What's it Like to Wash a Supercar?

488 Pista, not bad eh? Must be nice to clean a car like that, you might be thinking. Well, yes and no, believe it or not. Now, to understand exactly what I mean by that, as well of course, is to see this prancing pony being given some TLC. Stay tuned. So, before I get started, I just want to let you know how you could actually win something similar to this Italian stallion, like a sub 3 second F8 Tributo from as little as £2.40. So, Best of the Best, or The Dream Car Company, as they like to be called, were kind enough to help me out with this video, which entailed 400 miles travel and a night's stay over. And in return, I said I'd let you lot know of a limited time offer they're currently running to celebrate their 500th Dream Car giveaway. So, basically, you choose one of eight supercars that you'd like to drive away in, play a simple game of spot the ball on their website to enter, which incidentally, you only have to be 16 to do so, could potentially be the envy of all your mates before even passing your test. Then simply keep your fingers crossed until November the 12th when the results are announced. Now, you can check the link in the description below for more info on the competition, but if you are thinking of entering, do be quick as it ends midnight November the 10th. So, as with most supercars which are kept in the garage, rarely used, and so never really particularly dirty, this 200 mile piece was no exception. So, instead of some big before and after transformation video thoughts, I'd instead talk about what it's actually like to wash one of running through the pros, cons, trials and tribulations of such a task. From an outsider's perspective, you'll likely appear to be living the detailing dream working on exotic supercars like these, and while it certainly has its benefits, there's also a lot of stress involved that arises from the unseen considerations that have to be made when working on a car of this calibre. These particular 488 Pistas are now going for £100,000 over their list price, which at a quarter of a million was hardly cheap to begin with, and with this one sporting a special F1 paint job worth an eye-watering £18,000 needs to be treated with utmost respect, or not at all. Cars like these are designed from the ground up to look like nothing else and go as quickly as physically possible, with essentially zero consideration given to anything else, including how it will be kept clean. So, what this means for people like myself is that lots of considerations then have to be made to account for and overcome potential problems and pitfalls that you simply don't encounter with more run-of-the-mill cars. Taking a closer look at some of the exterior features of this particular track-focused Ferrari then, you can quickly see how certain parts of it aren't going to lend themselves to being cleaned very well. Now, this particular Prancing Pony had been wrapped with paint protection film, which meant less of a concern from a cleaning perspective about the array of different materials underneath, but the film also adds considerations of its own, like what plastic-friendly products to use and how to deal with its potentially fragile edges, which as you can see, had prematurely started to lift. Before getting to grips with the body, you'll first need to tend to the wheels and brakes, and they can be just as problematic. Carbon ceramic jobbies like these shouldn't really be exposed to potent wheel cleaners, so you'll have to make do with gentle or diluted products instead, which are fine if the wheels are only lightly soiled, but won't cut it on any kind of heavy or ingrained dirt. Supercar manufacturers have been using satin finishes on their performance wheels for some time now, and while it certainly looks cool, can be right faff to clean and protect. The semi-textured surface grabs onto dirt more than a standard lacquered finish, they'll water spot like crazy if you're not careful, and of course they require specialist matte-friendly products to enhance and protect. To add to this, there's also a general lack of access due to huge brakes, so soft, safe brushes that you'd ideally like to use quite often won't fit between the caliper and barrel, meaning you'll either have to move the car during cleaning just to reach that frustratingly inaccessible spot, or resort to less desirable brushes which will just about fit but potentially be less friendly to the finish. Even the rubber that wraps the wheels needs to be considered, as it's state-of-the-art stuff and is the only thing connecting the car and its hundreds of horsepowers to the road. This Ferrari is essentially a racing car and racing cars don't need dressed tyres for example, however the owner of such a showy car may well expect to see them dressed, so do you compromise with a non-greasy satin product that can be buffed right back, or do you not bother? While it's easy enough to access the top of low-slung cars like these, because they generally sit in close proximity to the ground it can be a struggle tending to their lower areas. Wash mitts and towels can inadvertently come into contact with the floor, rendering them useless in the moment, and because these parts fully