Paint correction and protection on a BMW Z3 in Mora Metallic
This BMW Z3 in Mora Metallic came to our Wiltshire studio for a full paint correction detail. Mora is one of the more interesting colours BMW ever put on a Z3: a deep purple that shifts towards magenta in direct light and reads almost black in the shade. It is also a colour that shows every swirl, because all that depth disappears the moment the surface is scratched.
Wash, decontamination and wheels off
The car was foamed first to soften and lift the loose dirt, then washed by hand with a mitt so that nothing was dragged across the paint. All four wheels came off to be cleaned properly on both faces, and the arches and suspension components were steam cleaned behind them. The engine bay was detailed by hand with brushes. None of that shows in a photograph of the finished car, which is rather the point: it is the work that stops the car looking clean only from ten feet away.
Machine polishing the Mora paintwork
The paintwork was then machine polished to remove the swirls and wash marks that years of ordinary washing had put into it. The before and after halves in the gallery are the same panels under the same lighting, which is the only honest way to show correction work: on the untouched side the light source spreads into a grey haze, and on the corrected side it stays as a tight point with the purple flake visible around it.
Protecting an older car
Correction only pays for itself if the finish is then sealed and washed properly, so the paint was protected once the polishing was signed off and the wheels were sealed before going back on. On a car of this age a coating does two jobs: it holds the finish you have just paid for, and it makes ordinary maintenance washing far less likely to put the swirls straight back in. Options and durability are on our ceramic coating page.
