Hello guys
What a weekend! I had the huge privilege of detailing a Porsche 911 Turbo in Techart form. What a stunning vehicle! I had two days with the car and I have no shame in saying this was the most fun detail I have ever done
Lets get started.
Some information on the actual car:The car is obviously a 996 Turbo (Quoted as one of the best vehicles ever built) in Techart form. This means the bonnet, skirts and bootlid are all carbon fibre. The car features aluminium "turbo" branded door sills, a huge carbon fibre wing and a variety of engine modifications.
PowerUnder the hood you will find modification heaven from Forge DV Valves to new Air Filters. Expect at least 400kw from this Porsche and a 0-100km of about 3.9 seconds in standard form without the modifications.
RareThe Techart 996 Porsche is an extremely rare vehicle. This example (Especially in the colour it is - Known as Lapis Blue if I remember correctly) is the only car of its type in South Africa. Power, looks and a speciality car all in one. What more do you want?
The actual Detail:I started with the car early on a Saturday morning after being picked up in the James Bond BMW (Love that car!) and began with the detail... Only prob is it was raining....
Not one to be disappointed I began. Here are a few before shots:
As you can see the car was not too clean when I got it. The reason for this is because the car was taken to a meet the week before and it was raining says the owner with a cheeky zoned out look on his face as if sacrificing the car to the rain is perfectly standard procedure. Any excuse to drive it hey?
So... With the car already in the garage I began working. With this detail I decided to have a play with a few of my new Liqui Moly products. I was surprised. I started using the "Auto intensive paint cleanser" for the sills, exhausts and engine bay. It worked so well I ended up coating the entire car with it and using it as a lube for the clay which it did brilliantly. I used a full bottle of the stuff but it was truly brilliant at cleaning and degreasing.
At this point the owner pulled the car out for me. I should mention that at this point the car was still dirty and had not been clayed. I pulled out the Liqui Moly "Rim Cleaner" and got to work in the rain on the wheels. Wow!
I have used industrial degreasers, cleaners and products on rims and never have I found a product that was this effective. Spray on, leave for ten minutes and agitate gently with a brush and the magic happens....
The car was then foamed off and allowed to soak for a bit and then jetwashed off.
At this point the car was left outside for a hour while I went upstairs and watched some tv and discussed Mini Coopers with the owners wife. Why you ask? Simple... It wouldnt start.
The Porsche 996 PSM system and electronics systems mean that even when the Porsche is switched off and ignition is out the systems are still pulling power from the battery. To solve this Porsche provide you with a charger that you plug into the cigarette lighter which will charge the car. We didnt plug this in properly and the car had been standing for a week prior to the detail with no charger. One start to pull her out had killed the battery... So at this stage the car was left outside with a the charger wrapped in a plastic bag whilst the car charged. An hour later it started first time
When bought inside the car was already soaked from the rain so using the Liqui Moly paint cleaner and clay were easy. The car was clayed and the damage was not too bad at all. Bonnet and roof were the worst and the back wing had bad contamination... I didnt touch the rims though... Too risky.
The Correction This was the fun part... I had this to work with:
Not too good... But manageable with the correct products.
The car was then taped up with blue scotch tape. At this pointed I renamed the car to the "Polizei Porsche". At first the owner disagreed but soon was also agreeing. The mixture of blue, black and navy with the products on the roof and bodykit made me think the car looked like a police car. Truly brilliant. Although discussed in joking form I think the owner is seriously considering taping it up again and getting a Polizei banner for the windscreen. This in combination with hazards and xenon lights should create quite a stir at the next track day
The correction process was quite a simple process and I must admit that this Porsche's paint was so willing to work with me.
I used Chemical Guys Pro Polish applied with a microfibre applicator. This was applied and buffed off 5 times per panel using a light pressure.
Then Continued to using Bilt Hamber Auto Balm on the tougher swirls and scratches. This combination was superb!
This is the correction I was getting by hand... I refused to use the Rotary on this car.
The picture above was before I applied the Bilt Hamber which not only fills swirls but cuts and remixes the swirls by reblending them... A bit like smoothing out paint. It also did me the pleasure of further cleansing the paint.
Part 2 in next thread
