Az Detail - Black C7 Stingray Corvette Save - Factory pigtails and holograms

M

MusicMan

New member




No, the title was NO exaggeration by any stretch. This car was embarrassing. When the owner pulled up for us to do a walk around with him, SURPRISED would be an understatement. At first, it was exciting...a new Stingray just pulled up in our driveway and would be the first one in the entire state to be receiving CQuartz Finest



At first i wasnt sure if I'd like it after seeing the photos, but seeing it in person was an entirely different story. We circled it (with no light at first lol) and just admired the new design...it looked sexy and mean all at the same time. The owner was super excited about everything and we were excited for him.

He had said after the clear bra was installed that they had washed it and that afterwards he had started to notice some swirls - i figured ok, the usual wash marring....but no...ooooh no. The first spot my light caught was this:



"What the hell?" was what entered my mind. This was NOT wash marring...we were looking at dual action pigtails. Sanding marks on a new Corvette? This wasn't the only spot:




Yeah thats the lil spoiler...aka the abomination.



More pig tails here accompanied by a deep scratch:




And then of course the holograms (buffer trails). Yes we could see it now, the wool pad loaded up with God knows what jsut being whipped all over this new corvette...and it left this:






This is the roof (still dirty), but you can see the whispy looking buffer trails even under the dirt:







Deck lid:





Needless to say at this point the owner and I were talking about a price change. I'd seen some swirled up new cars but this was a different level. I pointed out everything i came across and explained to him what it was from....and that obviously the car was FILLED with glaze before hand, which was why he only saw the defects AFTER a wash.


Things like this just kinda took my breath away:




On the sides of the rear clip was surely the worst, they left a TON of sanding pigtails...i mean a TON...it had 0 reflection when hit with a light:





The the scary part...what looked to be burned edges....allllll over. Basically every edge was either completely like this or had spots like this:




We pretty much knew what we were looking at. The only areas that didnt look like this were the hood, front bumper and front quarter panels. They were all clear-braed over...but im sure what was underneath looked just like this.



The owner was waiting for his ride and suddenly asked "Hey, you guys wanna go for a ride in it?" ....well, what would YOU say? Dani went first...he even offered to let us drive it lol...that part we turned down. 2 minutes later i hear wwooooooooaaaahhhhhmmmmm! Our back yard butts up against a main street....i kinda figured whos car that was that i heard! Next i was up....we got to the main road and had a clear path...was the first time id actually been pushed back into my seat like that...i wont say the speed, i'll just say there was a 7 reading in the speedometer...that was fun and very cool of the owner to offer.


Back to the story. We would begin work the next morning...and of course we'd be snapping even more photos. The morning came and again even with the car DIRTY, we captured this:




Oh yes, more holograms.









The rear clip had been totally abused, can you tell?








They were thorough, right up to the emblem!





Here is the damage above the top body line on the passenger door:




Pillar above passenger door:



More sanding marks left on the top of the rear clip:





See the dull spot by my finger? Yup, you guessed it...MORE sanding marks:





More buffer trails on the roof...it was amazing how jacked up it was:





There was also compound residue left in a few cracks:




Other side of the rear clip...at least they were even:





Just WOW!




More buffer trails near rear clip/deck lid:




More compound left over (note this was just after washing, we had not polished a thing)





These edges seriously scared me - i thought they may have burned through:



Then there were these spots, only on the passenger door...they would not wash or clay off...so again we weren't sure what they were:







And of course on the bottom well...there was another edge so they had to mess it up too:




The bottom of the rear clip was frightening:




So, the time came to where we really had to test the power of the Rupes polisher....see how much of this MESS it could correct and how quickly. We went straight to the Megs MF cutting, M105 and D300 and went for it. We first wanted to see if those spots on the door would come out...along with those edges...after cutting it left a fairly heavy haze, but it was even...and it took care of the spots, swirls and edges:




THIS was when we had a huge sigh of relief. Sanding marks and buffer trails we knew we could tackle, but if they had burned the edge of the paint...well....we cant polish paint that isnt there.

