2002 Ferrari 360- Deep Velvet by Daniel Wendell

baseballlover1 · 09-27-08, 11:00

First let me start off and say this detail was a dream come true for me. Lets face it, some of our jobs really take the life out of us, they make us want to go home and watch TV or go to sleep. However this job FOR ME was not one of the. I loved just about every second of it. From the cleaning of the wheels with a paintbrush because my swissvax wheel brush hadn’t arrived, to polishing the door jambs; I loved every second.
This particular model Ferrari is a 2002 360 spider. This car is being sold at a dealership called brambelton imports for I believe $170k (incase anyone is interested PM me). The owner and manager of the dealer are both nice guys and it was fun getting the details worked out about the job, however sometimes a little aggravating, but it all worked out and worth it in the end.
Anyways, this detail took place on a few different days due to my school schedule, so I basically only had about 3 hours a day to work on the car (with the exception of today; Saturday).

Day one: Tuesday
The car proved hard to start and get into the detail bay due to the alarm system and the lack of a clutch… My preference would be a standard clutch manual transmission (incase anyone wants to buy me one:]). After calling foreign cars italia, in Greensboro NC, we got the car started and into the wash bay.

Here are some preliminary photos:

After the initial shock of... holy ****... its a ferrari wore off i set to work by cleaning the wheels. This process was very easy as there was only dust particulate, SLIGHT mud and almost NO brake dust. I used my EZ brush to get into the barel of the wheel, a paint brush for the faces and the brake caliper and a few q-tips for hard to reach areas. All of these products were used in conjunction with P21S wheel gel.

After the wheels were perfectly clean...

... I set about cleansing and decontaminating the paint.

My favorite shampoo has recently been Dodo Juice Born To Be Mild...

After the buckets were full and I was ready to rock and roll I foamed the car with my gilmour foam gun...

...and then washed the car using the two bucket method and my sheepskin mitt..

The car was then dried.

After a water/bathroom break I began examining the paint and prepping it before polishing...

In certain spots the car had mild to severe holograms that would require SIP (which i opted to use on the car). It also had micro marring and swirl marks throughout the entire car, which we all know is pretty normal on a car with as soft paint as ferrari.

So here is my test panel; I used SIP then finished up with 106... worked VERY well IMO. The paint was deep and glossy... and it felt like velvet too

.

Before:

After:

Day one was winding to an end due to my homework needing to be done. So i packed it in around 6:30-6:45, which means i would have worked about 3 hours on tuesday.

Here are some pics from that day:

baseballlover1 · 09-27-08, 11:01

Day Two/Three: Wednesday/Thursday
Day two started out pretty well however toward the middle it got HORRIBLE due to SIP's abrasives not breaking/fracturing down (im guessing due to the humidity as there were changes quickly around the same time). So what i decided to do was to simply go back over the parts where the SIP did work with 106 as to not waste time... so thats what i did. I did not document this too well as i was trying to work fast while also being annoyed.

Before:

50/50:

After:

Taping of the emblems:

Polishing here...

and here...

a 50/50 of somewhere here... You can see the SUPER SLIGHT oxidation coming up:

Before:

During:

After:

(there is a little smearing from the oils of 106 here).

Day Four:Friday

This day was cut short as i had a football game to go to that day (early game around 4:45) so i only had about one hour to work. So i decided to not rush myself (big surprise i know :]) and just finish polishing the car (i had one panel left).

After all the polishing was finished i decided to start removing all the tape (which i had A LOT of)...

and a little hand polishing afterwards...

Again, i decided to pack it in early to get up the next morning and work hard to finish this black horse up.

Day Five: Saturday (Final Day)
This day was a fun day IMO. I didnt have to here a loud noise in my ear due to a rotary, and i got to see some good faces at the end which made everything worth it to me.

The day was started out by tidying up a bit and then doing a quick 2 bucket wash of the car being careful of inducing swirls.

First off i foamed...

then made my way around with my new SV brush...

then washed with my mitt again... sorry no pics here.

After the car was thoroughly dried using multiple towels I applied Dodo Juice Lime Prime Lite to the paint which made the paint look great IMO.

After the paint was prepped with Lime Prime Lite it was ready for two coats of Dodo Juice Supernatural which was applied extremely thinly via applicator pad.

The wax was then left to cure for 30 mins...

while this wax was curing i had time to get into the interior a bit. I wiped down the aluminum trim with apc and a MF and then dusted everything out. I also cleaned/treated the leather with 1Z's leather cleaner/conditioner.