extend underneath the car to form its aerodynamic undertray, it can be hard to know how far or low to actually go. Even when employing proven cleaning methodology that usually ensures all areas are covered, it's still easy to miss intricate bits on complex cars like these, so in a sense that standard methodology has to temporarily go out the window, which can feel a bit counter-intuitive especially on expensive machines like these. The car equipment and products aside, what you wear can even impact how a job on a car like this goes. When cleaning cars outdoors, especially at this time of year, you'll want gear that's warm and at least water repellent, however being in close proximity to these expensive motors it ideally also needs to be soft in case you inadvertently brush up against it, so do you put together a special soft zipless supercar detailing outfit that you have to pull out the night before? You tell me. With so many cracks, crevices, intakes and vents then, when you've finished washing and rinsing, how do you go about drying a car like this? Do you use a towel, do you attempt to blow dry the water out of the hard to reach areas, or do you employ a combination of the two as I did here? The benefit of a blow dryer in a situation like this is that it will quickly and effectively remove almost all trapped rinse water from these hard to reach tight spots, but at the same time it might force water down into vents that lead to the engine. A traditional towel dry on the other hand may struggle to soak up all of the trapped water, but its damp fibres will help to gently remove any remaining small spots of dirt that I can guarantee with a car like this will still be there regardless of how thorough you think you were. A supercar's engine is a law unto itself. They generate a lot of heat, so in order to expel that often exposed to the elements and if hot air can readily get out then cleaning products and water can get in, and that isn't a particularly desirable thing. As you can see, despite this car having only covered 200 miles, the engine bay was unfortunately already covered in water spots, so this area clearly hadn't been given much of the consideration I'm talking about. Now, in order to combat this, I'd personally recommend bunching some towels up in the engine bay directly underneath the vents to absorb any suds and rinse water. Or at the very least pop the glass hatch and ensure you wipe everything down with a detail spray and damp towel afterwards, including the inside of the glass itself which can quickly fog up in cold damp conditions. Even with pampered PPF cars like these that are rarely very dirty to begin with, a straightforward maintenance wash can still end up taking twice as long as it would with a normal car, so from a business perspective does that mean you charge double? The owner can obviously afford it, but sorry sir, I need to charge you twice as much because your already clean car has too much carbon and probably isn't going to cut it, or do you charge the same as you would for a normal car as it is technically still the same job and just class the opportunity to work on such a thing as part payment? Now, although I wasn't here and couldn't have any way due to the PPF, if you're then moving on to polish a supercar like this, do you aim to fully correct the paint and lightly remove a substantial amount of it in the process, or simply improve upon the finish leaving a few imperfections behind but retain its integrity for the future, and how does this align with the owner's expectations? While I only had the time to focus my efforts on the exterior of this Pista, pretty much everything I've said also applies to the interior of supercars like these too, as while purposeful places to bid absolute nightmare to properly clean, a sea of glossy carbon can't simply be vacuumed off with a rough dusting tool attachment or wiped over with an old generic rag, so super soft brushes, lubricated detail sprays and thick buffing towels will generally be the order of the day. Then there's the actual physical logistics of safely performing such a task, as everything is designed to tightly contain you, so getting in out and shaking it all about is no mean feat. Unless I'm literally spending all day on a car like this, the outcome probably isn't going to be perfect, but the way I look at it is that I'm still likely going to do a better job than most, including those at the dealership. Contrary to everything I've said in this video, if you're a car guy and cleaning for a living, I'm pretty certain you're still going to want to get your hands on cars like these, and that's perfectly understandable, you just need to approach them respectfully without any blinkered supercar goggles on, and be prepared to take the rough with the smoothers even when at rest these beasts bite. So despite only having the time to give it a wash on this short damp day that sadly marked the official end of summer, hopefully the shots I managed to grab of this stunner were still sufficient. Now feel free to share any supercar cleaning trials and tribulations of your own, and while you're mopping the drool up off your device, I'll be working on mine, putting a new video together, so stay tuned for that.