This marring left from compounding was pretty much consistent though the car...and was expected. Once we got to the rear clip though (the REALLY bad area), we decided to have a little fun and run a tape line right in the middle of that HUGE cluster of pig tails. Then we compounded it...and then broke out the 205 polish and white B&S pad to finish it down...and oh...did it ever finish down...it got exciting again!




The top part looks GREY, but bottom...back to black baby:




This picture was CRAZY cool i thought:








So, the process continued....cutting away this hacked up MESS:





But i mean, if you're going to correct a hacked up mess, it might as well be a new Stingray C7 right :)




The top of the roof we taped off as well and it turned out VERY nice too :








Andddd we kept it moving:



 
All of the compounding was completed that day/night...the following day we went back out to work on the final polishing. Thought it was clear-braed...the hood and front quarters needed a polish as well:




These vents look cool but suck to polish...all by hand work..luckily they weren't in bad shape...Dani polished out one side of the car while i worked the other:




The roof and the rear clip ended up being a bit difficult to polish, for whatever reason they left the lightest bit of marring but, we wworked it out...just took a little more time.

Finally we got around to that special time...time to use Eraser and prep the paint for CQuartz Finest...









Now while this is a Vette, and a relatively small car....that didn't mean a damn thing lol. There were SO many intricate parts to have to coat that it took quite a long time to efficiently coat everything. I'm very particular about how i coat already, i like it thick..i like it even and i always coat in a cross hatch patter...but when you add this stuff into the game:




Well, it becomes even more time consuming.






Yuuuup, and theres more!





Those slits to the left of the lights, those are paint. And since its paint...it too gets coated. As did the lights which actually are inset, you can't tell from the pictures but i had to get my fingers in there to coat all around them.


Here is half the hood coated, you can see how much blacker it makes it look




Oh and under that rear clip....was ALLLLL paint:



And guess what...that got polished and coated as well...i spent my fair amount of time on my back this detail...thats for sure.



Wiping away the first coat:





Of course wiath any Finest job, we apply two coats, but we still had more work to do. Yes the car was new...and new cars dont need their tips polished right?




Eh, wrong. They were nice but, we could make em better...powerball came in handy. First for polishing, then wrapping a towel around it to remove the polish:





Afterwards well...they looked like they belonged on that car:





Then of course the wheels had to be cleaned and prepped:




I took care of the prep, then Dani went around to apply Finest to them:






While she coated the wheels, i went around and applied Flyby30 to all the glass:





While we went around cleaning jambs i just had to take a pic of the engine. LOOK at this monster...the air intake is the size of my thigh:




Then of course the final touch....






Only the Finest for our customers.

Morning came around and we had to head out to do a few mobile jobs, but when we got home we were excited...it was sun shot time.




Oh yes...yes it was definitely time...for the sun shots.

Now you all know what this poor thing looked like before and "NEW" was not one of the adjectives you would use....i think mostly expletives would have been used lol. But now...oh i'll let you choose your own...lets start off slow with..how awesome the wheels and tires looked:



Then of course the hood, which was clear bra...but had a noticeably deeper gloss to it than before:




But lets get to it...that hologramed up roof...was no more:




And the horror that lived on the sides was replaced with BLACK!



 
The most noted area...the side of the rear clip....now glowed (so much so that there was some glare, sorry about that)






The deck lid just was wow...





And the edge of the roof that was a buffer trail haven....hah, well not anymore buddy!




Rear quarter where the some of the pigtails had been left looked like fresh paint:











And of course the beauty shots...reflections and such that we all love.






Look at how BLACK this baby looks:




Personally, i think its smiling, in sort of a cocky and arrogant kinda way hehe
:




Miles deep?









GLASS!








