My apologies on being so late to update my blog. It has been a whirlwind few months for me as I have made my way to Asia in hopes of expanding the Automotive Specialist brand and take on some new business endeavors. As I knew I was leaving in mid September, we purposely booked all our clients in late August and early September to prep their cars for the time I would be away. This left little time to blog and once traveling (7 countries so far), I have had no energy or time left to update the blog.
Dog Days of Summer:
August is probably one of my least favorite months of the year. Its very hot, people are always away on vacation, and the sports world is dead waiting for baseball playoffs, and the NFL regular season to begin. It also brings back horrid memories of "doubles" back when I played football. Never a good thing. Because of all these factors, August is usually quite slow for us. But this year, we had the busiest month yet in August and then kept it cranking until mid September before I left the country. Most of the jobs were small service or cleanups, but there were a few cool projects we had come through the shop that I will share...
2012 BMW M3 Cabriolet:
This car came in to install the BMW M Performance Carbon front splitters. We ordered them up and had them from BMW within a day (have to love Wagner BMW parts). Max showed up early for her appoint the following day and the install went quite smoothly. We decided to only drill one hole per side under the front bumper to add an extra screw and combined with 3M adhesive tape the splitters held on very tightly. This also allowed Max to remove the splitters if she decides to sell without worrying about holes behind in her bumper.
before and after the BMW M Performance splitter install...
looks fantastic in the sun...
After adding the splitters, Max asked me if we could try to wrap her bonnet vents in 3M carbon fiber. Since they are so small and can be remove, we quickly got to work wrapping them up to bring the c/f touches into the hood and give the car a nice theme.
close up of the hood vent wrapped in 3M vinyl...
nice carbon theme going on...
2000 BMW M Coupe:
One of my favorite cars is the BMW M coupe. Such a purposeful car built for driving enjoyment. Due to the rarity of the car, it is always exciting when one comes into the shop. This is the same Coupe I detailed the interior of back in April and he wanted to apply Optimum OptiCoat over the vehicle to protect the paint for years to come. As usual we did a day of polishing and then applied the OptiCoat. The results speak for themselves....
applying the OptiCoat...
Such a great little car...
OptiCoat providing amazing reflectivity as usual...
basking in the sun...
2013 BMW M5:
This is a new client who has picked up a new M5 and wanted to add some emotion to its cold character. While the F10 M5 is amazing to drive and quick as anything, it does lack some soul with its exhaust noise. We decided to change that with an Eisenmann Race exhaust setup. After an anxious week of debating if he had made the right decision or not, he finally brought the car in to install the new goodies...
set for surgery...
stock (left) vs. Eisenmann (right) - always one side at a time to compare tip positioning
nice view of the 110mm tips...
just enough length to see the brand...
After installing, the moment of truth had come. A quick start up and rev put all his worries to ease as the car sounded like an M5 should out of the factory with a nice rumble without being obnoxious. The following day we received a phone call from him saying how happy he was with the exhaust and the smile it brings to his face when he jumps on the throttle.
2012 Lexus GS450F:
We do not work on a lot of Lexus here, but one of our clear bra installers asked if we would be willing to do some vinyl wrap on his roof and bumper. We did our research and were not happy to find out you need to actually unbolt the factory roof fin from under the headliner inside which required remove the rear pillars and pulling down the headliner. Once we started though, it proved easy enough and soon we had the roof stripped and ready for vinyl...
roof wrapped in 3M carbon fiber
In addition to the roof, we also ended up wrapping a section of the front bumper in matte black to create the visual effect of having a larger grille and put red time attack stripes on his Lexani wheels for a little flair.
Lexani wheels time attacked...
Followed the natural grille lines and cut with cutting tape to create no scratches in the paint
looking very aggressive...
ready for delivery...
Plasti-Dip:
Another trend that has become more popular is that of Plasti-dipping wheels and paintwork. This product is basically a spray can of plasticizing paint that hardens on the car to create a shell over the paint in numerous colors. While it is durable, it also can just be peeled off easily by hand when you want to remove it. The only downside to it is it does get stained or come off with highly acidic liquids such as bird poop. Here is a transition shot of a set of wheels we did for a client on his Ford Escape.
cleaned and ready for plasti-dip...
nice picture showing the process, note how the plastic peels off easily by hand when removing the overspray...
Back on the Ford looking like factory...
2013 Aston Martin V8 Vantage S: Touch up...
The last job we tackled before heading out to Asia was our good client's Gulf Racing Aston Martin Vantage S. His wrap has held up quite well but needed a few touch ups from stone chips, scuffs, and the dreaded parking ding. We also did a full leather conditioning with Leatherique to keep that soft British leather hide from cracking...
Checking out the undercarriage for any damage or leaks thanks to Boston's awful roads....
this is the first time our client has seen the bottom of his car...
touched up and ready to roll...
going to be sad when we pull this vinyl off next month...
