I picked up my first Ferrari Saturday. 12K miles and looks great. There's some deep rooted oxidation on the trunk lid. What method might you suggest to get it out. Too is there a place on here with suggested products and procedures for body maintainence? The carpet next to the dead pedal is loose. It appears to have been re-glued and I doubt more glue will stand up to clutching. Any solutions? My two rear windows won't move (It's a convertible) and I'm told the registers need replacement. $800 each plus instalation. I got it knowing that. Now I need to act. Acting lessons? Thank you.
First, congrats on the car! It IS a big deal to get your first Ferrari. My 330 is the first; hopefully not the last, but if it is, thats definitely OK as well. Re oxidation: My guess is just bite it off and get it repainted. Since it's a separate, undamaged, and easily removable body part, shouldn't be bad on cost. My expr. is that once oxidation has become advanced, there's little you can do with it. Someone else here may have a less expensive solution. Try Griot's Garage or BMP Designs for maintenance and detailing -- I bought stuff from BMP when I had a BMW --they have some great German exterior maintenance items. Re carpet: Get some stickyback velcro or a couple of carpet snaps, clean up old glue as well as you can from mat and floorboard before installing. One of the first jobs I did was to replace the rotten rubber pedal boots with new ones -- by the time I was done I had pulled up the floor carpet from the driver and passenger are and cleaned out a big nasty pile of old glue -- the original carpet was replaced at some past time, economically... I had some neat snapin mats made to replace the carpets, at a cost of about $100 -- I made the templates for them. Regarding "acting lessons": Anyone who buys an older Ferrari needs to be prepared to spend another $3K-$5K on top of the purchase price just to fix minor problems that are immediate needs or that come up in the first few months. Find the best independent Ferrari shop in your area and get to know them, or rather, you WILL get to know them.
I like and have had great success with Griots products. Their polish products provide different levels of cutting and depending on the level of oxidation, might be able to clean this up and leave you some paint to enjoy underneath. The carpet is probably not going to stay...it did not with either of mine so I got into the habit of regluing if back in place. This got old so I worked with one of the pedal manufacturers to create a dead pedal replacement for the Mondial T Cab with a small lip, thus holding the carpet down as well as providing a slightly larger pedal. As for the window motors, pain to replace but if you want to do it yourself, you can get them through Ricambi, one of FCs sponsors. Good luck, JMG
I wasn't sure last night if it was Hill or Ultimate Pedals thus I mentioned a "pedal company"...I checked my receipts and it was Ultimate Pedals. That being said, have ordered from both...they both make quality stuff. - JMG I can take a picture if you need it...