Hello All, I am a professional auto detailer in the Lone Star state and was directed to this forum in a conversation I had with a Ferrari owner. I detail several Ferrari's and will post from time to time their pictures after I have detailed them. This Modena is owned by a doctor who has been a client of mine for almost 12 years now. I would be happy to answer any questions, as long as my feeble mind knows the answer, regarding detailing and the products I use and have used. Also please let me know if I am posting in the correct area. Thanks, Anthony
It May Be personal Preference, or a Better product or just whats in the garage. 1.Who's Carnuba wax do you endorse? 2. who's final detail spray wax? 3. Who's Rubber moulding,Tire or plastic conditioner? 4.who's Metal polish. what other products are you fond of Thanks, Michael
Hello Michael, 1) I carry several different carnauba paste waxes with me. Trade Secret, Pizazz and I am currently testing Victoria's Cruisin Wax and I am expecting any day now a "black" carnauba wax to test for a company. For liquid waxes I love the results of Vanilla Moose, Poorboys Ex and the re-vamped Pinnacle Liquid Souveran. 2) I use several QD's as many are sent my way as samples and to test out. I almost always have Clear Pearl, Quickshine and I am being sent some Poorboys QD to test out as well. For cars that have a polymer sealant on, like Wolfgang or FMJ I will use Platinums Polymer QD. 3) For plastics I love the Novus 3 step system although I rarely use the abrasive #3. I also use Plexus, which is a great multi-use product. For tires I prefer Fourstar Tire Gel. Auto Magic also makes a great water based tire dressing called "Super Dress-It". I stay away from solvent based tire dressings. The tires on the Modena are finished out with Fourstar Tire Gel. 4) For metal you can't beat the Rolite metal polishing system. Great results with little effort and I like the fact that it comes in a medium, coarse and fine grade. I am testing a slew of products right now, a wonderful leather cleaning and conditioning system, some paint cleaners, polishes and waxes and also a great new APC (All Purpose Cleaner). Please let me know if I can be of any further help........or if you all don't mind I can post up some pictures of other cars I have detailed, interiors also, and a description of the method to my madness! Take care, Anthony
Can't say I,ve heard of all thoser Brand lines, But it is intrigueing. I have had a passion for Detailing my own cars for some 20 years now and I am currently preparing My Ferrari for the Greenwich Concours in June.It is a very Medicinal escape for me to indulge in detailing. I am sure it is Quite different as an occupation, but rewarding as well. When you detail do you go as far as suspension components ie. upper/lower A arms springs/Shocks. calipers etc. I am at that stage now and I am using 3 inch diameter wire wheels on a vertical drill.Could use a few pointers on getting crud off in hard to reach areas, without disassembly. Are there internet suppliers of some of the products you mentioned? BTW. Welcome to the Site! Michael
Hi Anthony, First, I wish you were near me so I could hire you for my cars! Two questions please: 1. My 360 has water spots (or some kind of spots) which I can't get off unless I scrub them VERY VERY hard. What would you use to get them off? I purchased the car with 1400 miles and they were on when I got the car. 2. What do you like for leather care? Thank you! Mike
I never heard of these products either. Would like to know where to get them especially the paint/polishing/wax products. I use Meguiars and am happy with the results I get but open to other ideas and suggestions.
Meguiars is nice but if you have never experienced what Multiple coats of a 60% or greater carnuba wax can do, take a look at this. @ 12 coats
Michael, that shine (and car) staggers the imagination! How did you do that? What did you use? Could you explain a little what is involved, more or less, step by step. I want MY car to look like YOUR car! Wow!!
This is Anthony's Thread, Dont want to steal it but in a nut shell.bought my 84 512 5 months ago..used meguiars scratch remover(tube) on entire car twice,(equivilent of 1/2 polishing and 1/2 rubbing compound) white terry turned deep red with the removal of oxidized layers of paint.There is a new brand of wax called Eagle one( commercially available called nano wax.) that was first and second coats, minimalizes angel hair scratches, the next 10 coats were mixed between Zymol yellow 60% carnuba and a dtergent proof wax called Collinite. Topped it off with a final detail spray made by Meguiars for Mercedes Benz ...AND all of that took me 2 months to do...Interior of the car is 100%.I am detailing suspension components now. Wheww!
Hey banduga, Thanks for the compliments....and WOW! I was not expecting such a rapid response. I will do my best to reply to each individual. A great way to start off detailing your engine is to be SAFE! This means to make sure you have all your valves and caps on tight and on earlier models you may need to cover up some areas with plastic baggies. Honestly though after 15 years of detailing I have never once had an engine not start or be damaged after it was detailed. I first start the engine and let it get warm, not hot. This may take only a few minutes. I then wet down the painted areas surrounding the engine bay. This will dilute any degreaser that may get on the paint. If possible use a water based degreaser. I use an APC from Hi-Temp, Simple Green can also work well as long as you cut it way back with water and some citrus based degreasers work well also. Just look for "safe to use on painted surfaces" and stay away from cleaners that say, "Don't use on glass or paint". Work from the bottom of the engine to the top, Spray a little here and there and then let it dwell for a few minutes and begin to scrub with a bristle brush(in the medium range in terms of stifness), and it is best if it has a long handle for the hard to reach areas. I use this brush designed for motorcylces to reach those hard to get areas and it is AWESOME, especially for deep wheel cleaning and it is what I used to clean the above 360 engine. http://www.topoftheline.com/ezmotdetbrus.html Rinse down the area you just cleaned and then work your way to the top areas. Spray a little, clean, rinse. There is no need to rinse with fire hose pressure, just a nice flow of water is all you need as long as you are cleaning properly. Many high end engine bays today contain some form of carbon fiber and for these areas I use car soap and a sponge and I then later polish and wax these areas. So don't use brushes on these delicate surfaces. After I am satisfied with the cleaning I then blow dry the engine area with either compressed air or forced air from my electric leaf blower. Towel dry any remaining water because we don't want water spots and then begins the detailing. I start by using a water based dressing cut 50/50 with water, this particular engine was done with a dressing from Automagic called "Super Dress-It". Spray the whole engine area down real well, it won't harm glass or the paint. I let this stuff dry naturally and then take a sponge a few hours later and buff out all the areas I sprayed. I then polished each individual metal hose clamp, and metal nut cap. Polish the large muffler area only after things have cooled off. I use Rolite for all my metal polishing needs, great stuff. I then polished the painted framing system that supports the engine and waxed it. The wax will not last long at all BUT the shine stays for some time as long as you wipe those areas dry after washing the engine. For the Modena the engines get wet every time I wash the car so I just pop the rear lid and rinse the area down as the Modena engines get very dusty and then blow them dry. I then use a microfiber towel and some quickdetailer to remove water spots and give the engine bay a nice look. That's about it really..........I mean there are other things that go into it but that's my basic routine in a nutshell. Hope that helps.
Michael, thanks for the welcome and I have no problem with you or others adding input to any of my threads, this one or future ones. Great pics of the car by the way! I love detailing and have been doing so for 15 years now and if the client asks for it I can remove the wheels and clean the inside wheel areas, clean and paint if needed the wheel wells and the suspension. One of the easiest ways to clean that area you are doing is to remove the wheel then spray a grease cutting cleaner in that area. Let it sit for several minutes, agitate if needed and then hit it with a pressure washer. As long as you keep a safe distance from the painted top areas you will be fine. For the Trade Secret wax and the Pizazz was, plus the Klasse All In One go here www.topoftheline.com Ask for Irene For the Poorboys selection go here http://www.poorboysworld.com/ Try the Bold and Bright tire dressing and also the EX-P. Ask for Steve The Vanilla Moose I get from http://www.clearkote.com/ Ask for Everett All these folks know me so tell them Anthony from Ultimate Reflections sent ya. You may have trouble getting hold of Everette because he does so much traveling and he does all his own shipping, a real "Mom and Pop" business. If he takes awhile getting back to you let me know. Anthony
Mike, Well if you live in Texas we could work something out I am sure For hard water spots on the glass first try some vinegar full strength. Pour some on a piece of EXTRA fine steel wool (#0000) and go over the glass. If using steel wool is a bit scarey for you then use the vinegar on a cotton ball and allow it to soak in real well. Then go over the glass with some detailers clay. Fill up a spray bottle with water and add a pinch or two of car soap. This will act as a lubricant for the clay. No need to buy some "specialized" lubricant because that's all they are anyways. If they are still there then what I would do is polish the glass with a soft cotton towel and some chrome polish. Chrome polish works great and works every time for me. Either by hand or with a polisher. Try Mothers chrome polish as it can be bought locally. If you are leary about using it at first just try a small area, using medium pressure, and then rinsing well with water. For leather I use a cleaning product called "Deep Down" and cutit 50/50 with water. Deep Down can be bought here http://www.topoftheline.com/deepleatvinc.html The Deep Down is a bit stronger, yet just as gentle as the popular Lexol cleaners. For a conditioner I love the leather condioner put out by Fourstar. I used to use Pinnacle but it always ticked me off that it streaked black leather. This Fourstar doesn't