Thread: 2007 Black 997 make-over by autoLavish

This 2007 997 Carrera S is a car that's enjoyed to the fullest. Outside of having over 40,000 miles on it from being driven year around, the car has seen many track days. The owner truly enjoys this baby.

For the owner's recent birthday, his wife gave us a call and decided to have us clean this beauty up. After arrival, we unpacked and got started with the scheduled two-step job + interior.

While equipment was being set-up, I took paint readings to check for any irregularities or low spots.



With everything set to go, it was apparent even before the initial wash that the car was quite dirty and in need of a little love.










While foam dwelled, P21S and some brushes cleaned up the rims and calipers nicely.












With the rims clean, the paint was foamed down with a thick mix of Chemical Guy's Citrus Wash & Clear, then washed.






Sonus mild clay was used on the upper portions of the car and on the clear-bra covering the front bumper while their purple clay took care of the much more contaminated areas: lower portions, behind wheel arches, etc.



Little known autoLavish fact: Jacob gains his strength from eating contaminated clay.




Following claying, we foamed the car...again...this time the soap pulled off the clay lube residue.






We always appreciate owners like this: not only does he enjoy the car, he takes good care of it too. Two bucket washing by hand only, regular waxing, etc. The only issue was the light swirling, with few RIDS compared to the norm.








The clear-bra on the front bumper looked rather dull and beat-up, as did the signal indicators

Door jams, the gas cap, and gas cap area all received Klasse AIO while taping took place.










While Jacob continued taping, I worked on the very sad looking exhaust tips. This was done using #0000 steel wool, and Blue Magic metal polish...and it took 2+ applications. The afters will give you a good idea of how dramatic the turn-around was.




Two proven combos were tested to assess what would work best - M205 or Menzerna IP, both which were to be followed by 3M Ultrafina. Jacob worked 205/IP using the Flex + 3M green UK + the 3M yellow foam backing plate, and I followed each using the Makita with a red Lake Country pad + Ultrafina + 3M grey foam backing plate.









The winner was IP: it cut better and quicker leaving less RIDS and cleaning up fine with Ultrafina

I gave Jacob a chance to get ahead of me on his cutting stage by working the tail lights with M205 + 3M green UK 3inch pad




The rock-guards that come stock, forward of the rear wheels, were hit with the PC + M205 on an orange LC pad and came out outstanding.




I hit larger portions of the car (doors/hood) with the 3M Ultrafina pad and LC backing plate, while tighter areas continued to be finished out with the smaller LC pad and 3M grey foam backing plate.




Jacob took care of the rear wing with the smaller 3M green pads and M205




Interior work was comprised of vacuuming...



1Z Cockpit Premium on hard surfaces...





and leather cleaning.




The paint received its final cleaning to insure no oils were left from polishing, to clean all the crevices, and to have the paint ready for a good sealant.




After being blow dried, Blackfire was applied using the PC. The end results of the car's polishing + a layer of protection speaks for itself

A happy owner - our number one goal

wow amazing work.

Alex...

WOW!.. Just by looking at the pics i can feel how soft and smooth that paint must feel.. Great job guys!

looks perfect

thanks a lot fellas!

looks real good.. what would u reccomend as a good personal vac for vacuuming the car? ive had my newest 997 2 months and still i have carpet fuzzies everywhere.. i vacuum but never seems to get rid of the excess fuzzies

Wow, first time ever seeing this done, covering the wheels. Nice.

Very Nice! Black is a pain to maintain!!!