Out of the box, the 996 Porsche Turbo is an amazing performer. An optioned out Turbo could reach 60mph in under 4 seconds and keep going to a top speed of 189mph. For a production car in 2000, that was, and still is, extremely impressive. However, when upgraded to RUF’s 550 package, the car becomes a whole new animal. Among other things, this package raises the horsepower rating to 550, 130hp more then stock. With this added horsepower, some owners have reached almost 210mph! The RUF 550 is really an amazing machine. Performance is only half of what makes a car enjoyable. It doesn’t matter how fast a car is; it almost hurts to drive a vehicle with an extensively scratched up exterior. That’s where detailers come in. This customer made the unfortunate mistake of bringing his Porsche to another local detailer to the Seattle area. At first their prices seemed more reasonable but he soon realized that he had to bring his car in for a full detail ever two months! Unsatisfied, the customer inquired as to what a detail would cost from us. At first he was put off by our marginally higher prices and wanted to know why he would “pay more to have his car detailed every two months?” We then explained to him that the detail he was paying for at the other shop should be lasting him around 6 months (with proper wash techniques and a pH balanced soap). What he was getting was very little paint correction and and all of his scratched filled with a glaze. The problem with glaze products is that this never actually corrects the paint, it just masks the imperfections. While this will make the paint look good for a short time, just like this customer experienced, that new shine will be very short lived.
Here at NorthWest Auto Salon we don’t even stock any glaze products. That is because we believe in true paint correction, not just hiding scratches. The guys even delivered the car to the customer on their day off to make sure the finish was nothing short of perfect. When he finally saw the car for the first thing is said was “my only regret is I didn’t bring it here sooner. Wow.” With that said, on to the pictures!
The first step of this connoisseur detail was a full hand wash
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Before the vehicle is washed though, all the trim and gaps are agitated with a boars hair brush to insure no contaminants are wiped over the surface of the car during the wash process
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Then for the wash
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
At this point it was obvious that the previous detailers had done a sub par job. Many of the edges were still coated with unremoved wax! The fact that the roof rack covers that can pop up weren’t even properly cleaned is just another sign of inefficient detailing.
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
After the car was finished being washed, it was brought inside to start the correction process. The first step being a clay bar.
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
After being clay bared, it was time to inspect the condition of the paint. Can you believe this was a non daily driven car, washed two times and detailed two months ago?!
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
This vehicle obviously needed serious help but at last it was in the right place. Before polishing could begin though, it was time ti tape the edges.
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Here is an example of the level of correction we got throughout the entirety of the vehicle.
Before:
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
After
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
The customer also requested that we touch up the major chips in him wheels. We were happy to do so.
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Here’s an after of the bottom chip all touched up
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
And now for the finished shots!
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Seattle Auto Detailing NorthWest Auto Salon 996 Porsche RUF 550 Turbo
Hope you enjoyed the write up as much as we did detailing process!
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