streak and it leaves behind a great leather smell. You can get the stuff here http://www.premiumautocare.com/fostulleco.html Now Fourstar also offers a leather cleaner that is in a gel form and it works well but it seems to leave a stickiness at times also. I am testing several new leather cleaners and condioners and will let you all know how things go. So far I love the cleaners but am not yet sold on the condtioner. Lastly, the question is: "What type of leather do you have?" Is it Analine leather or Protected leather? Analine leather is leather which is basically untreated, or has no clear coat applied to it. So when you condition it you are then working with the dyed pigment. This type of leather needs to be "feed" and a lanolin based product is usually best. Then we have the Protected leathers which have a "clear coat" of sorts applied over the pigmented color. Most domestic and Asian imports use clear coats on the leather while most Euro cars, especially high end exotics like Ferrari's opt for the analine leather. To tell the difference take a water dropper and drop a drop of water on the leather seat. if it soaks in then you have analine leather. if it stays on top and beads then you have protected leather. It is a fairly accurate test, although simple. Protected leathers last longer but don't "feel" as warm to the touch like analine leathers. Protected leathers are cleaned in the same manner but should be condioned with a different conditioner. Klasse makes a nice conditioner for protected leathers as does Lexol and 303. Hope this helps, if you have other questions please feel free to ask. Anthony
I sure hope I didn't forget or overlook any questions, if so please bring them to my attention. I will include here a few more pictures for Mike, and others. it's of a BMW interior, the first one is a BEFORE. Thank You, Anthony
Thank you Anthony, Just Bookmarked all those sites.....You Know I will try a few of those products, I will reply on this thread in a few weeks with my results...U should ask those vendors for a refferal commission as thousands review these pages.Thanks again Michael
Thank you for sharing your detailing secrets! I would like to ask you another question: What do you use por a vinyl/plastic dash or doorpanels? I enclose a photo of how my interior looks like...it's not a Fcar, but still italian.... Thank you very much Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Spider, Truthfully I prefer the "el natural" look. In other words I use nothing to dress the door panels or dash. You collect less dust, there is no glare from the sun bouncing off your dash and no "wear" spots. These are areas that you have alot of contact with, like arm rests, various switches and knobs on the dash and the interior door handles. A dressed out door panel looks great until a day or so later when an area of the dressing, where you rest your arm, has been removed due to friction. Then it looks off balance and two toned. So I prefer to thoroughly clean the dash and door panels with one of the earlier mentioned cleaners and then dry it very well with a clean microfiber towel. If a client insist I dress out their interior I will use a leather/vinyl dressing made by Klasse. It is a low sheen dressing with a pleasant but not over powering scent, which fades away after awhile. The interior picture of the BMW above is only cleaned, there is no dressing anywhere on the dash, console or door panels. Only the seats are conditioned with Fourstar Leather Creme. The Klasse stuff can also be used on plastic. I will post up a few more pictures in a few minutes, start another thread, that shows some BEFORE and AFTERS of plastic polishing. If you have any other questions please fire away. Anthony
Anthony, I can't thank you enough. Maybe you already mentioned this, but do you have a web site? If you do, you should put this neat information in it, include the before and after photos in it, and list your satisfied customers in testimonial form. Indeed, please put my name on it as I can say truthfully that you solved a vexing detail problem for me. Your knowledge and superior skill needs to be marketed to the automotive enthusiasts in your community. Again, thanks!
Mike, Very humbled by your reply...truly. I in fact do have a website, please visit it if you like and I was thinking of having a "comment" page up but I always get worried that others may see it as me bragging or being conceited. I don't do this or post up pics of my work to get bragging rights but rather to help others out, like yourself, and to also learn from others (OK, maybe a little bit of bragging, Shhhh). Here is my site www.UltimateReflections.NET Thank You, Anthony
What product do you use for getting the wax off the black area around the window where the mirror mounts? Thanks
racerdj, There are 2 ways of handling the detailing of this area. One is to be re-active, meaning while waxing the car your pad comes in contact with the black molding or trim and whites up. The second way is to be pro-active and either mask off all areas of trim where it meets the paint or instead of waxing right up to the trim/paint line, you instead wax just shy of the trim/paint line. When you then buff the wax off your towel will carry some of the wax to these areas, but not enough to whiten the trim. To clean the wax from these areas you can use a product called "Wax Blaster", which can be bought here http://www.premiumautocare.com/waxblaster.html If the trim is in real bad shape then I recommend this product http://www.topoftheline.com/trim-molding-dye.html Lastly, if you want a quick fix, that looks great also.....get out some "smooth" or "creamy" peanut butter and with a cotton terry towel aply some peanut butter to the affected area and buff it into the area(s) you desire black. The oils in the peanut butter do a great job of masking, and sometimes if applied with a SOFT toothbrush, can actually remove the wax residue. Hope that helps, Anthony
