor scratches left behind.  This worked perfectly and the wheels looked much better.

                                                     

     






The leather interior was what BMW called "medium gray" during this era (1998 - 2004).  We were able to secure an exact match of this color from SEM which calls their version "Presidio".  It is a spot on perfect color match which is amazing considering that custom leather sprays can cost as much as $75 per can and this shelve color was $15.  We prepped the leather, sanding some areas down and literally spent half a day cleaning it with toothbrushes (over and over) until we felt got everything.  Then we sprayed the seats and other components.

The interior came out as near to perfect as you could hope on a 12 year old car where you don't replace the leather.  We were even able to put the texture back into some of the most damaged areas (which had been worn smooth) by using and SEM texture template specific to BMW.

                                                                                        
                                              

                We will be posting a two part video about this detailing and restoration project that will walk you through all the techniques used to bring the BMW 530i back to its former glory. In the meantime don't hesitate to check out our website:  http://www.blmmobiledetail.com