JLs Detailing: Porsche Boxter S

This car belonged to a client of mine. I had done her Toyota Sequoia not too long ago and when I returned it I saw this beauty sitting in the garage. She said she would be in touch about getting it done. Well she called the other day begging for a detail on it. She said she had to drive one of our State Representatives in it for a parade and wanted it looking top notch. This thing is a garage queen that only goes out on nice sunny days. The paint was in really great shape and only a few minor swirls and some marring here and there. Even though the paint was in good shape the car isn't washed much and was showing some road grime and the wheels were pretty bad.

This car is her baby and she wanted the absolute best for it, especially since someone on the Arts Council (they were sponsoring the parade) with her was also driving a Representative and he owns a Silver Porsche Boxter too. She really wanted hers to trump his in the parade! Well here's what I did:

Tires/Wheels/Wells: Well the wheels were rather dirty and I wanted to use my Sonax Extreme Rim Cleaner as its pretty aggressive but safe. Well I didn't have a lot left from the bottle I got all the way from South Africa from my bud Carn so I decided to use it just on the barrels as they were the worst. This stuff stinks to high heaven but cleans incredibly well. I used my EZ detail Brush and my Black Magic wheel brush bent to 90 degrees to get behind the spokes.

I used P21s Wheel Gel on the wheel faces with an assortment of brushes and such. I used some new brushes I had gotten at Home Depot on a recommendation from 911, lug nut brush, and foam finger pocket. The tires and wells got Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff @ 2:1 in a Solo 418 handheld pressurized sprayer, and some more of the brushes from Home Depot. Hey 911 they didn't have the exact one you recommended but had one with a shorter handle and had a different one with a longer handle that is perfect for getting into the wells. It even got in the narrow well openings of this car. Great pick up for me and great recommendation from 911 as I finally have found some tools to replace my black wheel Shmitts. The brake calipers were cleaned with MS SGS and my Swissvax brush.

The tires were first dressed with Megs Hyper Dressing @ 1:1 with a round Majestic Solutions tire applicator which makes for easy application on the lo profile tires. I then dressed them with the same method with another Majestic Solutions tire applicator and Swissvax Pneu. Wells were dressed with CGs Bare Bones.

Exhaust: I used Megs Wheel Brightner first on the exhaust with another Black Magic Wheel brush and then polished them with Autosol.

Engine: Well the engine bay got my usual with a twist as my method and products just work like a champ for me. I gave the parts of the engine that I could get to like fluid containments a quick wipe then sprayed it down with MS SGS. I then wiped it again with a damp MF. I dried with a MF and wiped the plastic bits down with Megs HD @ 3:1 in a Solo 418 handheld pressurized sprayer. You can't get to the engine per se but the parts in the front and back that I could got this and it turned out great.

Wash: Well if there was anything on the car I wanted it off so I went with the foam cannon with 2 oz of CGs Citrus Wash Clear and 1 oz of CGs Strong Wash. I used a Swissvax Waschpudel wash pad and man I love that thing. The bugs got CGs Strong Wash @ 4:1 in a Solo 418 handheld pressurized sprayer, and a Majestic Solutions bug sponge. Well this combo as usual knocked the bugs out with no problem. It makes the job so much easier. The door jambs were rinsed with the CR Spotless and sprayed down with a mixture of CGs Green Clean Total Interior Cleaner and MS SGS in a gallon pressurized sprayer. The entire wash including wheels and engine were done with the CR Spotless System. The car was then dried with the leaf blower, and a CGs Miracle Dryer MF.

Convertible Top: The top was first sprayed with 303 Convertible top cleaner and scrubbed with an RV wash brush. While that was scrubbed in I then foamed it with the above car wash solution and washed it with my boars hair brush. It was rinsed with the CR and after drying was then treated with 303 Protectant.

Clay: Well my mainstay for clay has become the Bilt Hamber and this detail was going to be no different. Man I do love this clay better than any other clay I have used. I used the regular as there felt like there was a lot of bonded contaminants on the paint. Water was used as lube (man I love that) and it pulled a ton of contaminants off. After a good claying the paint was finally feeling smooth again.

Glass: Glass inside and out got Sprayway Glass Cleaner and two WW MFs, one for application and one to buff off. This was the first time I had used the Sprayway and I really really liked it. I actually got the can from the girl that cleans our house. She swears by it and I know a lot of detailers do too so I gave it a whirl and liked it so much I had her pick me up a 4 pack at Sams Club. Only cost $8 for the 4 pack too!!

