Very Low Mileage C5 Corvette is Polished and Coated with CQuartz UK

[zmcgovern45]

This early C5 Corvette had only 11,500 miles when it was dropped off with me (that`s an average of only ~700 miles/year!). The owner wanted the car to be as shiny as possible, and he mentioned that he did not enjoy having to wax it (or have it waxed), so a paint coating was an obvious choice for this job. We decided on my Premium Exterior Enhancement Detail.

The vehicle had just been taken out of storage and was professionally detailed right before it was put away for the winter. It was clear that a decent amount of glaze was used, as my initial inspection of the vehicle showed nearly perfect paint with only the slightest of swirls, but after a very thorough cleaning and decontamination process, I was able to reveal the true condition. Overall the paint was still in fairly good shape (amazing shape for its age!) with the usual swirls throughout, but there were some areas with more severe defects such as sanding marks, bird bomb etchings, and RIDS that were not completely removed with the one-stage polishing process, however it would take a dark room and a carefully focused spotlight to find these defects on this bright white paint. The car turned out great!


Process
Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner & Tire Brush
Wheels: Meguiar`s D103 (10:1) and various tools/brushes
Wash: CG Citrus Wash via Sheepskin Mitt (2BM)
Decon 1 Tar Removal: Stoner Tarminator
Decon 2 Iron/Fallout Removal: CarPro IronX
Decon 3 Bonded Contaminate Removal: Nanoskin Autoscrub Fine Mitt with Glide as Lubrication
Tape Trim and Areas of concern
Polish: Meguiar`s M101 on white LC pads via Rupes LHR21ES and Rupes LHR75E
Paint Cleaner/Coating Prep: CarPro Eraser
Ceramic Paint Coating: CarPro CQuartz UK
Wheels: Lightly polished with M205 by hand then sealed with Reload
Tires: Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel
Glass: Meguiar`s D120
LSP: CarPro Reload




Before


Bug guts on the front bumper







Tar and grime buildup on the inner fender





Dirt and iron buildup on the paint





Light dirt and dust on the wheels.





During

Removing tar deposits on the lower panels of the vehicle. Tarminator helps to quickly and easily loosen tar and begin to dissolve it. This makes it easier to wipe away and eliminates any need to "scrub" the paint, therefore reducing the risk of damaging the paint.





Iron X was used to safely remove bonded iron contaminates. This clear liquid turns purple as it reacts with iron and safely dissolves it from the surface. There was plenty of iron buildup to remove.









After the paint was completely clean, the true condition was revealed. There were common swirls and scratches as well as some other more severe defects.





Sanding Marks







Bird bomb etching





It was quite difficult to capture these defects in the camera, but here is a shot of the door before correction. Notice the swirls.





Door after polishing. The swirls and lighter defects have been removed resulting in a clear, crisp reflection of the light. This is what leads to very glossy paint!





The paint was looking excellent after polishing.





CQuartz UK was applied to the paint and the vehicle was then pulled out into the sun to `bake` to help accelerate the coating curing time.





After

Wheels were lightly polished by hand and tires were dressed with a water based dressing to help nourish the rubber.





The paint looked great! It had a glassy, wet finish to it.







The engine was already in great shape, so it was simply dusted and dressed.





The paint looked great in the sun (this might be my personal record for # of sun stars in one photo)!









This 16 year old car looks as good as new!










As always, Thanks for looking!

[Ronkh]

Really nice !!!

[MarkD]

Beautiful work, and a stunning Vette.

Something about white Vettes, and myself, would love having-owning that one!

I have gotten a bottle of the CQuartz UK myself, hoping my Tahoe will pop a little more like this one does.

[MarkD]

Honestly, I am not impressed with the 2014 Stingray, I`ve seen about 7-8 in the past couple month`s time.

The car looks boxy to me, too many sharp lines, looks like somebody "rear ended" it, and to me, reeks of what I feel is too much "Japanese Influence". Even if it wasn`t, this is what I see when I look at the new model.

This model you showcased is what I would like, and I really like the "all white" with the White Top as well. This screams hardtop coupe. you don`t have to look twice.

Although these cars cannot be considered "practical", I`m tired of rolling around in a daily driver Kia Spectra crapbox that`s 14 years old. I deserve better, worked all my damn life, and life is very short, you only go around once.

Obstacles for me, no garage, which would be a must if I would buy such, and I continue to live here in this filthy, dusty-dirty windy state. That I`m contemplating that as well (moving), I`m tired of the winds, dust, and the local population here.

[valleyrider]

Great job on the car!

It`s such a shame they have to put front license plates on the cars, ruins the front end for me.

reeks of what I feel is too much "Japanese Influence".

They took the corvette and gave it a European makeover for the new model as that is the design style people associate with supercars and let`s face it, the new corvette finally has the handling to match the power it produces essentially making it a supercar without the super price.

In the past the corvette was a very good handling muscle car but the new version is a great handling sportscar.

[Klock]

Great work! Looks better than new! How do you like opti bond tire gel?

[Todd@RUPES]

Wow, that C5 looks GREAT in white!

[zmcgovern45]

Really nice !!!

Beautiful work, and a stunning Vette.

Something about white Vettes, and myself, would love having-owning that one!

I have gotten a bottle of the CQuartz UK myself, hoping my Tahoe will pop a little more like this one does.

Thanks! UK is a fantastic product IMO.

Honestly, I am not impressed with the 2014 Stingray, I`ve seen about 7-8 in the past couple month`s time.

The car looks boxy to me, too many sharp lines, looks like somebody "rear ended" it, and to me, reeks of what I feel is too much "Japanese Influence". Even if it wasn`t, this is what I see when I look at the new model.

This model you showcased is what I would like, and I really like the "all white" with the White Top as well. This screams hardtop coupe. you don`t have to look twice.

Although these cars cannot be considered "practical", I`m tired of rolling around in a daily driver Kia Spectra crapbox that`s 14 years old. I deserve better, worked all my damn life, and life is very short, you only go around once.

Obstacles for me, no garage, which would be a must if I would buy such, and I continue to live here in this filthy, dusty-dirty windy state. That I`m contemplating that as well (moving), I`m tired of the winds, dust, and the local population here.

To each his own... I really like the new C7, and I also love the C6 Z06. This C5 was just too dated for my liking, but still a nice car for its age.

Great job on the car!

It`s such a shame they have to put front license plates on the cars, ruins the front end for me.



They took the corvette and gave it a European makeover for the new model as that is the design style people associate with supercars and let`s face it, the new corvette finally has the handling to match the power it produces essentially making it a supercar without the super price.

In the past the corvette was a very good handling muscle car but the new version is a great handling sportscar.

Thanks... I don`t have a front plate on my car... havent had any issues yet.

Great work! Looks better than new! How do you like opti bond tire gel?

Thank you... I`ve always liked Opti-Bond. You will find that I use it quite often if you look back at my previous write ups.

Wow, that C5 looks GREAT in white!

Thanks Todd!

[Reddwarf]

Excellent work! Such a beautiful finish after you were done!

[Pats300zx]

Outstanding work !!!

[zmcgovern45]

Thanks guys!

[Ronkh]

Hey Zach, how many coats of uk did you put on it? If more than one, how long between

[zmcgovern45]

Just one

[Ronkh]

Thank you