[Wes_R]

Hi everybody,

My first post and thread here(I usually do more reading then talking) and with spring around the corner and the cars about to come out of storage I wanted to share a write up I did on a Testarossa to help you with your "spring cleaning".

The opportunity to work on this Testarossa presented itself to me when the owners co worker saw some of my other work and referred me to him. I got a call near the end of November 09 from the owner saying that he wanted to get his car detailed for storage.

Anyway enough of the introductions, let's get our hands dirty.



First off a walk around of the bella macchina.








lol yes that is a dog biscuit


In defense of the owner he said it was I while since it was detailed and the last time it was just a quick job




So starting with the interior I dusted the car down to get in the tight areas. At the time I was using a Meguiars Slide Lock Brush but it gave out on me and I had to take what was left and wrap it in a rubber band, but it still did the job










I then vacuumed the entire car with my Metro Vac n Blo and various attachments to get in the tight areas




Then gave everything a wipe down with Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner cut 50/50 with water to have a clean surface to work with




At the same time I used my foam stick to get in the tight areas that my fingers couldn't reach






Got in the tight areas of the prancing horse on the hood and trunk latch and here are some before and afters

Before


After


Before


After




Got in the even tighter areas with a q-tip










Had to scrub a few areas with the fine side of my Meguiars Triple Duty Brush like...

The cassette tape holder buttons


And the "PRESS" on the seat belt

Before


After




Scrubbed the door sill


And the pedals, no dressing was applied after the clean up as common sense is I don't want the pedals slippery

Before


After

[Wes_R]

Pretty much everything in the interior is leather. So I leather cleaned and conditioned everything... the seats, dash, doors, and roof

Gliptone was what I used


Scrubbing away with my leather brush


Leather conditioned by hand and massaged it in to the leather


Doors


Seats


Roof


I let it soak in for a bit then wiped off the remainder for a nice natural finish.



Did I mention it was cold!!!



Brought the tool bag, owners manual, and jack inside for a cleaning.

Tool bag was dirty and disorganized


Cleaned up the bag with some APC and the tools as well


Clean and organized


Leather cleaned and conditioned the owners manual bag


Cleaned the bag that held that jack etc and wiped down the jack and tools

And here they are ready to go back in the car




I took these pics at the final end of the detail but felt it was appropriate to put them here. These are the finished pics of the interior.






















Now getting started on the exterior I start off with the wheels.

P21s Wheel Gel was used to clean the rims which is non acidic


Let the rims soak while I attended to the engine bay




I didn't get to aggressive on the engine bay but still did the best I could. Here is a before and after pic

Before


After (still a little wet from the dressing)


Artsy Fartsy




Moving on to the rims

Getting in the inner barrel with my handleless EZ brush


Behind the rim


Cleaned the rim face with a micro fibre mitt


And used a foam stick to get in the lug nut area




Rinsed down the car


And sprayed on Prep Wash to strip off any silicones


Then washed the car using the 2 bucket method and a natural sea sponge




Rinsed my sponge off in the water only bucket after every panel or a half a panel


Dryed the car off and brought it in to clay bar it.



Riccardo Clay was used


Pretty contaminated

[Wes_R]

Pretty much everything in the interior is leather. So I leather cleaned and conditioned everything... the seats, dash, doors, and roof

Gliptone was what I used


Scrubbing away with my leather brush


Leather conditioned by hand and massaged it in to the leather


Doors


Seats


Roof


I let it soak in for a bit then wiped off the remainder for a nice natural finish.



Did I mention it was cold!!!



Brought the tool bag, owners manual, and jack inside for a cleaning.

Tool bag was dirty and disorganized


Cleaned up the bag with some APC and the tools as well


Clean and organized


Leather cleaned and conditioned the owners manual bag


Cleaned the bag that held that jack etc and wiped down the jack and tools

And here they are ready to go back in the car




I took these pics at the final end of the detail but felt it was appropriate to put them here. These are the finished pics of the interior.






