Trim: I used my combination of CGs Trim Gel and Black Wow on a TW MF applicator to get a great look on the trim.

Interior: I do love doing interiors of two seaters!The interior was in pretty good shape just a lot of smudges and scuffs on the door panels and such. The interior just really needed to be amped up a bit. I used CGs Silk Shine on everything with a MF mitt. I buy these mitts at the local Dollar Tree and they work great for interiors. I gave the interior a good vac with the shop vac and treated the leather with 1z Leather Care Lederpflege. I really really like this product as it cleans and conditions and leaves the leather looking so great and natural.

Paint: The paint was in pretty good shape with just a few rough spots like I said before. She wanted the best so I decided to break out the Scholl Concepts. I used the incredible finishing polish S40 on a Scholl Concepts orange pad (like a white polishing pad). Since I only have one of the orange Scholl Concepts pads I also used my 3M 5.5" white polishing pads. I used the Metabo at 1200 rpms and then buffed everything off with my Obsessive Details Ultra Premium MFs. Bar none the best polish removal MFs out there, and Pittsburgh Steeler colors, man it doesn't get any better than that! Oh and the gloss S40 delivers is just unbelievable!

Next I wanted to make sure the paint was clean so instead of the 50/50 wipedown I like using CGs Vertua Bond. It cleans and preps the paint for the beloved Jetseal application. The Vertua Bond leaves a very sweet gloss to the paint on its own and then it gets taken to a higer level with Jetseal and then with LSP. I applied it with a 4" LC CCS White pad on a Polishing Pal and buffed it off with the ODs Ultra Premium MFs.

Protection: I used Jetseal since I was going to be topping with a nuba (a very special nuba at that). It was applied with a CGs Stage 3 Applicator and buffed off with an ODs Ultra Premium MF. I just can't say enough how great Jetseal looks and then when you top it, its just WOW!

LSP: Well the owner wanted nothing but the best so she got a coat of Zymol Vintage! I used my hair dryer method to preheat a CGs Pro-Applicator Durafoam red applicator and then applied the Vintage. I let it sit for about and hour and then buffed it off with a CGs 530 XL MF. This was the first time I had used Vintage on Silver and it looked just as good as it has on every other color I have used.

Well the owner was thrilled with the way her baby looked now. I got roped into helping with the parade with a buddy of mine and I told him I had done one of the Porshes in the parade. They were one right behind the other in the parade and when they came by he looked at me and said "Well that was easy to pick out which one you did!" In fact the owner of the other Porsche asked me for one of my cards when he saw the one I had done.:applause2:

One for all the Foam Freaks like myself:



Well here are the before and afters:
































Random and Reflection shots:

 

Looks great JL!!! I sure wish sometimes that I had bought a silver Moostang. Silver is a great color. Looks like its easier to keep than black. I need to order some SGS. I'm about out.

 

Wow, Vintage on this one, looks fantastic!!!

 

Great job. Very well done on the interior :thumb:

 

Well no chit the guy with the other one wanted you to work on his next! :applause2:

Two questions for you, JL.

1. You mentioned doing your usual tricks to the engine compartment. I've never owned one, but I *thought* Porsche Boxsters were kind of famous for having engine compartments that you can't get to at all. Like, by design. How'd you do it?

2. You mention doing the door jambs with the CR Spotless. I've been pretty much just wiping mine down with damp, clean towels. How do you keep the water out of the interior? I'll give you an example. This Ram I just got finished with was a 4-door. Had I just pointed water at the B-Pillar door jamb area, I'd have gotten large amounts of water all over that interior I just cleaned up. Am I doing it wrong / in the wrong order?

Thanks for sharing. Your job write-ups are my favorite. They're always very well written, with lots of detail (heh heh), and they're even spelled correctly. Thanks for sharing another one.

 

Great job JL!! Silver always looks nice when its done. Love the before and afters together.
As for krschultz's question, I do the engine first, then the jambs and the body last. This way anything you get on to the body is washed away. As far as getting water into the interior, spray the jamb with cleaner, agitate with a brush and rinse with the hose or pressure washer. If using a hose, set the sprayer on the lowest or mist setting or turn the tap down to control the amount of water coming out. Keep the nozzle pointed at a 45 degree angle and work from the bottom up. if using a gas pressure washer, just set the idle way down to rinse the jambs and engine. If its an electric and you can't adjust the throttle, use the tip with the largest hole in it. This one will create the least amount of pressure while still flowing the proper amount of water. As with the hose, kepp the pwasher lance at a 45 degree angle and work from the bottom up. Just wipe the top part of the jamb with a MF moistened with QD. Hope this helps.

