Hello all, Received a call from a special client who had discovered my work online and had requested a Full Correction on his 2004 Challenge Stradale in Nero. The Stradale has over 14K on her and has seen a huge amount of track time as the owner uses this machine for what its exactly built for- thrashing at the track. Previously the Stradale had been "detailed" aka induced some heavy marring, swirls, managed to burn through in several locations and thinned the paint to dangerous levels in some areas.....needless to say caution was taken after inspecting and finding the damaged/ severe defects left behind by an inexperienced individual. The car had clear filmed installed on the front bumper- half the hood, on the front headlights and also along the rockers- after speaking with the client, we agreed to leave the film on the front end and headlight lenses (seeing that the car receives a considerable amount of track time) but agreed to remove the rocker panel film. These areas were of course all corrected to achieve 100% defect free levels- two small areas (you will see in final pics) were damaged and the clear film had failed causing the cracked paint to lift off of the surface- these areas were touched up with touch up paint supplied by the client. The correction was performed over the course of 3 days- little over 25 hours put into this machine Correction performed with: - Rupes 21/ FLEX DA/ PC 7424 - foam pads- Uber/ LC- green, blue, orange, yellow - M105/ Sonax PF/ Menzerna 2500 - LSP: 2 coats of Menzerna PL The battery was much too low for the Stradale to be pulled out on the first day- a full ONR wash and clay was performed in the garage- since I was going to pull the Stradale out after the compounding I knew I was going to have to do, it was going to be fully washed at some point. Note- my SLR is with my brother up in upstate NY- had to use a point and shoot for this job- so, apologies for lack of HD You can see the defects slightly in this pic Old Film on the rocker here- vinyl graphic was placed over it causing a faded appearance Leatherique being applied to the buckets The oil was stripped after several hours with warm water and the leather was cleaned. The interior was blown out with my air compressor, vacuumed and brushed down with various boars hair brushes..... hitting the vents here The rest of the interior was brushed down and degreased Adhesive on the back window which gives the driver a view of what is screaming behind in was stripped and removed Taping off and doing some test sections- here are some shots of the defects before! Leftover compound/ wax left by the previous "detailer" ALL OVER Clearly not taping off edges as he should.... Overall the Nero finish was simply DULL Compounding coming along- switching between the Rupes 21 and Flex here Defects on the passenger front fender Taping off as always for the raised edges/ clear film After compounding: Defects on the upper portion of the hood (no clear film) 50/50 on the hood passenger fender Driver door- various defects found Rear driver quarter panel hurtin pretty badly too Quick after of the same area after compounding: The Clear film on both rocker panels was removed- each taking around 2 hours each to heat, remove film, and remove any adhesive left over! Inspecting the rocker before: Roof was in terrible shape- buffer burn and swirling heaviest here Pillars needed help Rear decklid hammered After compounding on the first day I chose to designate the final hour or so to polishing the driver and passenger door panels (Carbon Fiber) ......each had numerous scuffs from getting in and out and small swirling Afters of the passenger door- sealant was applied after Previous built up tire shine stripped with Tarminator After nearly 13 or so hours compounding, removing the clear film, IPA wipedowns- the next morning the Stradale was taken outside and given a full safe wash- Dawn/ CG Citrus clear mix used- 2 sheepskin wash mitts Sonax FE on the wheels here removing some built up deposits The tips were pretty caked with years of extreme heat cycles- I tried my best to let IRONX sit as long as possible and a combo of steel wool and 3M pad to remove as much oxidation and deposits Rinsed, brought in to dry via leaf blower and compressed air and wiped down- taped up shortly after yet again FINISHING DOWN- after another IPA wipedown was performed, Sonax Perfect Finish (LOVE this product- thank you Todd C @ Esoteric for shipping it out to me so quickly) utilized with green/ blue foam on the FLEX/ PC DA Headlight lens film after In comparison to the drivers side Clear film before Visible 50/50 in the garage lighting ENGINE BAY- as you can imagine, being a heavily tracked car, this prancing horse sees HUGE amounts of heat on a frequent basis- years and years of heat baking dirt, soil, water, etc. into un protected surfaces....... The Airboxes were oxidized as were the CF side panels, exhaust etc. CF airboxes were machine/ hand polished with Menzerna 2500- orange pad on PC Dull and not much luster at all: See the 50/50 split? (right = treated, left = untreated) After: Stock Ferrari mufler canister BUT TUBI headers- amazing sound - hand polished with Adams Metal Polish #1 - orange pad via PC / hand polished with steel wool and finished down via hand with Adams #2 and Eagle One Nevr Dull wadding to clean HELP!! 50/50 after #1 The side CF pieces lining the engine bay were also machine/ hand polished - overall, cleaning, polsihing etc. on the engine bay took over 2 hours APC with some skewers an compressed air - all about the details Can't forget about the door jambs! Final IPA wipedown performed, 2 coats of Menzerna PL- curing here: While the sealant was curing the following was performed: (2 hours) - all seals and trim items cleaned and sealned with 303 AP - All glass cleaned in and out: - Tires and wheel wells dressed with Megs Hyper Dressing- diluted 3:1 - leftover wax and compounding crud cleared (thanks again "detailer") - wheels and calipers inspected to ensure cleanliness - 303 AP applied to rear diffuser Sitting in garage waiting to be pulled outside After shots- apologies for lack of after correction shots- daylight was running out! - note: the slight haze is the sealant, it was sub 32 degrees- aka the sealant will take a day or two to fully cure- a new plush MF was left for the owner, gentle wipedowns would be performed the following morning And now for the results after over 25 hours of work: Thanks for looking!! - Dan K.
Thanks all!! I have 3 more F-cars to finish before I graduate soon in May- lots of trips in the near future back and forth between VA and NJ but it's going to be a great way to finish out my final semester! - Dan
