As soon as my plane touched down in IAD (Washington Dulles Airport), I found about 12 voice mails left in the last 26 hours since I left Singapore concerning work. One of them was from a great client who was so impressed with his Opti-Coat and XPel clear bra treatment on his Audi S7, that he wanted to schedule in his Porshe 997 C4S for the same treatment before heavy snow struck the Boston region. We quickly determined to get his car in within the week and beat the upcoming snow storm.
The History:
I have had the pleasure of working on this Porsche C4S since it was purchased in 2007. It has been detailed twice a year like clockwork with a full Zaino process. While Zaino is a great product, it is basically just a sealant with micro finishing polish that provides long term durability and decent clarity. Unfortunately overtime, these micro polishes cannot correct or even bite through paint contamination and dullness. So this detail was going to require a good dose of polishing to bring the Slate Grey metallic back to its original pop and luster before coating in Opti-Coat.
slate grey metallic looking a bit faded...
The Process:
As always, the first step was to wash and remove the old 3M clear bra. While it looks ok on the vehicle, the 3M really shows how yellow it can be when removed...
removing at a 45 degree angle to avoid paint pull
hiding the fresh paint that lurks beneath
look at that oxidation and discoloration
Along with the washing process includes a full klaying of the car. Now no matter what people say klaying does create micro marring in modern clear coats. Even the best lube cannot stop that from happening as you drag dirt out of your paint with force. This is a reason I never recommend to klay unless you plan to polish or at least use a cleanser afterwards. To avoid as much marring as possible, I like to klay after the car has been washed but still wet along with a home made lube that is very slick and has some cleanser mixed it with it. Thankfully this C4S did not have a ton of contaminants in the paint, and only took about 35-45 minutes to fully klay.
After washing and drying, I treated all the metal surfaces to a nice polish with some P21S multi finish restorer and then dried with a chamois. While the car continues to air dry, I usually go ahead and start attacking the interior. This lets me ensure that no moisture will be present once I start the paint correction process.
interior detailed with a combination of products...
The interior process consisted of a thorough vacuuming, Zymol vinyl on all vinyl and plastic surfaces, Leatherique conditioner and cleaner on all leather along with Zymol treat to follow. All glass is cleaned and then I like to apply a nice layer of Optimum Interior Protectant Plus over everything to help ensure all surfaces remain matte and antistatic. Due to the long cure time of the Leatherique process (2+ hours), I went ahead and also took some paint measurements and taped up all precarious corners for the polishing process. As expected, the reading for paint level were consistent around the 110-125 um range which left a decent amount of paint for me to work with.
consistent readings along the entire C4S of between 110-125 ums...
all taped up and ready for paint correction to start...
While discussing this job with my client, we came to the agreement that the car did not need to be perfect in terms of the paint finish. It is driven a lot and since it was a grey metallic, he could not justify the time or cost to go ahead with a full 3 step correction. So I immediately planned a 2 step correction with a medium polish and microfiber pad as the main scuff step (2-3 passes). The results were quite good on the test panel and I decided to stick with that treatment for the entire vehicle. I would then finish up with a fine foam polishing pad along with a micro fine polish to remove all hazing, swirls, and micro marring left behind (2 passes).
After about 6-9 hours of polishing, we were ready to rewash the car to remove all polishing dust and contaminants, remove the tape, and then apply Klasse AIO for a nice cleanser before applying the Opti-Coat. As always, the Opti-Coat goes on very smoothly but requires a daft touch to not create high spots in the paint with the product. This is where lights come in very handy and can save you hours. We treated every surface of the car (paint, chrome, plastic, lights) with the Opti-Coat except the front windscreen, which was coated in Rain X per the clients request.
Lighting is every detailer's best friend, especially when polishing and applying thin layer sealants looking for high spots...
After finishing the Opti-Coat on the paint, it was time to call it a day and have the XPel full frontal coverage installed the next morning. This process takes about 2-3 hours for a 997 and came out flawlessly thanks to the great work of my clear bra team. We also did new rear quarter pieces to replace the yellowing factory Porsche roadblock.
The next part of the job was where my largest concern laid. Cleaning and Opti-Coating the brakes and Kinesis wheels. Since the wheels were a textured matte center, I was curious to see how the Opti-Coat would work with them. While the cleaning and prepping of the textured surface proved time consuming, the overall outcome was positive and thanks to the durability of the Opti-Coat, should never have to be done again.
The second awful thing about these Kinesis wheels are the raw polished aluminum lips. While they look fantastic when clean and polished, they are an absolute bear to clean. Your only option is to use Mother's Incredible Billet Aluminum Polish and prepare for hours of scrubbing by hand with a terry cloth towel and microfiber. This is usually the part of the job were you start cursing like a sailor and wonder why you even agreed to take the job, but the results are rewarding as you see a huge transformation in the aluminum finish.
car is lifted and wheels removed to clean and treat wheels and brakes with Opti-Coat...
all hubs cleaned with wire brush and greased with anti-seize to prevent sticking wheels...
the polishing process for aluminum barrels always takes place on the floor as so much pressure is required to polish out the aluminum properly...
nothing better than a properly polished aluminum lip...
simplistic speed at its finest, 4 pots are plenty for this Carrera without adding unsprung weight...
all wheels hand torque to proper specification...
The next day we awoke to a nice layer of snow on the ground with more expected that evening. As I prepared to deliver the car I took some photos in the best available lighting the conditions would allow. But notice how much more life resides in the paint after a proper correction and Opti-Coat. Its all about the little things that make a detail on a car successful.
finished product...
Kinesis wheels look so proper on a Porsche...
ready for delivery...
all plastic (spoiler underside) treated with Opti-Coat as well...
snow clouds moving in...
much more clarity and brightness in the Slate Grey Metallic
XPel is completely undetectable when done with in a full panel sheet...
