Stephen Porter

Hi,

I moved from L.A. to Albuquerque, NM about 4 months ago and brought my very nice '88 928 S4 with me. I also purchased an '89 NA 944 from a local PCA member for a daily driver and weekend fun car. The 944 is in very good mechanical shape and also has very recent suspension upgrades: Koni adjustable shocks, new swaybars, brakes, corner-balanced, etc.. It drives very nicely and should also be suitable for mild auto--x and DE events. Appearance-wise it's not too bad and when I purchased it it looked like it would shine right up with a good detailing.

Before I got around to detailing the car, I took it to a regular car wash for a quick clean up before a business meeting--get the mud acquired driving in a New Mexico rainstorm off. It emerged from the car wash looking very PINK with lots of streaks--just awful! It went from looking presentable to looking like a real beater.

Ever since I arrived here I've been asking everyone I know for a good detailer (I had a great guy in Los Angeles), but so far everyone claims that there really isn't anybody REALLY good around here. So I ended up taking the 944 to the Porsche dealership which has another company, called "Frontline Detail," doing all their work. I spoke with the owner of Frontline a couple of times and he seemed to know what he was talking about, so I arranged to have the car done there. When I picked it up, it looked pretty good--probably about as good as it can given its age and condition and I was happy enough. The car is a driver, after all, and won't ever be a concours candidate or anything close. After about a week or so, the car was in the rain and when I dried it off, using microfiber cloths, the "milky" (oxidation???) streaks and spots started showing up again--IMMEDIATELY. So it was reacting to the water and/or the drying in some way. I just stopped right there and called the owner of Frontline again and he was very accommodating and tried to be helpful. I'm NOT really knowledgeable about the detailing process, but, as I told him, it seems to me that if you polish the paint to a point where all the oxidation is gone, (and you're lucky enough to still have enough paint!), if you then seal and wax or properly treat the paint that it should be impervious to something like water drops, or drying the car with clean, dry towels IMMEDIATELY fogging everything up again. He agreed, but didn't sound real certain about what was happening. He told me to bring the car back and they would re-polish the hood and then seal it with something other than the carnuba wax-based sealant/polish he used the first time. I don't know exactly what that was since his company formulates and sells their own stuff, and that MIGHT be the problem right there. But he does do all the in-house work for the Porsche/Audi/MBZ dealer, so I don't know....???? At any rate, I OK'd the re-do on the hood and got the car back a couple days ago. I was sad to see that the polisher had burned through the paint a tiny bit on an edge of the hood, but overall the hood looks good again. I haven't poured water on it yet to test it though...

Before going further, I thought I would post here and see what the resident experts might advise. Perhaps I'm wrong about being able to restore/protect Guards Red paint when it reaches a certain point? Or maybe Frontline just isn't doing correctly?

One reason I want to get to the bottom of this is the 928 S4--also Guards Red, but in VERY nice shape and I don't want to ruin it. It was last detailed, in L.A., about a year ago and it needs to be done again, but properly.

I've fantasized about getting some equipment and trying to do the 944 myself, but realistically I don't think that would be a wise, or, in the end, economical move.

If anybody wants to move to ABQ and start a high-end detail business, there certainly isn't much competition! At least as far as I've been able to discover. I've hear rumors about someone who has a mobile setup and does all the exotics for some of the super-wealthy people here around here, but no one in my social circle can get his name or phone number!

Thanks in advance for any pointers, advice, etc.

MoeMistry

It seems the paint was never properly polished and sealed Stephen. Did the detailer measure your paint to get an idea of the amount of material still there? Are you still in ABQ or in LA? If you want to tackle it yourself and get some great results, let me know. There are many ways you can still improve upon what's been done and it will get you closer to what your expectations are. Feel free to give us a ring and we'd be happy to walk you through.

Stephen Porter

Hi Moe,

I'm in ABQ for the duration.

I don't know if they measured the paint thickness or not, but I have met a local PCA member who has a body shop and they have a paint thickness gauge, so I could find out. The spot they rubbed through was on an edge that was very slightly higher than the fender, so I suspect it was carelessness rather than lack of paint.

I might not have any choice but to try to do a better job myself since these are the "best" I've been able to find in ABQ. It just seems that it's very unlikely I could achieve professional results without a lot of experience and/or investment in equipment. But I'm all ears. And I certainly don't feel comfortable about turning the S4 over to them.

Let me know how you would prefer to be contacted, or if you want to just keep up through this thread.

Marine Blue

It's amazing how many detailing hacks actually remain in business. Burning through an edge is pure carelessness and definitely shows their inability to pay attention to the details. I'm going to be working on a Guards Red S4 next week which also has burn through from previous hacks.

Buy the proper tools and take care of the 928 yourself. If the paint looks good already all you need to do is wash by hand and wax regularly.

I agree with Moe that the detailer probably never sealed the paint properly.

MoeMistry

Give me a ring tomorrow and we'll come up with a game plan. We can then post back our chat and share with everyone what you ended up doing and the results. Look forward to hearing form you.

detailersdomain

can you take some pictures of what you are talking about.

seems to me its either burned paint or oxidized paint which can be easily done on the older P-Cars