Black 98' Corvette (3-day makeover) 56K no way!

[RickRack]

OK, this Corvette was just traded in towards a new C6 Corvette last week. It has 44K miles on it, but it looked like it had 144K miles on it because of the horrible condition it was in. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I laid my eyes on it. The exterior was full of swirls, holograms, road paint on the bottoms, deep scratches, stone chips, overspray and tree sap. The interior stunk to high heaven. It had a very bad musty smell and on top of that he had a royal pine air freshener which added to the stench. When I popped my head inside for the first time I think I actually threw up in my mouth a little bit!

I ended up removing both seats so I could extract the rugs and get rid of the awful stench.

Here are some before pictures to show you just how bad this thing was. Hell, I think it actually looked worse in person than the pictures show.

[RickRack]

It's probably going to take me a while to get all the afters up because I am doing this at work. Please be patient..

[boom-boom]

wow.....I can't believe that somebody let a beutiful car get that bad. Oh well at least now she'll get some love.

Pat

[98Jeep360]

Man, its hard to believe some people neglect their cars like that. Any Corvette owner I've met was VERY fussy about the appearance of their car. Looking forward to seeing the afters!

[RickRack]

THE PROCESS....

Washed exterior

Cleaned wheels, wheel wells & engine compartment

Removed the road paint off the bottom rocker panels using plastic razor blades with tire dressing as a lubricant so it would not damage the paint

Clayed complete exterior with Opti-Clay and rewashed

Buffed complete exterior with 3M Microfinishing Compound using a twisred wool pad by rotary

Buffed complete exterior with 3M PI II Rubbing Compound using a foam cutting pad

Buffed complete exterior x2 with IP using foam cutting pad

Buffed complete exterior with OP using a foam finishing pad

Hand application of Werkstatt's Prime to complete exterior, wheels & door/hood moldings around the glass

Hand application of Werkstatt's AJ x2

Hand application of Collinite Insulator Wax

Dressed tires & wheel wells w/Super Blue Dressing

Treated windshield wiper cowl with Back to Black as well as all the door & convertible top gaskets

Painted mufflers and tail pipes with Kar Kraft flat back engine paint

Dressed engine compartment with Hi-Lite dressing

Removed both seats, shampooed all rugs & floormats with extractor

Ran ozone machine in interior over night to take out the smell

Cleaned all interior vinyl & leather with Super Kleen general purpose cleaner

Conditioned leather with Blue Coral Leather Conditioner

HERE ARE THE AFTERS...

[Scottwax]

The previous owner should never be allowed to drive anything nicer than a late 80's Cavalier.

[RickRack]

[RickRack]

That's it!!

[98Jeep360]

Wow, that is quite an amazing transformation, great job! I don't think I've ever seen a black car look that wet

[SpoiledMan]

You do know it's against Autopia rules to switch cars for after pictures right?? Right??

[gmblack3a]

As usual Rick your details are outstanding.

This car reminds me of my old neighbors car (a blk 97 coupe) I think she was in 3 accidents with it.

Did you use prime to clean the windshield tray before the B2B?

The B2B looks great on the tray. BP TR works very well there too.

[RickRack]

Originally Posted by gmblack3a

As usual Rick your details are outstanding.

This car reminds me of my old neighbors car (a blk 97 coupe) I think she was in 3 accidents with it.

Did you use prime to clean the windshield tray before the B2B?

The B2B looks great on the tray. BP TR works very well there too.

I just cleaned it with GP before treating it with B2B. I wasn't sure if it would turn white if I used Prime on the cowl.

Here is a before & after picture of the cowl. (Before the detail was finished)

BEFORE


AFTER