# My Ferrari F430, longest detail i've done so far!



## Baracuda (Apr 28, 2008)

Hello !

I sold my SL55 AMG in august last year. I happily owned it since 2006 and loved every moment of driving it, what a reliable car it was, german engineering at it's best imho. Also it was the first car i ever polished and detailed back in 2008, so you can see, lots of memories with that one :argie:

Here is a link back to my first detail for those that are curious : 
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=73277

After several months of searches i managed to pull the trigger on this dealer maintained, full history, no repaints and 7700km Ferrari F430 F1 in Rosso Corsa with black interior and carbon package.

Although it was in perfect mechanical shape, the paint needed a bit of love as you will se further down this detail. Have a cup of coffee and enjoy !

Taping the engine vents is a must, otherwise snowfoam will enter the engine bay and it will be laborious to reach and clean afterwards, ask me how i know ! :lol:



The car was pretty clean as i washed it before and got a full decon, both chemical and mechanical. So this time i started directly with 100ml of magicfoam in 1l of water.



Followed by the classical 2 bucket method with sonax red summer as shampoo





The whole car was then air dried with my master blaster dual engine, 8hp of warm filtered air, i love this thing !



Masking every vulnerable area before paint correction









Some parts we pretty light in defects, some were more severe. I used Menzerna polished for this detail : FG400, SF2100, PF3000 and LC pads Orange, White and Blue. For spot pads i had 3M. Correction was done with my trusty Flex 14-2 rotary and paint readings were taken with paint detective.











During











Air intake before :



After :



Passenger side before :





And after :





Before



After (not refined yet)



Driver's side :





And the love restored ! :argie:





50/50 wing / fuel cap 



Front bar before :



After :



Another 50/50



Bonnet : (ouch !)





Better ? :devil:



Last one ! Before :



And after :





Now that 90%+ of defects were removed i turned my attention to the wheels. Taken off one by one, cleaned with Sonax FE and Gyeon Tar



Before :



Working :





Larger tar pieces were removed with this :



And done !





Ready for new shoes now !



After that the wheels received a coat of Sonax NPT and 303 Protectant on tires. I love the way that it darkens them and there is no tire sling !



Engine bay got cleaned also but without water, just microfibres, steam and APC



Next is the interior :

Everything taken out



Vacuum, cleaned and refreshed with Sonax Smoke EX (it's good for removing old air freshener aroma also) and then treated with Gyeon Fabric.



Toolbox polished and protected



Nicest wheel jack box i've seen so far ! 



All done !



Spare wheel got protected also, with Nanolex. No tire dressing as it has a cloth cover



The ****pit was vacuumed, cleaned with Sonax upholstery and alcantara cleaner, previous air freshner smell was removed with Sonax EX Smoke. Leather was cleaned with Zymol Leather cleaner and scented with Dr Leather wipes. A final buff for the factory mat finish that i love :







Nanolex Trim :



50/50 
Satin factory finish



2 coats of my precioussss :argie::argie::argie:



And 3 weeks later when the weather got better, gave it a nice wash and refreshed the wetness with Zymol Field Glaze



Thank you for reading!
Enjoy !


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## Johnr32 (Apr 25, 2010)

Excellent job on a stunning car! I love how deep and glossy the paint looks and the reflections look very sharp. :thumb:


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## Dazzel81 (Apr 20, 2013)

Car looks awesome mate :argie:
Top work :thumb:


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Paint looks fantastic now! Well done, beautiful car


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## 5doorfish (Aug 8, 2013)

wow, that's an amazing finish!
and such a great car!
think I've had a 'crisis'


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

Lovely car, and lovely work.

Are you going to use it much? Seems a shame putting a lot of miles on such a low mileage car!

Some number plates blurred out, some are not.


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## SBM (Jul 4, 2013)

Terrific write up and such a glorious glossy finish :thumb:
Love the F430, so curvaceous:argie:

Thanks so much for sharing - going to subscribe just so I can check it out again!:thumb:


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## Baracuda (Apr 28, 2008)

Bero said:


> Lovely car, and lovely work.
> 
> Are you going to use it much? Seems a shame putting a lot of miles on such a low mileage car!
> 
> Some number plates blurred out, some are not.


