Polished Bliss Vs Ferarri 360 + Vintage (pic heavy!)

[cupra_clark]

Unfortunately for Rich (yes Rich, he hasnt quite forgotten how to machine polish just yet! ) and I, we had to work this weekend, although it was on this rather nice 360 :



It was slightly grubby when we arrived but nothing too bad, just the usual really:



So the car was foamed through the foam gun and left to dwell for 5 mins while the arches were sprayed with super de-greaser. It was then rinsed off thoroughly and I washed with the two bucket method while Rich did the wheels with a non-acidic wheel cleaner.

We could now see what kind of defects we were dealing with easier now the paintwork was clean:





as you can see, nothing major really

Once inside and under the halogens we could see there was some more cob-webbing and random scratches that werent so visible outside under the bright sunshine:



While it was outside i had noticed the car had light rotary holograms on the bonnet, the owner said that the front and back bumpers had been re-sprayed and the car had also been "detailed" prior to collection.

I dont know what your definition of detailing is but it certainly isnt leaving micro-marring like this on a £100k+ motor:

[cupra_clark]

Some areas of the car were really bad with this and they looked pretty deep, just about every panel had random scuffs and "nicks" in the paint too that we were pretty sure weren't going to come out..

We decided to tackle them later when we got to them, in the meantime we taped the car up and clayed it with Zymol Lehm Clay III and Zymol Clay Lube, drying with a waffle weave as we went along. The car really needed alot of claying as it was pretty rough, it already showed a significant improvement in gloss once this stage was completed.

PTG readings were taken next, with the car being pretty consistant and showing an average of between 180-200microns,the bumpers were at the 80-100 mark (unusual considering they had been re-sprayed) we also suspected that there has been a smart-repair on the nearside door next to the handle....

We had planned to show you a graph of the PTG readings but numb-nuts here forgot to save the front and rear bumper batches , sorry!

Next stage was to find a pad/polish combo, and we finally decided on a finishing pad with the more agressive finishing polish that we generally use, Ferarri paint is known to be soft and this car was no different, with 95% of the defects coming out first time @1500rpm with the rotarys.

When it came to the areas that were badly affected by micro-marring from the previous "detail", i decided to go for a polishing pad and the compound that is rather sought after just now () @1700/1500rpm's, this improved them slightly but they were still annoying me as you could quite obviously see them if you looked hard enough:



It was at this stage i was keen on wet sanding these areas to remove the marring but Rich pointed out that we didnt really have a huge amount of time to bring it to a level where i'd be happy, so it was explained to the owner that we could fix it at a later date if he wished but he seemed perfectly happy with the progress we were making anyway

Speaking of wet sanding - while i removed the side repeater on the nearside wing, it was apparant that there had been a smart repair on this area too, as they had just masked off the repeater when applying the clear coat which resulted in a 2 or 3mm raised edge that looked like it could start to flake very soon.

As it was a small area we had enough time to sand it back with 3000 unigrit as seen below:



Once the majority of the rotary work had been done Rich cut in the smaller areas with the PC. The rear bumper was obviously painted in single stage red as rich got paint transfer on the PC pad, this would explain the low PTG readings. While he did this i decided to freshen up the headlights as they were swirled and cob-webbed also.

Head light before:



Head light after finishing polish & polishing pad @1500rpm's:



One of the things that let the car down was the sign of polish residue from previous details around the head lights. This was sorted with a small detailing brush and citrus de-greaser:



Before:



After:

[cupra_clark]

We then proceeded to remove the masking tape before dusting out the panel gaps and dusting the bodywork with Zymol dusters etc. It was at this point where our suspected smart repair on the nearside door became even more evident when a couple of small areas of paint came off along with the tape, you can just see in the pic below on the door handle:



We showed the owner and to be honest, he wasnt that bothered, he certainly aknowledged it wasnt our fault but it just goes to show that wee things like this can happen to anyone and is further more proof that if you are to be taken seriously you need to be insured. Although in this case it wont be needed

Next stage was to HD Cleanse the paintwork and glass, followed by Zymol Vintage applied by hand.

Vintage curing:



The Vintage was then buffed off and to give it the necessary time to release its oils fully we set about doing the other jobs on the car.

The interior was hoovered out and wiped down with a damp MF with the Glass receiving HD Cleanse as usual. The leather was then fed with Zymol Treat.

I also polished up the kick plates and applied Zymol Seal to the rubber seals:

Before:



After:




The rear diffuser was also dressed:




And finally the Engine was given a thorough clean also, wiped down with APC, then dressed while the exhaust silencer was polished with metal polish:

Engine before:



Engine after:

[cupra_clark]

silencer before:



silencer after:



The tailpipes were also cleaned with unigrit 3000 and then a light cut metal polish, the arches were dressed, as were the tyres and the wheels received a coat of wheel sealant too.

The car was then given a final wipe down with Zymol field glaze and jobs a good un'

After pics:

[cupra_clark]

Sun shots instead of the usual halogens

[cupra_clark]

Note how crystal clear HD Cleanse gets the glass :
















So all in all, a throughly enjoyable weekend and it was nice to have the sun out for the afters for a change!

Unfortunately i'm all on my own again for tomoro's detail but it was nice to have somone else there to help out for a change (and to bring lunch more importantly! )

Thanks for looking

[Slickery]

I'm sorry if you said but what did you use on that headlight? Thanks great job!

[rydawg]

Absolutly amazing!

[01bluecls]

Awesome job! Great documentation. I have found that Ferrari's paint is very very soft. Many would think its easier to correct but in fact it is truely hard to get a 100% finish. Some of the marring which may look "light" is actually very hard to remove. Excellent work on that car though. My hats off to ya!

Out of curiousity, did you apply vintage to the entire car then buffed off? From my experience with it, you have to apply to small section (panel or half a panel) let stand for a minute or so then buff off. Then rebuff after a couple of hours.

[cupra_clark]

we applied it to the bonnet, wings and front bumper then buffed off etc, its cooler here than over there so we can leave it to cure for longer

[ohms]

Absolutely stunning job mate...What did you use to dress the engine with?

[cupra_clark]

Due to the Zymol Detailer License we cant name non Zymol products when posting Zymol details, so if you want to know any of the other products then PM for more info.