Ferrari F430 - Wheels-off Underguard Detail

​What a way to christen our brand new hoist! 

This amazing F430 underwent a full wheels-off detail at OCD, including underguard treatment and in-depth wheel detail. This service was in conjunction with a Stage 4 Full Restoration Package, to remove swirls & scratches in the paintwork and leave a brilliant finish.

Our process was to separate this detailing service into two areas: Wheel Detail & Underguard Detail 

​Part One: Wheel Detail

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We firstly raised the vehicle and removed each of the wheels, then set them aside for individual detailing.

Our pillarless hoist allows us to safely continue work on & around the vehicle while raised. and saves the time & potential risk involved when manually jacking a car to put on axle stands. 

We use a special wheel bolt socket extension with plastic caps to remove and refit wheel bolts & nuts. This ensures no scratching occurs on the surface of wheel in the process. 

​Whilst the wheels may have looked ok at first glance, closer inspection showed quite a lot of marks and grime attached to the spokes & barrels. This is indicative of brake dust & contamination that needs to be removed. 

​The inner barrels are an area that makes so much difference to the look & general cleanliness of a vehicle. Whilst we thoroughly detail the inner wheel barrels in each of our detailing stage packages, the absolute best way to remove all dirt, grime & contamination is to remove the wheel. This gives us a much greater working area, and we can achieve a much better result. Even though this Ferrari is seldom driven, we found traces of tar, iron from brake dust and mud on the inner barrel of one wheel alone!


​Using our safe techniques & products, we decontaminated each wheel individually. A combination of our safe pH-neutral Dragon’s Breath wheel cleaner, mild tar remover & soft boar’s hair brushes removed the majority of the contamination. ​

After the brake dust and grime was cleansed from the faces and barrels of each wheel, we brought them inside to remove the tar. We used a light tar remover to safely lift the tar residue from the wheel surface, removing the need to perform any heavy scrubbing & in turn further damage the wheel surface. Safety is paramount in our ethos at OCD, and flows throughout all we do. ​

​Once the wheels were fully cleaned & all contamination was removed, we applied a synthetic wax to help repel contamination, add protection & increase the shine.

​Our wax also helps repel water, as evident in the beading water on the surface of the center cap, wheel barrel and wheel face.

Comparing before & after shots of the wheels clearly shows the difference having a cleaned, decontaminated and protected wheel face & barrel makes! 

​Part Two: Underguard Detail

​With the wheels detailed & protected, we now moved our focus to the underguards.

Initial inspection indicated dirt & grime covering the underbody, plastic guard trim, brake calipers & suspension components.

Our goal for this process was to remove the dirt and contamination from the underguard and components, and protect each item individually.  

As with the wheel detailing, the first step was a comprehensive decontamination of the underguards.

We started with the plastic liners, using a degreaser & brush to remove the tar & dirt from the surfaces. We scrubbed each underguard to remove the heavier contamination. 

​The brake calipers were also detailed to remove the iron brake dust from the pads. To follow up the decontamination we hand-polish each painted caliper to restore colour & bring up the shine. 

With each component cleaned & detailed we moved to the protection step.

Underguard protectant was applied on the plastics & suspension components, whereas wax was applied by hand to the painted calipers. 

Cleaned & protected underguards.