Ferrari F355 GTB

[imported_Dave KG]

Todays detail for Bryan and I was a Ferrari F355 GTB, owned by Jim. Bryan had been delayed on his return from a trip to Irmscher in Germany so I headed up to Jim`s early to get started, arriving just before 9am. A cup of coffee and a run through of the plan for the day and it was out to get started at the back of 9am.



A quick look around the car in the garage revealed it was in excellent condition and only moderate swirls on the car. It was driven out of the garage (the V8 sounds amazing) ready to be washed...



First off the wheels were washed with Meguiars #36 Wheel Cleaner and a Swissol Wheel Brush, then foamed along with the arches using Meguiars Hyper Wash. The wheels were later sealed with Smartwax Rim Wax and tyres treated with Swissvax Pneu. Arches were treated to Meguiars All Seasons Dressing.



With the arches cleaned out, it was time to start on the bodywork which was first foamed using the Gilmour and Meguiars Hyper Wash, then rinsed and washed using the two bucket method and a lambswool mitt with Meguiars Shampoo Plus, rinsed and dried with Last Touch. The car was then rollowed back into the garage to be clayed with Sonus Ultrafine Green Clay.



Once clayed, the car was ready for machine polishing. The 355 was the last car to be hand painted by Ferrari I believe, and this shows with thick paint readings (mostly >400um) across the car, plenty of paint considering the inside door reading was 140um, but much care was taken as areas had also bgeen resprayed in the past so paint may behanve differently. Starting with the bonnet which initally shows light to medium swirls...







Stepping up the pad and polish combo until suitable correction was established. This ended up being Menzerna PO85RD3.01 Intensive Polish on a Meguiars W8006 Polishing pad. Spread at 600rpm, two passes at 1200rpm, eight to twelve passes at 1500 - 1800rpm, two passes at 1200rpm, two passes at 900rpm did the trick:











Onto the front wing and the swilrs were a little more severe...







Here, two hits of Intensive Polish was required to get hte finish fully defect free...







This method was used rounf the whole car, one or two sets depending on the severity of the marring existing. On some areas of deeper scratches, one or two sets of Menzerna Power Gloss was used to remove the deep marks where it was deemed safe to do so. PG was used as follows on a Meguiars W7006 cutting pad: Spread at 600rpm, two passes at 1200rpm, five passes at 1800rpm, spritz, repeat, spritz, repeat, finish with two passes at 900rpm. This brought the PG finish up LSP ready but it was followed withb Intensive Polish just to get a little more clarity.



A 50/50 shot during the polishing process - rear wing done, rear pillar not:







Bryan, meanwhile, was cutting in the many complex areas by PC using two or three sets of Intensive Polish on a Sonus SFX-2 spot pad to remove the marring. As time was ticking on, we decided to stop briefly after the front of the car was done to a finish to get some pics of the finish on natural light. After testing on a spare panel the colour of the car, the choice of LSP was chosen to be Swissvax Cleaner Fluid followed by Swissvax Best of Show wax for the wettness and depth is gave to the red. (This was compared against Zymol Ital and Victoria Concours). So, the CF was applied by hand to the car using the fionishing side of a Sonus German Applicator pad and the Best of Show wax applied directly by hand... The car was then rolled out for some natural light shots of the completed finish:



























Then back into the garage to complete the detail. Plastics and rubbers were treated to Meguiars #38 Tyre and Trim Dressing Gel, glass was cleaned with Swissvax Cleaner Fluid. And then a final wipe down with Swissvax Quick Finish... Alas by the time the car was complete, it was 11pm! Machining took a very long time as we were keen to remove the deeper marring where it existed as the aint allowed us to do so. So, indoor garage shots only for completed pics I`m afriad...























Many thanks to Jim (and Wendy) for the great hospitality throughout the day - continuous stream of coffee and kit kats, pizza and cheese toasties! :thumb: Jim has taken several pics from the day - action shots of the detail, so we will see more pics from this detail soon.

[freestyla]

Car looks GREAT!!! Even the super clear windows are cleaned to perfection!

[Mobilejay]

That car is pure sex. I know its not a v12 and the engine is in the front but I could care less. I have always loved that car and you did a great job correcting it. Very lucky

[stiffdogg06]

All I gotta is say is O M G



That car is DRIPPING wet.



Love it man, great job. Love your attention to perfection!!:goodjob

[imported_Denzil]

Wow, nice job. The car didn`t really look that bad but you still managed to make it look really good!

[awahl63]

Turned out great

[SilverLexus]

Very wet and very cool pics.

[jimmie jam]

WOW, WOW and WOW:shocked :kewlpics

[01bluecls]

That car is pure sex. I know its not a v12 and the engine is in the front but I could care less. I have always loved that car and you did a great job correcting it. Very lucky

355 is a mid-engine car. (Engine is in the rear of the vehicle)



DaveKG - Excellent work that red looks like insanely deep! :woohoo:

[imported_rydawg]

Great job! I love to see jobs like this. I wish I could do them everyday.



That car came out superb and I am sure the owner is excited!

[Mobilejay]

[quote name=`01bluecls`]355 is a mid-engine car. (Engine is in the rear of the vehicle)

QUOTE]



I know. I realized that after I left the house. I was reading a mag with the new 599 GTB and its a front engine. Reading that before I mixed the two. Nice catch

[imported_DieselMDX]

wow great job car looks amazing





If you had your choice between best of show and Zymol Ital which one would you choose?

[Scottwax]

The paint looks absolutely LIQUID!

[Renmure]

Well... what can I say!!??! They turned up, eat me out of house and home, spent 20 minutes with Brillo Pad and some scouring poweder then they went away and left me with what they said was a `detailing kit` so I could do it myself next time!!







Ok.. a bit of an exageration there. Dave started at 9am with some paint readings and a good look around the car to see what bits would need special attention later then gave it a good wash.









Then Dave and Bryan started attacking the bodywork with what appeared to be the a mixture of the contents of B&Q hardware department and Boots the Chemist cosmetic department.











They kept checking and re-checking parts and going back over things till they were happy:







Bryan and I (ok.. Bryan showed me what do do) polished a spare rear panel I had so that we could apply different waxes and choose between them







Then, after we established that I couldnt tell Car Wax from Frying Oil... we decided to go for the one in the black tin and Dave put it on with his hands (which was a bit of a shock)









After the front was done and dusted the car went outside for some pics and an inspection to make sure it was looking good..









Then... Bryan did lots of detaily stuff on all the little detaily bits around the engine cover





Then ... it was all over.. A nice shiney car.







I waved Bryan and Dave goodble at 11.15pm so all in all it was 24 man-hours of work went into the detail and thats not including my 4 mins using the PC or my tentitive attempts at using Clay. Obviously I was impressed with the end results and fully enjoyed the day. I also learned lots from both Dave and Bryan. Thanks guys :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:





ps. It was still shiney in the morning







Jim

[Zet]

Had to revive this thread, to say what a great owner contribution there in the end. Wish I had customers like that, especially ones with Ferrari`s



Car looks great, fantastic work!