Ferrari F430 Scuderia: A Tale of Correction, Damage, and a Dealership
by Greg GellasThe Ferrari F430 Scuderia (scuderia meaning “stable of horses”) is an amazing and beautiful machine, at least when it isn’t hammered with paint damage! My client purchased this Scud from Florida and had it shipped here to New Jersey. After inspection we decided that a two step correction and then coating would be ideal for this car.
Being black we knew there would need to be some correction, but it showed up in pretty rough shape.
Using my Rupes LHR 15 and some Meguiar’s MF Cutting pads with M101, I did my initial correction. I’m sure you’re thinking, “Did I read that right? The LHR15? Not the 21?” Correct, this car has quite a few contours and the throw on the 21 would have required me to switch to a smaller throw machine too often, so I decided to use the 15 for the majority of the work. I also used my Porter Cable with a 3″ Lake Country Backing Plate, and my 2″ polisher.
After the correction I followed that up with a white Rupes pad, and some M205.
I did a lot of 2″ work using BuffDaddy/Kevin Brown’s 2″ pads. He is the only person who sells 2″ foam pads for the small 2″ air powered machines now out on the market. If you would like Detailed Image to carry pads this size, backing plates, and even machines, leave your suggestions in the comments section of this article!
The exhaust was cleaned up with my 2″ polisher, another BuffDaddy pad, and some Optimum Metal polish.
You can see the water spots on the carbon fiber in the back, that is because I haven’t yet addressed the Carbon.
Now we can do the Carbon! All of the carbon fiber inside and out got corrected and coated. There were a couple of deeper issues in the Carbon Fiber that I was unable to remove.
The car got another wash, and then a CarPro Eraser wipe down. I began applying Cquartz Finest. Here you can see Finest has been applied and I am waiting for it to flash in order to level it and apply the second coat.
The results of this black were stunning, with lots of depth, clarity and gloss.
The owner was blown away with the fact that the car was released with 95%+ defect removal. The car was headed to the dealership right from my shop after the owner saw a small patch of coolant on his garage floor. It was also missing a heat shield for the rear exhaust and that needed to be replaced. We put signs in all the windows saying DO NOT touch or wipe down the paint while it was in the dealership for these repairs. As a free service after 5 weeks at the dealership, I offered to give it a wash and to my horror this is what I found…
The car returned with extensive damage throughout the paint! The owner confronted the dealership and they claimed that they didn’t touch it. The dealership instead claimed that my photos were doctored, I used glaze to hide the damage, or the damage was already there. Speaking with the owner he knew what the car looked like when he picked it up from me. I decided to help out the owner and do a reduced rate to fix this damage. He brought the car back down to my shop and I went back to work.
The car is now re-coated and ready to go home, not back to the dealership. In fact, this owner vowed never to go back and will only go to a private mechanic from now on.
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That is unreal! Dealerships need some serious training, especially if they are exotic dealers. I had a similar situation but the damage was inflicted by the owner. After applying 22PLE, the owner decided to go through a car wash 3 weeks later.
…you can’t save them all.
Did you do anything different when polishing the coating the second time? My 911 is coated with 22PLE and I am going to do a light polish to get rid of some light swirling from over the winter and wondering if I need to do anything different with the coating on the car. I usually do sonax perfect finish when touching up only light swirling. Thanks
Great work, Greg!
I still can’t believe the dealership lied about the damage they did and actually tried accusing you of editing your pics or using a glaze! Unreal!
Very nice, Greg!! Such a great looking car… I’m sure you didn’t really mind working on it twice 🙂
Amazing job on an amazing car, nice work!! Can you share some thoughts on the choice of M101 versus M105 for the defect removal?
The 101 has a longer work time (stays wet) so you can do intense defect removal. But it leaves a finish better than most final polishes. The stuff isn’t cheap but worth every penny. I find it works better with a foam pad. But others nay have a different opinion on what works best.
Thanks for the info, I’ll have to try the 101 instead of my usual 105/MF disk combo. The additional work time sounds good, 105 usually turns into dust well before I’m done with the section.
Try the M101 with W7006 foam pad. It cuts very fast. Finishes very nice. The job looks stunning. That’s what detailing is all about!!! The really sad part is most of the guys working in dealerships have no training of any kind what so ever. And way to many are run by cheap sublet companies that do full details for $80. Its a joke. If I spent 200k on a car and found out it was cleaned like that? Pfffft. Are you kidding??? I’d throw the keys in the sales guys face.
Great work Greg! Glad to see an appreciative client who knows the difference between what a pro detailer brings to the table vs. an incompetent and dishonest dealer! Additionally, yes I think DI should stock a few of the 2″ Kevin Brown pads for all of us. I purchased a few and they are great for A pillars and the tight areas. Many of us have access to compressed air so the 2″ pad and air tool combo also speeds up correction of small scratches where light wet sanding was needed.
Nice work Greg! It’s unreal that people would let a $200k car like this go to the pits. I always take extra special care of my cars. Ever since I learned how to detail cars, I do it to my personal vehicles and for others. It’s amazing with a wash, clay, machine polish and a wax can do. You do nice work man! Keep it up!
Dealerships are horrible when it comes to cleaning customers cars. If they had any conscience they would have paid for your services the 2nd time. I get a fair number of customers who take their vehicles to the car wash for a detail which has no clue on how to detail a vehicle. They let inexperienced kids do the detail and I can’t believe the work they turn out. Anyway, great work Greg, nice to see what a pro can do.
I think detailed image should add the 2″ rupes polisher to there inventory i just dont think they will sell all that well being that its air powered and thats an extra expense just to power the tool if they do plan on adding it i think they should recommend what kind of air compressor or psi rating is required to keep the tool powered properly as i think some one would purcahse this and have a cheap pancake air compressor attached to it and it wont keep it properly powered through a polishing cycle the scuderia was polished out to perfection i think your customer was smart enough to bring his car to a professional but forgot to bring it to a professional mechanic Dealerships main jobs are to sell cars period thats what they do they have extra services to maintain and clean them but thats not what they speacialize in so you cant expect professional results its almost like going to a great steakhouse and then order that pasta and expect great italian food so if you want a good looking ferrari and live in jersey go to greg if you want it to run right go to a pro mechanic that speaclizes in high end cars and if you want a new one go to the dealership just make sure they dont touch it
Holy cow I can’t believe that’s how the scud’ came back from the dealer! That’s like a kick in the face! Kudos to you for taking excellent care of your client. If I ever own a car that’s worthy of it, I will be sending it direct to you (or Todd, no offence) In the meantime my Honda will have to suffer with my amateur detailing skills, although they are improving with every article I read (and a lot of practice). Keep up the good work, it’s an inspiration to all us rookies. The results you achieve are unreal. (or it could be those doctored pics……)
Would love to have the opportunity to buy the 2″ polisher and pads from Detailed Image.
Please stock the 2″ pads! Many people are buying the 2″ air polishers now.