My trim revival/restoration

[Get2theBimmah]

Hey guys, just wanted to share some pictures with you of my shoulder trim revival on my 2002tii. The previous owner had removed most of the trim to prep the car for paint, which he never fully got around to do. With the weather being freezing here in the north east, I wanted to make progress on the car before spring came around. I thought a great way to do that was giving much needed love to the awful trim from the comfort and heat inside my house.

Some pieces were worse than others, but I actually (surprisingly) banged a lot of the creased and dented trim back out successfully. I really don't have any before/after pictures of that specifically though.

On to the photos:

I don't know what happened here. Just a huge mess at the end of the trim.

600 grit later at this point

This is what most of the trim looks like. Hazed, dull and some nicks and scratches.

after 2000 grit

finally - P21 metal soap and meguiars metal polish completed.

[autobon7]

That look nice.....approx how long did it take to do the 1 pc of trim?

[capnover]

That looks great! Question - I assume this means the belt trim pieces are aluminum if you can polish them. Are all years aluminum and can be polished in this way?

[Mike Self]

and polished. However, they were originally anodized,and the polishing removes the anodizing. To prevent further corrosion, they must be either clear coated or kept waxed or they'll turn dull again.

cheers

mike

[Get2theBimmah]

That look nice.....approx how long did it take to do the 1 pc of trim?

Thanks, depending on how bad it was, a couple of hours. This is working all by hand, with no machine or buffing wheel. 220grit to break down most of the haze and scratches is the worst part. I work my way up 400-600-1000-2000 all wet as well.

and polished. However, they were originally anodized,and the polishing removes the anodizing. To prevent further corrosion, they must be either clear coated or kept waxed or they'll turn dull again.

cheers

mike

Really? I assumed back then they left it raw and exposed. Either way I had done the same thing to my wheels last winter because the lip on the clear coat was shot. I broke the clear coat down in order to get all the scratches and curb rash out. I was considering getting it nickle plated to keep as much of the sheen as I could vs. clear coating them. I may just leave it raw though, because this is my weekend car and will be frequently getting cleaned aside from staying in with bad weather.

My M3 is my daily however and as long as you clean the car at least every couple of weeks you're ok with the raw metal. I have the time to keep the car clean, but some others don't. If thats the case minimal polishing is required to bring it back, but you don't have to go through all of those crazy steps again. Just a little P21 and polish. These pieces of trim have long been forgotten about so they needed a lot of work.

Here's a picture of my wheel, like I said its a daily driver and sees the elements in the summer season before I change to snow tires.

[capnover]

Is that a stock flat/frost finish or did you paint or wrap your M?

[Get2theBimmah]

Is that a stock flat/frost finish or did you paint or wrap your M?

I got the car repainted Frozen Grey Metallic from the E92 M3's.

[rnavarro]

hey Mike, i see you wrote that it needs to be clear coated afterwards, have you done this? This is probably a dumb question but if you did clear coat it did you get it professionally done or just some out of a can?

[tii bimmer]

This process works extremely well for de-anodizing the aluminum trim.