A 13 year old 911 gets 18 hours of love!

I honestly can't remember whether this customer was a referral or a hit from my website. He came to me a few months ago to book in his baby...a 2002 911 Carerra 4. It had great potential, but was going to be a lot of work. Ya, I guess I kinda gave away how much work in the title, didn't I?!? Oh well, let's see what I was dealing with here.


In fact it was raining as he arrived and then miraculously cleared up in time for me to wash it (symbolism for a job that was going to be very rewarding):


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7842.jpg


There were 2 major issues with the paint: a MULTITUDE of chips and badly swirled paint. Check out these (some are huge!) chips:


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7843.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7845.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7846.jpg


This was also going to be a wheels-off, Finest detail. He wanted it to look fabulous!! Here are the wheels:


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7847.jpg


The red painted calipers were looking especially dirty:


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7848.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7849.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7850.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7851.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7852.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7853.jpg


Now was time for the wash. First up the wheels that had the barrels cleaned with Tarminator followed by Zep Citrus and Megs HW and a demoted wash mitt. The faces were cleaned the same way. Unfortunately, while cleaning the wheels, I had a bad experience: my wash mitt was coming away red from the calipers and the paint seemed to be spotting immediately. It was as if someone had painted them in water-based paint!! I called the customer and he said that he bought the car with the calipers already painted and that it had happened to him too. They looked terrible before when they were dirty, and truthfully, they didn't look a whole lot better now. I was not impressed!
The tires were cleaned with Zep 505 and the wells with LATA.

The car was washed with Megs HW and then given a decontamination wash with IronX paste. It was then brought inside and clayed with my CarPro clay towel.

Now it was time to inspect the paint:


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7854.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7855.jpg


Now this spot was irreparable. The paint had a break in it and was pushed up from underneath. It's like something hit it from below while closing the hood.


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7856.jpg


Would you even call these chips??


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7857.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7858.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7859.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7860.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7861.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7862.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7863.jpg


OK, so I think you get the point of the degree of challenge here, right? Now it was time to tackle the wheels:


The faces and barrels were first cleaned with Squeaky Clean. If you're not using this product, you are NOT getting your paint as good as it can look. The crap it pulled out of the paint on the wheels was amazing. Here's a face all coated:


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7865.jpg


And the barrel after a double coat of CQF:


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7866.jpg


The plastic wheel wells were dressed with the DG beta trim dressing. Please forgive the blurry shot:


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7868.jpg

As good as Squeaky Clean is, it couldn't help these stupid calipers. This was as good as it was gonna get after a double coat of CQF.


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7869.jpg


The wheels were re-torqued to factory spec using my torque wrench and the little bother of lining up the Porsche crest on the wheels on each side.

Now it was time to play with paint! What ended up working well for this car was the new Megs burgandy foam compounding pad + M101 + Flex 3401. That was followed by my Rupes 21 + M205 + B/S white pad. Here is what those 2 stages brought about (or maybe just the first stage, I don't remember, LOL)


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7870.jpg


The car was compounded, polished and had its chips filled. The head and tail lights were also given the same 2 step process. Next came a double coat of CQF on the paint, glass and head and tail lights. The windshield got treated to Forte. I also treated the convertible top to DG 341 which is an amazing product! Here is the coating getting baked by the IR lamp. I have noticed when I use my lamp that the cord ends get warm and it blew the fuse too. I have since upgraded to a 12 gauge cord (had a 14) and what a difference!


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7871.jpg


Here it is after 18 hours of work:



http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7872.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7873.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7874.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7875.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7877.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7878.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7879.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7880.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7881.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7882.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7883.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7884.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7885.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7888.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7886.jpg


http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/DSC_7887.jpg


The customer was blown away. I was very happy for him. Comments are appreciated.

Wow amazing work as always Richy!! I won't doubt that the customer was blown away. And very rightfully so.

Thanks for sharing this detail.

Beautiful! You have skills bro

Very nice work sir! Just a point for reference as I do a lot of Porsche for shows, the point of the center caps goes to the stem

Great work Richy, and Im glad you bought a larger gauge cord. What you found with the old one is that these IR lamps pull a heavy load. Could have been bad if that breaker didnt do its job.

Back to the car though!, great work!! Always.

HUMP

Richy, great work as always! You really went all out on that car for sure and you earn the clients you get for sure:dblthumb2:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jrock645

Wow... I'm new to this, but that was impressive!

18 hours, I can't even imagine!

---

Thanks very much! My minimum time on a CQuartz Finest detail (which includes a one step polish) is 12 hours.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marc08EX

Wow amazing work as always Richy!! I won't doubt that the customer was blown away. And very rightfully so.

Thanks for sharing this detail.

---

Thanks very much Marc and thanks for taking the time to comment!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jrock645

How does one go about polishing wheels like that?

---

Cleaned well and then I used Duragloss Squeaky Clean with a foam applicator pad and a microfiber towel.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dereksdtail

Beautiful! You have skills bro

---

Thanks man, I appreciate the feedback!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike lambert

Very nice work sir! Just a point for reference as I do a lot of Porsche for shows, the point of the center caps goes to the stem

---

Thanks Mike! I don't get what you mean about the point of the centre caps going to the stem??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HUMP DIESEL

Great work Richy, and Im glad you bought a larger gauge cord. What you found with the old one is that these IR lamps pull a heavy load. Could have been bad if that breaker didnt do its job.

Back to the car though!, great work!! Always.

HUMP

---

Bruce, thanks kindly. The great thing for me too was with the new cord, I was able to put it in a socket on a different breaker than the one running my portable air conditioner (which doesn't like other heavy draws on it at the same time) so I was able to keep my A/C on!! YAY!

You have knocked another one out of the park. Great work Richy. I think he means that the bottom of the Porsche crest where it comes to a point, points to the valve stems. But I could be wrong.

Walter

Another outstanding job my friend! Looks beautiful.

Kyle

Wow. How did you fill in the chips? Some of them were pretty impressive.