Immaculate low mileage 2004 Silver Grey CSL Inspired Build

[Avedis]

Lighting was taped off and polished


Had to break out the nano polisher to get into the intricate areas without risking damage to the adjoining panels





The whole car was polished as needed. Some areas needed two stage correction, some needed a single stage with multiple passes, and some just needed one single pass. Even though I blew out my pads often and changed pads frequently, the car was covered in polishing residue. The car was wiped down with alcohol prep to remove leftover polish and polishing oils.


Prior to putting the polishing gear away, I used the same polish and pad combo to correct the side markers.


I also polished the side grills with the same combo. You can really tell a difference, especially in the gel coat of the M3 badge. Top grill is unpolished, bottom is polished.


Used pads from the day


Switched my setup from correction mode to protection mode.




Prior to coating the car, I wrapped a small plastic tool in a microfiber. I used the tool to get into all the panel gaps and crevices. You can see how much trapped dirt and polish residue I was able to get out. I got this technique from Jim @ WhiteDetails. He calls it “toothpickery”. It’s a subtle detail but it makes a huge difference. Nothing is worse than a nicely detailed car with polish and residue in all the nooks and crannies.



I used a sharp bamboo toothpick and applied the factory BMW touch up paint to the rock chips around the car. I did not photograph the process. After the touch up paint dried, I applied the first layer of ceramic coating. For the base layer, I used Gyeon Evo Mohs. With just one layer, the paint already looked very glossy. Tomorrow I will finalize with the top layers of ceramic coating, tidy the windows, dress tires, and all the small details to wrap thing up.




Day 3, all finished

[Avedis]

Spent the day decontaminating and preparing the paint for correction. After fully stripping the paint bare, I was able to find a few small scuffs.



Prior to correcting the whole car, I went through the car and found all the spots that needed extra attention. A few before and afters:


Scratch on rear quarter near the driver's side door handle



Strange rust/abrasion spot underneath the license plate. Not perfect but much improved.



Scratch on rear quarter above the passenger's side taillight



Scratch on trunk lid. After taking this photo, I found a few longer/shallower scratches on the trunk. The whole thing needed a few passes of correction.



Also found that this was a perfect time to remove the sharkfin antenna. First I cut through the adhesive foam with fishing line. I then removed the antenna, and removed the adhesive foam. I removed wire from the rear windscreen gasket. The antenna was unplugged from the trunk, then fully removed. The hole in the trunk was plugged with a BMW blindplug.







Here you can see the damage left from removal. A few passes of correction and it looked flawless.



After the worst spots were sorted, I started the polishing process on the rest of the car. This will be a multi day process, which will include polishing all the lighting, glass, trim, and paint. The car will then receive a multi-stage ceramic coating. I will update as the process continues.

[Thoglan]

I've been meaning to go with a button delete on my wheel as well since I already have no radio. I've just been waiting to do the Z4 cruise control stalk so there is no loss of functionality.

[SQ13]

Interior looks sooooo simple with the radio and wheel button delete. Love it!

[Avedis]

Dinan pedal set install. Installation was relatively straight forward an not much to document. Went full OCD and aligned the screw heads so they were all aligned/matching +
New airbag also went in and dash trim was reinstalled. Everything looking buttoned up, really making me want to go for a drive.

[Str8f4c3]

Blank upper steering wheel trim and refinished lower steering wheel trim installed. Loving this streamlined and driving focused setup.

Absolutely LOVE the look of a button-delete wheel. Had one in my first M3. I believe there is a DIY around here somewhere for retrofitting the z4 cruise control stalk, so you can keep cruise and have the clean wheel. Great thread so far, keep it up!

[Avedis]

Blank upper steering wheel trim and refinished lower steering wheel trim installed. Loving this streamlined and driving focused setup.

[Avedis]

BMW NA coordinated with local dealerships to send a mobile tech out to replace the car's airbags. Reading through the forums, I found it was best to do all the prep work myself to minimize possible damages to the car.


I removed the trim, screws, and air vent then very carefully checked the passenger’s side airbag cover. Unfortunately the white single use retaining clip that was integrated into the airbag cover was already broken. I took the entire airbag cover and cradle/mount out. I mended the tab with a little bit of 2 part epoxy. I made sure to use the epoxy extremely sparingly, so that the tab could break, as designed, when the airbag deploys




I fully prepped the car but the technician never showed up. Turns out the appointment somehow never got submitted.


In the meantime, I took on my nav delete / HVAC control relocation project. I wanted to delete the navigation, add a radio delete panel, move the HVAC, and add a sunglass tray. To do this I ordered the following:
Radio delete panel (65128229147)
Radio frame mounting bracket (51458237560)
New instrument panel switch center without rounded corners (51168268891)
Sunglass tray(51168260312)



Lower components removed


Nav unit removed. Highly recommend buying these factory nav removal tools. Made it very easy to remove.



Radio frame mounting bracket going in


Transferred the cigarette lighter and buttons over to the new instrument switch panel


Everything back in. Awaiting new airbags then the dash trim will be reinstalled.


I reconnected the battery to test the HVAC unit. I was caught off guard when NPR radio channel came on instantly and incredibly loud despite the nav unit being removed. I will have to disconnect the audio components in the trunk until I get around to physically removing them.

[WestBankM4]

Great build journal, keep us all in the loop. Extremely clean example to start working on, I'm sure your son will appreciate it in his growing years.

[Will]

Car looks great, congrats. Looking forward to updates. The homes in the background of some photos reminds me of neighborhoods around me. If so, see you around.

[eforty6_m3]

Can't wait to see where this goes. So far, great work!

[Sharocks]

Man doing all this to a 26k mile car is wild in this economy.

Good for you haha

[0-60motorsports]

Looks great! looking forward to seeing the progress.

[TexaZ3]

Looking good!

[Avedis]

I recently purchased this immaculate 2004 Silver Grey E46 M3 with 26,000 miles with the intention of doing a CSL inspired build. My son, who is 19 months old at the time of creating this thread, already has the BMW bug. I wanted a long term project that we could enjoy together and work on throughout the years.

This is my 8th BMW, but first E46 M3. Historically, I would modify the exterior of my cars first. This time, I am taking an inside out approach to modifying. I will be doing little exterior modifications here and there, but in the early stages it will be interior focused. This thread will capture and document the process.


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Fresh off the trailer from Texas. Heavy layer of road grime.





Seats out, carpets scrubbed and hot water extracted, all surfaces steamed, brushed and cleaned. Before it went back together, all surfaces were ceramic coated (Carpro Dlux and Leather 2.0). Ceramic coating was not photographed. Interior felt mint.













Exterior was given a solid wash. I will decontaminate, polish, then ceramic coat at a later date. For just a basic exterior cleanse without paint correction, the paint looks great.



Engine bay was cleaned, then dressed with diluted Carpro Perl




Color matched front reflectors installed to hold me over until a CSL bumper is installed.



Car then went to European Auto Source for a PPI (post purchase inspection in this case). Thankfully the car was given a clean bill of health. They get to look at some of the best BMW's in California, and even they stated that this car should be in a museum. Made me feel incredibly justified and happy about my purchase. While there, I purchased some Macht Schnell wheel spacers, 18mm front and 12mm rear. This will hold me over until I install coilovers.





After the initial post-transport wash, I found a small but clean dent in the driver's side door. It appeared the transporter opened the door, hitting one of the metal supports on the trailer. Luckily it was very easily removed by Dentlez paintless dent removal. Highly recommended if you're in Southern California.



Shifting back to the interior, the lower trim of the steering wheel shows normal wear. The lower portion will be sent off to TexaZ3. He will be refinishing the lower trim to look like factory black plastic, not soft touch. Instead of reinstalling the same multi-function upper steering wheel trim, I am using this as an opportunity to make a small change. The upper trim will be replaced with a fully blank version (part no. 61318383366). Will update once I receive the lower trim back from refinishing.