Ibo's Garage - TTRS3GTR

[Ibonibo]

That's that done ;D

Here you can "see" some of the bigger cavities.

Really put a tiny droplet on them

I even went for the smaller ones.
Probably around a 50 points (15 bigger ones)

Also dialed down the total of the mix, to a 1/4. And it's still more than I needed...

The result looks good enough. One does not feel it, and polished it's unseeable.

 

[Ibonibo]

Done.

All correction marks are off. All faulty spots are gone

Today i gonna pass a 3000grid to minimize marks for quicker polish.
Clean the car off the clear coat dust that is everywhere.

Then I can start polishing.... yeay

 

[Ibonibo]

First a bit of cleaning...

Demounting the plastics (again)

Little plastic bits added

Awaiting polish

Nine Pm now. Gonna stop here. Tired

Awe .... wait for it ... some

 

[Ronald6]

So close! You're almost there. I'm on my toes waiting for the finished product.

 

[Ibonibo]

I am literally on my toes on certain parts

Soon, considering I need to go to 3 compunds to get the showcar finish, it takes time.

 

[motortrend]

Very nice, looks like you got pretty much no Orange peel. Once you get rid of the holograms it'll look amazing.

 

[Hayden]

It's looking amazing, Ibo! You're doing a fantastic job!

 

[Ibonibo]

I really ge the hang of my rupes. What an amazing piece of machinery. Love it.

About the halos, swirls,...

Light source : Heavy Compound (FG400) and coarse pad (Rupes blue) / Microfiber yellow

Lightsource : Medium compound (PG2100) + medium pad ( Rupes Green)

Half/half shot

But that was just to "try" the medium compound.

Then the rest on coarse

 

[Ibonibo]

And the rest

That concludes the bodyshell apart from tiny parts that need a go by hand (&till I hit it the next days with finer pads and polishes)

This was nerf wrecking, getting that thing in. It pushes in on the edges through a tight gap, feared really of chipping the paint. Putting tape would result in not getting it off anymore, or at least rests that stay...

But got it, it still has a part that looks a bit apart, might just be my OCD or it has slighty bend while demounted. Will heat it tomorrow a bit up and put a weight on it.... and polish it.... 👍



(yeah pics are from a gopro timelapse )

 

[motortrend]

Maaaaan that looks great! Can't wait until you put it al together and give it a last going over. With your attention to detail I bet it will be perfect. I've only heard good things about Menzerna and the Rupes so I bet you'll get a perfect finish without issues.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

I feel like I am echoing my last 10-15 replies but, its really looking killer. So much hard work and dedication truly paying off. Cant wait to see it out in the sunlight once you have it assembled and fully polished. That paint will look amazing in the sun. 👍

 

[Ibonibo]

Thank you guys 👍
@CAMAROBOY69 : I had a great teacher

So the bi colour:

I really love the outcome.... What do you think? Enough contrast? "Colour matching"?

Just put it in to see the look,....

Then I went on to clean the tailpipes, as with the mounted bumper the upperpart is unreachable

After an hour or so

And it still looked like this:

(go up the page a bit, on the other pics you can see an uncleaned exaust. It was dirty, and this was a huge improvemnt, since it wasn't cleaned in a decade, min 6 years. As the exterior of the car was shady, I didn't care about clean tailpipes....

So I went aggro on it

Enough polish? Maybe

And finally after some scrubbing

The aftermath

Bumper can now be installed...

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

So the bi colour

I really love the outcome.... What do you think? Enough contrast? "Colour matching"?

Turned out great. Perfect contrast to the blue.

Just put it in to see the look,....

I would buff those tail lights with the exact same buffing compound you use for your paint. Also do your headlights and marker lights. It will only take a couple minutes per item. I buff my tail lights and headlights a couple times a year. Once finished, they will help accent the paint job because it will be the exact same polished effect.

When it comes to the tail pipes, those turned out great and look a lot better. If you cant get the tail pipes 100%, then you can consider eventually buying new ones. They look good for now and will be tucked under the car so they wont be very noticeable.

 

[Ibonibo]

Thanks.

The tailpipes have the advantage of being screwed to the muffler. So it's not even that big of a purchase in case of
It's just this

Compounding the lights? Only on glass or also plastic?? I saw you used the 3M on the Subis front... Had it on the "bucketlist" But yes than the rear will get a go too. 👍

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Thanks.

The tailpipes have the advantage of being screwed to the muffler. So it's not even that big of a purchase in case of
It's just this

Compounding the lights? Only on glass or also plastic?? I saw you used the 3M on the Subis front... Had it on the "bucketlist" But yes than the rear will get a go too. 👍

Oh nice the tail pipes just screw on? That's excellent news. Most are welded. So that's a very easy replacement.

When it comes to the polish, you can use the 3m polishing / buffing compound on clear coat, paint, plastic, AND glass. Even chrome or aluminum. I have even used it on internal gauge cluster pods to polish up the gauges and to remove all fine scratches. You can really use it on anything. You will want to get some of that for sure for the final polish if you cant get the fine swirl marks out. I would do the very final stages of buffing by hand. After you have already used the powered buffer. Doing it by hand will remove the final swirl scratches.

That 3m product I posted works miracles. Been using it for MANY years for detailing cars. You have seen my recent summer polished WRX pics so you know exactly how well it works.

 

[Ibonibo]

Yeah it's cool design choice for an exaust, and let's you swap tailpipe designs really fast for a low price point. And all homologated within the whole EU. but obviously on very high powered cars, it need to be completly tight otherwise you lose ponies...

That's cool. And good to know 👍
I have a few polishing pads for doing it by hand, different softness and all

Does your 3M have a deadline to be used within? Mine does and only 2016. I have way too many polish . Taught I would go through little bindings for a whole car... so i ordered the big ones... I can polish cars for years now

👍 👍

 

[Beeblebrox237]

I didn't used to like the way that generation of S3 looks. Then I saw this. Yours looks amazing, I can't wait to see photos of the car when it's reassembled and outside. That paintwork is stunning.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Yeah it's cool design choice for an exaust, and let's you swap tailpipe designs really fast for a low price point. And all homologated within the whole EU. but obviously on very high powered cars, it need to be completly tight otherwise you lose ponies...

That's cool. And good to know 👍
I have a few polishing pads for doing it by hand, different softness and all

Does your 3M have a deadline to be used within? Mine does and only 2016. I have way too many polish . Taught I would go through little bindings for a whole car... so i ordered the big ones... I can polish cars for years now

👍 👍

No deadline on the 3m polish. In fact that bottle is probably at least 5+ years old and still works perfectly.

 

[Ibonibo]

^Maybe a legal requirement over here

Thanks Beeble.

Quite a difference with medium compound

 

[Katiegan]

Loving how this thing is coming along now! Great work! 👍

Just wondering, you probably mentioned this already and I missed it, but what colour have you gone for, exactly? Is it Ming Blue or have you gone for something else?

 

[Ibonibo]

Loving how this thing is coming along now! Great work! 👍

Just wondering, you probably mentioned this already and I missed it, but what colour have you gone for, exactly? Is it Ming Blue or have you gone for something else?

It resembles the Ming (which also has purple flakes in it, but also multiple blue and green, and overly just shines blue).
This is Mercedes Mystic Blue (metallic)
The covers are in BMW Ruby Black (also metallic)

 

[Ibonibo]

For the lulz

...

Everything Medium Compounded

Medium compound vs fine compound (& pads)
Wouldn't have thought it would still have so much haze

Ultrafine (the lightspot, no scratches left)

Lightsource a bit futher and you can see the fine, still some scratches left

Full on the fine

Fine

Ultrafine

Started to clean the dash

 

[Beeblebrox237]

That's looking fine!

 

[Ibonibo]

I have never been this late to change to winter tires. But winter was so mellow,...

If it wouldn't have been to restore the rims, I probably wouldn't have bothered...

Gave the car a quick cleaning pass and wheel change

Now as the rims get restored (2 of them), I taught to paint the 4 in a new colour

Stock

Some kind of Gun metal finish, dark grey

or go crazy with copper brown

????

I do like the copper one, but I ask myself if it will bore me faster than a more sublte grey???

Or, I am open to suggestion (add a colourcode if you have one)

The S3 is done in fine

And the front bumper is nearly there, a few cavities left...

That was the biggest part, then on to the side skirts, which are easy shapewise. Then it only leaves some tiny bits....

 

[motortrend]

I like the shadow chrome of the style 65s the M5 comes with and would have gone that route with mine if it didn't involve powder coating, extra $ and more difficulty to touch up (already chipped one a bit and it will fix right up no problem).

2nd pic is stock silver. It's not much of a difference but I think it would suit your car well.

 

[Ibonibo]

Yeah Bmw has some nice darker rims. You don't have a colour code from the Bmw rims?

 

[motortrend]

Yeah Bmw has some nice darker rims. You don't have a colour code from the Bmw rims?

I think it's A56 but that might be what goes on top of the black powdercoat, not really sure.

 

[Ibonibo]

^So I give you what the internet wizard told me

A56, other Titanium like rims are neither painted nor powdercoated. Those are either anothized (Volk, GTR Nismo Wheels,...) or painted with a few different colored paint and coloured clear to give it the effect (BMW,...).
It's possible to come close to it. But it ain't the same.

L8AU (AUDI)

L7ZJ

I like them.... until I found this

BMW A32

On Rims:

I will continue to search, but the A32 looks sweet

 

[Cale]

Blurple like the TT-RS used to be.

 

[Ibonibo]

A tad too much maybe