Severely Damaged BRAND NEW Ferrari

“My car is brand new, it doesn’t need anything!”

This is understandably common to hear in the detailing industry. Unfortunately it’s often far from the truth. Vehicles directly from the factory commonly have surface finish issues such as dust in the paint, “fish eye” clear-coat defects, sanding mark, etc. There are also potential problems during shipment where the car can be damaged in transit, as well as vehicles that often sit on a shipping dock being covered in railway dust and/or salt water for extended periods of time. When the car is finally delivered to the dealer, some of the most common damage we see is micro-marring or “swirl marks” caused by being washed and dried by an untrained dealer lot technician.

This Ferrari 488 had some of the worst of each of these we’ve ever seen. Check out some of the errors in the finish of this BRAND NEW (80 mile odometer) Ferrari.

Compound burn on the rubber trim

(This is caused by a technician at the factory “burning” the rubber trim with a polisher)

Lots of swirl marks and scratching throughout the paint.

Water spot etching and swirl marks.

Compound residue on bumper near the headlamp.

Compound residue on lug nuts!

These small “squiggly lines” around the spot light reflection are actually deep scratches in the finish from sand paper that was used at the factory to level a piece of dirt or dust in the paint. The technician didn’t properly polish his sanding marks and sent the car down the line without being finished.

Compound residue on the air intake.

Compound residue in the headlight washer.

Severe sanding marks and swirls.

Swirls in the black top, before and after:

Swirl marks and compound residue on the finish and burned into the rubber trim of the corner light:

This is a DEEP scratch in the door. We were able to minimize it, but it was actually so deep it was too risky to polish down far enough to completely fix it:

Not only are there severe sanding marks in the paint, but the parking sensor trim is burned and stained from the technician at the factory compounding the area without finishing his polish job. Before and after:

The intakes are very tricky to access and polish. We had to use our wireless 1″ polisher:

The “Ferrari” emblem is removed from the rear deck lid to properly polish the area. New hardware is purchased and used to reattach it. Before and after:

Burned trim:

Deep scratch on the rear-view-mirror:

More compound in the panel gaps:

Deep scratch on tail light:

The paint actually had black dots of overspray from paint in the engine bay!

The front parking sensor also had severe burning as well:

Compound dust stuck in the air intakes:

The factory clear protection film is already peeling at the top edge and has compound stuck in the edge:


Two days was spent performing a full Paint Correction service to remedy the errors in the finish.

The wheels had some strange adhesive staining on the inner hubs. This required aggressive polishing to fully remove.

Lug nuts were polished before being reinstalled:

Wheel-wells were cleaned as well:

Brake Calipers were covered in a Ceramic Coating to add protection and easy maintenance cleaning:

The entire car was then covered in our two-part Ceramic Coating to add a ton of gloss, protection and make it easier to clean the car in the future.

The end result was a deep, glossy finish with years of protection and easy maintenance.

This video shows the Ceramic Coating in action:

Although the damage was severe, we were able to completely remedy it, add significant gloss and protection with the Ceramic Coating, and give this customer the perfect car that they deserved!