Now getting started on the exterior I start off with the wheels.

P21s Wheel Gel was used to clean the rims which is non acidic


Let the rims soak while I attended to the engine bay




I didn't get to aggressive on the engine bay but still did the best I could. Here is a before and after pic

Before


After (still a little wet from the dressing)


Artsy Fartsy




Moving on to the rims

Getting in the inner barrel with my handleless EZ brush


Behind the rim


Cleaned the rim face with a micro fibre mitt


And used a foam stick to get in the lug nut area




Rinsed down the car


And sprayed on Prep Wash to strip off any silicones


Then washed the car using the 2 bucket method and a natural sea sponge




Rinsed my sponge off in the water only bucket after every panel or a half a panel


Dryed the car off and brought it in to clay bar it.



Riccardo Clay was used


Pretty contaminated




Measured the paint to see what I was dealing with. The owner had told me that the whole car had been repainted
















Masked off the rubber trimmings




And here is what I was up against under 500w halogen lighting


Did a quick test spot to find a combination that worked and here are the results


Now for a few before and afters of the body panels

Before


After


Before


After

[Wes_R]

Before


After


Before


After


Before


After


And a 50/50 shot


Single stage paint really clogs my pads up so I had to change them frequently


All the tight areas my rotary couldn't reach I did by hand with on orange lake country pad and M105 then a white pad with M205. They did not end up perfect but still a huge improvement to how they were before




This was a full paint correction so the few deeper scratched I wetsanded with Micro Mesh sand paper to either round off the edges of the scratch to make it less apparent or to completely remove the scratch.

After all the compounding and wetsanding I finally jeweled the paint with a white Lake Country pad and P085rd. Here is a shot of my jeweling the paint.


And the results of my work










Unmasked the car




Dusted it down and got in the tight crevices.

Gave it an alcohol wipe down to clean off the polishing oils




Then double check my work with my 3M Sun Gun


Perfect




Applied Swissvax Concorso




While the wax was curing I attended to some other areas

Sealed the rim with Poorboys Wheel Sealant


Dressed the tires with Blackfire Long Lasting Tyre Gel which after being left on for awhile then wiped off leaves a beautiful finish


Here is an after pic of the tires and rim


I couldn't get the exhaust perfect but still made an improvement.

Before


After







Now finally after 50+ hrs of work, -10 weather, and the first snowfall of winter here are the finished pictures.

First up some shots of the sun on the paint

[Wes_R]

And my last 3 favorite pics.







I hope you enjoyed reading the write up and were able to pick up a few pointers on taking care of you cars.

Wes

[Wes_R]

Pretty much everything in the interior is leather. So I leather cleaned and conditioned everything... the seats, dash, doors, and roof

Gliptone Leather Cleaner & Conditioner was what I used


Scrubbing away with my leather brush


Leather conditioned by hand and massaged it in to the leather


Doors


Seats


Roof


I let it soak in for a bit then wiped off the remainder for a nice natural finish.



Did I mention it was cold!!!



Brought the tool bag, owners manual, and jack inside for a cleaning.

Tool bag was dirty and disorganized


Cleaned up the bag with some APC and the tools as well


Clean and organized


Leather cleaned and conditioned the owners manual bag

[Wes_R]

Sorry just waiting for a mod to approve the rest of the post.

[wetpet]

Man, that is one beat down tr. Can't wait to see the engine compartment .

[Wes_R]

I'm kind of embarrassed that you guys don't get to see the full write up so here is a link to it on a detailing forum I participate in.

Wes_R + Testarossa (126 pics)

[marioz]

nice work there Wes.

what are you doing this weekend?

[Wes_R]

Thanks Mario.

I'm taking it easy this weekend because of the rain.

[Jimmy Chen Shiba DDS]

Details, details,...fantastic workmanship there. w/ smiles Jimmy

[360 Modena]

awesome - I wish I could find someone with your talents in my area!