Presidential Details meets AutoLavish : A Band of Brothers detail.

[Barry Theal]

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PRESIDENTIAL DETAILS OF LANCASTER PA A leading professional of automotive treatments and detailing.
In a joint effort between Marc Harris of Auto Lavish Fine Detailing based in Michigan and Barry Theal of Presidential Details in Pennsylvania. Upon Marc’s arrival by flight from Michigan it was our goal to set forth a detail of highest standards. Being that both detailers are nationally known for what they do, it was a great detailing event. When you combine the knowledge and experiance of two professionals in any business there will be a great learning and understanding from two different standpoints. This detail was exactly that. Both Marc and Barry are former military men. So not only was this a task at hand, but the joining of a few band of brothers.
The night before Marc the detail after picking Marc up, I introduced him to the home of Presidential Details and had the subject vehicle waiting. Here we were two gentleman who had talked on the phone for a year and never met in front of a 2010 Ferrari 458.
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The next morning not wasting any time at all Marc and I got busy. We first started with a complete examing of the entire vehicle and based the factors of what needed to be accomplished to make this car look like the stunner she is.
As the car arrived. It was presented clean with very little signs of wear and tear at all. The wheels were dirty, The motor had some dust and debree.. One thing we noticed thought was that there was compound in a few tight spots left over from the previous detailer or factory along with some other blemishes.
Here is a photo of the motor as close up. Yours truly, checking out the horse power! I love these motors for sure!
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A shot from what I was seeing.
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Here you can see the inner wheel barrels had some surface dirt but nothing crazy! One thing about these new carbon ceramic brakes is no dust! Just make sure no harsh chemicals are used.

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Like I said the car was fairly clean. Just a few little things to offset the cleanliness of this vehicle.

[Barry Theal]

The Decontamination

During the Decontamination process our goal was to cleanse the entire exterior surfaces and prepare the car for a proper polishing. In my eyes this is a major factor of the final product. Like a foundation to a building, a proper show car finish starts at the very beginning.

First we started off with a foam bath to help break down any loose non embedded particles that were on the paint. During the foaming process we used a mix of a foaming agent and a non caustic bio degradable degreaser. The degreaser will break down everything and the foaming agent will allow for a longer dwell time. I started the process.

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With the foam dwelling you can see it doing it magic!!!

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After the foam dwelling everything was rinsed off and using a pressure washer.

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Next we started with the wheels. IN this picture I was using a micro fiber to wrap around the spokes to get behind them as mark was using a wheel brush to work the inner barrels.

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Then the car was pulled forward to rotate the wheels 180 degrees to get the inside of the barrels and spokes again. This time we flip flopped the task and I took the brush and Marked used the micro fiber.

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Then I scrubbed the tires and wheel wells prior to Mark rinsing everything down. Team work was the key.

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Next we used a flushing technique to clean rinse the paint. As Mark flushed the paint with foam I massaged it with a micro fiber mitt

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Once rinsed the paint was refoamed and we used a claybar in medium grade to remove all the embed contaminants on the paint, wheels, and glass.

Here is Mark doing his thing as I was doing mine.

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Once the paint was rinsed yet again. We proceded to dry it off using compressed air and micro fibers. Here is Marc doing his thing.

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The Inspection

Next the inspection process began. During this process we used a high lumen light to exam the paint defects.

During the course of the process we noticed the car had already been polished and sanded at either the factory level or dealership. Many of the newer Ferrari’s I have seen have this. These marks are typical.

In the lower light on this photo you can clearly see some pig tails left from sanding marks. These are usally done at the factory level. It never seems to amaze me. This isn’t a 20 grand car. You would think Ferrari could do a little better of a job.

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This photo shows a direct show of some heavy wool pad marring. Incedible huh.

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In the photo below you will be able to see some general swirling. While car had many defects the below photo show the general condition besides the normal sand marks and holograms.

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The masking.

During the Masking stage our goal was to tape all rubber trim and also mask off area’s the could catch compound dust. Another crucial step to masking is to prevent the polishing pads from catching the area.s and risk burning or melting of the area. I’ll tell ya this is a prime example of Marc’s Character. Funny, whitty and always laughing. A good man for sure. Marc was masking the rubber trim in the picture below.

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Here I am masking around the back side of the car.

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[Barry Theal]

Once the everything was masked, we were ready for some defect removal.

Machine compounding and polishing.

During the polishing stage it was our goal to first remove all defect s utilizing a high speed polisher and a dual action polisher. I started with leveling the paint by using a festool rotory and Marc followed with the dual action to ensure a hologram free finish.

During the compounding stage I used a medium abrasive approach. Here in the below photo you can see me starting out.

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Here is Marc perfecting my compounding with a dual action and a polish.

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Below are a few photos of us creating shine.

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A little birds eye view from the polishing heavens!


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Keeping things on the the tight here.

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Down low takes some time, but we got that to!

