Immaculate low mileage 2004 Silver Grey CSL Inspired Build

[MotorSportThree]

The small photoshoot came out super cool. This car encapsulates everything that I love about the E46 M3.

[Avedis]

Went out to cars and coffee this weekend. It was my first time my son rode in the car and it was a really special moment for me. He was so enthusiastic about, and of course he loved the CSL intake roar. At the meet we got tons of compliments and a few people took photos. It's really cool to see that even now in 2025, people still enjoy looking at this car, even when parked next to rare and expensive supercars.




A proud owner brought this V8 Vantage Le Mans edition that had just imported. He stated it was one of 40 in the world.




There was also this gorgeous and ridiculously loud GT40



The next day I took it for a drive. I had been scoping out a local refinery and game planning the best time and place to take photos there. I decided that I was going to wait until the weekend when the refinery was less staffed, then go right at sunset when the lighting was perfect. I snuck into the employee parking lot and snapped as many photos as I could with my iPhone until the security guard sent me on my way.

I purposely edited these in a more cinematic, stylistic, wallpaper style.

Which product did you use for the shadow trim? They came out great - as did the rest of the car.

I did it with a Rupes yellow polishing pad and Gyeon Primer.

[nyc951]

Which product did you use for the shadow trim? They came out great - as did the rest of the car.

[bavarian3]

Looking goood and I look forward to seeing some proper photoshoots.

BTW it's good to be conservative, but with DA polishers it's very hard to burn through clear. I'm not expert on the thing either, just what extensive research suggested. It seems your paint was in decent condition to start and you went about it right!

[Avedis]

Looks great as always. I'm about to install my trunk so the badge placement is very timely. My question though is how far left and/or right did you measure?

Really good question. This seems like it is 100% subjective because there aren’t really good hard points on the car to draw off of. The closest hard point would be directly above the top left corner of the reverse light. I tried this and felt like it was just a hair too far over to the right. That’s how I ended up where I did. I included both a visual type of measurement and a hard measurement for you. This is something you’re going to have to play with until it suits your liking. What I will say is that since mine has been on, I have yet to look at it and think it looks out of place. I think that says a lot.



Also, let me know if you need any help with the trunk install. It’s pretty fresh in my mind still.

[Kipjames3]

Looks great as always. I'm about to install my trunk so the badge placement is very timely. My question though is how far left and/or right did you measure?

[Avedis]

You may have noticed in the last post that the M3 badge was missing on the new trunk. I had previously considered stealing the CS letters from a CSL badge and making my own M3CS badge. I ultimately decided on a standard M3 badge, but then came the hard part, placement. I’ve seen lots of members here use different methods and measurements. Of all the measurements, 15mm up tends to be the most agreed upon. This comes directly from the factory CSL badge height.

I measured it out and mocked it up. What I found was that visually, it actually sits slightly too low. The 15mm measurement comes from the bottom of the beveled edge that the BMW roundel sits in, not the roundel itself. When you step back, that bevel disappears, and what you are left with is a BMW roundel that sits 2mm higher than the M3 badge. I bumped the 15mm up to 17mm so that it matches the same line that the BMW roundel sits on. In my opinion, it looked much more inline. Once I had the measurements spot on, I lined up the M3 badge and let my son push it on firmly.




It’s been approximately 2.5 years since I last polished a ceramic coated the car. During that time the car has been driven, washed, dried, and wiped down at car shows numerous times. On top of that, a large portion of the car was repainted, wet sanded and polished by the body shop. It’s only natural that during this time, the paint show some signs of slight swirling and the odd mark here or there. My plan all along was to re-polish and ceramic the whole car after repaint. I couldn’t just do it right away; I had to wait till it was fully cured and formulate a game plan of how I wanted to attack it.

I gave the car a really good wash, brought the car back into the garage, shut off all the lights, and inspected it with small flashlight. Surprisingly, there were so little swirl marks that most people would have never even touched the car, they would have just coated it and called it a day. As you know by now, I’m strange, and wanted to shoot for perfection.




I set up a detailing area with a couple of polishers, different towels, a medium polish, finishing polish, and a few different polishing pad options.




As soon as I started polishing I realized my mindset was risky and short sighted. Even though I am experienced and technically proficient enough to achieve a flawless finish, it wasn’t worth the risk. Risking over polishing (burn through), removing unnecessary amounts of clear coat, damaging adjoining panels, just to remove the tiniest of marks that only I would notice from 1ft away made absolutely no sense. My goal is to keep this car in my family for decades, and I needed to save as much clear coat as possible for future polishing sessions. My mindset changed to, “strive for perfection, but don’t chase it.” Meaning if I couldn’t get the defect out in one or two passes, STOP!

With that in mind I shifted my process. I chose a Rupes yellow polishing pad paired with Gyeon primer. In theory the combination should provide minor polishing (defect removal) with incredible finishing. I tested the combination on the hood and found that it was extremely safe, yet effective. Gyeon’s primer also prepares the surface for ceramic coating.





I then moved on and polished the whole car panel by panel, paying particular attention to edges and adjoining panels to reduce the risk of damage.





I ended up doing the entire car with a 3inch polisher and 1inch polisher. In general, I prefer to work with smaller polishers because they give me more control and ability to get into tighter areas. This corner of the trunk is a perfect example. A 3inch polisher is not going to get the job done effectively or safely, and a 5inch polisher has zero chance of getting that job done.



While I was working on the side of the car, I noticed the matte black shadow-line trim had developed a chalkiness similar to oxidation. I went back on forth on this one. Leave it alone and it looks really grimey, especially sitting next to freshly polished paint. Polish it and risk ruining the finish all together. I decided to polish knowing it was a risky move. The plan was to use really fast hand speed and low pressure, and apply this method to the whole trim so that the finish would turn out even. I was stunned by the results, it gave the trim a really deep medium luster satin finish and of course removed the chalkiness.





The best word to describe the finished result after polishing was brilliant. The paint was already in really good condition, so this wasn’t much of a transformative or restorative type of detail. The particular polishing pad and finishing polish I chose gave the paint a level of brilliance it didn’t have before. It just felt like the paint popped more.



After I finished polishing the rest of the car, I wiped down all the panels, giving all the creases, crevices, and panel gaps some extra love and attention.



The car was now ready for ceramic coating. I went with Gyeon’s Syncro Evo coating which is a two step system. The first layer forms a strong durable base, the second layer creates a deep gloss and incredibly slick surface.



I purposely applied the first layer thicker than I normally would. For the whole car I used about 45ml of the 50ml bottle.




The second layer was applied a little more sparingly. It was also criminally easy to apply. For the whole car I used about 25ml of the 50ml bottle.



I triple checked for high spots in the coating, then left it alone to cure overnight. In photos, it’s really difficult to show just how deep and wet the paint looked. It’s one of those things that doesn’t really translate over to photos, you kind of have to see it in person the perceive it. Because there isn’t much to show, I’ll just include this one after photo (and some others below)



I had accidentally left my TV on and when I came back into the garage I opened the door to a glowing purple and red light that reminded me of the ///M colors. You could really see just how glossy and reflective the surfaces were after polishing and coating the paint. I thought it was kind of cool and different way to show the results. My plan for the near future is to just enjoy the car. The car hasn't moved much in the past six months. Now that the exterior is largely completed and the paint is protected, it's time to get out and drive! Next updates will likely be at cars and coffee meets, photoshoots, etc.

[drparham]

Very cool project! Beautiful car! Appreciate you documenting the process. This has been something I have wanted to do to my M3 as well!

[ejendow]

Great work! Did you have any trouble getting the front windshield seal to sit right? I have never been satisfied with how mine is fitted ever since I replaced it (glass in).

[Avedis]

Looks great! How does the CSL air duct fit with the Karb snorkel? After scanning a couple cars, I found that the Karb snorkel is positioned differently than the factory flap. Curious to see how that manifests with the OEM duct versus the non-CSL ducts.

I don't have a data point of a factory setup to compare to, but I can't imagine it going on much easier than it did. No issues with installation or alignment.

It looks great! Just need to sort out the suspension and lower her a bit.

Yup, that's definitely on the list after the carbon roof. I want to wrap up the exterior completely before I move onto overhauling the suspension.

Whenever you get a chance I'd love to know the spacer set up on your current wheels. Looks perfect. Just bought a set of ZCP wheels and looking to push them out a little bit.

They are Macht Schnell competition spacers with extended wheel bolts. The fronts are 18mm, and are the perfect size. The rears are 12mm, and if I had to do it over again, I would have gone a little wider (maybe 15mm). At factory ride height, I have no issues with rubbing/fitment.

[Kipjames3]

Whenever you get a chance I'd love to know the spacer set up on your current wheels. Looks perfect. Just bought a set of ZCP wheels and looking to push them out a little bit.

[0-60motorsports]

It looks great! Just need to sort out the suspension and lower her a bit.

[bavarian3]

Well you finished this off with a bang! It looks amazing. Penny is very regal.

[Bry5on]

Looks great! How does the CSL air duct fit with the Karb snorkel? After scanning a couple cars, I found that the Karb snorkel is positioned differently than the factory flap. Curious to see how that manifests with the OEM duct versus the non-CSL ducts.

[Avedis]

After my battle with the rear window seal, I procrastinated on the front. One night when the wife and kids went down, I committed to ending the war. I told myself I wasn’t going back in the house until I got the old silicone adhesive removed, and new windshield seal installed. The removal took an hour, but I got the job done.




Once the seal was in, I could install cabin filter, cover, rubber gaskets, windshield cowl, and wiper delete caps.




Roof rails went in and tucked nicely under the new seals.



Next, I routed the wiring and tubing for the windshield washer nozzles.




Last up was the front bumper. Again, I got some help from my neighbor. We took the bumper off approximately 15 times, each time making an adjustment to the bumper mounts. We got in a really nice work groove and I forgot to take photos as we worked. After the bumper was on, I jacked up one side of the car, the installed the wheel well liners and splash shields for that respective side.


At one point stepped away to get a few parts, and when I turned around I had a moment of gratitude. Just seeing the whole project come together, a nice workspace to be in, Penny the loyal companion, etc. I thought “life is good” as I took this photo.



I took the car out for a small drive around the block just to settle in the suspension in and listen for any small rattles of potentially loose parts. Afterward, I pulled the car into the garage and took a couple of photos.






Although the exterior portion of this project is still not complete, it’s going to be a while before I post any other significant updates, like the carbon fiber roof which still remains. We have a lot of life and family changes going on at the moment, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to justify spending money on project cars. I will continue to update this thread with photos from meets, scenic drives, and detailing/cleaning, but there probably won’t be any build related photos for a while.