My first Ferrari, need some advice

L

LightngSVT

New member
Hello all, Ive been away from the forum a while, just been to busy to detail and it was a cold winter. Anyway things seem to be looking good this year already, had a Windstar, a 04 SVT Cobra waiting and today I have a customer wanting his Ferrari done! He is pulling it out of storage and has a Ferrari club drive Sunday but doesnt have time to clean it himself. The car is a red 1996 (I believe) 348 Spyder and is all original. He wants the exterior clayed / polished / waxed and the interior "touched up". Ill be doing it either tomorrow night or Saturday morning. Im both excited and nervous! Ive always loved ferraris.



I plan to wash with

NXT wash and wool mit

clean wheels with Eagle One all wheel cleaner

Dry with waffle weave and air compressor

POlish with PC and ???

Wax with Pinnacle Soveren by hand

Meguiars tire gel on tires

Wheel wax on wheels



vacuum

clean any spots with Woolite / water mix

condition leather seats with Lexol

and clean vinyl with Meg's interior detailer





How is the paint on these cars, soft or hard? I was thinking Optimum polish or compund on a tan / white foam pad with the PC and maybe 2 passes as I dont think the car is heavily swirled. Should this be OK? I also have Menzerna IP/FP but never was that good with them, VM, AIO, Megs swirl remover (#?) and 3m swirl mark remover, FFPG and a few other I cant remember at the moment. Also, are the wheels clear coated? Any other "gotcha's" on a Ferrari? Anything unusual about the leather or vinyl?
 
I have done a few ferrari's and from my experience the clear coats are generally very very soft! I havent done a 348 yet, so no particulars on that model that I can give you. The leather from what I have seen is pretty thin as well. I would not recommend any "stiff" brushes or scrubbing with the leather. IP/FPII combo would work well but optimum polish is not a bad choice either. Take your time and enjoy the detail!
 
if you search 348 here, you'll find two good write ups. Ones by scottwax and the other is by another member. If i remember correctly they are a single stage, because scottwax or the other member, went through about 8 pads because they got filled with red paint. Or else they aren't too much different, but i wouldn't go with to heavy of a cut pad as its probably old and fragile paint.
 
I just did a 1994 348 GTS; the paint was single stage, thin, and rather soft. I used a rotary and went through quite a few pads. I was able to remove light-moderate marring with a white pad and 106ff. It was a one step, so I did 800rpm->1200rpm->800rpm, worked out pretty well.



I think OP on a polishing pad will remove light marring. It should finish down ok, but if you run into trouble try a finishing pad or 106ff.
 
Thanks for the advice guys! Im excited to do the car but leary at the same time. It should be fun (much more than the Windstar I just finished ;) ). I think Ill go with the PC, polishing pad and OP at speed 4 or 5 and see how it finished, I can always move to a finishing pad or finish with 3M Foampad polishing glaze, FP or Vanilla Mouse. I think Im going to try to just go a ONR wash instead of a hose wash if the car isnt dirty. I once detailed a classic Bugatti from the 30's but wasnt nearloy as excited as I am about this car!
 
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