This was by far one of my favorite detail jobs ever! The client came to me looking to polish to perfection this gorgeous Murcielago SV before he wrapped the whole thing in paint protection film (clear bra). He purchased it only a few weeks before the detail job was to be done and wanted to perfect and protect it ASAP. The car was quite a mess when I first saw it, as you’ll see in the photos below. In addition to the typical swirl marks on a black car, I had to remove the original film that was on the hood, fenders and front bumper. Once that was removed, I was in for quite a surprise beneath, which I’ll explain a bit later in the article. Overall there was nothing out of the ordinary in terms of dealing with odd paint issues, etc. It was simply a lot of work consisting mainly of about 4-5 polishing stages over a course of 4 days. While I’d love to write about how amazing this car was to work with and how great it looked after the work was done, I think the photos below will easily tell the story…
I started with the wheels and used P21S Gel Wheel Cleaner to fully clean them…
Meguiar’s All Purpose Cleaner Plus (D103) was sprayed on the wheel wells to break down some minor dirt…
Like with every other detail job, I used the full size EZ Detail Brush to reach the inside wheel surfaces…
The mini EZ Detail Brush, which I purposely bend specifically for this task, was used to clean behind the spokes…
I used the DI Boar’s Hair Detailing Brush to clean the spokes, wheel bolts and brake calipers…
Rinsing the wheels after everything was brushed clean…
I used Dodo Juice Born Slippy Clay Lube…
and a Clay Magic Fine Grade Clay Bar to remove some minor contamination that was on the Lambo…
After washing it (I didn’t get any photos of the wash process for some reason) I wanted to take a bit of a different before photo. As you can see below, the paint looks glossy, reflective and like a mirror, but all because of the angle and lighting.
Here’s what it actually looked like…
This was below the paint protection film. For some reason, the paint under the film was in much worse condition than the rest of the car. I can only assume the car was either not detailed properly after the clear bra was already put on, or someone did a very bad polishing job on the areas where the clear bra was originally to be applied. Either way, it wasn’t a pretty picture, to say the least.
Along with all the swirlmarks, there was a fairly deep and wide scratch on the hood. I assume it happened during the clear bra installation where someone wiped the hood and didn’t really care for what was on it.
These are some photos of the rest of the car before any paint correction was done. Roof…
Mirror…
Rear pillar…
Once again, the hood condition as I was removing the film…
And a photo of the hood inside using the Brinkmann LED Spotlight…
A little bit of taping…
And a lot of polishing…
Got us these results… Few before/after shots…
Outside photos after correction was done…
That horrible hood from before made a nice turnaround…
So did the fender…
Finally a few whole car photos in the back of my shop…
Ahh what a car! Overall the paint improved to almost perfect condition before it was completely wrapped with paint protection film. I have plenty more photos but figured I was posting too many anyway :). This car has since been sold and the client is currently a proud owner of a brand new Ferrari 458, which was also fully protected with paint protection film after some lighter polishing.
Some of the products used in the detail:
Flex XC 3401 VRG
Porter Cable 7424XP Random Orbital Buffer
Meguiar’s DA Microfiber Cutting Disc Buffing Pads
Lake Country Orange Light Cutting Pad
Lake Country Hydro Tech Crimson Ultra Fine Finishing Pad
Meguiar’s Ultra-Cut Compound M105
Meguiar’s DA Microfiber Correction Compound D300
Meguiar’s Ultra Finishing Polish M205
Menzerna Micro Polish SF 4500 (PO85RD)
Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax
Thanks as always for reading and please feel free to leave any comments or questions below.