F430 [72 pics] « Orion Detailing Co.

F430 [72 pics]

Hey Everyone,

Here is a new write up on a black on black on black F430 lol. A long time e46 M3 client referred this gentleman to me and after exchanging a few emails back and forth and a phone call we finally got the Ferrari in the shop.

This service was a 2 stage polish paint correction + Opti Coat and took 2 days to complete.

Here is the Prancing Horse on arrival

Starting with the wheels was the usual prep routine

We used our angle brush to reach into the wheel well

And clean the tire wall

Cleaning inside the lugnut area

The calipers

And finally rinsing everything off with our angled power washer extension

The exhaust was cleaned as well

First outside the pipe with our Mini Ez Brush

Then inside with 0000 steel wool

Here is a before and after shot

Before

After

Finally we can wash the car

Starting with a rinse

Two bucket method always used

Washing with a natural sea sponge

Rinsing off the dirt in the water only bucket before putting it back in the soap bucket

Taking care of the little details

Door jambs

And before drying off the paint was clayed to remove embedded dirt in the clearcoat

Pretty dirty

After drying measurements of the paint thickness were taken to ensure we had healthy levels to work with

Everything was looking good and there were no signs of repaint

Next was to mask off the rubber trim to protect it from staining or being burnt by our buffer

The paint was in fairly rough condition and after a few test sections I decided to go with Meguiars Microfiber cutting pad and compound

Here is a shot of me polishing

And the befores and afters

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Here is a quick 50/50 on the passenger’s door with the right polished and the left side untouched

Also the taillights were polished as well

Before

After

The 2nd stage was carried out with a light cutting pad and polish and the whole car was polished again for the 2nd stage to refine the finish and bring out the deep gloss

After the 2 stages of polishing were completed the masking tape was removed

And the paint alcohol wiped to remove the polishing oils

I double checked the paint with my Infratech which produces the same color light as the sun

No more swirls

Here is a teaser of the shine achieved

Opti Coat was used to protect the paint. If you are not familiar with Opti Coat, it is something different from a wax or sealant. It is actually a coating and to be more exact a resin based coating that behaves like a wax and is permanent. What’s great about the protection that it offers is, it is chemical resistant which means things like bird droppings will no longer burn into your paint and leave that nasty staining. Also it is very hard, on the pencil hardness scale it is 9H which doesn’t mean it is invincible but if you maintain your car properly you can keep it swirl free for life!

There are many other great features about Opti Coat but those are the main selling points. If you google it and do a little research you will see quite a few extensive test on Youtube and other forums.

The Diablo in the background was just Opti Coated as well.