Got a phone call early one morning last week from a new client of mine who had just imported a 997 Porsche 911 Turbo from the states. As discussed previously, he wanted me to do a full detail on the car instead of having the guys at the dealership prep the car Since the car only had 14,000+ miles on it, I figured the condition would not be too bad. The owner wanted the car in perfect condition, and requested for a 2 stage machine polish. I quoted him on a 2 day (15 hour) detail, but upon inspection of the car in person, I knew that this was going to take more time. Here are some pics to help narrate my story... Products Used: Paint Cleansing: Genuine Sheepskin Mitt via 2 bucket system P21S Bodywork Conditioning Soap Poorboy's All Purpose Cleaner 3:1 ratio ClayMagic Blue Chemical Guys QD Paint Correction: Makita 9227 Rotary Polisher 3M 6" Backing Plate 3M 3" Backing Plate Lake Country 6.5" CCS Yellow Pad Lake Country 6.5" CCS Orange Pad Lake Country 6.5" CCS Green German Pad Menzerna Power Gloss (S34A) Menzerna Super Intensive Polish (PO 3.02) Menzerna Power Finish (PO203) Menzerna Micro Polish (PO85RD) Menzerna Top Inspection Paint Protection: Chemical Guys Jet Seal LSP - Zymol Carbon Wheels and Tires: Autoglym Custom Wheel Cleaner Wheel acid 3:1 ratio Poorboy's Wheel Sealant Meguiar's Hot Shine Tire Spray The car was pretty dirty, and thus the damage to the paint was yet to be visible. One of my favourite rear ends of any car. The sun doesn't hide anything... ...and on the driver's side door... ...and on the WIDE rear fender Pulled it indoors, taped up and ready for work. Here's the hood under indoor lighting. Here's the hood after about 5 passes and 3 hours of cussing. After 7 hours on the first day, managed to get the first stage polish done on the front end. Time to call it a day. Back at the shop on day 2 for another 8 hours. 50/50 on passenger side rear fender. 50/50 on trunk spoiler. So, long story short, after roughly 15 hours of work over the first two days, the car was nowhere close to being complete, so I had to return for more work on day 3. No pictures were taken during work on day 3, but when the car was finally completed, these are the shots I captured. ENJOY! Total time: 22 hours Wow, can't believe it's finally done. Awesome looking car, must own one in the future. The Ferrari wanted some attention. It doesn't look too shabby either! Here's the obligatory F430 engine shot. One more for good measure. I wouldn't mind the Aston Martin Vantage either. Pulled out in the sun for inspection. Remember the swirls on this very same fender in the sun 3 days ago? There were nowhere to be found. Did not expect this shot to turn out so well until after I loaded it onto the computer. Reflection on hood. My favourite picture of all.
Great job man. What products did you use? So when are you going to be hitting that Aston and that Ferrari? opcorn:
Wow things move fast around here! I will update the above post in the next few minutes with the products that were used in this detail. As for the Aston and Ferrari, those belong to the dealership and not my client, so whenever they call me, I would hop on those in a heartbeat. They currently have their own detailer, but after seeing his work on the other Porsche Boxster, :shead: is all I have to say!
Great work ! Love the reflection shots. What kind of lights are in the shop? It has a very nice blue hue when you were taking photos. Loving it. Is that just a detail shop or a custom auto parts shop as well? I'm drooling. Nice setup.
really great work and pics. Do you think you did too much work as you originally sold a 2 stage correction for 15 hrs and it took longer than expected?
I'm totally with dsms on this one! What camera are you using, those shots are amazing!! Great work on the car!!
Wow amazing work, I love those reflection shots, by the way you did use HDR for your pics?, they came out perfect.
Wow that looks fantastic! Excellent work! Oh and the detail came out okay, too. LOL jk. The car is stunning.
Thanks for the comments everybody! I'd love to take credit for the setup of the shop, but that is not normally where I work out of. This was a mobile, on-location detail at the exotic car dealership where my client purchased his Porsche. He wanted it properly detailed by me instead of having the wash guys prep the car for pick-up. With all the other nice cars in there, I happily complied. There were just regular florescent tubes hanging from the ceiling. All the finished reflection shots were taken with my buddy's camera, and for some reason, all bright indoor lighting turns up as blue and purple fringes in the photos. I definitely did more work than we agreed on, but to get the car to the condition that the client expected, it was work that had to be done. Running Menz SIP on the paint with a LC yellow pad took swirls out, but I had to do as many as 4 passes on some panels to remove most of the defects, and that is why I spent so much time on this car. In some areas, I even had to bust out Menz Power Gloss, which I almost never use. Do I think I was underpaid on this job by having put in so many extra hours? Not really. The client would have gladly offered to pay for the extra hours, but at the end of the day, I just wanted a happy client who would be more than happy to refer his other exotic car owner friends my way :headbang: Thanks so much! I'm not very camera-savvy, and couldn't tell you what camera those final reflection shots were taken with at the end of day 3. It was a buddy's camera which had the proper settings for indoor shooting, and I just did the easy part. The first half of the pics were taken with my old Sony Cybershot. As Ken from AutowerkesExclusive says, I'm the only Asian guy who doesn't know my cameras : No HDR was used in those pictures. I'm too newb to even know how to do that! I actually don't work out of a shop. All my work is freelance and most of my clients just drop their cars off in my garage. This is one of the few on-location jobs that I do. Where do you work? Thanks Ken! I will copy some of my other writeups and post them here soon!
I was gonna ask about that lightning myself. Dude, I want the same lights in my garage...they make it look awesome!!!
Amazing correction!!! Mad props to you, and I love the 3 hours of cussing! LOL I think we all have been there at one point
Thanks again! Haha those 3 hours seemed like forever, because I would buff off the polish after the second and third pass and just pray that the defects be almost completely gone, then realize that I probably have to bump it up to a yellow LC pad instead so had to finish it down with 2 more passes after that. Almost busted out my Power Gloss on the hood which I almost NEVER use. Sandpaper in a bottle, anyone? :yikes:
