Giles’ 488 Scrapbook

[giles]

Fabulous to have that record of your build. Will we see it on drive it day (sans fake carbon mirrors…)?

The mirrors are a classic example of people thinking they know better than the highly paid design team that put together the vehicles in the first place.
Take a look at these mirrors, who in their right mind would conclude they look better than the original condition?
Miss-match of carbon effect weave pattern, visible wrap edge conditions and red paint visible at the edges/joints too. It’s like poor quality wallpapering.
The best thing to do is take the wrap off and apply PPF. That way the protection against trees and brambles is maintained and it looks better quality too. However, the risk is unearthing some underlying damage…. We will see!




I know a fantastic PPF company in the midlands who I’m sure can do this, Covertech Midlands in Birmingham, so I’ll get it booked in
Cheers, Giles

 

[A348W]

those look terrible! hopefully the paint is all good and you can show that great colour! ppf a must. ppf on my mirrors need redoing soon as it takes a battering!

 

[giles]

Hi Folks,
With encouragement from various sources, I finally took the brave pill and had a go at removing that god awful carbon wrap from my mirrors……




Super happy with the result, there are a couple of usual stone chip type marks, but nothing substantial and most importantly it has revealed original Rosso Fuoco OEM paint, happy days!
Now the passenger side to do, fingers crossed!
Cheers, Giles

 

[Nosevi]

Much better. Carbon is all well and good on the right type of car - generally looks fine on a 488 I think but I've seen it on 348s and older cars and I've never really liked that - but 'fake' carbon just looks like you're trying too hard. All imo and if others like Carbon wraps all fine, but if it isn't a carbon part then personally I would never try to make it look like one.

 

[giles]

Hi Folks,
After successfully removing the Carbon wrap on the driver mirror I tackled the passenger side mirror, that revealed a lack of lacquer and wet and dry flatting marks where some prep work had been attempted. My guess is the mirror cap was cosmetically damaged and they concluded that the easiest thing to do would be to wrap it. Thankfully I have now had the mirror repainted by Colour Code Motors in Studley, a great colour match which is a bit of a challenge on the triple coat Rosso Fuoco.
The only job remaining to do is to get the rims back to matte Grigio Corsa as per the original spec sheet.
Coming up in July I have my last free service, planning to take to Graypaul Birmingham, we’ll see what they find and also how ‘free’ is free after they have been over it with a fine tooth comb. The only thing I can pick up is a slight noise on the brakes, apparently switching the front ceramic discs can help (switching left to right and right to left), we will see.

My 488 out and about sitting pretty amongst some other fab cars!





Cheers, Giles