Thread: Exotics Collection 350+Pics :: Street Dreams Detail

This summer has been a bit hectic with detailing and finally I have time to share some of my recent work.

I rarely do mobile detailing anymore but I was glad to spend some time and do a bit of traveling to attend to this private collection in Connecticut.

The cars range from Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Spyker and a few others. There were a lot of cars done over a period of time so the process in which I went about cleaning, correcting and protecting them will be presented to you as I remember it best.

I do not have a lengthy header nor fancy title for this thread and I promise I will not post the "copy and pasted" technical specs of every car seen here. This is a thread simply about fine cars and detailing. This is what I love and these are the cars I love to work on, hope you enjoy the pictures!

I'll begin with the Spyker C8 (note the cars in the writeup are posted in random order not in the order of completion)



After washing and prepping the car I began correction on all the aluminum metalwork. It took a good amount of time to sort out the best method of correction and even then it became a very tedious process.

Here is a 50/50 shot of the drivers side mirror housing. By the end of working on this car I had used various metal polishes including Blackfire heavy cut and fine cut, Swissvax metal polish and White Diamond, by hand, DA machine and rotary.





Working around the rest of the car, some improvement in gloss



I later decided to remove whatever pieces I could to allow for better angles when polishing





Before



After



After all exterior metal work was finished I moved onto the interior, also full of aluminum which needed polishing

Work on the steering column...



Finished



Difference in clarity from polishing, dullness in the aluminum is being removed after 2-3 hits with the metal compound on a short nap MF towel



Door handle housing needed some attention as well

Before



During



After



Slight improvement made on the shift knob, before



Finished



After all interior metal work was polished the leather (shall I say about 17.5 cows worth) was cleaned and conditioned. For this I cleaned the leather with Leatherique pristine clean and followed up with Leather Masters protection cream.

Some interior shots after full detailing, this really is a fantastic car just to sit in!

A proper ignition switch for a car with no power brakes or power steering



The soft top of the Spyker had some water damage and staining, during the wash process several applications of diluted APC cleaner and a soft brush were used to lift the stains...

Before staining




Same area (car is now turned around) after cleaning and protection. For protection 303 fabric guard was used, 2 applications over 2 days





The paintwork on the Spyker was in excellent shape, 106FA on the rotary was used to remove slight marring and bring up the gloss, for protection Wolfs Body Wrap (a nano sealant) was used.

All paint areas were protected...



Finished photos

Next up: Ferrari 458 Italia

... I knew this car was going to need some serious correction work as most EVERY modern Ferrari coming out of the factory in Maranello has major paint issues. This should not be the case as owners wait months to years for a car and pay enough money for it, the least they could do would give it a proper refinishing from the factory.

Began with a full prep wash to remove all prior protection. As usual I treated the wheels to a gentle mix of soap and water and pH wheel cleaner in a bottle... for carbon ceramic brakes thats all I really ever use.





Citrus wash was used with a DD foam sponge



After claying, drying and a few IPA wipedowns I measured the paint using an electronic paint thickness gauge as I went around the car taping off vents, edges and clear bra seams...



190-200+ microns across the board



A proper tape job is well worth the time, especially when working on any exotic car. Lots of air vents, ducts and clear film to consider.

All mesh grilles were tapes off, getting polish sling inside the mesh or behind it would be a nightmare to fix.







The finish of the 458 looked poor even before the wash, once everything was clean and stripped 100% the term "bad factory finish" took on a new meaning. This car had several areas where huge clusters of swirls, RIDS and even sanding scratches were left behind.

Example of factory defects:











Onto correction, both rotary and DA machines were used to get the finish as close to 100% as possible. Several areas require multiple hits of compounding to yield a high level of correction.

Front fender before





After 3 rounds of compounding using M105 and D300



An then onto refining the paint using Menzerna powerfinish on a green polishing pad



The hood of the 458 had clear film so I switched up to a DA machine for cooler operating temps and a smoother glide over the plastic





50/50 on front nose which had clear film

Surbuffing' the roof...





The rear section of the Italia was by far the most severely hacked area. I spent over 5hours alone just on rear bumper getting it perfect.

Some before and afters...













50/50





License plate recess before



After, compounding haze needs to be finished down



Holograms + sanding scratches left from factory...





And then removed as needed through compounding, no polish stages carried out yet



Sorting out defects on the decklid, both 5" and 3" pads were used to correct this area



The drivers rear quarter had a large cluster of defects which could be seen even without addition lighting...







After

and again after proper finishing



After all compounding and polishing steps the car was dusted and wiped again with IPA before the final polishing stage using Menzerna PO85rd on a black finishing foam

before that some sling off the engine needed to be removed, faint but still noticible...



Some tarminator + 3M adhesive remover helped to lift the sling after a few applications





The engine needed a bit of work as well, fairly dirty and some plastic components were dried out





This is after I did a full cleaning and dressing of 1 side of the engine... shows the difference pretty well I'd say

... for those of your wondering, the red engine block was also dressed with a a little formula I've been tweaking with and it seems to be the only thing that works well on Ferrari engine blocks being that they are porous and hard to dress properly





Finished engine



Engine cover coated with Nanolex, premium glass cleaner followed by premium glass sealant



Left to haze and buffed off with a damp glass MF towel



The exhaust tips trio cleaned up nicely



Tidied up trunk and underside of hood protected with Aquartz reload





Interior was treated as well





End result after 3 days work...

*The car was driven the following day during a rally, here are a few shots outside AFTER the 458 spent the day on the highway cruise





Still pretty clean after a days worth of driving



Next up Porsche GT2 RS

Prep stage, 2 buckets ready







Body of the car was then clayed



Some tape lines were still left on the car from delivery



3M adhesive remover made easy work of it



I treated all plastic trim and body pieces with Wolfs trim coat, so far this has proven to be an outstanding product that is extremely easy to use. Mind you this GT2 RS is still fairly new so the front spoiler was far from "faded" to begin with... little 50/50 of the trim coat



The matte carbon wrapped hood and other pieces of the car were treated with the Swissvax Opaque line of products, as nothing else will really work.

First the Opaque pre cleaner was used to prep for the later wax. Very simply product just lightly mist and wipe. (Left side already done)



Then came the application of the wax, most of you know I am not a big fan of carnauba waxes but in this case Opaque worked beautifully...



One side finished to show difference





All other carbon wrapped areas were treated the same way

For the paint correction part of the detail most of my efforts were focused on the rear tail section as it was riddled with factory defects and very dull

Example: Pigtailing and sanding marks





Tufbuf wool pad and Meguiars M105 was used to remove the defects, followed by Menzerna powerfinish on a green pad and then 85rd



Before



After





Exhaust tips treated, before





Small details on the interior











Engine cleaned and all carbon polished with 106FA then protected with Aquartz Reload







Paint LSP was Wolfs Body Wrap

Finished photos

Wheels sealed using with Aquartz and tires dressed with Auto Werkes tire dressing



The art of saving weight, no metal Porsche crest





Next up: Aston Martin V12 Vantage

Prep wash using lambswool mitt, something I rarely use anymore but always nice for a somewhat clean car



Drying the car with a metro blaster, hands down the most efficient way to dry... this thing is very powerful!



Claying to remove bonded contaminants



Car was taped up as needed. Lots of clear film to consider, vents etc.





Astons as well as Ferrari are known for poor factory finishing. This car was no exception. Buffer trails/holograms, sanding scratches, pig-tailing all found in the finish.

Example of some haphazard buffing (mind you this is a new car)




More defects





50/50 on door, swirls, RIDS and haze removed from left side...







Correction on strip in taillight housing (where taping comes in handing again)



Even the tiny areas need attention...



Trunk section required some extra time working with smaller 3" pads and M105

Before





After

Finished with Wolfs Body Wrap, 2x







Next: Ferrari 430 Scuderia

Also a victim of poor factory finishing, not as bad as the 458 luckily

After the wash, blowing water off the clear film



Spot compounding the carbon mirrors using the Megs MF cutting disc

















Before:



After:

[COLOR="rgb(139, 0, 0)"]Carbon backs sealed as well







Tires dressed with Autowerks Exclusive tire dressing, left to sit for 10 minutes and then buffed down, probably one of the best looking dressings I have used so far



Finished pictures + sun shots

























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