2009 C2S 159K miles

Thought I would post a few pics. The past week, I did the following:

1 - Cleaned the engine using 40/60 Simple Green, a brush, and liberal sprinking of water (thanks RTL Rob for the instructions)
2 - Polished out imperfections using Porter Cable orbital, yellow foam cutting pad, Maguires Ultimate Compound (dang that is hard work!)
3 - Ceramic coated with Avalon King (mixed feelings, read on...)
4 - Dyed wear on bolster with Magic Mender Por06 for premium natural brown leather
5 - 991 Lip - EMC2's 991 lip kit. Cool eh?

Most of the car is original paint Ruby Red Metallic, although the front end has had some parts replaced and re-sprayed due to a bang up. You can't tell, but the front bumper and some of the hood is pretty awful with paint chips. I hit the bigger ones with Porsche touch up paint but.... not too good.
The car runs fabulously... really smooth and powerful (I still have the 2.7K RPM glitch but it got less over the years). I won't labor my maintenance, but this greatness did not just occur... I maintained the car and changed the oil every 5k miles. So some notes on what I did this past week:

1 - Engine cleaning. Rob was over to use my Durametric and he saw my horribly filthy engine. Horrible is being generous and I drive this car over dirt roads and in nature reserve to do photography. I was pretty terrified of washing it but he gave me encouragement and some tips. First, a mix of 40/60 Simple Green to water (why that ratio? I dunno, mine was like 50/50)... and spray LIBERALLY over the cold engine and into everyplace. Seriously, just go at it. My engineer friend at Ford gave me the green light too as he said these engine bays are designed to take water. Then let it vet for about 5 minutes. I then took a car detailing brush... some long 12" tube-like thing with big fuzzy.... and started jamming it into all the unholy places I could ram it. Everywhere.... deep into the sides... just terrifying. Then, hose the engine down with your hose on heavy sprinkle. You just don't want it to jet in there. I really soaked it down. Then start the car and let it idle and warm up. As it warms, the water evaporates. Wow, a clean engine. I did this procedure twice now with the second time being way more aggressive and not missing spots. You don't need the brush, the Simple Green just soaking will do 80% of what is needed.

2 - Polishing. This was a serious effort. If you want to take out water spots, minor scratches, spider swirls, and put a shine on it, you have to cut it with a compound. I use Zaino for about 15 years now and it just wasn't putting on the shine anymore. This is not a function of the product but of the lack of smoothness to the base paint (or clear-coat in our cases). I don't clay. I think claying is a scam (go ahead, flame away!). You don't need to clay anyway when you are cutting like I did. Clay was developed to remove over-spray at paint shops and somehow developed into a consumer detailing product. Claying is wet sanding. Are you getting this? All that dirt you see in videos stuck in clay... well if you have that much dirt jammed into your paint, you need to compound it down because that ain't the only problem with your paint. Besides, I clayed my Boxster and somehow, a large particulate landed on my hood and I scratched it. Yep,.... no more clay for me. Over the years, I wore out two cheapie orbitals.... just get a good one and I am very satisfied with my Porter Cable orbital... a real tool. For compound, I have tried many and generally you can't go wrong with 3M products, however Maguires has a newish Ultimate... get the Ultimate Compound. Using a yellow foam cutting foam, I polished to a mirror. Now you may think that using a cutting pad and compound will wear right through you paint.... nope. This Maguires stuff is unbelievably wonderful. If you stay on it, you can take paint down, but if you are not a clod, you will leave behind a mirror that does not need a finishing pad/polish. It is ready in one good pass. For scratches etc, I worked it harder. You can lay down some compound, work it, wipe it, and continue that until you get out the scratch. It is very easy for a beginner to control.... now you have a perfectly smooth surface that is naturally shiny. Now you add your wax/polymer/ceramic.

3- Avalon King Ceramic. I am a fan of Zaino and I still am. I did the ceramic at the continual insistence of a friend of mine. In short, both are easy as stupid to apply. However, the ceramic is supposed to last 3 years and be ultra hydrophobic. The Zaino is too but does not last as long... I get about 4-6 months out of Zaino. Which shines more? The Zaino. Period. The ceramic is very shiny but that Zaino is a solid notch above. Honestly you will be happy with either as both are fantastic. So why the apprehension? Well I know what happens to paint over time... you get micro scratches, water spotting, and such and ceramic is no miracle product. Those tiny imperfections and crap reduce shine. With Zaino, I can keep re-applying it and bringing the shine back up. I just seriously doubt that after this winter, the ceramic will have the same shine after washing in the spring... where I would then apply a fast spray of Zaino. I just don't believe the shine will be as good over the next three years..... but, I will report. Maybe if I loose some of the shine, I can hit it with a spray of Zaino, but according the lore, nothing will stick to the ceramic surface.... I just don't believe that at all.

4 - Dyed seat. My seat bolster had wear. Not at all bad for 159K miles, but I touched it up with a little dye. Not bad. Not a miracle worker but it took off some of the visual edge. I wash my leather every 6 months or so with a slight solution of watered down Dawn detergent. Just aggressively wipe it down. Heck, leather is skin so just wash it with soap and water. For this procedure, I used a soft nylon scrub brush to get into the creases. What can look like cracks are really just creases getting jammed with dirt. Stretch out the leather and scrub. Let dry, then dab/paint on the dye..... then just wipe with a throw-away cloth. Let dry for 5 minutes, keep re-doing until happy. Nice and easy. I also had some nics in the soft interior paint and the leather dye actually helped hide a few of these... with a Q-Tip, just very lightly dab, then wipe away. Very easy, and hard to F-up.

5 - EMC2 991 Lip kit. I don't usually do cosmetic body mods. I feel any aftermarket body panels just don't look right to me but Rob had this on his car when he stopped by. Sold! EMC2 uses a genuine Porsche 991 lip and designed quality bracket adapters. It works, it was easy, and I like it.

So there ya go! Plenty to read, view and start flaming away. I get taking care of your car but just drive it, bang it up.... repair it.... but jeeze.... you can restore paint way beyond what you think and you won't wear it away. I have been buffing and cutting my paint on this car for years and I haven't seen any metal yet.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

Nice Job Bruce! Car looks great!

 

is that oem wood trim? gotta love a modern 911 thats actually been driven! any squeaks, rattle, buzz at this milage?

 

Bruce is going to be the 997 Irv Gordon.

Looking sharp!

 

Looks amazing for the mileage and for being a northern car as well! As always very informative , non-nonsense posts! Keep it up!

Cheer!

 

Wow looking great at that mileage!

 

Wow, looks great!

 

Bruce:
I don't hesitate to use the Zaino Grand Finale after I wash my car. I have 1,5 years on my Avalon King Ceramic coat job and it looks great but the slickness of hand feel is better with the Zaino. The hydrophobic properties of the coating is still there and dirt literally washes away in the spray.
For everyone on this post, I hounded Bruce for the last two years to do this to his car since he drives it in all weather. I didn't want to see his salt encrusted car this winter if I come East to visit. His will be a true test of the product and should be a bell weather for anyone who wants to treat their car.
Besides, if this doesn't work there is always Graphene!
Chris

 

Looking really good @Bruce In Philly
Thanks for sharing & the kind feedback.

 

The car looks great! Bruce did you use the Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound in the black bottle?

 

Looks good! I have the lip, but I am going to go back to stock. My car is pretty low and I can’t get out of my driveway without it dragging, even on my moderate grade.

 

Yep makassar wood trim.... I added some pieces such as the center console and door lids.

Yep Maguires Ultimate Compound (not Polish) in the black bottle... great stuff.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

Well done Bruce! I have a brand new griots polisher sitting in my garage for the last few months aching to be used but I just know it’s going to be so much work! Car is looking fantastic, I have been debating the lip kit for my own car but I am nervous it will rip off going through a dip in these bad LA roads!

 

Looks like a car with 30k miles on it, great work!

 

She looks really, really good Bruce. Thanks for the leather tips. I leave my top down 90+% of the time and honestly, have been afraid to get too aggressive with the surfaces. This gives me a bit more confidence that I can go at it a bit harder.