Quick question for the experts My paint is in great shape but I want it perfect as it shows a bit of swirls due to washing I am trying to find the right shop that have experience with paint correction on single paint cars and then I want to apply a ceramic coat or whatever is the best coat nowadays (graphene?) What is your experience with this and also did you remove the cheese graters to do a proper paint correction? If so, is it difficult to do so? Thanks Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
Hello You will need to find a shop that knows they will have to delicately polish a single stage paint. Where you can have problems obviously is when an inexperienced person polishes on the sharp edges of the car and you could have some burn through. Also too aggressive of a polish pad could be damaging to the paint as well. The shop should check the paint depth on each panel to know how thin the paint is so as to know how to proceed and what they are dealing with. Ceramic coatings are great and I really think it’s personal preference whether you want graphene. I would stay away from ceramic pro as it is more of buying a coating and paying more just for the name. It’s not going to be the best but overpriced for what you’re getting. I personally know a lot about this whole process as I have taken expensive professional detailing classes so that I could do it myself on my own cars. There is a lot to know when properly going through the entire process. Not difficult but you have to know all the steps and proper techniques. If you want to talk by phone just pm me and I can provide contact phone number. Hope that helps. Be selective about the shop and look at their work. Check around on prices and make sure everything that they are going to do is in writing no thing verbal. So both parties are clear on what you will be getting and they are providing. Otherwise the shop may say they will do certain things and then do not perform and you are left feeling unhappy. Hope that helps.
Polish and ceramic coating will probably cost around 3k depending upon where you live and the supply and demand in that particular area. If the shop has a lot of work then you probably will be on the high side. You usually can negotiate the price a little bit in most cases.
Have you thought of PPF? After the swirls are removed, a film will protect the paint. I just had mine done recently after a repaint. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Defiantly do the ppf after the paint correction and coating is applied. I did my hood mirrors and entire front of the car. I did not want to do the entire car just the areas where I would likely get damage. But some do the entire car. So far my car is still perfect. That’s all you can ask for.
A pretty known detailer here told me this “I do not recommend doing any ceramic on a old single stage paintwork Paint is too old & there is nothing wrong with wax. Wax has stood the test of time For new cars it's great, but not a classic Ferrari” Also I read this thread in auto geek “Can you apply a ceramic coating to old school single stage lacquer paint? First there's no LAW or regulation against applying a ceramic, quartz or polymer coating to single stage paint. Here is the only concern. Because OLD SCHOOL single stage paint is porous, UNLIKE modern basecoat/clearcoat paints, the ACT of chemically stripping it with a solvent, and I would say a very STRONG solvent like GTechniq Panel Wipe, has the effect to DULL the paint. I always call this, Working backwards So it goes against my natural inclination and best practice, To do no harm That said, there's no law or regulation against chemically striping old school single stage paints and applying coatings to them. Because they are porous, the POLISHING OILS from ANY brand of compound or polish, even those that state they are water based, (they still have some type of lubricating and beautifying oil in them), will penetrated into the paint and make it look better, sometimes darker. When you chemically strip single stage paint, the solvents will seep into the pores of the paint and leach out these oils and this can have a dulling effect. With a normal wax or synthetic sealant, you apply this right over the oils in the paint and create a uniform [beautiful] finish. The stronger the solvent the more dramatic the dulling effect can be. (Of course is you're working on white or light colored paints you would dull it but your eyes would not see the dulling effect) So here's what you could do - test out your process to a single panel and see how it looks. If it looks good repeat the process over the rest of the car. If it looks horrible, be glad you only tested to a single panel. Re-polish this panel and then use a traditional carnauba wax or synthetic paint sealant” So now I am more confused What about the cheese graters? Did you remove them to make the paint correction? Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
That’s funny in one way. I attended an auto detailing class from them about 3-4 years ago. One of the cars we worked on was a red Ferrari 328. They always mention worst case scenario I guess to limit any liability. My silver 512tr is done and turned out perfect. There is enough products out there and ways to do things as to not harm the paint during the preparation process. Many people with older Ferraris have ceramic coated their cars with no issues. The problem with wax is simply it is very old technology which when compared to ceramic coatings is extremely inferior. The ceramic coating by its inherit properties fills in the imperfections within the paint to a high degree which is why it is so reflective/shiny. But at the end of the day if you don’t feel comfortable for any reason then just use wax. After the class and using the product myself I am completely convinced that wax is garbage against today’s products. I started using wax on cars when I was a kid in the 80s and never was greatly impressed. I am impressed with ceramic coatings. I think a light polish and a ceramic coating is the way to go on a single stage older Ferrari. Even the training crew at auto geek went over this when we students worked on the Ferrari during the class. Emphasized being careful. But all paint on cars is fairly delicate and can be easily damaged if your not careful. The polishing process is most important in terms of not damaging the paint. You will not be performing this yourself so I would just bring up your concerns with a competent shop and get there recommendation on how to proceed. Let them look the car over first. If the paint does not appear to have much swirl marks or damage in the area on the doors then no I would not recommend removing them. That’s more of a protected area and may not have much noticeable damage. If it does then talk to Rifledriver on here about it. I did not remove mine. The answer is how bad is the paint overall? If it’s bad you’ll have to take them off.
Thanks for your reply, yes maybe they try to be over conservative at autogeek, also I didn’t realize that post was about SS lacquer and my car is urethane. Maybe Urethane SS paints are more forgiving. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
I always thought my 512TR was lacquer .. where did you find the info on your TR .. not debating just curious so I can correct my thinking
It is my understanding that acrylic lacquer was discontinued for auto use in the early 80s for environmental and durability issues, switching to glasurit urethane formulations, that is why early 308s have the paint cracking that later 308s didn’t have, as urethane is more flexible. And an expert at the concours confirmed this to me. I haven’t confirmed this in writing. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
I did my 87' Testarossa this weekend with the Adams DA polisher. I only used the black (softest) pad and Menzerna's 3500. In a few places I added a bit of 2500. I then used a Chemical Guys glaze and followed with 2 coats of Meguiars Gold wax. I'll take some pictures tomorrow in the Sun and post them.
PPF is the only way to go. And THEN apply ceramic coating. If you polish the car, the result will disappear after a year or two if it the paint is not protected and if you use the car properly. What people don't really realize is that ceramic coating DOES NOT protect the paint at all. It just helps for the paint to look shiny and you can clean the car easier. That's it.
