[RickRack]

After hours of wetsanding and compounding, I decided to call it a day and packed up for the night.





More Wetsanding & Compounding

Day 3 consisted of more wetsanding on various panels of the car. After all of the wetsanding was complete, most of the major scratches were fully removed besides a few that required touch-up paint (which would be done later).

Before I called it quits for the day, I chose a test panel to try some different product/pad combos on to decide what combo worked the best. After testing various compounds, I decided to stick with the 3M Extra-Cut Compound and twisted wool pad. It is a very aggressive combo, but the paint was fairly hard and it had lots of pitting, etching, swirls, bird etchings, etc

Test panel…










Heavy Compounding

Day 4 consisted of compounding the entire exterior with Extra-Cut Compound using a twisted wool pad to level the paint and remove all moderate defects. Compounding is the most important step in the paint correction process, so I carefully inspected each panel immediately after it was complete by wiping with 91% alcohol on a clean microfiber towel to ensure that no filling was taking place. This combo is extremely aggressive, so the utmost care was taken to ensure that little or no paint as was removed. All edges were taped, removed, retaped, over and over as I went along to prevent burning the edges. After this step was completed, I wiped down each panel with a damp cloth, followed by 91% alcohol to remove any remaining residue from compounding. The finish was perfectly scoured from the wool pad and it was ready to begin refining back to a high gloss.











Medium Polish

The goal of day 5 was to start refining the finish to remove the heavy compounding haze and wool pad abrasions left from the previous polishing step. First, I decided to break things up a little and refinish the mufflers which were starting to flake. It is a very common trait on C4 Corvette’s for the exhaust to start flaking off paint.





I cleaned each muffler with degreaser and sanded each one with 1200 grit sandpaper. After both mufflers were sanded down, I wiped them down with prep-solvent to remove any silicone or wax that may have been present to ensure a perfect surface for the paint to bond. Each muffler was carefully masked off and received 3 coats of hi-temperature paint.

Here is a picture after the first coat…





After the paint was dry, I looked through my arsenal of products to decide what would be used to refine the paint surface back to a high gloss. I tried a variety of different products on various foam pads to remove the compounding haze, but a more aggressive approach was necessary. Next, I tried using a black lambs wool pad (Thanks David Fermani!) with different polishes until I found the perfect combo to fully remove the scratches.

After trying my go-to products with unsatisfactory results, I tried Mark V Uno, which worked perfectly and gave me the results I was looking for. This product does have slight filling abilities due to the lubricating oils, so each panel was wiped several times with 91% alcohol to ensure that absolutely no filling was taking place. Uno left a surprisingly great finish and removed the compounding haze & wool pad abrasions beautifully.

Next, I polished the complete exterior with Menzerna Super Intensive Polish , which really amplified the gloss and prepped the surface for the final polishing step and burnishing stage.




Final Polish / Burnishing

My expectations for day 6 was to finish up all of the polishing and detail the interior. I polished the drivers rear quarter panel with 106fa using a black CCS pad, wiped it down with 91% alcohol and pulled it out into the direct sun to inspect from buffer trails and hologramming before continuing to polish the rest of the car. The finish looked perfect in the sunlight, so I pulled the car back into the shop.

Before proceeding with the final polishing step, I removed all of the tape and decided to give the car a much needed wash to remove the product spatter and dust from all of the cracks and crevices. It is very important to wash the car before the final polishing step to ensure that all of the tiny dust particles and abrasives from the compound have been removed. If even the tiniest dust particle gets into your pad when polishing, you risk marring the surface and take a huge step backward. I rinsed the car off very well and filled a wash bucket with a fresh batch of soap. I used a brand new microfiber towel to wash the car with and took my time getting in every little nook and cranny, including the door, hood and hatch jambs. I dried the car carefully by blotting the surface dry with another clean microfiber towel and wiped all door, hood and hatch jambs dry.

For the interior, I shampooed all of the carpets by hand using Folex carpet cleaner. All carpets and floor mats were agitated with a stiff bristle brush and vacuumed dry. The interior vinyl and leather was cleaned with Kar Kraft’s Super Kleen cleaner, spraying the cleaner onto a damp microfiber towel and wiping dry with a 2nd cloth. A variety of different brushes were used to get into all of the vents, cupholders, gauges, etc.. After the seats and interior panels were clean, I applied Zaino Leather In A Bottle to both seats using a microfiber towel and treated all other interior pieces with Meguiar’s Quick Interior Detailer for its UV protection. I gave the interior a final vacuum, installed the floor mats and cleaned all windows, instrument cluster & mirrors.

After the interior was complete, I re-taped all necessary areas and began polishing the exterior with 106fa using a black CCS pad. Each panel was polished twice using extensive finishing techniques and wiped immediately after with 91% alcohol. I inspected each panel under 1500 watt halogen and dual xenon light sources for any imperfections that may have been present. After the polishing was complete and all panels were inspected, I did a final burnishing step using Menzerna 85rd on a blue CCS foam finishing pad and called it quits for the day.


Me polishing with 106fa…