"For those of you who have been following my work for some time now, you have gotten the opportunity to follow along with me while I perform full details and major paint correction on some of the most beautiful cars in the world: Ferrari! You’ve seen the art of detailing on such Ferrari’s as the powerful 599 GTB, the stunning Challenge Stradale, the ultra-rare 288 GTO, and one of my most popular posts in the Mini-Restoration Detail of a 355 GTS. What I bring to you today however is quite special:

The 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia!

Not only is this particular 458 one of the first to arrive here in the States, but to my knowledge it’s the very first in North America to go through such an extensive and fully documented paint correction detail. My client brought this beauty to me at the detailing studio within NJB Automotive the day after he received it so that I could get it started off correctly and fix the paint issues that typically come from the factory.

Introduction: Ferrari 458 Italia

The 458 Italia is the successor to the popular mid-engined F430 and is much more than a simple makeover! Weighing in at a mere 3042 pounds, the 560HP V-8 motor will propel the 458 from 0-62 mph in a scant 3.4 seconds and reaches a top speed of 202 mph! The 7-speed, double-clutch gearbox is a technical marvel in itself, and the shifts from the paddle shifters happen almost instantaneously (I went for a ride in it and can vouch on this claim). The ride was firm but not harsh by any means, and the stunning interior ranks up there with finishing touches and amenities found in high-end luxury cars. While the shape and overall beauty of the 458 is art to your eyes, the intoxicating sound coming from the exhaust is art to your ears. Ferrari didn’t merely hit a home run on the Italia…they knocked it completely out of the park.

Evaluation:

As I stated previously, my client took delivery of his new 458 on Monday afternoon, and I had it in my possession already on Tuesday morning. We had an open appointment set for months, knowing that the car would need some work when it arrived via air freight from Italy. Before working on it, I was taken for a ride in this technical marvel and all I can say is that it’s everything that the media raves about…and then some! We arrived back at the shop, big smile on my face, and ready for a closer inspection and evaluation of the paint.

Now I’ve worked on enough Ferrari’s to know that they come from the factory in less than stellar condition, so I was prepared for the worst. Many people assume that the more you pay for a vehicle, the better that it would look but that’s not always the case. Many of these low production, hand-built vehicles simply don’t have the quality of paint finish that the mass produced vehicles do…I know that sounds a bit crazy, but it’s reality.

I know that I said that I was prepared for the worst, but when I saw the reality of what I had to deal with, I just shook my head in amazement! The car had been attacked at some point with a high speed rotary buffer with an aggressive wool pad by somebody completely unqualified for this type of work. This is not the first brand new Ferrari that I’ve done with this same affliction, and it’s not the only 458 that has been treated the same way. I know a great detailer in Hungary that has already worked on several of them (Europe received theirs sooner than North America), and he found the exact same issues. I should be completely desensitized to this with all that I’ve seen, but I’ve got so much passion for cars (especially Ferrari!) and for paint perfection that it’s hard for me to simply accept it for what it is. However…Ferrari brings me a lot of business for proper paint correction so I shouldn’t complain too loudly!

The following shots were actually taken after the pre-polishing prep process (that’s a lot of P’s), but I wanted to show them to you first so you can get a good idea of what we have to work with. You can typically get a pretty good idea on the condition of a vehicle before going through this process, but it’s after you strip any waxes, sealant, glazes, or fillers when you can get a true reading (many of these products hide the actual condition).

When looking at this photo, you can tell that the car is an absolute beauty and you’d never think that it needed to be “detailed”.


Look how nice this fender is…gotta love that new showroom shine.

What was that about the beautiful showroom shine? Now let’s take a look at that same fender with my Brinkmann
Dual LED paint inspection light. Let me warn you though, the following photos are not for the faint of heart.

What you see here is what I was referring to earlier…swirls, holograms, and deep scratches left over from overly
aggressive polishing / compounding techniques. When you do this, you need to go back with medium and fine polishing
steps to clean up the mess that was left from the compounding stage. On a brand new car, or one that has been properly
polished, you should only see clear reflections of the light itself. Another way to inspect is to look at the vehicle in the
direct sunshine (the light of truth).
Right rear fender:

This is in the same area as the photo above. The haziness that you see on the lens is paint overspray, indicating
that there had been some spot / repair re-painting done after the vehicle was built. I was able to detect the faint
blend line above this area (and verified it with my DeFelsko paint thickness gauge), but it was too faint to capture
with the camera. Once again this is pretty typical, and doesn’t indicate a problem with this car in particular.

This is on the front bumper, which was one of the more severe areas. As you can see, there’s no direct reflection
of the light in this photo.

I could have randomly picked out 30 more places on the car to take the inspection photos, and they would have
all looked like the photos above. Sure some areas were better than others, but there were no areas on the car
that I would have deemed to be acceptable.

Pre-Polish Preparation:

Before we get into polishing, we need to prep the car to ensure that we have a truly clean surface to work off of. Any previous waxes,
sealants, glazes, or embedded contaminants can interfere with the polishing process. In this shot you will see how well the water
is beading. This tells me that there is some kind of protection on the surface that needs to be stripped (glaze, wax, sealant)
. I saw how bad the condition was even with a concealing product on it, and knew that it would look even worse once
it was fully removed.

First up were the wheels. Since this beast comes with Brembo Carbon Ceramic brakes, it’s imperative that we
use a very gentle cleaner to prevent any contamination or damage to the carbon rotors. Since I cannot afford
to buy a damaged set of them (although they’d look great sitting on my desk!), I chose to go with P21S Wheel Gel.


To get into the deep barrels of the rims, and behind the spokes, I use an EZ Detail brush.



For the full write up and pictorial which leads to this final result below click here:
Full Detail and Paint Correction: Ferrari 458 Italia by Todd Cooperider of Esoteric Auto Detail – Detailed Image

 

That is one hell of a write up.. AMAZING job!!!! Never been sure on the look of the 458, but the shots at the end.. may have just changed my mind!

Thanks for sharing

 

Absolutely incredible work Todd!

 

Thanks for posting this up DJ, and thanks guys for the compliments on the work and on the writeup.

Todd

 

Fine work on something very few have had the chance to work on!

 

i am really liking this car! nice job...