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Once this was done. We gave the car a foam bath to remove all the polishing oils and compound splatter.

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Once the final washing was done and completed. We turned our focus to the interiors and exterior things. Ill break down into two steps during the write up, but as I did the interior, Marc detailed the motor front cargo area and wheels. Keep in mind as Marc did the motor by hand, not one thing was dressed. We kept the motor to a clean natural state.

Interior cleaning.

The car itself had a very clean interior. One of the things that made the job difficult was blue jean transfer on both seats. These Ferrari seats are know for this. Onto the process

Over all the interior as I sad was a little dusty which made the job go a little faster.

In the below photo you can see the blue jean transfer on the passenger seat. Your main focus is on the center seam area.

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I first started with the seats because they were toughest task at hand. I used a leather cleaner and a small paint brush to massage the seats clean.

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Once the seats were clean and blown dry with compressed air and a micro fiber. I cleaned the remaining interior.

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In this photo below, I’m not showing you how sexy this interior is already. Im actually showing you that yes all the tight spots were cleaned as well. Look closely!

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Once the interior was cleaned, all the leather received a conditioning step..

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Now as I was doing this Marc was appling perfection to the other area’s mentioned above.

Marc started with the motor compartment. His attention detail was incredible. I was highly impressed.

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I thought this shot really showed how a motor should look. Besides that fact that this car is sex on wheels and beautifully designed. Im talking about how its cleaned. Notice there is no dressing and its left to a very clean natural state. That’s how its done in my eyes. Again another prime example of Marc attention detail at its finest.

[BobbyG]

Great thread and I can't wait to see more photos!!

Keep up the great work guys!! :props:

[Barry Theal]

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Marc examining the wheels prior to protection!

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A wheel sealent was used to protect these sexy things. Also help increase the natural shine on the painted surface.

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Once this task was completed we used a final polishing product that cleans and seals the paint. Leaving it to a natural luster.

This step was accomplished by both of us.

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After removing the final polish we sealed the paint to give it s final protection. And the result was this.

Now at this point I would like to introduce Brett West a local photographer who recently I started working with. Brett stayed for the entire length of the detail and took photos of everything. He is a great guy his photography is really coming alive. Here is Brett doing his thing. Marc took this photo, and I must say the little time Marc was here, I think he got tired of me saying how do you do that? I kept asking him about camera stuff lol.

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Now onto the final shots! If you made it this far in this long write up, you have the chance to enjoy!

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Now onto the next morning.

A close up of Marcs finishing touches to the wheels and tires.

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Here are a few close ups of the paint finish.

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Here are a few interior shots.

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Brett actually took this shot from the rear view mirror. Pretty creative huh?

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And some final shots.

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[Barry Theal]

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Last and final pictures are a few of my favorite. The two photo’s below I thought came out incredible. I love how the relfections of the clouds in the glass blended in with the motor. I couldn’t decide which one I liked better so , I posted both.

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Marc and I doing our final handshake thank one another.

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Here is a picture of Brett, Marc , and myself after all the hard work.

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In conclusion I would like to take this time to thank the gentleman for helping me out. Things here have been incrediblely busy and these two gentleman came threw like a angels from heaven.

Marc,

You are a very talented man with lots charisma. Your dedication to this business and knowledge is stunning. The fact that you flew out from Michigan in less then a weeks notice to another truly says something about your character as a human being. I can’t thank you enough for puttnig up with my crap and making this possible. Thanks for all your hard work. On the other side of things it was finally great to meet you in person. I enjoyed the entire time.

Brett.

Once again thanks for coming threw with all the pictures. You put up with two military men for over 14 hours and the next morning. Your pictures are turning out fantastic and I couldn’t be luckier to have you as a friend. Thanks again.

To sum it up this detail for me wasn’t about another Ferrari. It was a about enjoying our lives and having fun at what we do best. I had the chance to finally meet another detailer and loved every minute. Gentleman thanks again for veiwing our work. Hope you enjoyed it!

Sincerely,
Barry Theal

[BobbyG]

WOW Barry, what a stunning finish!! :props:

This thread is a keeper indeed!!

[reality33]

Absolutely awesome work!

One of my current fav cars, and you did a brilliant job with it.

Great pictures as well.

[Rei86]

The final pictures of the rim is unreal!

I know you used too or still do post on the supraforums and I have to say I've always loved your work.

[Yellow06GT]

Great Job guys!!!!
Amazing car and an amazing detail job.

[Crazy Amos]

Amazing work, results, photography........just an awesome article in general.

Very cool to see the two of you collaborating.

[Slava]

WOW, I'm speechless.
Talk about perfection, great job and thanks for sharing.

[Crazy Amos]

Hey Barry, what is your take on the Festool? What are your likes and dislikes?

[Ted S.]

:dblthumb2: Great Job.

[C. Charles Hahn]

Awesome work, and awesome thread Barry/Marc! :props: