Ferrari California exhibition room detail... 25 hours

[Apollo_Auto]

Hi all! Well like the title says, this bad boy is going to an exhibition this weekend and the owner told me, "Jesse, thisa car needsa to be perfecto, capisci?" OK then! Once again I didn't have the opportunity to wash the car :wall, so I had to do a ONR/water wipe on the entire car to remove whatever dust that was on it. It wasn't dirty really, just some shop dust on it, but the wheel wells were full of dirt. I scrubbed them with a brush before they took it to my work area because I didn't want to take a chance on making the car dusty... they're still very dirty but before they take it to the show they're going to clean them... I hope. Anyway, this car has a little more than 3,800 Km on so so yeah, there were some scratches on it. Also, the whole car was full of holograms left by the guys at the factory. After the car was eherm, washed... I clayed it with my ONR/water solution and removed some pretty caked on dirt and dust; there was a pretty thick layer of it. After that I taped off the car and did another walk around to hunt for RIDS. I didn't stop and take a picture of every one of them, because there were too many and I was fighting with the lighting conditions the whole time... I'm lucky I caught the ones I did on camera. Here's some before pictures:



Lots of water spots, sand, dust, etc. in the engine compartment

Tar spots on the "gills" and the bottom half of the car.

Now I know these holograms are a bit difficult to see (even more difficult trying to pick them up on camera), but they're there .

The whole car was this contaminated

The robots must have been daydreaming when applying clear to this spot...

More dodgy paint work

A couple of the scratches that I picked up on camera

Now this was an eyesore. This is the "gills" on the passenger side of the car. It has a rubber seal around it and when the car was painted, this got painted too.

All taped up ready for surgery...

I broke out my trusty Victorinox and used the tin opener to scrape off the paint then to tuck the rubber seal back inside where it's supposed to be.

Polish reside from the factory... eherm.

More scratches

And some more

Healthy readings all around

 

[Apollo_Auto]

VERY healthy readings on the roof... a bit suspicious.

Some "Jesse in action" shots

All polishing was done with a Riwax cutting pad and InstaFinish #15. Like with the Ferraris I've done before, saving as much paint as I could was paramount, so after spreading the polish at 600, I did my first couple of passes with about 30 lbs. of pressure at 900, then eased up on the pressure to about 20-25 for the next couple of passes, then for the finishing I used the weight of the machine only and jeweled it as much as I could with a cutting pad. This got out the holograms and minor scratches, leaving me with a better view of the deeper scratches. After that, I applied a bit more #15 and addressed each scratch individually with the edge of my pad and a good amount of pressure until the scratch was gone. After a couple passes in a certain spot I flattened the pad back out and made a couple of quick passes to let that spot cool down and to refine the polishing I'd just done. Some scratches needed to be taken out with a Scholl 4" wool pad and InstaCut #0 though. After all the scratch removal was done, I finished up with a finishing pad and InstaCut #30, polishing each panel for about 20 minutes or until I went cross-eyed.

How dare they not provide me with a lift this time! This was a weird position being halfway under the car, but actually quite comfortable for polishing the bottom half of the car.

Side window thingy before and after. I started polishing this with a finishing pad and Insta Cut #30, but it just left more swirls... so then I switched to PoliSeal and it was perfect... just enough cut to "erase" the swirls and scratches, but not enough to mar it.

The back tail lights before. I started these with PoliSeal, but there were some scratches that were just too deep so I went to the second least abrasive polish I have, Dodo Juice Lime Prime... took out the deeper scratches like a champ.

I love these next 3 shots

Jesse wins, flawless victory!

Scuffed up in a very awkward and hard-to-reach place

All better now

Polishing the windows with a finishing pad and Dodo Juice Lime Prime to remove the water deposits

All glass was treated with Liquid Glass... I love that stuff

This is what I need to wash the ding dang car!!!!

Dirty...

I taped up around this to avoid scratching. I used steel wool and some Riwax medium cut polish to clean these up. I polished them in the same back and forth motion all around to prevent the "swirly" look.

Puuuurdy

This was irritating the hell out of me. It was some glue from when they back window was put it. I used a straight razor and some glass cleaner to get it off.

Another reason why I need to wash the car. I spent about 25 minutes on each wheel.

After rotating the wheels

The finished product

In the boot

Above the license plate frame

 

[Apollo_Auto]

Gas cap

More places that needed to be cleaned with APC and elbow grease

The inside...

I removed these and cleaned inside

The interior was cleaned with a horsehair brush and a 1:10 dilution of APC

All of the tools were removed and individually cleaned

Some nappy spots where the carpet had been rubbed too much

The good ol' Victorinox saves the day again!

Detailing the pedals

All vents cleaned and turned to show the "Prancing Horse" in its original position

All leather (the whole interior rather) was treated with InstaFinish leather conditioner... this stuff makes the leather smell like new again!

So that was my write up, here's the porn!

The LSP's for this one were OptiSeal, applied at the end of day 2, followed by Dodo Juice Supernatural on the morning of day 3. Also, the brushed metal parts on the interior were treated with OptiSeal... I hope this helps guard against fingerprints...

 

[Apollo_Auto]

Sorry, but there's no afters of the engine, because the battery was being charged and some other things came up so I didn't take any shots . Trust me, it was spotless . Thanks for reading and for the Playboy subscribers thanks for "reading" !



- Jesse

 

[white gecko]

That is awesome work Jesse! Very good writeup and attention to detail.



I really like the underside shot of the front grill. VERY neglected by most people. Excellent work!



Too bad the car wasn't red though.

 

[Barry Theal]

that ding dang car was dirty! lol you did a great job one that window thingy, she came out puuuuuuuuuuuurdy!!!! and thanks for telling me there was porn. talk about a teaser!!! lmao jesse great job man!!! another fine day of craftsmanship for ya! where is that minivan write up? lol god job bro!!!

 

[Apollo_Auto]

That is awesome work Jesse! Very good writeup and attention to detail.



I really like the underside shot of the front grill. VERY neglected by most people. Excellent work!



Too bad the car wasn't red though.

Thanks buddy! I don't think Ferrari plans on making this "comfort series" in red though. This line, the Fiorano, Scaglietti and the California are Ferrari's break away from the "fast, but uncomfortable" norm.

 

[Apollo_Auto]

that ding dang car was dirty! lol you did a great job one that window thingy, she came out puuuuuuuuuuuurdy!!!! and thanks for telling me there was porn. talk about a teaser!!! lmao jesse great job man!!! another fine day of craftsmanship for ya! where is that minivan write up? lol god job bro!!!

Thanks Barry! I've got a Ford Focus scheduled for Friday so I'll settle for that ! And don't worry bro we've still got a deal, as soon as I get some time your lights are coming...

 

[Barry Theal]

thats cool take your time man i been working on a car all week i just finished the wetsanding today!! im in no hurry! lol 3 days gone by and the car is finally degreased, decontamined, and a little well but of sanding ok , a lot ok, every panel " lol i just got a sun gun from 3m finally!!! lol looking foward to that focus!!! you know me and everday cars!!

 

[Mobilejay]

Very nice work, it looks great!

 

[Anthony O.]

:xyxthumbs:xyxthumbs



Anthony

 

[TSC17]

Very nice work Jesse! Thanks for the post...

 

[jimmie jam]

great results! i really like that color combo. sweet.

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Jesse, excellent work and great write up.



That car looked like it was at a construction site with all that white powder under it and inside it....:faint:



Fantastic job.



Josh

 

[MarcHarris]

wowowow. amazing. very inspiring and awesome attention to detail. beautiful work. hope the folks at the dealership take note on how they're SUPPOSED to look

 

[White lexus 23]

dang truly a awesome job. what a car too. sorry i havnt replied much but ive lived in Colorado ft collins area all my life. anyway the car looks superb. awesome job

 

[gmblack3]

Jesse, Great work as always....



You would think with the way the painting process and QC is done with the 599, they should all be "perfect." But what I have seen on the few I have polished, that is not the case.



Here is a link to the video of the making of the 599:



Video: Ferrari factory tour and the birth of the 599 - MotorAuthority - Car news, reviews, spy shots



The show is on Nat Geo here in the states and I do have it on my HD DVR.

 

[autoconcierge]

No lift Jesse, now that is some bulls**t you need to set them straight!!:grinno: Awesome correction as always, of course I am jealous as I will not see my "California" for over a month of course I mean working on it(lol). Like the 430(white) in the background with the challenge grill painted to match very different and unique.

 

[ShineTech]

Awesome job on that sexy car. Seems the guys over at Ferrari were in a bit of a hurry to get this one done after pointing out the flaws. Once again great job! :xyxthumbs

 

[Slik560]

outstanding work. Perfecto!



I think they guys at the factory have a phobia about painting a Ferrari any color but red. It seems to throw them off, like ordering french fries without salt at McDonalds.