2005 BMW M6 V10

[James B]

Thanks for the comments guys.
Oh this is embarrassing. I never even looked under the tool tray! Detailer is still hard at work in the garage so I can’t check it now but will do when he’s done tomorrow. I went down for a look at the car earlier. What a difference!! The swirly paint is so obvious now against the corrected paint. It should be looking almost like new by the the time he’s done. There are some fairly horrible looking surface marks that he’s got rid of entirely!!

[James B]

Tyre goop does have a use by date too if i remember correctly. When we do the NC500 each year all of us take 2 cans each as it’s good to have back up. In the past to avoid any movement I’ve bought those expanding foam packing bags that you activate. Put in place and then insert the cans into place and place another packing bag on top. They provide a very lightweight, reusable and factory looking packing solution without much cost. The space to the side of the battery had looked good to me but now I’ll check the space under the tool tray.

[Speed addicted]

This was bugging me, so I checked and the goop does have a use by date. Mine is a mere two years out of date!

It lives next to the compressor (to the left of the fuses) under the tool kit, I had to buy the compressor and goo as mine came with runflats and I changed to normal tyres for better ride quality and more grip.

I don’t think the M cars got the runflats in the first place though.

Edited by Speed addicted on Tuesday 23 January 23:16

[James B]

I popped down to the garage to check on progress and am really impressed.

Here are some pics. I’m uploading from my phone so there’s a good chance they’re all over the place orientation-wise but I’ll sort in the morning if so.

Rear bumper behind offside wheel

Bootlid

Near side rear view

Bonnet

Carbon Roof

[James B]

On the topic of the under tool kit setup I took this pic;



Looks like all present and correct. I didn’t check the date on the kit but will do tomorrow.

I did have a look under the bonnet and got a pic of the insulation deterioration;

[Speed addicted]

It’s looking good, black shows everything.
I couldn’t get mine detailed properly. I’d never drive it again! I’m bad enough now.

Currently have a new pickup and the wife’s 1 year old evoque in the drive while my 13 year old 6 series and bikes live in the garage!

I would just leave the insulation, that looks like a surface covering that’s come away so won’t really affect anything.

[James B]

Yes, I keep having to remind my detailer chap that it’s my daily and not to worry about this tiny blemish here or there. It’ll be filthy by the weekend! Black is a nightmare but will hopefully be much easier to look after following the detail and the ceramic coating.

I’m not sure I can leave the under bonnet insulation like that but will see how I go. It does make me chuckle that the deteriorated section is a very accurate image of the continent of Africa! Haha

[Shnozz]

Speed addicted said:

It’s looking good, black shows everything.
I couldn’t get mine detailed properly. I’d never drive it again!

I really am terrible in that mine never gets washed and when it does its the local lads who stick a sponge over it. Few options living in a city centre and no access to water etc even if I wanted to (not that I would!).

How much is the detail costing you out of intrigue?

[James B]

Shnozz said:

Speed addicted said:

It’s looking good, black shows everything.
I couldn’t get mine detailed properly. I’d never drive it again!

I really am terrible in that mine never gets washed and when it does its the local lads who stick a sponge over it. Few options living in a city centre and no access to water etc even if I wanted to (not that I would!).

How much is the detail costing you out of intrigue?

I have used one of the hand wash places before as they have a 'special' price for a new mitt and chamois so you limit the damage. For the M6 though the ceramic coat should be sufficiently non-stick that a good weekly snowfoam should keep on top of things.

The guy charges me £150/day + materials but we agreed a lumpsum of £350. Sounds a lot to some to 'wash' a car but it's a once annual thing for each car and keeps them in much better condition and easier to look after.

[James B]

Fussy sod is finally happy with the bonnet and has sent me the below.

[Speed addicted]

James B said:

I have used one of the hand wash places before as they have a 'special' price for a new mitt and chamois so you limit the damage. For the M6 though the ceramic coat should be sufficiently non-stick that a good weekly snowfoam should keep on top of things.

The guy charges me £150/day + materials but we agreed a lumpsum of £350. Sounds a lot to some to 'wash' a car but it's a once annual thing for each car and keeps them in much better condition and easier to look after.

To be honest that's not bad compared to the bigger places.

I keep mine waxed and wash it regularly (the joy of living in the suburbs, driveways are handy) but don't do paint correction.

