'91 E34 M5 paint restoration and detail by Bella Macchina

[TropicalDetail]

THE E34 M5 was a hand built super "saloon" car built by BMW from late '89 until 1995. The E34 M5 was only available in the states from 1991 until 1993, this particular model being built in 1991. Featuring a 3.8L I6 that was a direct revolution of the BMW M1 engine that pumped out 340 horsepower and 270 lbs of torque the M5 could reach 60 in 5.5 seconds and run to a limited top speed of 155.

An interesting note on M5’s is that they where built by small teams of employees and the test drivers where often able to “guess” which team built which car based on the small quirks and performance of the hand built cars.

This M5 had served as a daily driver for one of my favorite clients when he was in college and he felt it deserved the same concours’ attention as the rest of his collection.

Process Outline (quick)
Wash with Dodo Juice “Born to be Mild”, 2 buckets
Clay with Sonus Gray Clay
Wheels cleaned with P21s Wheel Gel
Wheel Arches and Tires with Optimum Power Clean
Spot wet sand plus 6 Step Paint Polishing Correction
Dodo Juice Lime Prime Light
Dodo Juice Orange Crush, applied by hand x 2
Meguiars Hyperdressing 3:1 on wheel arches
Zaino Z16 on tires
Zaino AIO on wheels, topped with Z5pro
Meguiars Exterior Trim Detailer on exterior trim surfaces
Leatherique twins on interior leather
Full shampoo and extract
1Z Cockpit Premium on interior surfaces
1Z Gummi Phledge on trim and seals

The exterior had some “pinkening” from oxidation and was heavily swirled and scratched in the 17 years that passed since the M5 was originally built.




The M5 provided some unique challenges. The paint was fairly thin (even for single stage) running about 3.2 mils on average with some areas dipping as low as 2.5 mils. Also 17 years of improper washing had left some pretty severe defects in the paint that required light color sanding to remove. Meguiars Uni-Grit was used in 2000, 2500, and 3000 grits.
It was necessary to carefully gauge the paint depth through out the paint correction, polishing, and jewelling process.

Some 50/50 shots




On this picture you can notice the passenger side has been polished and jeweled. The reflections in the garage door (hanging over head) and pictures is much sharper and probably better then when the car first made its voyage across the Atlantic.



Before


After


50/50


Some after shot in the bright sunlight (after 1 coat of Orange Crush)

[TropicalDetail]

It was late and a lot of detailing was left to do so I had to call a quick end to the photos. However I did finish up at 10 PM and it afforded me the opportunity to take some pictures with the Porsche 930 that Brian and I had previously detailed as well as this Ferrari Boxer that I had detailed for the Cavallino show last year (and still looking great).





Dodo as modelled by three lovely ladies. SuperNatural on the Ferrari, Rainforest Rub show off but the sexy hips of the Porsche, and Orange Crush over the powerful M5

[///M3Augy]

Wow, that came out great. What a car!

[awahl63]

Excellent detail Todd - quite a nice stable of red cars there

[MonsterM3]

NICE! i love the last couple pictures.

[ttkid06]

whoa...great detail

[TropicalDetail]

thanks for the compliments guys!

[E36M34life]

Awesome job! I love how the M5 is completely stock and so clean!

[Grim Reaper]

Awesome!

I'd love to get a Red Rocket like that to compliment the Cosmos Ghostrider.

[e34moneypit]

Love the red. Hell of a detail.. But, uh.. 91 m5's had a 3.6L... the 340hp 3.8 was a Euro only option.

[Viewtiful Sight]

Very nice... makes me miss my E34

[TropicalDetail]

Thanks for all the compliments!!!!

[Deep Gloss Auto]

Phenominal work as ALWAYS Todd...

Jason

[ESMcBlurM3]

jesus. all this e34 content is making my head spin

[pushpins]

Beautiful car, and great restoration. Whats the mileage? Looks like there isnt much chipping..

[TropicalDetail]

Beautiful car, and great restoration. Whats the mileage? Looks like there isnt much chipping..

110,000 miles and looking better then new!!!