# 360 Modena Winter Preperation



## Huw (Feb 16, 2007)

A fellow member of the 406 Coupe Club had recently upgraded to this little number and asked me if I could prepare his car for the winter. He specified that he wanted the wheels removed to be cleaned and sealed properly, and the arches cleaned and dressed. I was relieved to hear him offer to remove the wheels himself as the thought of misplacing the trolley jack or an axle stand broke me out in a cold sweat. Apart from that the brief was simple, clean, make the metallic 'pop' and wax it ready for the winter.

The logistics were not as straight forward, he lives in London, I lives three and a half hours from him, so we had to make a weekend of it. So Saturday morning he sets off and eventually arrives in West Wales, I had commandered my dads garage due to the weather forecast. Just as well as the rain Gods were busy on the Saturday.

The car was in very good condition, it apparently had been detailed about four months ago prior to him buying it. A few panels had swirls and a few scratches but there wasn't much correction required. In fact it was difficult to get any decent 'before' photos to a combination of low swirling, [email protected] camera and my poor memory when it comes to these things.




























This gives you an idea of the swirls, not much but the owner didn't like seeing them.










Products used:

Duragloss 901
Valet Pro Bilberry Wheel Cleaner
Valet Pro PH Neutral Snow Foam
Valet Pro Orange Pre Wash
Valet Pro Glass Cleaner
Valet Pro Citrus Tar & Glue Remover
Valet Pro Protectant (wheel arches)
G101
Bilt Hamber Auto Clay
Megs Last Touch
Megs Endurance Tyre Gel
Megs No7 Show Car Glaze
3M Ultrafina SE Polish
3M Fast Cut Plus
Aerospace 303 Protectant
Chemical Guys Wheel Gaurd
Collinite 476

A big :thumb:to Paul at Glossmax for sorting out the Ultrafina & clay at short notice for me.

We started by foaming the car and sprayed the wheels with the wheel cleaner to remove as much brake dust as possible, before taking them off for a thorough clean.










Knowing that a normal trolley jack wouldn't fit under the sill, the owner came armed with his own ramp to aid the process.










The glue & tar remover doing its thing. You can see my longest wheel brush wasn't quite long enough to clean the wheels on the car.










Cleaned and sealed with the Wheel Gaurd and a coat of 476.



















Whilst each wheel was off I foamed the arches with a snow foam/pre-wash combo and got scrubbing. Glue & tar remover was then applied, before being pressure washed off and dried with a leaf blower. They were then dressed with the VP Protectant.



















The bodywork was de-tarred and rinsed and then the usual wash was done using the two bucket method. As we started claying the heavens opened, again, the owner was helping me with the claying and was reluctant to stop due to bad weather, so we rolled her into the garage and and cracked on.










The wheel removal had taken a lot longer than anticipated so we were well behind on the schedule. We even forgot to have lunch, which has never happened before, well not to me.

Onto the polishing side of things, I stuck with the G220, I wasn't confident to use the rotary on this, not yet. Various pads were used with various polishing combinations as we went round the car. When it was time to call time on Saturday evening, this is what we had achieved.





































Sunday morning brought some dry weather and I called in window sticker removal specialist, funny how a Ferrari can get a 15 year old out of bed so early on s Sunday morning. The car had been on a 2000 mile, five day 
jaunt to France and had the tour organisers stickers still on the windows.










The engine was cleaned using G101 and agitated with a brush and rinsed off. It was then dressed with Aerospace 303.










The interior was given a hoover & wipe down, loved the carbon fibre backed seats, and the glass cleaned.



















After a few hours more polishing, it was time to glaze and wax, which left the finished article.














































The happy owner warming the engine, ready for my 'thankyou' drive. Which went err, quickly.










Thanks for looking.


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## dominic32 (Jul 13, 2009)

:thumb:


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## Warwickshire Detailer (Oct 11, 2009)

Was his upgrade from a 406? 
Good work :thumb:


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

stunning one word for it


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Gorgeous results! really love that interior! :thumb:


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## bart (Jul 20, 2009)

Great work on a top car:thumb:


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## chillly (Jun 25, 2009)

wicked job mate :thumb:


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## Huw (Feb 16, 2007)

W_VRS said:


> Was his upgrade from a 406?
> Good work :thumb:


Yep, 406 Coupe diesel. Both designed by Pinninfarina, both built in Italy and both have two doors. Hence the 'upgrade'.