Thank you !

I don't plan to use it much, perhaps 1500km/year.

I know about the number plates, there were so many pictures (posted 30% or less of what i had in my cf card) that i got bored to edit each one for the number 

Thanks again :thumb:


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## steve from wath (Dec 12, 2008)

beautiful work

best colour as well 

enjoy your new motor

quick question why on 430 are the drivers mirror pod embossed with 430 logo but passenger side isnt , its the same on right hand drives as well,,always made me wonder that one , any ideas


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Beautiful


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## jeff C50 (Feb 1, 2015)

Great write up and pictures and a wonderful super glossy finish,beautifull


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## SBM (Jul 4, 2013)

steve from wath said:


> beautiful work
> 
> best colour as well
> 
> ...


Thanks - saved me asking Steve!


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## zippo (Mar 26, 2008)

A very good write up and inspired correction .What I'm more impressed with is the fact you did it yourself. While without wishing to be rude or crass its obvious you could have paid for the detail to be done for you but you didn't and that speaks volumes to me for all the right reasons .Respect......
Daz


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## BMW - AL (Dec 31, 2012)

This looks superb, stunning results!


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Looks amazing:thumb:


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## sevenfourate (Mar 23, 2013)

OH MY WORD - Theres 'red' and theres 'RED'. And that is the latter.

Great car - even greater finish. Truly awesome !


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## Baracuda (Apr 28, 2008)

steve from wath said:


> beautiful work
> 
> best colour as well
> 
> ...


Thank you Steve !

As far as i know the driver's mirror embossing is taken from Testarossa, idk if it has any other history, racing or otherwise. I like it like that tbh.

One could order the RHD version and exchange the passenger side, it has been discussed before on the US forums.



zippo said:


> A very good write up and inspired correction .What I'm more impressed with is the fact you did it yourself. While without wishing to be rude or crass its obvious you could have paid for the detail to be done for you but you didn't and that speaks volumes to me for all the right reasons .Respect......
> Daz


Thank you for the kind words !

I've been bitten by the detailing bug in 2008 and it has grown ever since, i take pride in detailing my own cars, it feels like therapy :buffer::argie:

It's so rewarding when you can do it yourself.

Thanks again ! :thumb:

P.S : have a look at these 2 
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=210880
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=340159


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## samm (May 19, 2006)

Stunning work.


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## Jack R (Dec 15, 2014)

You've made a lovely job of that! But you've gone from a merc to this:doublesho must of been a nice bonus at work:thumb: well done and the reflections look stunning


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## Zetec-al (Feb 28, 2011)

My god that is stunning! Nice work also!


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## leehob (Jul 9, 2014)

Jaw dropping car mate, looks stunning, a job well done:thumb::buffer:


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## Summit Detailing (Oct 9, 2006)

JR1982 said:


> But you've gone from a merc to this:doublesho must of been a nice bonus at work:thumb:


Or good old fashioned hard work!?:thumb:

Nice correction and subsequent finish achieved OP ...you don't see many over here with the space saver spare wheel or indeed without contrasting stitching!:driver:


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## neilb62 (Jul 30, 2007)

Sorry, I've been looking for an excuse to use that.... Stunning, you must be so proud?


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## luke w (Dec 11, 2012)

Congratulations! Beautiful car and great work!


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## Bill58 (Jul 5, 2010)

That's an excellent job.


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Very,very nice. Top work mate.


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## 5kinner (Nov 24, 2014)

Stunning, great job there!


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## camerashy (Feb 9, 2014)

You must be really pleased with the quality of your workmanship and to be the proud owner of such a beautiful motor.
Could I ask you about using 303 on your tyres please
Dave


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## JwilliamsM (Dec 20, 2011)

amazing photos, that red is the best red i've seen on a car! well done


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## martin_46 (Aug 7, 2012)

Lovely car and awesome pics!


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## Sutty 90 (Aug 24, 2014)

Gorgeous car mate.

Sutty.


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## Baracuda (Apr 28, 2008)

Summit Detailing said:


> Or good old fashioned hard work!?:thumb:
> 
> Nice correction and subsequent finish achieved OP ...you don't see many over here with the space saver spare wheel or indeed without contrasting stitching!:driver:


Thank you !

