1996 Ferrari 355 Berlinetta (34 Pics)

**01bluecls** · 07-12-2007, 11:41 PM

The car is a 1996 Ferrari 355 Berlinetta. Owner recently purchased it and wanted it detailed. Previous owner didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t appear to take very good care of it as it was pretty swirled and the marring was a little deep. The paint is single stage and was actually a little bit of a pain to work with. This is not the typical Ferrari bright red, but instead, a deeper slight maroon red.

Time Spent: About 10 hours

Process:

Wash and clay

EC with Orange Cut @ 1800 rpms

Menz SIP with White Polish Pad @ 1800rpms

Menz 106FF with Blue Finesse Pad @ 1500rpms

Re-washed

Zymol Ital

Tires Dressed with Z16

I also did some light interior work and cleaned the engine bay but was pressed for time and didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t take those pics.

Pics!

Hood Before:

Hood After (Those dots are sand pitting/road rash):

Driver Fender Before:

Driver Fender After:

Driver Door Before:

Driver Door After:

Comparison of Driver Door Polished and Quarter Panel Untouched:

Driver Quarter Panel Before:

Driver Quarter Panel After:

Top of Driver Quarter Panel Before:

Top of Driver Quarter Panel After:

Driver Quarter Panel Before:

Driver Quarter Panel After:

Passenger Fender Before:

Passenger Fender After:

Some Random After Shots:

**01bluecls** · 07-12-2007, 11:42 PM

After Pics (Sun was pretty much down at this point)

The following pics were taken at 18mm Zoom (wide angle):

The Following pics were taken farther away zoomed at 55mm:

Questions/Comments Welcomed As Always!

**Brian_Brice** · 07-12-2007, 11:50 PM

beautifully stunning work chris, is ferrari clear pretty hard? never had the pleasure? that thing looks to be on fire. also is your finisse pad hook n loop? how`s it hold up @ 1500 rpm`s? i have lc`s and wolfgangs and they both seem to want to rip from thier velcrow @1200 rpm`s.

**Scottwax** · 07-13-2007, 12:00 AM

Just beautiful!

Outstanding polishing skills, the clarity of the paint is amazing!

**01bluecls** · 07-13-2007, 12:06 AM

Originally Posted by VaSuperShine

beautifully stunning work chris, is ferrari clear pretty hard? never had the pleasure? that thing looks to be on fire. also is your finisse pad hook n loop? how`s it hold up @ 1500 rpm`s? i have lc`s and wolfgangs and they both seem to want to rip from thier velcrow @1200 rpm`s.

Weird... I have been using LC/Wolfgang pads (6.5 inch) with never having a problem with the velcro seperating. This particular car was a single stage. In general Ferrari`s paint is relatively soft. The problem with soft paint it is more prone to heavier marring then other paint and harder to finish down finely. People always make the assumption that soft clear/paint is easy to correct but that only goes for metallic paints that have light marring. Most cases due to the soft paint, marring tends to be deeper (then compared to hard paint) which makes it a little more difficult to buff out. The blue finesse pad I use are velcro backing.

**imported_rydawg** · 07-13-2007, 12:19 AM

Superb correction work and superb pictures! Your pictures came out super clear and vibrant.

**01bluecls** · 07-13-2007, 12:32 AM

Originally Posted by rydawg

Superb correction work and superb pictures! Your pictures came out super clear and vibrant.

Still working at the whole DSLR thing. Its funny though, when using auto focus for halogen shots, the auto focus wants to focus on the light source. If this makes any sense, the camera thinks the light are "behind" the paint, so it focuses on that. I try to do manual focus and bring the actual defects into focus. That`s why some of my past pictures the reflection of the halogens looks blurry. I basically have to manually focus the camera on the paint instead of the lights.

yep, Im clear as mud lol

**imported_rydawg** · 07-13-2007, 12:47 AM

Originally Posted by 01bluecls

Still working at the whole DSLR thing. Its funny though, when using auto focus for halogen shots, the auto focus wants to focus on the light source. If this makes any sense, the camera thinks the light are "behind" the paint, so it focuses on that. I try to do manual focus and bring the actual defects into focus. That`s why some of my past pictures the reflection of the halogens looks blurry. I basically have to manually focus the camera on the paint instead of the lights.

yep, Im clear as mud lol

You are getting great at it. I want to take the DSLR plunge, but do not have the time to fiddle with a new cam lately. Plus I can`t justify spending that much on a cam yet, considering I am not a picture person, but in do time. I love new toys. I am actually looking in video cams, so I can do videos. I might just pick up a cheap point and shoot cam too.

I always have the hardest time taking halogen pics too. All my pics come out blurred badly. Taking quality pics is an art.

Keep up the great work:2thumbs:

**93AccordLXwhite** · 07-13-2007, 02:21 AM

Man nice detailing skills as well as photography ones! I`m not sure if it was the paint or the lens or my screen but in the first couple pictures I noticed some spots that seemed to be in the same spot in a couple pictures? Maybe your lens is dirty? I`m sure you know more about cameras than I do, that Ferrari looks incredible in your outdoor pictures! Did you redress the tires after rolling it outside?

**todd@bsaw** · 07-13-2007, 02:52 AM

Amazing work. I absolutely love red.

There`s a guy around here with a yellow 355 he just picked up this summer and I`ve been trying to get him into the shop for the past month. It`s my goal to have a Ferrari done before the end of the summer.

**tod071** · 07-13-2007, 03:28 AM

Photography is definitely getting better. But the detailing...was always great! This one`s no different.

**Todd@RUPES** · 07-13-2007, 05:32 AM

Great work, man I love reading your threads and shamelessly have been copying your style (at least a little bit). The 355 is one of my favorite Ferrari`s and I haven`t had a chance to polish one out yet but I have been around a few and they looked rough.

Have you had any problems (sorry to go off topic) with SIP/106ff on the Ferrari clears (I know you mentioned the F355 was single stage)? I polished several 360`s and one f430 last weekend and could not get either polish to work, it would bind up the pad (I figure from the sharp abrasives digging into the paint) and really heat the panels as well as bog down the Hitachi! I had to switch to the old school Menzernas (IP/FPii) to get smooth correction.

Anyways great work man, your posts rock, I look forward to them

**CHAOS** · 07-13-2007, 05:35 AM

very very nice job!

**stilez** · 07-13-2007, 03:33 PM

Chris: Love the documentation, process, and execution. The Ferrari looks perfect (minus those pits

).

I`m with you with the DSLR. I`ve just of recent (6 months of ownership) started to take some nice shots of cars with the DSLR. It takes some playing.