Late night photo shoot in Dallas TX.

Full detail and paint restoration on a 2006 BMW 650 convertible.

Pics of my 370

On first glace of the sport package wheels i knew exactly how I wanted them to look. The lines just screamed for a dual paint job to accent the aggressive nature of the wheels.

I'm going with an overall Black and White theme with the car so decided on this route.

Painting the wheels wasn't that difficult. White primer coat, 5 coats of black on the spokes, mask off the black area, 5 coats of white on the outer edge, pull of the mask, hand paint all the edges to get really clean lines, 5 coats of clear coat over the whole thing.

One thing to note, I used a heat gun to dry the clear coat faster and ended up yellowing the white. So I had to go back and re-mask everything and respray the white and clear coat.

Also, the Wheel paint worked great, engine paint worked great for the colors (black was engine, white was wheel). I would highly recommend using the engine paint for the clear coat. I tried using a different type and it wrinkled on me in the drying process making me have to sand it down and reapply.

So if you are going to go this route just be patient.

- Full Second Skin sound deadner in trunk and under seats (SPL Tiles and Luxury Liner Pro)
- Two Boston Acoustics G5-1044 Subwoofers
- Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.1 component speakers
- Boston Acoustics GT2300 Amp for Subs
- Boston Acoustics GT2125 Amp for components
- Eclipse AVN 62D 7" In dash dvd navigation system
- Eclipse BT-E600 bluetooth adapter
- Eclipse iPC-106 iPod adapter
- Scosche passPORT iPhone 3G charging adapter
- Eclipse BEC-108 backup camera
- Boston Acoustics GT-RSL amplifier bass remote
- Zenclosures box

-----

Adding all the Second Skin products made a difference in road noise. The car is pretty quiet now. Not as quiet as a BMW, but no complaints about road or engine noise now. Changing out the tires would probably make it even quieter.

Getting the paneling back on was tough. I was able to get everything back on and snapped into place. There was only one clip I was not able to reattach through the stock location.

A couple of notes on the components:
- I would recommend a different headunit. This one works great, but everything is an accessory - bluetooth, ipod, gps etc. These all require separate modules that you have to find room for (I put most of mine under the passenger seat). The problem is more all the wiring that you have to cram back behind the stereo. Getting the stereo back into the center console was the hardest part of this entire project. So next time I'd go with a unit that has everything built in just for the ease of install.

The subs are great! Seriously overkill for this car. One would be perfect. Great sound throughout the entire range. The issue with them is the size. the housing brackets on the subs was about 1/4" too wide to fit in the Zenclosures box while being straight up and down. So I had to rotate the subs slightly to get them to fit flush in the box.

The door speakers totally scream :) With the amp at 50% gain the speakers are loud enough to drown out all road and wind noise when driving at 80mph with the windows down. Seriously, these sound incredible. I tiny bit tinny on the highest notes but not bad at all. Great for all music types. In the online reviews I read some people complain about the passive crossovers but with a little adjusting of the amps I think they sound perfect.

The amps are great too. They stay cool to the touch all the time, the internal fans are really quite (I only hear them when I turn the car off). Only problem with them are they are HUGE! I probably would have preferred something that could have fit under the seat instead. I really like how the box looks without the amps on top, and would have preferred to be able to hide them from view easier.

One last thing - before completing the final install of the box I would recommend covering your paneling with painters/masking tape. I got a few tiny scratches when putting the box in place. With the two subs and box the total weight was about 90 lbs, too much for me to just lift in without resting one side on the panels.

My Daily Driver.
Ran the last 4 years at 12PSI - unknown WHP but faster than a 350 Z or Mustang GT on the highway. (would pull about 2 car lengths between 80-130mph)

Currently de-tuned and running a more conservative 8psi-10psi :)

-- Engine --
T25 BB turbo
Custom Ported and Polished Intake manifold with VCIS delete
Unichip EMS - Custom Crossover Auto Timing and Fuel Maps
MBC
Highboost FMIC
Injen Intake
Greddy Type S BOV
Solid Front Motor Mount

-- Exhaust --
Apex Catless 2.5" downpipe
RacingBeat 2.25" cat back

-- Suspension --
Racing Beat Springs
Tokico Blue Shocks
Racing Beat Front & Rear Sway Bars
17" Racing Heart Rims
VTTR Brake upgrade (fronts only)

-- Interior --
Custom Orange tint
Pioneer Headunit
Kenwood Excelon Components
Polk Momo 8" Sub
Dave B Brushed Aluminum Gauge rings
VDO boost gauge in steering column pod
Sparco Short Shifter
Sparco racing pedals

Pics of items for sale