The car has both options, the black sludge/air compressor and the space saver wheel (funny name in this case as it takes 80% of the luggage compartment :lol: )

On small punctures one could use the sludge kit but it's good to have the wheel also as backup, especially on road trips. The funny thing about the wheel is that if you get a front flat it's ok, the 225/35/19 wheel will fit in the compartment. But if you get a rear wheel flat the 285 wide tire won't fit :lol:



camerashy said:


> You must be really pleased with the quality of your workmanship and to be the proud owner of such a beautiful motor.
> Could I ask you about using 303 on your tyres please
> Dave


Hi Dave ! 
I am pretty happy with myself that all that came from my own work :argie:
It's something i would recommend to anyone to do !

The 303 left an amazing factory finish on the tires, deep black and not greasy at all. It's the frist time i've used it on tyres and i love it, as consistency is close to poorboy's bold and bright (also a great water based dressing)

I have many tire dressings in my collection : gyeon tire, megs endurance gel, poorboy's boldnbright, megs hot tyre, sonax extreme wheel gel, migliore bella lustra etc

I recommend to give this 303 a try, i think you will love it if you are looking for a more dark natural shine.

Here is a picture that shows the tire better :



I would like to thank everyone again for all the kinds words regarding my detail, what a great community this is ! /bow


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## grinnell27 (Sep 27, 2012)

Stunning car and amazing work mate!!


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## shabba (Sep 28, 2008)

wonderful work! love it in red!


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## JayA3sline (Jul 22, 2012)

How do you get on with your master blaster? I've got the baby version and have to go around the car several times as it takes ages to blow away the water and forever going over parts I've already touched. Would you rate it? Worth upgrading?


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## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

Nice work and congrats on the new ride :thumb:


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## Schuey (Sep 2, 2006)

Great finish, great car. Enjoy!


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## greymda (Feb 16, 2014)

superba masina!


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## squiretolley (Mar 10, 2014)

Absolutely stunning!


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## DAREM (Jan 28, 2011)

Now I understand why it took you so long to finish this detail!
Impressive, as always!


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## neilb62 (Jul 30, 2007)

303 on tyres? Must give that a go... :wave:


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## Baracuda (Apr 28, 2008)

JayA3sline said:


> How do you get on with your master blaster? I've got the baby version and have to go around the car several times as it takes ages to blow away the water and forever going over parts I've already touched. Would you rate it? Worth upgrading?


I bought it 4-5 years ago, haven't used a drying towel since then. I use it to dry everything from a small motorcycle to a SUV.

As we all know, less surface contact = less damage to clear coat, so in terms of protecting it this air drier is the way to go.

In terms of power, mine does have 2 switches, one for each engine. With only one switch on (4hp) it does seem to struggle a bit, but when you crank it up to 8hp it does hurt your hand if you put it in front :lol:

Obviously it works a lot better with cars that have protection as water runs down much faster, compared to a non protected car where you struggle more to dry it than to chase the water down. But we are all detailers here so that should not be a issue ! :thumb:

I bought it from UK. I presume you can order it, try it and if you don't like how it is you can send it back  But i think you will love it once you master the drying technique ! Not to mention how well it dries your rims and tires!



neilb62 said:


> 303 on tyres? Must give that a go... :wave:


Try it, i think you will like it a lot :thumb:


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

neilb62 said:


> 303 on tyres? Must give that a go... :wave:


303 is water based and does not last externally....looks good until the 1st rain:lol:


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## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

Absolutely stunning work, and congratulations on such a beautiful car


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## Ryan (Feb 18, 2008)

:argie::argie::argie:

Just want to echo the comments before about doing it yourself.. fantastic! :thumb:

Great write up, thank you for taking the time to share.


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## LSpec (Apr 7, 2013)

perfect!


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## gibbo555 (May 3, 2011)

Great work on a beautiful car, well done :thumb:


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## ionutz_cjv5 (Feb 18, 2011)

Great job, congrats!


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## Ali (Apr 5, 2006)

Beautiful!


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## Blazefan13 (Apr 19, 2015)

Mint motor, thanks for sharing.


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