These cars also feature painted plastic on the interior which i also Lime Prime Lite'd...

... this was then buffed off...

after being buffed off i applied Dodo Juice Purple Haze which looked extremely good!

This was then buffed off...

......
......
......

After the first coat of wax (on the exterior) was buffed off I applied the second. This was left to cure for an hour due to the oils needing to set for an hour.

... after an hour went by i buffed the wax off and the paint was waiting looking BRILLIANT!

baseballlover1 · 09-27-08, 11:02

Finished pics in the garage:

Now this was a funny part. For the past day or two it has been raining non stop... so what do we decide to do?... put it in the showroom so we can take pics. The manager was a cool guy so he obliged to do so when the rain cut back a little... did i mention with the top down?

After pics in showroom

I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAN... I AM SOOOOOOO TIRED NOW!!!!!

John Henry · 09-28-08, 04:11

Outstanding work, Daniel! You'll be driving one of these beasts soon. Thanks very much for the excellent post.

mojo11 · 09-28-08, 04:22

Great job!

David Fermani · 09-28-08, 04:36

Great work Daniel! I'm very proud of you're accomplishments in such a short amount of time. You've achieved more in the last few years learning this trade than many full time Pros have. I really think you're a "history in the making" and will strive for success no matter what.

Did your local paper or TV station get informed of this project? This would have made for a great story that could have brought more business to you & the dealership.

Pats300zx · 09-28-08, 04:51

Awesome job Daniel. It must have been a pleasure to work on a car like that. I see many more in your future

kaval · 09-28-08, 05:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Fermani

I really think you're a "history in the making" and will strive for success no matter what.

Quoted for truth!!!

Amazing documentation and work Daniel. Be proud of yourself...you worked hard and it definitely shows.

Lower the ISO on your camera too, so the pictures look less grainy.

Keep up the excellent work.

TSC17 · 09-28-08, 05:52

Nice job Daniel. I too was going to mention a lower ISO, but kaval beat me to it. Keep after it, as you obviously have a bright future ahead of you regardless of what direction you take in life.

WGMARQ · 09-28-08, 06:59

Great job Daniel !!!!!!

I'm thinking there will be many more exotics in your future

Moutee · 09-28-08, 07:23

I've been looking forward to this write-up for days. You've done a killer job getting your detailing game in motion (something I wish I would have done better), and it shows!

baseballlover1 · 09-28-08, 08:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Henry

Outstanding work, Daniel! You'll be driving one of these beasts soon. Thanks very much for the excellent post.

Thank YOU!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojo11

Great job!

Thanks mojo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Fermani

Great work Daniel! I'm very proud of you're accomplishments in such a short amount of time. You've achieved more in the last few years learning this trade than many full time Pros have. I really think you're a "history in the making" and will strive for success no matter what.

Did your local paper or TV station get informed of this project? This would have made for a great story that could have brought more business to you & the dealership.

No however i will be writing a press release about it soon... plus... im hoping to work on a red one next weekend

.

And thanks David! I payed attention to someone a while back who told me to shut up and watch. They probably meant it to be derogatory... but i turned it around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pats300zx

Awesome job Daniel. It must have been a pleasure to work on a car like that. I see many more in your future

HELL YEA IT WAS!

Thanks pat!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaval

Quoted for truth!!!

Amazing documentation and work Daniel. Be proud of yourself...you worked hard and it definitely shows.

Lower the ISO on your camera too, so the pictures look less grainy.

Keep up the excellent work.

Thanks kaval!!

I am not exactly sure how to lower the ISO. Hopefully im getting an SLR camera for christmahhaunuquanzika

Quote:

Originally Posted by TSC17

Nice job Daniel. I too was going to mention a lower ISO, but kaval beat me to it. Keep after it, as you obviously have a bright future ahead of you regardless of what direction you take in life.

Thanks man!

Quote:

Originally Posted by WGMARQ

Great job Daniel !!!!!!

I'm thinking there will be many more exotics in your future

...... I hope to have worked on another ferrari, a bentley and an aston martin by the beginning of winter. With another (white) ferrari 360 as an ULTIMATE goal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moutee

I've been looking forward to this write-up for days. You've done a killer job getting your detailing game in motion (something I wish I would have done better), and it shows!

Thanks Moutee! I need to do more however! Get in a few local magazines, and papers.

Thanks again guys!!!!
,Daniel