2009 Corvette ZR-1 - Complete New Car Prep

[David Fermani]

I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to be flown 1300 miles away to Michigan to prep an old client?s brand new 2009 Corvette ZR-1 in Cyber Gray. I stressed to him to not let the dealer lay 1 finger on this monster and we all agreed that it would be in the car?s best interest to have it tailored right to his home as soon as it landed at Jack Cauley Chevrolet/Ferrari in W. Bloomfield, MI.







The only thing the dealer was allowed to do was install the miscellaneous trim needed and the check the required fluids to insure the mechanical aspects were sufficient for delivery.





This vehicle was special ordered by my client and he was lucky enough to be able to purchase this unit at sticker price ($116,845). Many cars are still being offered for sale $50,000 above sticker!!





This was the last ZR-1 batch produced before plant year end shut-down (12-23-08) which meant that it never had the opportunity to sit outside at the plant; i.e. collecting contaminants on the exterior. It went from the assembly line to the Allied Systems enclosed trailer to the dealership.





From there it was immediately brought inside their Prep Department and then tailored to my client?s home in Brighton, MI.







His home is actually within walking distance from the General Motors Proving Grounds where this and many other vehicles are tested by GM Engineers daily. At times you can hear super cars like this make their top speed attempts on their long straight away adjacent to my client?s home. It?s also adjacent to the Wixom Performance Build Center where the ZR-1 engines are assembled.





Unfortunately the day before I arrived, the Metro Detroit area was blasted by a foot of snow! Perfect day for detailing huh? The owner had to plow the snow from his long driveway so we could drive back to the garage to do our work.




This vehicle sat in the owner?s garage collecting dust until I was able to fly out on January 23 to fully prep it.











After taking in the beauty of this beast, the work began. Even though the owner?s garage was fully heated, it was virtually impossible to use any heavy form of water without flooding it. This meant that all rinsing had to be done outside. As soon as I 1st rinsed the thick dust film from the exterior & the water immediately froze on the ground underneath the car.





I knew I would be faced with a few hurdles due to needing to wash this car multiple times, so I decided to 1st wash it as far away from the garage and each time I inched 1 space closer to the garage door. I began to wash everything down with a healthy dose of Dawn detergent combined with a brand new HD Grout Sponge.






I then cleaned the wheels/tires and wheel wells with various mediums.











Back outside for a final rinse and then to a full clay process with Zaino clay and Z7 diluted as my lube.




Unsurprisingly, because this vehicle hasn?t been exposed to environmental elements yet, no contaminants were picked up by the clay.




After drying, I then used Compressed air to blow out all the water from cracks and crevices to mitigate dilution of polish if contact happened to occur.









I then taped off all the necessary trim to avoid any potential for problems.







GM recommends not applying or using any polishing or buffing equipment on the clear polycarbonate panel as this could damage its UV coating.




Under halogens, it was pretty obvious that the Zaino clay marred the finish pretty bad. A surprising indication of how soft the clear is on this particular finish.









There were also several isolated, minor scratches/defects that needed correcting prior to the overall polishing processes.











I used Meg?s 105 via LC orange spot buff pads. I then worked out and leveled all the clay micro-marring with Menzerna SIP via LC German Green. This produced a perfect mix of correction and preliminary gloss.

Before:



After:

[David Fermani]

In process with Green + SIP:






I then micro-jeweled the finish down with Merzerna 85RD via black LC and this created a deeply polished final finish. This 2-step process dramatically increased the magnification of the metallic base coat by leveling out the clear top coat.









Because daylight was dwindling, I quickly performed 2 straight alcohol wipe downs and pulled the car outside for some last minute inspections under sunlight. Here?s some raw shots prior to LSP:
























Getting traction in the ice crested snow was a real challenge as I attempted to pull it in for completion:




I then mixed up a concoction of ZFX?d Z-5 Pro and applied 2 coats with doing Z-6 wipe downs in between application on the exterior, jambs, wheels & glass. Final topper was Z-2 Pro.




Tires received a healthy dose of Z-16.



Leather was lightly wiped with Z-9 and then preserved with Z-10.




I dumped a glass of Distilled water to test out the beading action. I love seeing beads within beads!!





Final Shots:
The final finish was amazing and was totally different than the factory issued shine!!!




























Special thanks to my friends:

[imported_Asphalt Rocket]

Great Job Dave.

[JoshVette]

Great job David, I swear I`m the only one who has not detailed a new Z yet.....

Car looks great.

[Old Pirate]

Great work on the ZR-1 David :notworthy:, what did you use on the carbon fiber pieces? and Josh I`m in line also with you waiting on a ZR-1......

[TOGWT]

Great work David. (lucky not to have to deal with transit wrap and adhesive residue)

[gmblack3]

Very nice work David.

Thanks for sharing!

[qballjr13]

Great work! That car is absolutely gorgeous! Hopefully the snow is melted and he is out enjoying it!

[imported_Luster]

Nice job on the new ZR1... I hope these pictures aren`t as close as I`ll ever get to one!!!

[imported_BretFraz]

Fantastic job, David. Well done. That car will look great on Woodward.

[JoshVette]

Great work on the ZR-1 David :notworthy:, what did you use on the carbon fiber pieces? and Josh I`m in line also with you waiting on a ZR-1......

Funny thing is my client with a 599 and a slew of other toys just got one and didn`t even tell me..... he loves to detail them himself and only has me out for major work or to maintain when he`s too busy.

I talked to him about the new ZR1, he said it`s nearly equal to the 599 in every way except the ZR1 has tons of tramline and the 599 you could drive at any speed with just one finger....

[D!Tailed]

Great work!! The color really does look a TON better after your work!

Quick question. Why would you clay the whole car if your weren`t really picking up anything with the clay? Isn`t that just creating more work for you? Just curious.

On a different note, that`s a huge kudos to have a client fly you out to do their car(s)! I have a few clients in Cali this way and it really makes me feel good. So great job on getting that solid reputation!

D!

[imported_blk45]

Nice! Excellent work Fermani. When I found out my client got Cyber Gray, I was disappointed. When I saw it in person, I changed my mind. The blue metallic really looks great in person.

BTW, it`s about time you did this write up slacker!

The SC looks MUCH better with the cover on it.

[Old Pirate]

Your right about the slacker part, maybe he has been busy using his cell phone camera taking pictures......
But it looks very nice this color on the ZR-1.

[Todd@RUPES]

Great work again David Crocket!!!

In purple for you