Well let me start by saying, if you make it to the end without a cuppa you’re doing well. I have notice there has been a distinct lack of detailed posting recently so here goes. I was contacted by the client of a lovely looking Porsche Carrera 4S. 2003 Facelift model. Who had originally been booked in with my very good friend Kicking Griffen. Now unfortunately Dave had previously been unwell and was only just getting on his feet once more. So may I take this opportunity to thank Dave for the recommendation and also for his help. Which will become apparent later? So after discussing with the client what he required doing and to which level the car was to be take too. I took delivery on this Lovely car. Now some of you know that I only do this as a business P/T and hold a full time employment elsewhere. So this meant the car had to be done in the evening after a full 8 Hour shift. So here we go. Car on arrival. ] From a distance the car did not look to bad. But close up, it requires a deep clean. Not that this was bad. Just general spray and grime from use. ] Wash time. Car was snow foamed with CG Sn and rinsed with hot PW at 60 degrees. Wheels cleaned with Red berry wheel cleaner cut to 4-1. Snow foamed once more and started to get to work on the more difficult areas. This was followed up with the usual 2BM which left me with this. The car was then moved inside and dried off. I know this is starting to look like a Chemical Guy detail. But when in Rome. The new Super dryers are fab with great absorbency. Started to clay the car with Sonus green, and there was a definite drag to the paint. After a few panels. I was left with this. I carried on around the car and I managed to get another two more. This brought me to the end of the first evening. And ready for paint correction the following evening. On closer inspection the car was looking slightly worse that before. A filler heavy product had been used to mask the swirl marks up. A few of the defects on the car. Bird etching too. Not to clear by 2 areas of this on the N/S wing. Paint reading where taken. Where the car showed a health level of paint. There were a few areas that did cause concern. Evidence of a smart repair on the passenger’s door. About eight inches square. So this was noted and moved on. But to make matters worse there was some more strange readings also. As this would have to be tackled in a different manor. And lighter approach taken. I had just started to correct the bonnet after doing a test area. Settled with PO 85 RD 3.02 on a 3M yellow polishing pad followed with my fave product just now #205 on a Blue 3M finishing pad. Moved on to the wing. And someone dropped by. Well two people. Who brought this beauty too. And guess who. Well no detail would be complete without my good friend. We had an interesting time on this one. But glad to say first impression where good and look forward to later in the year, to return this beauty to its former glory. But Dave was not finished there, He had brought me down a glass polishing kit and proceeded to correct half the windscreen. Before the clock beat us. I had continued to work my way across the wing and onto the door. But this is where yet another issue arose. Sticky paint on all the vertical panels. Tried various polishes and techniques to combat this. Meg, Menz, 3M, Chemical Guys polish. But to no avail. Eventually settled on the new optimum 2 compound, Finished off with #205. End of evening two. The follow night I settled in for a night with the polisher. 85RD 3.02 Working at 900 RPM to spread Moving up to 1100 to evenly spread and put a heat in panel. Gets the abrasives evenly distributed and panel up to temp Working at 1450 RPM till correction achieved, prior to flashing off. With Med To heavy pressure over head Then down to 900 to refine Same technique used with the #205 on Blue 3M pad. Few shots of corrected panels. Front wing O/S. Drivers Door. Wing mirror Rear wing O/S Roof line. While on the smaller pad. I then move on to the Engine area and continued to work away. No detail is complete without all the little hard to correct area. Rear wing N/S Moving along forgot to take passenger door. But complete side view of front wing and door. Which brought me to the Bird etching on the front N/S wing? Changed to a 4 inch 3M Orange compounding pad with FCP, and locally corrected the etching. This was refined with the usual 3M Blue pad with #205 again. Which left this? Moved on to complete the bonnet. Well polishing was complete. Total of 14 Hours spent so far, and end of the Third evening. This day was going to be a difficult one. Glass polishing. Although Dave had started this. He was beaten by the clock and I have to take over. Now before I go too far I wish to warn everyone that there is a high risk to people trying this. As the glass is very prone to break due to heat build up. So please although I will answer question on this. I will also remind you of the problems and please only do this as a last resort. Before considering a possible windscreen replacement. Porsches are renowned for this type of marring as there windscreen is so very soft. Before the pictures does not show up the true marring as the camera wanted to focus on the interior. Brinkman was not working on the ,marring. So used the strip lighting and moved across the screen to show defects better. Set up ready to go. Changed backing plate to 50mm with a 50mm wool pad and certified oxide as an abrasive. Few drops added and spread slowly at 900 RPM. Moving up to 1200 rpm with moderate pressure. Again finally working at 1550 Rpm. I stopped occasionally and misted the pad and checked the temperature of the glass. Before misting this also saves reapplying the Ceramide as it does not break down. Continued this technique until marring was removed. Well 90 to 95 % correction. This process took most of the evening. But I did not wish to cause any heat build up or cracks. During After misting I will save the corrected shots till later. While doing the finishing touches I decided the light needed a going over also as time was moving on. Again #205 on a finish pad was all that was needed. Working with the same technique as before with slight less pressure. Due to the lenses being plastic. I moved on to the Front internal and decide to give it a once over. All plastics cleaned with APC and dressed with 303. Tyres where cleaned once more to ensure they where grease free, with APC. Wheels sealed with FK 1000P. It was then time to see what the following day had in store. The interior. Generally not too bad. I have seen worse. End of the Fourth evening. The flowing night. I decided to dress the tyres dress the black external trims and get a few coats of Zainos layed down. While the zainos cured. I dressed the trims and tyres. Gave the engine a quick going over too. Continued with the zainos second applied and left to cure. While starting the interior. Rear parcel shelf and rear seats down. Working my way forward to the seated area. Leather cleansed and conditioned. Moved into the front where decided to clean glass the dash. Plastic premium cockpit, leather cleaned and conditioned. Added another layer of FK1000P and re dressed tyres. Buffed off second layer of sealant. Last day before hand over and time for the exterior to be completed. Applied a third layer of zainos. Then contacted the client as to what he wished. He had mentioned durability and a sealant. But due the previous etching problem. I find a nice wax layer help and hopefully will benefit the car in the future. He agreed. Now most people will think this is over kill. But you have to think of possible damage in the future and to conserve the cars looks and finish. Chemical guys Enzyme was chosen. One on looks but even more so on durability and lasting finish. But first the exhaust had to be attended to. Before. Afters. Few internal shots. Day of hand over to client. Given a quite wipe down with Z6. Well for everyone that made it to the end thanks. And all comments and questions welcome. Special thanks you go out to David G for the use of it detailing studio and products in this detail. Not forgetting Dave Kg for the recommendation. I hope you are happy with the results as both the client and I am. Gordon.
massive props on this detail. impressive write up as well. i enjoyed reading it really, really nice job on the car looking forward to your future threads!
Fantastic machine. Cannot recommend enough. Only down side is the price I guess. I have done a write up on this. I will post a review shorly. Gordon.
Well done vehicle looks incredible :applause: By the way how did the glass finish off? I may have mist it but what was the name of the product used? I too look forward to the Festool review :waiting:
