[Wes@Orion]

Hey Bimmerposters,

First of all Happy Canada Day!

Second I am happy to announce that I am now an official sponsor on Bimmerpost as of today and want to thank Jason for helping me out!

I'm pretty sure I have already worked on some of your BMWs so I am not new to some of you. For those of you who don't know me, Orion Detailing Co. is a business I started out of my home garage 5yrs ago doing mainly Paint Corrections.


I am not going to clutter the Canadian section with a bunch of threads but am going to make this thread my official thread that I share write ups on, pics of what's in the shop, maybe some funny stuff sometimes, etc.

Looking forward to meeting you guys and working on your Bimmers!

Cheers,
Wes

Ps. Oh yeah, if you are on Facebook add me as a friend https://www.facebook.com/wes.robles
Or Linkedin http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/wes-robles/38/907/729

[GreekboyD]

Where is the shop located?

Edit: Damn, you guys are right near me. Are you guys off Laird just N of Wicksteed?

Would like to get out and see you tomorrow morning.

[Wes@Orion]

Sure come by. I should be in the shop by 10:30am.

[Kalidian]

You're the first detailing guy I've found that's not all the way out in mississauga, or some random faraway asscrack in a corner of the province. I am pleased.

[GreekboyD]

Originally Posted by Kalidian

You're the first detailing guy I've found that's not all the way out in mississauga, or some random faraway asscrack in a corner of the province. I am pleased.

Agreed. Makes a huge difference for me too. My gym/condo are very close to his location in Leaside.

[Wes@Orion]

Originally Posted by Kalidian

You're the first detailing guy I've found that's not all the way out in mississauga, or some random faraway asscrack in a corner of the province. I am pleased.

lolol

[Wes@Orion]

Here is an old write up on an M3 done back at my house.


Walk around








Started with my usual routine beginning at the wheels.

Soaked the rims and tires in P21s Wheel Cleaner Gel version. This stuff is great because it is non-acidic making it safe for ceramic brakes, polished or anodized rims, etc.


After going around the car I came back to my first rim and started working the inner rim with my EZ-Brush.


Dirt agitated.


Cleaned the face and inbetween with a microfibre mitt.


And all clean.




I also cleaned the fairly new Akrapovic Exhaust.


Still a little wet but looking very sexy none the less.




Finally with all of that out of the way I began to rinse down the car.


I noticed some beading and with this being a fairly new car I suspected that the dealer had put their "protection" on it wither it be a sealant or wax. In general though most dealer's products contain silicones which when it comes to polishing if not stripped off can be a huge hindrance to the correction of the paint because when you begin to polish rather than correct and cut into the paint it creates a sort of hydroplaning effect.

So out came the Prep Wash cut 50/50 with water which is a silicone remover.


So with the Prep Wash dwelling on the paint. I began to wash the car using the 2 bucket method(left soapy water/right clean water for rinsing my mitt every panel), Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss, and a Natural Sea Sponge.




Dried off the car with my trusty waffle weave towels(these things are great because of the absorbency which is much better then regular leather or synthetic chamios).




And then pulled it into my garage to start the claying with yellow Riccardo Clay.




A little bit dirty for a 2 month old car.



After claying I took some measurements of the whole car with my paint depth gauge in microns and found everything to be pretty healthy with no signs of repaint.






So now the fun begins. With the way the swirls were looking I was not expecting to do anything more then a 1 stage polish.

Tools and product for the day were my Flex 3401, Lake Country Green Pads, and Menzerna Power Finish.

Here are the before and after results.

Before


After


Before


After(forgive me, until looking at the picture afterwards I realize I didn't wipe off all of the polishing residue which you can see close to the bottom right corner)


Driver's side done and looking very glossy already with no wax. Also I forgot to mention that I masked off trim with blue painters tape and was doing this as I went along.


Before


After


Before


After




With the polishing finished I unmasked the car.






Cleaned off the polishing oils using IPA Alcohol cut 50/50 with water and a plush microfibre.






Checked over my work with my 3M Sun Gun which is 99.3% similar to the sun.


Jerez Black looking like how it's suppose to look... perfect.




Protected the finish with Swissvax Concorso wax.


While the wax was curing I dressed the tires with Blackfire Long Lasting Tyre Gel and cleaned the windows with my Glass master Pro and the new Stoners Invisible Glass with rain repellant.



And now the eye candy.

Clean Akrapovic Exhaust.




















Reflection shot on the carbonfibre roof.


Closer shot of the weave.


Carbonfibre side grills


lol, I'm trying to be artsy fartsy with this shot.






lol pt.2, there is no purpose to this shot I'm just trying to be artsy fartsy again. Ruji eat your heart out Wes_R is coming.


Carbonfibre front grill and didn't take pics of it but carbonfibre emblems also.






Another shot of the hood which I thought looked really cool.




And another shot of the roof which I also thought looked really cool.


And to complete the the full 360 walk around, the last pic.




Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed it

Cheers,
Wes

[MOAB]

Wes does great work and his location is very convenient for those of us who live in the City of Toronto.

[GreekboyD]

Originally Posted by MOAB

Wes does great work and his location is very convenient for those of us who live in the City of Toronto.

Just met Wes this morning at his shop before I hit the gym. Great guy and his work looks very solid. Guy is meticulous.

[Wes@Orion]

Originally Posted by MOAB

Wes does great work and his location is very convenient for those of us who live in the City of Toronto.

Originally Posted by GreekboyD

Just met Wes this morning at his shop before I hit the gym. Great guy and his work looks very solid. Guy is meticulous.

Thanks guys for the great compliments!

[Wes@Orion]

Here is a mini write up on a 993 Turbo we prepped for sale. This was a 1 Stage Polish + Interior Shampoo & Leather Cleaning & Conditioning that costed $400.



before


after




50/50 cleaning on the leather. Left side is still dirty/Right side is clean




afters interior








afters exterior


check out that clean exhaust!!!

[Wes@Orion]

Oh man some guys dropped by the shop today looking for a quote saying they heard about us from Bimmerpost.

[GreekboyD]

Those are my boys Wes. Treat them well man.

[GreekboyD]

Just picked up my car a few hours ago from Wes. Him and his crew did a great job on my car. They take their time to get the job done right and as I mentioned before, very meticulous and thorough.

Thanks again Wes.

[Wes@Orion]

Glad you're happy!

[Wes@Orion]

Hey Bimmerposters,


I got a call back in Dec. regarding this Orange RS and the owner stating that he wanted to give it a "freshen up" and good protection as it was a daily driver and had never been detailed since he took ownership. We discussed what it may need and figured out a date. Upon arrival it turned out I knew the owner and we had gone to school together. Small world!

Anyways again on to the write up hope you guys enjoy seeing the process!



First off the initial walk around












Brought it in to the garage and started cleaning the wheels first

Starting with the inner barrel


Lugnuts and calipers




and rimface




Moving on to the exhaust, steel wool was used to clean the outside and inside.

Lol, free advertising for Courtney


All clean




Engine also got a quick shampoo and dressing

Before


After




Finally after all the prep now we can start washing the car starting with the rinse


Cars are always washed using the 2 Bucket Method. If you are not familiar with the 2 Bucket Method, in a nutshell it is basically 2 buckets, one water only, the other soap. The water only bucket is where you rinse off the dirt from your mitt before placing it back in the soap water thus eliminating the potential to drag dirt all over your paint and causing swirls.

This is the dirt from a previous car. You definitely don't want to be dragging this all over your paint. Also notice the bucket with the sponge is pretty much clean


Rinsed out and new soap and water


Washing panel by panel starting with the roof


And rinsing off the dirt


Other details taken care of




After rinsing the soap off while the car was still wet I began to clay the paint to remove any embedded dirt in the clearcoat


Pretty rough




Finally began to dry it off with a microfibre towel




All rubber trim was masked off




Paint measurements were taken in microns to look for any low spots to be careful of and to see if anything had been repainted that the owner might not have been aware of













Finally the polishing can begin and a medium cutting polish and pad were used to clean up the swirls

before


after


before


after


before


after


before


after


before


after


before


after


before


after


before


after




Here is a cool artsy fartsy shot of me polishing




After the polishing was done the masking tape was removed




Then alcohol was brought out to wipe down the panels to remove oils left behind by the polish so that the wax could have a clean surface to bond to






Here is a teaser of the shine achieved with no wax on yet




After the wipe down the panels were double checked with a special light that omits the same spectrum light as the sun


Perfect




Wax applied was Swissvax Concorso




While the wax was curing the tires were dressed with a satin finish. Personally I don't really like the shiny stuff




Starting now with the interior I began vacuuming


Getting in between the seats




Started dusting the cracks and crevices








Pulled out a different brush with longer bristles to reach behind the tach




After the dusting and brushing I can finally wipe down the different surfaces

I really love this shot for some reason


Wiping down the doors


The roll cage


Even the extinguisher lol




A finishing that I love to add to the detail is cleaning the pedals. Lol at the end of the detail and when the customer is taking delivery, they always say that the feel bad to sit in the car afterwards hahaha




Finally I cleaned the windows but doing the back inside windows was the worst! Luckily I have been doing hot yoga lol so I was able to handle the job




And now after all that hard work here are the final pics!

Starting with some sun shots


No swirls




Finished interior shots








Exterior finished shots








I think this pic is pretty cool too












I love the way the beam of light and flare looks in this pic


15km speed limit


Beautiful reflection shot on the spoiler!


Interesting roof shot






And finally the last artsy fartsy


I hope you guys and gals enjoyed reading through the documentation!

[triggz]

Great work. Do you use a sealant after the polish/wax?

[Wolf 335]

Great work.

When you do your paint thickness reading, what numbers would indicate issues. I noticed on a few photos it said 106, 107, 94, 129. What fluctuation would indicated problem areas?

[Wes@Orion]

Originally Posted by triggz

Great work. Do you use a sealant after the polish/wax?

I used a wax which is called Swissvax Concorso

Originally Posted by Wolf 335

Great work.

When you do your paint thickness reading, what numbers would indicate issues. I noticed on a few photos it said 106, 107, 94, 129. What fluctuation would indicated problem areas?

The measurements are done in microns, which is a thousandth of a mm. So fluctuations from 94-107 are not huge. What indicates a repaint is when things start to shoot up to 200 and above which indicates a repaint. Or in other situations like Mitsubishi paint where readings are very low at 70 microns I prefer to not get to aggressive.

[chiewy]

Wes is the real deal. Took my car in last week for an in & out detail and it went from looking like it went through hell to looking like it came right off the factory line.

[rocket2010]

Thanks for the pics Wes looking forward to seeing you in the summer get my coupe taken care of. Are you open weekends at all.?

[murcielago07]

Originally Posted by chiewy

Wes is the real deal. Took my car in last week for an in & out detail and it went from looking like it went through hell to looking like it came right off the factory line.

how much is detailing to get all the swirl marks removed? my JB e92 has lot of swirl marks thats bothering me now