ACDetailing: Dripping Wet Torch Red Corvette

[d00t]

This detail actually has an interesting back story to it. The owner was originally supposed to bring the car to SpecC (Ben) in order to get it detailed. But unfortuntately, he couldn't get the car in to the driveway because the front bumper hang so low! Fortunately for me, though, Ben recommended me right away, and the next night the car was in my garage!

While I was inspecting the car with the owners, I let them know it should take me two full days (16 hours of work) in order to correct it, and my initial inspection solidified this. Under my LED light there was only wash induced marring, that is generally quite shallow, so I was confident this should be relatively easy. But I let the owner know that anything is possible, and it coud take longer if I run in to problems, and let them know I'd have to keep it an extra day, they were ok with this. After they had left, I PMed JoshVette, seeing's how he has owned a C5 Vette, and has a lot of experience with them, asking him what to expect from the clear.

The next morning I pulled the car out of the garage and began to inspect more thoroughly with sun light. I found out that it may be harder than expected, but was still confident with my 16 hour window.

Upond initial inspection in the sun light:







The car also was quite dirty, as the previous weeks spit out a few days of rain:











After the inspection, I began the initial decontamination. I started off with the engine bay and wheels first this time .

The engine bay was pre rinsed with the crspotless, and then P21S TAW Was doused all over the engine bay. It was quite grey looking, and needed to be spiced up. I also sprayed P21S on the jambs of the engine bay as well. I let it soak in for about 3 minutes before agitating with a dedicated swissvax wheel brush, and then rinsing once more:

















The wheels/wheel wells were pressure rinsed to release as much loose dirt as possible. The rims received a healthy helping of P21S Wheel Gel, and the Tires/Wheel Wells received P21S TAW:









After all the greasy stuff was out of the way, I moved on to the thorough wash of the car. I decided on Chemical Guys' Citrus Wash and Clear because I love the paint cleaning power of the citrus soap, but I don't like the glossing agent found in their other venerable soap because I find it very difficult to get the glossing agent out of the pores of the paint. I foamed the car first, and let it sit for about 7 minutes while I prepared my two bucket wash, with a genuine sheepskin mitt:

[d00t]

After drying the car with a leaf blower, and then blotting it completely dry with a CG WW MF I pulled it in to the garage for the finishing touches of decon. First I addressed the door jambs, trunk jambs, and gas filler area. For this I used P21S TAW again, as well as a sw wheel brush. I let it sit for about 3 minutes, and then agitated. After that, I used a spray bottle filled with deionized water to rinse. The reason I decided against rinsing the jambs down with the hose is even on "mist" there is still a fair amount of splatter, and with the dirty TAW on the surface, I didn't want to get any dirty splatter in to the already relatively clean interior:

Agitating the TAW:



And then "rinsing" off:



The paint condition after claying, under the halogens:







After finishing all the jambs, I moved on to the claying. I decided to us CG Blue Mild clay, and Luber as clay lube. The paint didn't feel terribly contaminated, but to my surprise it was picking up a fair amonut! After claying the car I layed out my test panel. I first went with my makita rotary, meguiars yellow wool, and m105. After two passes, the paint was laughing at me as if to say "is that all you've got?!" So I stepped up to the meguiars burgundy wool and m105. This started to work, but I needed just a TAD more bite. So taking Billy's advice, (presdentl_detailing), I used the "water trick". This consists of "priming" the pad with 105, spraying it once with deionized water, laying a bead on the paint, and work it in like normal, and then when it flashes, one more spray of DI water, and it adds more working time to the product. After doing this 3 times, I found the "perfect" combo it seemed! After that, I finished down with SIP/3M UK Yellow, and then PO106FA/ 3M UK Yellow. These are the results:





Some detailed shots with me 70-200mm lens:





After I had found the process I "planned" on using, it was about 3pm. I decided to let all of Sunday be the polishing day, so for the time being, I moved on to the interior. The carpets were vacuumed with the metro shop vac, and spot cleaned with CG's lightning fast extractor. The rest just needed a nice "masaging" to bring it back to better-than-new quality. The leather received the Gloss-It Twins (Cleaner, Conditioner). I really like the Gloss-It twins because it is very easy to use, and gives outstanding results. I do prefer the Leather Masters' Trio as far as feel after all three products, but the ease of use of the gloss-it products ultimately wins me over 9/10 times. The plastics (which were EVERYWHERE.. GM quality at it's finest) were cleaned with 1Z Cockpit Premium, and then Conditioned/Protected with 303. I want to say thanks to the gf for helping me! After complaining of not spending "quality time together," I figured, what's more quality than working on a hot car in the garage?! Needless to say.. she helped, but wasn't very enthusiastic about it:



At this point is was about 5 pm and I decided to cal it quits after a good 8 hours in to the detail.

Once I got inside, I checked my PMs, sure enough, Josh had gotten back to me! Eventhough I was confident with my process, I listened with an open ear. He told me C5 clear is RIDICULOUSLY hard, and to bring out the best I've got, and finish down with "white" (referring to LC pads). I took his "warning" with me to bed and decided I'd try out a new process.

