Make it shine

I've had the E21 up on stands and ramps for the last couple of weeks sorting out the exhaust. I had a look at it the other night while walking past and decided it was probably about time I had a go at giving it a decent polish.

The surface of the roof looked a little worse for wear. I probably can't do a lot for this other than eventually re-painting it, but it's worth trying to see what I can do with what I've got.

This is the roof and sunroof, I'm focusing on what should be the reflection from the Fluro light in the garage.

Just a random shot I snapped off while I was there.

Here's my Concours 900 DA polisher, ready to go with a microfibre/wool pad and Menzerna 1000.

Boot-lid before

Side with some water beading after applying Menzerna 1000, 2000, 3000, then Meguiars Gold Class Liquid Wax.

Closer

Missing "i" from the 323 badge is not so obvious now it's been polished.

I polished the tail lights and garnish with the machine and waxed them while I was there.

More beading.

Whole car done, bar the bottom of the front bumper, and the front BBS spoiler because I couldn't easily get to them with the car on the stands (up against the wall)

I put some armorall on the dash. Mostly because I think this would have been done years ago and is probably responsible for the cracks that have already established themselves there.

After parking outside for the sunlit shot above, back into the shed with some nice rainwater beading. This is the sunroof/roof.

The bonnet and bonnet vent.

The roof (note the reflection of the light still has some texture, I think what clearcoat remains on the roof is in the process of failing. It's likely to all get re-done when the rust around the windows etc gets fixed.

Passenger side bonnet grille.

Side on shot - I've even waxed the windows. Note the leading edge of the bonnet is a slightly different colour to the rest of the bonnet and this shows now that the car is extremely shiny.