Ferrari Scuderia (almost forgot about this one...)

Apollo_Auto · 05-19-09, 01:29

Hi all! I've been wicked busy lately and I forgot to post this one. Really, it's not like I'm trying to pump myself up and tell you all that I've forgotten about a Ferrari I've detailed, I've just had the pleasure, privilege and honor of doing so many of them lately, and along with my other work (building web sites, being a husband and a daddy, teaching bartending, etc.) my days seem to all blend together... So anyway, this is one of the V8's that will be going to the hotel with us this weekend; it's the owner of the dealership's "new" demo car

. It's actually a hand-me-down from Maranello. It's got about 18,000 km on the clock and when I first saw it under the "crime light" I thought, "OK it's in the same condition as the last 16M I did." But I wasn't aware that it was a 2 year old car.

Here's some pics of the damage:

Straight off the truck from Maranello...

In the sun it doesn't look so bad...

Under the spotlight it still doesn't look so bad, because I'm combating with the other light sources in the room.

Let's break out the "crime light"...

This just shows the difference between a LED lamp and a high-powered spot-lamp. I couldn't live without this lamp, as it shows EVERYTHING, despite the other sources of light! Yes the scratches can be seen with the spot-lamp, but the scope of them can be measured more with a good LED lamp IMO.

Side-view mirror before

Typical condition on the boots of these cars...

Carbon-fiber door panels before...

The kick panels before.... didn't get afters of this yet! Will do at the weekend!

Apollo_Auto · 05-19-09, 01:31

Made use of the partitions in the garage to block out the sun... somewhat.

Under the halogen

The front-driver's side wing before:

At this point, I measured the paint and got VERY high readings... up into the mid-400's in most places. Hmm... now this is a 2-year old Ferrari. "Did the corner-cutting start within the past 2 years?" I thought. Nowadays the readings are in the high 200's roughly, so I thought that maybe they started saving money on paint by putting fewer layers on. Nope, that wasn't the case. Here's after a test spot on the driver's front wing first with InstaFinish #15 and a polishing pad and after with Scholl S17 and a polishing pad.

Now usually I do these cars with a cutting pad and #15, but mind you that it takes a LONG time to do, because each individual scratch is dealt with "individually". This means that I make a couple of passes with this combo and then "grind" out the remaining scratches with the edge of the pad. On this car, EVERYTHING came out with S17 and a polishing pad, leaving me with an almost perfect finish... no grinding. This is because this wasn't original Ferrari PPG paint. This car had been repainted before it arrived here and my hat's off to the person who did it because other than a couple VERY minor mistakes, it was awesome and as smooth as hell. By minor mistakes I mean that there were 2 small places where the Bondo sanding didn't go perfectly and that's it... I'm talking about a 200-2500 grit difference.

Sanding marks I was talking about.

Me doing my thing

All covered up waiting for me...

If you cover a car, just spray a bit of water on the headlights and taillights to "glue" it to the car; The hot air will lift the drop-cloth and keep it almost completely off the car.

Those crazy-to-polish parts of the F430 came out nice with a 4" 3M pad.

More sanding marks

Marked them with a bit of fingerprint to make it easier to photograph.

Back bumper before:

Back bumper after:

Carbon-fiber doors after:

/IMG]

Apollo_Auto · 05-19-09, 01:32

I enjoyed doing this car so much, because I achieved about a 99% correction, that I just couldn't resist a hand-job with Victoria Concours Red... enjoyed that too

!

The goods!

Thanks for reading and to all the Playboy subscribers, thanks for "reading"!

- Jesse

Perferd · 05-19-09, 01:34

Looks great....please forgive the ignorance...But that meter measures the thickness of the paint?

Apollo_Auto · 05-19-09, 01:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perferd

Looks great....please forgive the ignorance...But that meter measures the thickness of the paint?

The only ignorant question in this place is the one you don't ask

. Yes, it measures the thickness between the outer layer of the paint and the metal/aluminum/fiberglass.

Jakerooni · 05-19-09, 01:45

Another top notch job.. I still can't beleive they are shipping them in that condition... Just floors me that these cars demand top dollar's and this is how they think of the customer... Good thing you're a great buffer between the two. I'd be beyond pi$$ed if I paid that much for a car and it got delivered in condition.

MuttGrunt · 05-19-09, 01:58

^ what he said.

always beautiful work. i wish i was near you as i'd love to just come and watch!

bufferbarry · 05-19-09, 02:22

jesse nice work again man! im curious do you ever have to touch the interiors. i always see ya correcting the outsides is there any interior work that may need corrected at times?

Picus · 05-19-09, 03:14

I like it. Very thorough work; I like the use of the crime light too.

What kind of light is that ? (I am sure you've been asked 100 times, so I apologize).

tdekany · 05-19-09, 03:24

Isteni!

Excellent work. Are any of these cars owned by magyarok?

gofast908z · 05-19-09, 03:49

beautiful once again!!!!

So, you keep pretty busy....and I've been thinking about moving to Hungary. Wanna partner up? lol.

JoshVette · 05-19-09, 08:04

Very nice. I don't think that Ferrari dealer knows how fortunate they are to have such a great paint polisher as you.

Very well done. I love seeing these threads of brand new factory fresh F cars all hacked up when delivered to the dealers cause there's a huge misconception that exotics are always in perfect shape and it doesn't take much skill to detail one just cause they're never dirty.....

Josh