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## MarkJ (May 13, 2009)

Good work matey, nice car


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

cracking work lad - and your 15? GazW should watch out


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## Warwickshire Detailer (Oct 11, 2009)

Huw said:


> Yep, 406 Coupe diesel. Both designed by Pinninfarina, both built in Italy and both have two doors. Hence the 'upgrade'.


Nice upgrade :driver:


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## Cullers (Sep 29, 2009)

I can just imagine going into a Ferrari dealership and asking about a trade in!!
Lovely job mate. Adore the inside although that fire extinguisher detracts a little


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## Phil H (May 14, 2006)

awesome stuff!


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## adam87 (Dec 11, 2008)

Some upgrade that!

Top job :thumb:


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## Planet Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Very nice mate. Not jealous at all


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## Eddy (Apr 13, 2008)

Lovely job, thats a bit of an upgrade from a 406 though. was a lotto win involved somewhere?


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

Sorry to be a spoil sport here;

1 Did you have insurance to carry out the work.
2 Unless you have the insurance I would never rinse off a Farrari engine, very fragile and £££££££ to repair.
3 Ok you used a DS but if not confident on a rotary shoud you be attacking a Ferrari.

But good on you for the work but could you imagine if the beast would not have started due to you spraying a sensor????


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Very nice indeed - well done :thumb:


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## magpieV6 (Jul 29, 2008)

so lucky, looked good finished


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## PaulN (Jan 17, 2008)

Nice work there.

Suprised you didnt travel to him though..... 

Cheers

PaulN


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## rds1985 (Mar 7, 2009)

sweet job on the wheels and arches will try foaming the arches myself now


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## dodger (May 20, 2006)

nice detail, the wheels came up a treat, what strength was the Bilberry wheel cleaner?


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## Ti22 (Mar 24, 2009)

Nice after shots. Pity silver never quite looks as good on a camera though!


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## Exclusive Car Care (Jan 14, 2007)

good stuff young'un:thumb::thumb: good up the good work


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## s3 rav (Apr 30, 2008)

you almost forget how beautiful these cars are. great work.


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## Rasher (Mar 6, 2006)

very nice


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

stunning the Wheels came up a treat!! very very nice indeed!!!


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## smoki1969 (Oct 10, 2006)

Great work there :thumb:

Absolutely luvving the interior..... :doublesho


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## Wmffra (Oct 30, 2005)

Nice one
As already mentioned several times nice upgrade :thumb:


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## TCD (Jan 27, 2009)

Amazing car & awesome work!!


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Looks the nuts, mate !


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## Huw (Feb 16, 2007)

fiestadetailer said:


> cracking work lad - and your 15? GazW should watch out


I'm not 15, I was referring to my son. I've never known anything get him out of bed early on a Sunday. I don't think Gaz has anything to worry about.



Cullers said:


> I can just imagine going into a Ferrari dealership and asking about a trade in!!
> Lovely job mate. Adore the inside although that fire extinguisher detracts a little


Apparently the extinguisher is a Ferrari item, a nice little option at £350!



Eddy said:


> Lovely job, thats a bit of an upgrade from a 406 though. was a lotto win involved somewhere?


No lotto involved, just hard graft and the realization of a lifetimes dream.



PaulN said:


> Nice work there.
> 
> Suprised you didnt travel to him though.....
> 
> ...


It was considered but the fact that his parking space is seven floors below his flat so there was no water or electricity available put a stop to that idea.



dodger said:


> nice detail, the wheels came up a treat, what strength was the Bilberry wheel cleaner?


5:1 for the Bilberry.

My son has just downloaded this photo off his phone of the local wildlife taking an interest in the finished article.


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

ah, right :thumb:


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## vpricey (May 8, 2006)

Very nice mate, good work!! :thumb:


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