[dave2007bc]

May I ask how much the BMW warranty cost when you first acquired the car please?:-)

[James B]

Speed addicted said:

James B said:

I have used one of the hand wash places before as they have a 'special' price for a new mitt and chamois so you limit the damage. For the M6 though the ceramic coat should be sufficiently non-stick that a good weekly snowfoam should keep on top of things.

The guy charges me £150/day + materials but we agreed a lumpsum of £350. Sounds a lot to some to 'wash' a car but it's a once annual thing for each car and keeps them in much better condition and easier to look after.

To be honest that's not bad compared to the bigger places.

I keep mine waxed and wash it regularly (the joy of living in the suburbs, driveways are handy) but don't do paint correction.

Yeah I always feel I get good value from Martin. He arrives at 9am and was still there at 10pm so the 3 days i'm paying for are actually much longer than conventional days.

[James B]

dave2007bc said:

May I ask how much the BMW warranty cost when you first acquired the car please?:-)

It was about £1250 iirc.

[Prinny]

James B said:

dave2007bc said:

May I ask how much the BMW warranty cost when you first acquired the car please?:-)

It was about £1250 iirc.

Mine (bought Nov ‘17, ‘06 reg, 50k miles) is 114/month with the 100 excess.

If you don’t know, under 60k miles is step 1 of the warranty, and 100k miles is step 2.

Paying yearly will bump premiums based on mileage band (James has a way to go yet.... ) whereas the pay-monthly charge doesn’t change as long as you keep paying it (within certain limitiations of course).

So it’s “better” to pay monthly - or at least to start doing so just before the 60k mileage barrier.

[James B]

It has been an interesting evening! Neighbour’s garage got ram raided!

Caught on #NestCam. https://video.nest.com/clip/c79747b0242347868ddfe9...

They got nothing but made a real mess of his door which is now far from secure.

Anyway, the M6 is now virtually complete. It got the ceramic coating on today and will set overnight. The car is looking incredible. I’m delighted. The paint has such depth. The fleck in the paint is so clear to see. Detailer will just finish a last few details tomorrow and I’ve asked him to remove the first service sticker from above the drivers head on the windscreen as it’s still there. I like my originality but I think that’s excessive.

[James B]

Some pics i took last night and this morning. I'm not the greatest photographer and the iPhone isn't the greatest camera so between us the pics aren't very good at all but you probably get the jist!








Only a couple of issues raised by the detailer.

1) the dent that Dent Devils couldn't deal with. It's actually a light crease leading to a dent. I'll bet that the height off the ground of your common or garden shopping trolley will be the same height. Annoying but it's not all that noticeable.

2) Someone appears to have polished the exhaust tips with a grade of sandpaper usually reserved for very rough pieces of hardwood! Sadly they're not recoverable in their current state so are clean but far from ideally polished. I'll investigate the possibility of replacing the tips for new (in case they're riveted on) or getting them off and rechromed. In the meantime it's not a big issue, they just lack lustre.

[8bit]

That's come up lovely!

Bad news about the ram raids, there was a spate of that last year wasn't there? You'd think they'd learn...

[James B]

Thanks!

On Boxing Day 2016 some muppets stole 3 cars and then randomly, without any particular purpose other than destruction, battered 50 or so garage doors with the cars. Easily £50k of damage done. Mine was one of them. I was not best pleased....

[James B]

I now have a complete tool kit.



At the same time I checked the date on the tyre sealant. I’m guessing it’s the original pack. I’ll be putting in tyre foam tins anyway so that’ll be fine.



I also began to change out the filament bulbs for LED for all of the internal lighting. It’s an easy job, just need to find the lights. What I did find was odd though was that the boot light and both footwell lights had the bulbs removed entirely. I can understand that the bulbs could fail and be left but to remove completely without replacing seems a little odd? Maybe the previous owners didn’t like the light?? Anyway new lights fitted and I’m pleased. The interior of the car did seem a little dark low down so this could explain it.

Let there be light!



While I was under the dash however I spotted something I haven’t seen before. It looked like a small bulkhead light with a tiny red LED inside.





There is one on the underside of both the passenger and drivers side dashboard. The drivers was illuminated red but the passenger was off. Any ideas folks?