Detailing a 63 & 67 corvette (lacquer paint) PROS advice needed

[qwik]

LIke the title says i will be detaling a 1963 daytona blue & 1967 tuxedo black corvette. Both having lacquer paint jobs. I do not know too much about these types of paint, what i have read however is that i need to be super careful and even using a PC could make irrepariable damage. I will be detailing them for an upcoming corvette show and i want to do a really really good job hehe. I haven`t formally evaluated the paint but i am assuming swirls but not too bad considering both cars were over 100,000 and i`m sure that if the paint was bad it wouldn`t have been that much. I am open to pretty much using anything, but like i said i am worried about using PC. (never thought i`d say i`m worried about using a 7424 ) Anyway i need some PRO recommendations, people who have worked on lacquer paint jobs (older cars) and who have successfully removed swirls and made the paint really stand out. What procedures, prodcuts etc.



Thank you.

[jfelbab]

I`ve done a few and they were all in good shape with minimal swirls. The paint was single stage and quite a bit softer than the clear coats. I`ve had great results using Meguiar`s MPPC, #7 Show Car Glaze and #26 or #16. If you need to get more aggressive you can use #9 to remove swirls. All can be done by hand or PC. Based on the value of these vehicles I`d do them by hand. They are not all that big anyway. They also have lots of sharp edges to be concerned about. Paint is pretty thin at these edges and you don`t want to push a pc over these edges. Being that the paint is softer, they respond much faster to these products. Don`t forget to take a couple pics.

[qwik]

I am a camera nut so i will be taking pics no matter what hehe. I like to archive details to the max. Should i bother to clay these cars? Considering they probably have never had it done. I don`t know what the rule is when it comes to single stage and clay.



I was thinking of using MPPC on both, #9, VM as my polish and topped with EX-P and maybe S100 on top of that. I would rather like to remove as much swirls as possible, will 9 do any good by hand? Thanks for the reply.

[jfelbab]

Clay works equally well on SS and CC finishes.



#9 can be hand-applied.



The big difference is how quickly these SS finishes respond. I love working on them. Sure they mar easily but they come back even faster.



Your pads tend to get pretty colorful quickly though.



I prefer the look of solid color SS paint.

[qwik]

Thanks again jfelbab, so would you suggest i do everything by hand to be extra safe?

[Mike_Phillips]

Originally posted by qwik

Should i bother to clay these cars? Considering they probably have never had it done. I don`t know what the rule is when it comes to single stage and clay.

Hi qwik,



Bonded contaminants don`t have any personal preferences, they`ll bond to any type of paint, even the paint on single stage classic Corvettes.



Last Saturday, I buffed out a single stage black paint job on a fairly famous show truck. This truck is always garage kept, and never parked outside for any length of time without a cover.



http://www.customclassictrucks.com/f...vehicles/5386/



When I arrived, I was told that the car had been wiped-down, for me so that it was clean and ready to work on. (I was told the Truck is rarely washed, like in less than half a dozen times since it was built). Not trusting their work, I went ahead and wiped it down again. The microfiber on the left started out looking like the microfiber on the right.







Then I clayed it, using Meguiar`s Quik Clay for obvious reasons, but one nice thing is that because it`s white, it will show you what you removed, (I know a lot of people don`t like Meguiar`s clay, but we replaced all of our clays with new clays and they all work really well now). Claying the car is the first best thing you can do to increase gloss because it insures a smooth surface. Some types of bonded contaminats are not easily removed using a paint cleaner even by machine when using foam pads. Foam pads will have a tendency to simply glide over the bonded contaminatn and polish the contaminant.







Here are the results,







Here`s a close-up,







So the point is, bonded contaminants build up over time even on show cars. Sometimes, merely running you clean hand over the surface after washing, or wiping with a quick detailer isn`t enough to tell you the true condition of the finish, that`s why it`s a good idea to clay anyway.



As far as cleaning the paint afterwards with a paint cleaner, and then polishing and waxing, if you like I would be happy to tell you how I would do it with Meguiar’s on a single stage finish by hand, PC or even rotary buffer.



I have buffed out a number of these types of body styles and there is always a few things to look out for.



Here`s a 1965 Roadster, (factory big block), taped-off. You want to tape off and cover the grill around the wipers because if you get any kind of splatter behind the grill it will be almost impossible to remove. Because I`m go to take a rotary buffer to this car I have taped of all placed I do not want to detail later, as well as high points and body lines.







Here are the RIDS identified,







At a minimum, I would use the PC on a Corvette just to make it easier on you. There are so many nice panels that you can easily polish out by machine and take your results to a higher level by than you could by merely using your hand. In the below picture, I`m using the PC after using the rotary buffer. (When I buff out a car... if it has paint on it... it gets polished). Note the use of tinfoil to cover the lights and licence plate.







Finished,







Mike

(The enthusiast detailer on my days off)

[qwik]

Mike: :xyxthumbs Thank you so very much for your response and advice, i greatly appreciate it. I would like to know exactly what u used. I am not that experienced with the rotary yet, infact i just burned through a small portion of my firebird`s bumper the other day. The back bumper has a hugh lip (the late model f-bodies) and tends to kick up dust and other things that leave scratches. Menzerna doesn`t quite take care of them so i went with fine cut and a maroon cutting pad. There are a ton of weird curves and things on this car and i should have taped the bumper`s edge but didn`t! Luckily its only a small spot.



Side note, (i will take a picture of the damage) do you think that i can apply some touchup, wetsand and buff again (just that spot this time) to "repair" the appearence of me burning through? It really isn`t that bad, but noticable and i hate the fact that i did it.



Anyway, getting back to business, what products did you use all together? Like i stated above i would like to use a paint cleaner, (mppc) polish (would like to try VM) and a few diff sealents (was thinking ex-p, klasse and or s100 as the topper) I do not formally know the condition but i will clay the car. I was afraid to use the PC but if you say its OK to do so on the single stage paint than i will. I probably will not be using anything too harsh unless i am given the go-ahead from the owner to remove a certain blemish if found. Other than that a full detail is just in order for when they goto a show.



What do you suggest for windows and interior aswell? The interior still has that old smell to it, i don`t know if i want to go screwing around with all new chemicals on the inside of the car.

Thanks a bunch Mike.



-rob



EDIT: that truck looks amazing, do you have any more shots of the final detail and what you used on it? Thanks. :xyxthumbs

[Jesstzn]

Originally posted by qwik



The interior still has that old smell to it, i don`t know if i want to go screwing around with all new chemicals on the inside of the car.

Thanks a bunch Mike.



-rob

I helped the neighbor out cleaning the interior of his old Bronco that had the *old* smell to it .. We wiped the door panels and seats down with the Woolite mix and then I sprayed the carpets with it and vigorously aggitated them with a old terry towel .. The Wollite took out a suprising amount of crud and really freashened the interior smell .. its been 2 weeks now and it still smells better than it did .. I should have done the headliner too but didn`t .. it was smoked in at one time and I think thats where the remaining odor is coming from.

[qwik]

i have been reading alot lately about using woolite, i will look into it further, thanks.

[captkirk2]

Solvents will etch into the single stage paints faster, so be sure not to apply any compounds directly to the paint surface.