One that eventually stuck for the rest of the detail. I decided on Meguiars Burgunduy Wool/M105 (w/ water trick)x3, 3M UK Green/SIP x2, and 3M UK Yellow/PO106fa.

Here's some 50/50's of said process:





And a few afters:




(that's not a hologram, it's the tripod BTW )

Once I had gotten to the rear of the car, I decided to tackle the tail lights. They received SIP/3M UK Green 80mm pad x2, and 106FA/3M YK Yellow 80mm pad x1.

[d00t]

Before:



After:



While I had the 80mm pads on the Makita, I focused on the "cramped" areas. They received SIP/Green x4 and 106FA/Yellow x2:



At this point, I was two full days in to the detail, and I've only made it half way around the car!! It was surely going to take longer than expected due to the super hard clear. I informed the owner, and began the third day with the trunk lid area. This was BY FAR the most damaged panel of the entire car. I got it to about 95% corrected, but it would require wetsanding the deep RIDS to make it perfect. The owner had decided against it, and so i did the best I could with the wool. The before pictures in the beginning really show the condition well, but experiencing was something different! I ended up doing EIGHT passes of M105/Wool and then 3 Passes of SIP/Green and One pass of 106/Yellow.

After 8 passes of wool:


Typical wool marring, and holograms still show, but as you can see, it's quite clear, and almost no RIDS show.

I then moved on to the rear quarter. I did 105/Wool x4, then SIP/green x2 and 106/yellow once:




(the four scratches shown could be caught with a fingernail, and as such I couldn't remove them to the fullest)



After nearly 12 hours invested so far in to JUST polishing, it was time for a good wash:





So I brought it outside for it's final wash. I spent about 30 minutes washing it as thoroughly as possible. I tried something new, that I felt worked amazingly well. I took P21S TAW and sprayed it in all of the seems and cracks to further loosed caked on polishing dust. I decided I'd rather "waste" product on the body seems and panel gaps, then risk agitating the polishing dust, and re-marring the perfected paint. The process actually worked out VERY well, and I plan on doing it for every detail from now on, to keep contact with the paint to a minimum during final rinse.

It was about 4:30pm Tuesday evening when I finally got the car rinsed down, and I rushed it outside to get some sun shots the best I could. The clouds were coming in because of a story on its way (now is here) and the sun was in and out of the clouds. Remember, this is BEFORE my final burnishing stage, or wax!





That was the best I could do . Anyways, I brought the car back in the garage one last time and brought out my "jeweling" machine. I mated the Metabo Rotary with the 3M UK Blue Finishing Pad, and Ultrafina to give it that extra pop and wet-look.



After this stage, I first applied a coat of JETseal109, and buffed off. Then I applied Swissvax Concorso over the top to finish it off with a deep glow, and unsurpassed wet look. I had about 10 minutes of light left (about 5:30pm now) and I pulled it out for the best I could do on "sun" shots (note, the tires aren't dressed, exhaust polished, seals dressed/conditioned, I pulled it out as SOON as the wax was curred and wiped off to get the best of the light I could)









Then I caught a break in the clouds a bit!

[d00t]

Then, once I was satisfied with the shots I had gotten the chance to take with the light left, I pulled it back in for finishing touches: The convertible top seals were treated with 1Z Gummi Plfedge, the Top cleaned and proteted with 303, wheels protected with meg's spray wax, and then Swissvax Autobahn, and the jambs received megs spray wax. and 303 on the rubber. The exhaust tips got Mothers Polish, the windshield trim got black wow, and tires got Gloss-It tire dressing.







LAST BUT NOT LEAST. The FINAL afters:













And lastly, in the light of truth:



:fait

As always, C/C Welcome!!

[kei169]

it was a great turnover!!
what can you say with those pics? Amazing!

[Got_Leather]

Great job on such a pain in the a** clear coat. Between Thomas and I we spent about 30 hours perfecting a black Z06. These cars are sure a beast to tackle, but once you take the afters and get paid for it, its all worth it again. These type of details make me enjoy my $100 wash/wax jobs.

DJ

[sal329]

Great turnaround

[TSC17]

Way to invest the time to finish it properly. Nice work!

[Caraman]

Lot's of time spent and thorough process taken on a beautiful turn-around!

[d00t]

Originally Posted by kei169

it was a great turnover!!
what can you say with those pics? Amazing!

Thanks Kei! Was patrick impressed in the day time too?

Originally Posted by Got_Leather

Great job on such a pain in the a** clear coat. Between Thomas and I we spent about 30 hours perfecting a black Z06. These cars are sure a beast to tackle, but once you take the afters and get paid for it, its all worth it again. These type of details make me enjoy my $100 wash/wax jobs.

DJ

Thanks! I actually enjoy these more.. as they give me the chance to showcase my skills..

Originally Posted by sal329

Great turnaround

Thank you!

Originally Posted by TSC17

Way to invest the time to finish it properly. Nice work!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Caraman

Lot's of time spent and thorough process taken on a beautiful turn-around!

Thank you!

[PresdntialDtail]

Looks awesome as usual! Im excited and nervous to tackle the 08 black z06 I have scheduled next week!!

[MuttGrunt]

so wet bro. looks amazing. beautiful work