 

Yeah its easier to keep than black but it doesn't look near as good as black when its clean! You will have some more SGS on the way shortly just hang in there until I get everything:thumb:!

Thanks and you gotta love Vintage as it looks great on every color I have used it on.

Thanks SSTG, like I said I do love doing 2 seater interiors!

Thanks Karl I went back and edited the post. I ALWAYS do the same thing for the engine bays that I just cut and paste that part as I never waver from my method. I completely forgot about not being able to get to it completely. You should have seen me looking all over to find some hidden door or hatch to reveal the engine. I just did the fluid containments that I could get to in the front and back.

For the second question I didn't F that one up I do use my CR and my pressure washer. My 0-40 degree nozzle that I use can be pushed forward and the water comes out very softly much like it would right out of a faucet. It virtually has no pressure and if I hold it right to the door jamb then I get very very very little if any water on the inside and if I do its usually just on some plastic parts that need cleaning anyway. But like I said with that method I rarely even encounter that. I used to use demin water in a pressurized garden sprayer and then realized that my PW nozzle had the ability to flow water with virtually no pressure so I started just doing that.

Oh and I've always been a speller and proof reader of my work, heck I can't even bring myself to text on my phone without using proper grammar and punctuation, LOL. Heck one night when my 8 year old daughter and I were going over subject and verbs for her homework, I explained that a few of the ones she had were incorrect because although the words were nouns they were not subjects but rather they were direct objects. I went on to explain to her (and my wife) about diagramming sentences. Evidently the next day at school my daughter was explaining this to the teacher and one of the little boys in her class said "Man my dad doesn't even know what a direct object is". LOL

 

10-4, thanks for that (and you too, 911). I'm going to try something similar on the next one. The clean towel wipe-down method does work, but it's pretty time consuming. And I've managed to bang up my hands a bit on stuff like door hinges - not much fun.

Alright, since I'm picking your brain as usual, here's another. Looks like this Boxster has that textured, sort of "crinkle finish" to it on the lower portion of the rocker panels. Any specific techniques for detailing these areas? If I'm remembering correctly, my Mother's blue Toyota has this down along the bottom of the rockers, and it confounded me some months ago when I last worked on her car.

Mark's 323i had this, and mostly, it was hopeless. It was so covered in stone chips that even after spending time on it, it looked...exactly the same as before. So that was sort of a "get out of jail free card" for me on that one.

 

You are right it does have that textured stuff. Ironically like you say its suppose to protect against rock chips and the like but looks like hell with really nothing you can do about it when it does get nicked and chipped up. I just treat it like I do everything else and get a little more aggressive with my cleaners on it than I do with paint. That is the one advantage of it for me in that I can use some pretty good chemicals on it and not have to worry so much because it is so tough. I don't mind at all using Body Solvent or my new favorite Malco Cosmoline Remover (thats some good stuff and you can get it at Majestic Solutions) at getting road grime, tar, grease, gum, etc. off the lower areas.

 

Looks as great as usual JL! Those wheels didn't look too great but after you detailed them, they just look plain sexy!

 

VERY NICE! Just look at the reflection shoots of the hood, thats shiny silver! Glad to hear it was no problem to see what car you did

 

very pretty an awesome an sweet an nice an cute an i know shut up already .

 

JL, You are the master. I don't know what to say. Everyone has said it already. Thanks for another great Thread...:thumb:

 

Awesome work once again JL, well done

 

Always a great read, did you happen to dress the area by the park break lever, it looks missed form the picture?:mounty:

 

It must just be the interior deteriorating? :shead:

 

JL..sweet job on that ride! Can you please post pics of the brushes you picked up at HD for the wells? My brush collection keeps growing..it's like women and their shoes..you can never have enough!! I am still looking for a small brush like the EZ brush to do the very narrow openings by the caliper...I'm just too lazy to move the car 4 times, LOL.

 

Wow JL great job and love the vintage. I can't wait to get my scholl s40 now, great job and awesome write up.

 

JL, very nice, the silver is very reflective. Vintage looks great on that silver, when silver is done right, like in this case, it looks awesome. Once again great job on the detail and write up.

 

Would this work? :shead: