A couple of months ago I was contacted by the owner of a Ferrari Challenge Stradale about my detailing services. He had first heard about me on FerrariChat from one of my clients who also owns a Stradale that I worked on, and he had read some of my other Ferrari-specific articles as well.

He said that he was interested in a full “Esoteric Spa Treatment” to bring his already good condition Stradale back to near perfection condition…paint correction and refinement, wheels-off suspension detailing, engine detailing, chip repairs, partial clear-bra replacement, fix some scratches on the frame rails in the engine compartment, etc.

I regularly have cars shipped in for detailing services, and even have preferred carriers that specialize in the enclosed transport of exotic and collectible vehicles. Most of these cars however typically come in from about a 500 mile radius, so the 1300 mile journey that this Stradale was going to take from Texas to Ohio was a bit longer than normal. I also get hired a bit to travel for detailing, but among other services that we needed the shop here in Columbus for, the access to the lift was perhaps the biggest that kept me from jumping on a plane to travel to him. We decided that to maximize the investment in transportation, we would also perform some mechanical services on the vehicle as well while it was here.

The owner of this car could have had both detailing and mechanical services performed locally, but he chose to come to us. That was a huge compliment to say the least, and just as we do for every other customer…we’ll provide him with the absolute best service that we can!

The enclosed transport just arrived this past Friday morning, and after we did a thorough inspection of the vehicle to go over all of the requested services and to verify the condition, I decided to snap a few photos to document the process.

Even from just a few feet away, the car looked very good with a high level of gloss. When the paint was inspected with my Brinkmann light or in the sunshine however, I could see plenty of opportunities for improvement.

Here’s the Challenge Stradale fresh off of the semi when it arrived.

The Stradale looks great…how could it need detailing services?

But when we look a bit closer, we see defects in the paint that keep it from it’s full gloss and true reflection potential:

The trunk lid had some aggressive buffing done on it as some point that wasn’t finished down properly, and as a result the finish just looked hazy. No worries though…we’ll get this polished out like a jewel!

And on the rear bumper:

The tail lights will get polished as well:

I know I’m going to upset a lot of people, but this is just a teaser article! I thought it was a great story though with it making a 1300 mile journey to visit me, and wanted to give everybody a preview of what’s to come.

Stay tuned, and the next time you see this Challenge Stradale it will look like new (or better) once again…

Update!!!

Well I’ve spent the past 4 days on the Stradale, and it looks fantastic. It may take me some time to get the full article published since I’ll be attending the SEMA show in Vegas this week. Since I’m such a nice guy however, I thought I’d at least give you all a quick peek at what I’ve been up to.

Full suspension and brake detail using a homemade tool that uses compressed air mixed with soap and water:

Deep cleaning BBS wheels inside and out, and then sealing for protection:

Some wetsanding:

Removal of carbon fiber seats for polishing and waxing:

And then after 23 hours a preview of the finished product. Looks nice, eh?!

Oooooh! Ahhhhhh! If you think this looks good in the (un-touched) photos, you should see it in person!

Alright then, enough of a tease for now…you’ll just need to wait (again) for the finished product!