Resurrection of my coupe

[N2MYE30]

New fuel filter! Thats an easy 5ph! j/k but it will make my pump last a bit longer.

[DREWHALL]

Fuel filter on the E30 is much easier than some of the VWs I've done. Easy maintenance! I still can't get over how nice your coupe looks.

[N2MYE30]

Ive been wanting to do the following for a while. When I bought the car, i knew it had a repray...maybe even 2 of them. The paint was flat on some parts but it got worse thru the years. After playing around with wetsanding on my wheels, I decided to try a small area on my trunk. The results we amazing! So I bought some better products and pads and went to it.

First I took my rear quarter panel but didnt take too many pix of the progress but again, the results surprised me.

So I took my trunk totally off and set up shop in my garage to see what its gonna take for me (and my little paint restoration knowledge) to get this looking great...or as close to it anyway.

Behold, the trunk in question. Its kinda hard to see in the pix but it aint pretty. The paint shined like a tshirt. The little shine you do see is the test patch I did earlier.


This pic you can see more shine under my spoiler that has been on for about 4 years. Thats how much its fadded.


My first step was to clean the surface. Then I soaked some 1K sandpaper in water with a bit of dishsoap. Then I used a spray bottle with the same liquid. I used a sanding block to help with high/low spots.

I sanded in a circular motion with constant lubricant. I only did half of the trunk so I can see the difference between the two.
Then I went with 1.5K paper.

I dont have a pic of it but I did use 2k paper aswell
Still not shiny but getting there.

Then I pulled out my Harbor Freight special with attachments from Majestics (look them up! great products!) The Malco UFC is a light rubbing compound that work out 1.5k paper scratches and better.

Success! And there was reflection!

For comparo...the other side.

Again I went with Malco to get even more swirls out.

Again...WOW!!!

I usually put this Zymol on by hand but I was experimenting.

This difference is hard to see but its there. See further for better pix.

And of course, a nice bead makes most happy.

Outside pix really make the results come alive

So then I did the whole trunk. Someone didnt do a great job in prepin the car for one of its paintjobs so I had some high spots around the "325i". I wanted to leave it off but it would look really bad. So, I had to keep it. Bummer!

All put back together...

WHOA!!!

And my bronzit standin.

THen I worked on my door. You can see the difference between the rear quarter that I already did to the door which did look like the quarter.

It takes a bit of elbow grease but the reward was there.

Much better....


Note that the trunk looked like the roof. I cant wait to do the rest of the car and see the results.


I just wanted to document this personally and also show that even though your paint may look shot, there may be some life left in it.

Cheers!

[Spiff325iS]

^^^ Huge plus props to getting through that paint. It's a great feeling when you're done though huh?

After I detailed my 318iS through the single stage paint, I was stoked to have made it through. (even though it was single stage paint).

Also, a simple claybar, polish, and then wax should work great for you in the future. Wet sanding is a bit gnarly, but it worked out fantastic on your car.

Now you HAVE to keep the E30 clean after all that effort!

[N2MYE30]

^^^ Thanks! It was a great reward to see that there is some life left in the paint.

Believe me, I tried simple solutions to get the paint back...it just laughed at all I threw at it. The wet sanding was my last resort. Yeah, I was taking a risk but I had nothing to loose. And don't worry, I keep all my rides clean. ;)

[MR 325]

Great work!

[N2MYE30]

Great work!

Thank you sir!

[Spiff325iS]

Thank you sir!

Check out zaino's all-in-one polish, it's a good between-washes application. Leaves a great slippery feeling and some good protection.

[phreshkid]

How do you like the KDWs? I need a new set of tires and was looking for some personal experience. Good daily tires? How is the treadwear? Loud tires overall? Any pros and cons?

[N2MYE30]

How do you like the KDWs? I need a new set of tires and was looking for some personal experience. Good daily tires? How is the treadwear? Loud tires overall? Any pros and cons?

These are my 2nd set of KDWs. I had them on some euroweaves till my camber ate one of them. I thought that they had great wear and plenty of stick. That is why I was happy when I scored some for my t-star reps. I daily these and I dont think that they are loud. I went from a excellent GY 195/70/14 tire to these and the noise was a bit more but nothing to complain about. The only complaint would be that they hafta warm up to perform. If they sit too long or too cold out side, they develop flat spots and a bit hard but a couple of miles of warming up, alls good.

[BoxDriver86]

When we first talked about repainting your coupe I kept thinking how straight and clean it was when I saw it. I'm glad you decided to do this, the results are fantastic and definitely saved you a ton of money vs. a respray! Great job!

[N2MYE30]

Time for a little update. Once and I while I would start wetsanding on the roof.

Here is it after 2K wetsanding


and here it is after compound and scratch remover as I did earlier in this thread using Malco products.


Nice reflection, eh...


Well, I masked off all my trim so I wouldnt sand thru the shadowline while compounding. While removing all the tape this happened.

Grrrrrrr!!!!!! All trim had some sort of flaking off. Needless to say, a profanity or 2 may have escaped me but its an easy fix as I have everything to do it...again. This is how I left it tonight. Ill get to painting tomorrow.


Cheers!

[glucklich21]

"E30 nibblets"

That is all. :)

[thowes24]

Sub'd!

[N2MYE30]

Well about a week ago my car failed me, lucky enough for me while pulling into my driveway after driving 40 minutes. After a quick check of fuel pump and fuses, I checked the position sensor and it didnt read correctly. So me and nc325ic yanked it out to notice that the pulley wore a groove into the wire. A quick search here and RagtopE30 had my part sent in two days. Installed and works like a champ!

My bumb sensor.


A new rack is the next big thing goin in.
Cheers!