Taming a stallion – The Ferrari 812 GTS

the return of the V12 Spider!

It’s quite hard to put into words just how significantly the Ferrari 812 GTS captures your attention and draws you into its beauty. The first time I was privileged to view this car, was actually back in early May where It was requested on behalf of the client to perform an inspection and report of the vehicle at Ferrari Brisbane before it underwent its preparation for delivery, to say I was in awe of its presence would be an absolute understatement!

There were many days and weeks following on from the initial viewing of this extraordinary car and the 7 day booking itself. I can whole heartedly say absence makes the heart grow fonder!

The period in-between allowed me to be truly present in the moment and ultimately envision how the 7 days in the company of the 812 GTS would look.

In the distance I could hear the symphony of the 6.5-litre, 789bhp V12 echoing through the streets, the nearer it got the more exhilarating it became and before I knew it the keys were in my hands and the journey had begun!

The initial inspection of the car revealed that it was in fact quite clean and considering it had only been collected from Ferrari that morning and then delivered shortly after, I wasn’t expecting it to be dirty by any means, but a detail of this magnitude always starts with a clean slate.

I began with an initial pre-rinse of the vehicle to remove what I refer to as scratch material ( i.e. any dirt, dust, grit and debris) before addressing specific areas like the wheels, engine bay, vents, grills and door shuts. I continued by applying a thick layer of snow foam over the entire car and allowed it to sit on the surface for a number of minutes to effectively loosen and emulsify as much dirt as possible before we began our safe wash methods and chemical decontamination.

With the car now psychically clean it was driven inside, microfibre towel dried and air dried using our vehicle drying which utilises forced air to remove any trapped water from behind badges, head and taillight surrounds, mirror housings and other hard to reach areas.

Before we can begin our paint correction process, there is one very crucial step that needs to be performed and that exfoliating the paint with a clay bar (also known as mechanical paint decontamination) to cleanse it of any embedded contamination. I know you may be thinking why?Iits a brand new car with only 110 kilometres on the odometer that’s quite literally only been collected from the dealer a number of hours ago, but hear me out! The car has traveled on a ship from Italy and spent a number of weeks sitting around in preparation for delivery with little if any protection on the paint to act as a barrier. The proof really is in the pudding, take a look at the below image which highlights just how much contamination was removed from only the bonnet.

It was also at this time that it became apparent the entire car was blanketed in a layer of clear coat overspray, the biggest tell tail sign was the sound and feel of the paint when you ran the back of your hand over it. Overspray has a very distinctive sound and feel, its what I can only describe as the grittiness of sandpaper and to be fair I did expect to find traces of overspray with this particular Ferrari, due to the fact it had been hand painted. It by no means is the end of the world, it just requires a different approach to safely and effectively remove this type of contamination, as it is both visually and psychically unappealing.

Take a look at the below image where it showcases the distinct haze in front of the light source, it substantially highlights the layer of overspray that was sitting on the surface and just how much clarity is lost in the paint because of it.

Now that the car is clean and the paint has been exfoliated, the next step is to wipe down all of the painted surfaces with isopropyl alcohol to strip any remaining residue or wax that may be on the surface, this ensures that when we machine polish the paint we are polishing the paint in its purest form.

Finally the paint correction process can begin, the overall goal is to remove the maximum amount of imperfections possible whilst monitoring the thickness of the clear coat, this allows us to safely remove the imperfections but ensuring that a substantial amount of clear coat is left in tact, if that in the future the paint needs to be machine polished again. As we set up our paint correction lighting, the imperfections begin to illuminate and I’m able to gauge just how much work I have ahead of me and what is going to be the best way to tackle the swirl marks, sanding clusters and random deep abrasions that were present.

Let’s take a look at some of the imperfections that were revealed.

Slide carousel below to see more images

As you can see the imperfections really are quite unsightly and detracts from the overall presentation of the car dramatically. There really was a large range of imperfections present on many of the different body materials, all of which need to be addressed individually, not one process works the same. For this reason alone we have an array of different tools that allow us to efficiently and safely remove these imperfections.

Because this particular Ferrari had been hand painted, I honestly was expecting to see a large amount of sanding marks and particularly more so because I requested that Ferrari Brisbane do nothing more than clean the car ready for delivery. The car was delivered in the condition that it left the factory in Italy and ultimately meant that I was able to mitigate the amount of clear coat being removed when machine polishing the paint to remove the imperfections.

In some cases I did have to resort to wet sanding of my own. In this example there was a quite a sharp piece of debris sitting in the clear coat of the paint with quite a large peak. In this case I knocked down the peak until it was flat with the rest of the clear coat with sand paper and polished the surface to remove the scratches inflicted from this process.

Because this particular Ferrari had been hand painted, I honestly was expecting to see a large amount of sanding marks and particularly more so because I requested that Ferrari Brisbane do nothing more than clean the car ready for delivery. The car was delivered in the condition that it left the factory in Italy and ultimately meant that I was able to mitigate the amount of clear coat being removed when machine polishing the paint to remove the imperfections.

In some cases I did have to resort to wet sanding of my own. In this example there was a quite a sharp piece of debris sitting in the clear coat of the paint with quite a large peak. In this case I knocked down the peak until it was flat with the rest of the clear coat with sand paper and polished the surface to remove the scratches inflicted from this process.

Unfortunately however if there was one imperfection I was not expecting to find, it was a form of quite a large dent. Thankfully after quick call to Richard at exadent precision dent removal he was able massage the dent out and before I knew it, it was gone before my eyes.

The body styling of the car truly was stunning and I could spend hours just looking and admiring the craftsmanship that goes into producing a car of this level! But this also meant that I had to be very selective at times with which machine polisher I was using and what would allow me the best access to polish tight the edges.

When I set out about designing the bespoke package that I refer to as the Concourse Detail, The central focus of the package works off of one simple philosophy and that is to leave no stone unturned. This is the exact reason that the Ferrari was scheduled for 7 days, it allows adequate time to focus on areas that would otherwise be over looked on a shorter time scale. As a direct result of the lager time scale, I’m given sufficient time to ensure all of the door jams are polished, the inside the engine bay is perfect and in this case even the carbon fibre components in the interior are addressed!

As you can see it’s an incredibly valuable investment to spend the extra attention focusing on enhancing these specific areas. Detailing truly is an art.

Im always amazed at the improvements that can be made to the presentation of car through the process of paint correction.