C. Charles Hahn
CCH Auto Appearance, LLC
When I first encountered this 1999 (996) Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, it was in storage at a climate controlled facility where I was working on a 7-series BMW (E38) with a friend. This car's owner came by to pick it up and due to a dead battery he was unable to get it started. While we were helping him get the car running, he mentioned wanting to get some detail work done on the car. I was later contacted about setting up an appointment for what turned into about 30 hours of work over the course of 4 days.
This 12 year old Porsche hadn't been detailed in a few years and the neglect was really starting to show, despite the car only having traveled 22,400 miles in its lifetime. First up was the interior:
Not so bad at first glance, just general soiling consistent with a convertible that has been driven and not deep-cleaned in a while. A closer inspection reveals a bigger problem however:
I decided to go ahead and pull the seat to see what else I'd find:
The stain was attacked with Turtle Wax's PowerOUT! Oxy spot cleaner and scrubbed with a Libman kitchen brush, followed by a treatment with the steamer and Shop Vac extraction. Before the stain had a chance to dry or set, a second round of this process was performed, this time substituting Folex for the TW. Here was the result:
Not a bad result, but in person the stain still looked much more noticeable than the pictures let on. I determined that the only way to get a better result would be to dye the affected area. The surrounding trim was masked off prior to dye application:
Dye was then applied to the area. In this pic the color looks a bit "off" from the rest of the carpet, but the carpet had yet to be re-steamed (to promote better penetration of the color and a more effective blend) and brushed to even out the texture of the fibers. Again, in person the result looked a bit different than the picture:
With the stain removal efforts complete, I turned my attention to the leather seats, which had quite a bit of ground in dirt:
Cleaning was performed using Optimum Power Clean at 3:1. Here's a 50/50 shot:
Next, I raised the convertible top about 90% of the way and released the retaining cables for the rear portion of it. This enabled me to access the area where the top is stored while in the downward position:
While the area was not particularly bad (a vacuum and a lint roller took care of it nicely), I did grab a 50/50 shot here as well to show the type of debris that can make its way in with the top:
Finally, the floor mats were cleaned with Folex and the steamer:
After all was said and done, the interior was restored to its like-new glory:
This 12 year old Porsche hadn't been detailed in a few years and the neglect was really starting to show, despite the car only having traveled 22,400 miles in its lifetime. First up was the interior:
Not so bad at first glance, just general soiling consistent with a convertible that has been driven and not deep-cleaned in a while. A closer inspection reveals a bigger problem however:
I decided to go ahead and pull the seat to see what else I'd find:
The stain was attacked with Turtle Wax's PowerOUT! Oxy spot cleaner and scrubbed with a Libman kitchen brush, followed by a treatment with the steamer and Shop Vac extraction. Before the stain had a chance to dry or set, a second round of this process was performed, this time substituting Folex for the TW. Here was the result:
Not a bad result, but in person the stain still looked much more noticeable than the pictures let on. I determined that the only way to get a better result would be to dye the affected area. The surrounding trim was masked off prior to dye application:
Dye was then applied to the area. In this pic the color looks a bit "off" from the rest of the carpet, but the carpet had yet to be re-steamed (to promote better penetration of the color and a more effective blend) and brushed to even out the texture of the fibers. Again, in person the result looked a bit different than the picture:
With the stain removal efforts complete, I turned my attention to the leather seats, which had quite a bit of ground in dirt:
Cleaning was performed using Optimum Power Clean at 3:1. Here's a 50/50 shot:
Next, I raised the convertible top about 90% of the way and released the retaining cables for the rear portion of it. This enabled me to access the area where the top is stored while in the downward position:
While the area was not particularly bad (a vacuum and a lint roller took care of it nicely), I did grab a 50/50 shot here as well to show the type of debris that can make its way in with the top:
Finally, the floor mats were cleaned with Folex and the steamer:
After all was said and done, the interior was restored to its like-new glory:
