The Perfectionist vs Ferrari 360 vs S2 Coupe

[Fat Audi 80]

Sorry for the delay, but I don’t seem to get five minutes to myself these days, hence the delay writing this up.

I was approached by Greg earlier in the year and asked to detail his S2, he also said that a friend was interested in having his Ferrari 360 Modena done too! Obviously I jumped at the chance to detail my first supercar, and we arranged a date.

I got up at 6.00am on Sunday after about 5 hours sleep following a late Saturday night and travelled the 90 miles from Didcot to the other side of Luton. I was greeted with a warm cup of tea by Greg and Malcolm. Malcolm part owns the Ferrari with another friend but is the luckier of the two as it lives in his garage.

The S2 Coupe:





After a quick chat we started to plan the day. This was as usual very much weather dependent, and as you can see from the before photo’s it rained as soon as we got the cars outside. Greg and Malcolm decided to go and fetch the S2Forum Marquee in case the rain got any worse.


In the meantime I decided to start on the interior of the S2 as it looked like it could be hard work. (Sorry Greg )

I began the S2 by cleaning the glass with AutoGlym Glass polish. This is an excellent product that works a little like exterior polishes. You spread a small amount out with a cloth or sponge applicator, working your way around the whole car before buffing the cloudy residue off to reveal crystal clear glass. I then worked my way down from the dashboard, applying APC (All Purpose Cleaner) cut 10:1 with water in a spray bottle to all the surfaces using a cheap microfiber cloth. This product can be used on plastics, vinyl and also the seats and door card material. It was also used to clean the suede gearknob, removing nearly all the stains from the light coloured material.

I removed the door mats and cleaned those outside the car, using the APC again and agitating with a cloth before hovering them down with the brush attachment. Finally stripes were added by brushing up and down using the hoover attachment.











Next all the door shuts were sprayed liberally with Meguiars Super Degreaser cut 4:1 with water. This was allowed to dwell before I scooped all blobs of white grease from the hinges and mechanism up with paper towels. Various brushes and cloths were used to clear this area up. I did not go to town on the door shuts as I only about 4 hours per car and I wanted to have time to use the Porter Cable to apply paint cleanser after washing. The door sills and rear areas were also cleaned and dressed with Meguiars Interior Protectant. Finally the Boot was hovered out and all the shut/channel areas cleaned and rinsed out.

[Fat Audi 80]

By now Greg was back with the Marquee and it had ironically stopped raining! (It usually does when you start to make other arrangements)

I then decided to move on to washing and completing the S2, as I had the momentum going and hoped for better weather during the afternoon to work on the Ferrari.

First off, the lower areas of the car, wheels, and wheel arches were treated to Megs Degreaser. These areas were then washed with a strong Meguiars Hyperwash shampoo mixture using an old microfiber wash mitt. I always make sure I at least wash the inside lip of the wheel arch, as this is an area that can start to rust if dirt and salt is allowed to remain there. In the case of Greg’s S2, as it is so low I could only do small section of the wheel arches with my fingers. Normally I would have my arm under the arch as far as possible! The front and back of the wheels were washed followed by the sills. I then moved on to the rest of the car and washed from the top down with a different washmitt and clean bucket of Hyperwash. Finally the car rinsed with cold water from a jug, before being dried with a microfiber drying towel.









I then set up the Porter Cable with a 6” Sonus Enhancing pad and applied Sonus Paint Cleanser to the whole car. This was then buffed off with a Micro fibre cloth folded in quarters. Folding the cloth helps to maintain an even pressure across the surface, removing the product evenly and minimising the potential to scratch or apply undue pressure to the paint surface.

I finished the paintwork off with the Last Stage Protection (LSP). In this case I used Collinite 476 wax. This is particularly hard wearing wax that sill leaves a glossy shiny finish to the paint. All Greg has to do now is wash and dry the car to maintain a good finish. I have recommended wax top ups every three months

The remaining plastic and rubber areas on the car were sprayed liberally with AutoGlym Vinyl & Rubber Care which was allowed to dwell. This was also used to dress the tyres and arches. I wiped the residue off then completed the lower sill areas and black plastic on the bumpers with AutoGlym Bumper Care which is applied thinly, left for five minutes and buffed off with a papertowel.

I check the car over and let Greg take a look. Because it was only a half day detail, there were still a few areas that could be improved upon. Greg wanted to clean up the chrome rings on the boot lid, so I set him to work with a German Applicator and some Menzerna PO85rd 3.02 to work into the small gaps. He then decided cotton buds were required, which Gillian (Malcolm’s wife) duly provided. I will let Greg post up his pics of this section.







The Ferrari:

[Fat Audi 80]

A had quick 10 minute lunch whilst walking around the Ferrari, deciding where to start. Of late I have come to the conclusion that leaving the interior to last is the most painful way to end the day. So I started off with the Ferrari interior and while I did this discussed with Malcolm exactly what he hoped I could achieve for him. The Ferrari was already very clean with both Malcolm and Gillian having already cleaned, hovered and polished the car using AutoGlym Super Resin Polish. (It had been to the dealer since then and come back a little mucky with some new marks on the leather, so my timing was perfect).

The interior of the Ferrari was already pretty immaculate, but there were some grubby marks on the leather door cards, the overmats were dirty and some additional areas required detailing, such as the door shuts and the outer ends of the doors. As before the overmats were spritzed with APC, agitated and hovered. All the leather (seats, door cards, dashboard, sunvisors, steering wheel and B pillars) were all cleaned with AutoGlym Leather cleaner, before being nourished with AutoGlym Leather Care Cream. I then cleaned the door shuts with APC and some old cloths, before dressing them with Meguiars Interior Protectant, which is excellent on plastic and rubber parts.











The above took me approximately 1.5 hours, as I wanted the inside to be as perfect as possible. The wash technique was the same as before, but I noticed during the washing stage that the front wings and bonnet of the car felt particularly rough to the touch compared to the rest of the which was super smooth. I decided to “Clay” the whole car and duly removed a lot of fine contaminants from the front areas using Sonus Green Clay (which is mild). This left the surface perfect prepared for the polishing stage. After washing the wheels were sealed with Carlack Nano sealant, which should make cleaning them much easier in the future.











Again, as this was only a half day detail, I was not attempting to correct the paint (which showed minor fine swirls) instead I aimed to lightly polish whilst adding some depth and gloss to the shine. I used exactly the same combinations as before, Sonus Paint Cleanser via the PC. The next stage was Carlack Nano Sealant, which provides a very hardwearing shell to the paint. Finally as per Greg’s S2, the Ferrari’s LSP was Collinite 476. Malcolm enjoys looking after the Ferrari, but he wanted a long lasting finish applied so that he could enjoy driving it too. The plastic grilles, tyres and arches were dressed with AutoGlym Vinyl & Rubber Care before the residue was tidied up with paper towels.

[Fat Audi 80]

A final wipe down of all exterior surfaces with Meguiars Last Touch and another clean microfiber cloth left it ready for Malcolm to inspect.







Finally the cars where moved in front of the house for the Photoshoot!

The proud owner:



Cheers,

Steve

[Fat Audi 80]

[Big Lee M]

Every car you do looks the nuts..............You doingit full time??????? If not you will be doing soon by the looks of things. Top job again even for half day

[Greg_S]

Just to add on the rear badge detailing I didn't manage to get a before shot but there was loads of grime around the badge and inside the rings. After about an hour this was the result.



Thanks again for the excellent work Steve.

[Flat on my back]

Hey...

You missed the pedals on the S2...so...only 9.995 out of 10.

I am never showing my car....

If only i drove mine less...