Well, I am kind of embarrassed to say that this car belongs to me :hide: . I bought it in April of 2007 and have never really given it a "Rickrack" detail. I am always extremely busy between my full time job and detailing on the side, so I have never given my car the attention it deserved. It has always been a quick wash and wax kind of deal without any paint correction. I always try to keep it clean, but lately I have been noticing more and more how bad the paint is getting, so I decided to dedicate the entire weekend detailing my car the "Autopian" way.
I have not driven my car for over 6 weeks (being winter) and it was killing me, so I decided to drive it a couple days last week. It got covered in salt & sand and was looking pretty sad as you can see from the before pictures, so this motivated me to give it some much needed lovin'
.
It had it's share of RIDS, which were mostly located on the hood from the previous owner. He must have picked up a small pebble or piece of dirt while washing it that made several pretty deep scratches up and down the hood. Other present imperfections include swirls, fine scratches and micromarring from "quicky" washes :doh and not following a proper wash regimen. :nono
As most of you know, Corvette's have extremely hard clear coat, so It was a chore to get the paint looking like new again.
I am extremely happy with the end result. I wish I could store it in a bubble until the winter was over, but I guess I will have to settle for my garage.
I took a bunch of pictures which I will post now, and actually have more to post later on, so check back in later to see the rest of them. I forgot my camera at work, so I will be able to post them up later in the day on Wed.
My process was:
Wash with FK Wash and Wax
Cleaned wheels with Sterling wheel cleaner
Cleaned tires and wheel wells with Kleens APC
Buffed roof, hood and trunk with 3M Extra Cut Compound using yellow Edge wool pad
Buffed complete exterior with 3M Extra Cut Compound using a yellow foam compounding pad X 2
Buffed complete exterior with 106ff using a black foam polishing pad
Buffed complete exterior with 3M Ultrafina using a blue UF foam pad
IPA wipedown
Zaino AIO by hand
Zaino Z2 Pro X 3 by hand
Z8 Wipedown
Z2 Pro followed by Clear-Seal on the wheels
Clear-Seal on the exterior glass
Wicked Metal Polish on the exhaust tips
Super Blue dressing on the tires and wheel wells
Here are the pictures with AIO plus only one coat of Z2 Pro (an additional 2 coats were added - more pictures will be up later). It snowed here on Monday, so I took the car out late in the day on Sun. to get a few pictures before the sun went down.
I just added a few additional pictures on page 4
Befores (Outside):
I have not driven my car for over 6 weeks (being winter) and it was killing me, so I decided to drive it a couple days last week. It got covered in salt & sand and was looking pretty sad as you can see from the before pictures, so this motivated me to give it some much needed lovin'
. It had it's share of RIDS, which were mostly located on the hood from the previous owner. He must have picked up a small pebble or piece of dirt while washing it that made several pretty deep scratches up and down the hood. Other present imperfections include swirls, fine scratches and micromarring from "quicky" washes :doh and not following a proper wash regimen. :nono
As most of you know, Corvette's have extremely hard clear coat, so It was a chore to get the paint looking like new again.
I am extremely happy with the end result. I wish I could store it in a bubble until the winter was over, but I guess I will have to settle for my garage.
I took a bunch of pictures which I will post now, and actually have more to post later on, so check back in later to see the rest of them. I forgot my camera at work, so I will be able to post them up later in the day on Wed.
My process was:
Wash with FK Wash and Wax
Cleaned wheels with Sterling wheel cleaner
Cleaned tires and wheel wells with Kleens APC
Buffed roof, hood and trunk with 3M Extra Cut Compound using yellow Edge wool pad
Buffed complete exterior with 3M Extra Cut Compound using a yellow foam compounding pad X 2
Buffed complete exterior with 106ff using a black foam polishing pad
Buffed complete exterior with 3M Ultrafina using a blue UF foam pad
IPA wipedown
Zaino AIO by hand
Zaino Z2 Pro X 3 by hand
Z8 Wipedown
Z2 Pro followed by Clear-Seal on the wheels
Clear-Seal on the exterior glass
Wicked Metal Polish on the exhaust tips
Super Blue dressing on the tires and wheel wells
Here are the pictures with AIO plus only one coat of Z2 Pro (an additional 2 coats were added - more pictures will be up later). It snowed here on Monday, so I took the car out late in the day on Sun. to get a few pictures before the sun went down.
I just added a few additional pictures on page 4
Befores (Outside):
