New 2008 Atomic Orange Z06 wetsanded deep etching on hood/roof

gmblack3a · 09-21-08, 04:12

The brand new 2008 Z06 was partially exposed to the elements at a dealership. The client noticed the deep water spot etching after he received the car. The dealership said they would have the body shop fix the issue for him, but he decided to go another route.

Upon arrival I noticed that the car was looking excellent inside and out. Another detailer had already clayed/waxed and did a wonderful job on the interior. Wonderful job as always Mike.

Here is a pic of some of the etching on the roof:

For entertainment purposes I started with my airvantage 3/32 throw air sander and some 4k sanding discs. As usual this finishing disc will only scuff a harder clear coat. Also tried the trizact 3k sanding disc which hardly produced a dent in the etching.

I then moved down to some 2k abralon sanding discs. Making 2-3 passes over the area you can see how deep some of the etching really is:

From there I stepped down to unigrit 1500 by hand. I followed that with the air sander and 2k abralon, then 4k abralon.

With the hard clear that the corvette is known for, some of the sanding scratches from using 1500 by hand did not come out with the air sander. I have since purchased a box of the new 3M trizact 1500 02069, wish I would of had them for this one.

I even tried the trizact 3k discs in place of the 4k abralon, no difference with this hard clear.

So when I polished the sanding marks out, this was the process I used:

3M ECC yellow edge wool @ 1700 mikita
Presta 1500 green edge wool @ 1600 makita
SIP Green german CCS foam @ 1600 mikata
Ultrafina blue euro 6" 3M foam @ 1600 mikata

Each polishing step was followed w/ multiple wipedowns of prep solve to ensure that each polishing step was worked long enough.

On the hood the etching did not appear to be as deep, so it got the 2K abralon followed by the 3k trizact.

This is a in process shot of the hood as I am polishing out the wetsanding marks:

Some after polishing shots of the roof:

After shot of the hood:

The rest of the car received a polish with ZPC/green german CCS/PC6.

The car was then washed via the 2BM with Zaino Z7 and a sheepskin mit.

Dried with pakshak WW dring towels.

I applied 2x of zaino Z2pro, followed by Z8.

Total time 16.5 hours over 2 days.

David Fermani · 09-21-08, 04:28

Absolutely incredible!!!

Questions:
*Did all the etching damage(especially on the roof) come out? That stuff was super deep.

*Did you have a chance to take measurements? I'm sure a decent amount of clear was removed, but I'd be hard pressed to think it affected anything.

*This should be a benchmark thread designed for people interested in sanding their new cars flat(er). Would you recommend/advocate this done on an entire vehicle to improve it's look?

*I imagine the finish on this car looked totally different because of the sanding you did?

*Is the dealer/GM reimbursing the owner for your services? As long as you documented the problem at the dealer, I don't see why they wouldn't.

Again, great job Brian. I'm glad you did this.

mixxer · 09-21-08, 04:37

Awesome Work!

gmblack3a · 09-21-08, 04:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Fermani

Absolutely incredible!!!

Questions:
*Did all the etching damage(especially on the roof) come out? That stuff was super deep.

*Did you have a chance to take measurements? I'm sure a decent amount of clear was removed, but I'd be hard pressed to think it affected anything.

*This should be a benchmark thread designed for people interested in sanding their new cars flat(er). Would you recommend/advocate this done on an entire vehicle to improve it's look?

*I imagine the finish on this car looked totally different because of the sanding you did?

*Is the dealer/GM reimbursing the owner for your services? As long as you documented the problem at the dealer, I don't see why they wouldn't.

Again, great job Brian. I'm glad you did this.

David, Thanks for your kind words! I wish I would of had the trizact 1500 to use on this car, I think it would of save alot of time.

Under fluorescent lighting there are still some very light evidence of the deeper etching spots, nothing that I could get to come up on my camera.

Unfortunately my PTG does not work on composite, ect surfaces. After discovering how deep the etching was, the client and I had a long talk about how deep he wanted me to go with the 1500 by hand.

For someone who plans on keeping their vehicle for a long time, I am not sure I can recommend this process for a daily driver. That would be something that the owner of the car would have to decide for themselves. A garage queen or showcar would be a different story.

There was no sun out to judge the difference in the wetsanded area and the areas that where not. Since the car was new and had very few light defects on the rest of the car, IMO it was hard to tell a difference.

I am not sure what type of settlement that the cleint reached with the dealer.

Thanks again David.

GBSLambo · 09-21-08, 04:59

Great Job!

dougatl · 09-21-08, 05:42

Bryan- another satisfied customer, great job buddy. I need by paint chips taken care of.

doug

gmblack3a · 09-21-08, 05:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by GBSLambo

Great Job!

Thanks Lambo!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dougatl

Bryan- another satisfied customer, great job buddy. I need by paint chips taken care of.

doug

Thanks Doug!

Sent you a PM on the CF.

rydawg · 09-21-08, 05:58

Amazing work as usual Bryan!

You did an amazing job at sanding while using your knowledge to know when to stop... Great work!

gmblack3a · 09-21-08, 06:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by rydawg

Amazing work as usual Bryan!

You did an amazing job at sanding while using your knowledge to know when to stop... Great work!

Thank you Ryan!

G35stilez · 09-21-08, 06:47

Perfection!

Killer work.

I love jobs like this. You take a new car that most people would laugh about "detailing", let alone taking a polisher to, and you go an sand it. The results are apparent and the process is great. Keep it up, Bryan.

stiffdogg06 · 09-21-08, 07:23

Awesome job on the etching!

Accumulator · 09-21-08, 12:55

gmblack3a- Good heavens!! You just keep outdoing yourself

Man, you're *so* [freaking] good....

The fluorescents (which I usually bash) work great for texture issues like this, huh?

Hope he keeps it out of the sun as best he can...I'd rather have thin original paint than a repaint any day. As long as you didn't notice a weird "lightness" difference in the color where you sanded it oughta be OK.