THIS is why the small stuff matters so much...it just gives that finishing touch:










Dani turned it around to pull it into the driveway and i snapped this shot:






Glossy and ready to be picked up:






The owner got there with his buddy and they circled the car. His friend came up to us and said "Wow you guys not only fixed it but you like, got every bit of compound and polish out of every crevice." I love when people take notice of the small stuff. The owner seemed very satisfied...and then about an hour or so after he left he sent me a text saying again how amazing it looked. He was also kind enough to write us a very nice review and post about us on the Corvette Forums....and even sent me a message again today (4 or 5 days since he got it back) saying how he was getting a ton of attention today and even some paparazzi action as well!

On the one hand it was disappointing...a NEW car should not look like this, ever..period. The fact that this was "acceptable" to ship out and deliver to someone is pretty sad and i hope more owners cry fowl about things like this. On the other hand, it was an amazing turn around for us and a very exciting (though exhausting) first detail on a C7...and it is now officially the first one in the state to wear CQuartz Finest.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read and view...hope you enjoyed it even thorough the ugly pictures.
 
As usual and expected, you guys absolutely ROCKED it! That a car could leave the factory/dealer in the condition that one was in is just pathetic and shameful; now it looks as killer as it should.
 
I don't believe it - it was totally destroyed. I mean how could someone be so systematic doing this all over a new car.


 


Top job however of saving it, and I always love your narration.


 


What are the marks just above the exhaust and below the plate?
 
hoamskilet said:
Guy should have taken your bill and headed straight for the dealership. Awesome work bringing that beauty to life
Click to expand...


i sgree with hoamskilet, i can't see how the dealership wpuld even release the car to a customer looking like that, they have no conscience. great job on a great car, you and dani seem genuinly passionate about your work, keep it up. 
 
Great work doing a restoration on a new car.  Very nice job and a terrific write up.  You two have become my favorite detailers.  Enjoy the holidays.
 
hoamskilet said:
Guy should have taken your bill and headed straight for the dealership. Awesome work bringing that beauty to life
Click to expand...


 Couldn't have said it better myself!


 


You both did an excellent job on the 'vette!
 
WOW! Outstanding result.....the car was most likely covered with glaze which covered alot of the mess.....the new owner had stars in his eyes so didn't take a good look until the first wash. I've been to the factory twice to watch my cars being built and trust me, they don't leave Bowling Green that way. This was a "dealer add-on" for sure. This stuff drives me crazy. Nice write-up!
 
Considering the red C7 pics that were released to the press showed buffer swirls...but that black C7 you did was 100x worse. Someone hate buffed it. Excellent job bringing the paint back, looks amazing now!
 
G-man! Thanks my friend, really appreciate it :)
 
 

That was pretty surprising, i mean we've seen bad but this was kind of jaw dropping. No idea how or why this happened but...from other posts ive seen it seems to be the new theme for the C7 :-\
 
 

Thank you :) I'm assuming you're talking about the license plate area/outline? Probably some marking left from when the plate was on there...if i remember correctly it didn't have a cushy backing at all. Now I'm going to have to pull the plate and look when i see the car next lol. We actually had a BRZ owner in the other day and he took strips of cushy type thin foam that was sticky on one side and applied it to the back of his plate so that those types of marks wouldn't happen. A very smart idea actually...funny how metal on paint doesn't mesh too well :)
 
 

He is :) Still waiting to hear back but, i sent him video, photos, the write up and the invoice so he is fully armed, lets hope they do the right thing...
 
 

Thanks a million. We love what we do, owners kinda get into it with us...we have a few that like to hear our "detail stories" lol...its pretty fun to talk shop with owners...our kinda people :)
 
 
 
Thank you so much, thats quite a compliment. I'm glad we don't disappoint :) This was a much bigger turn around than i had anticipated, thats for sure. We went from "Oh it'll be a nice 1-step and coat" to "WTF?" ....still fun nevertheless.
 

Thank you! I hope we get another one to work on soon, was a very cool car to polish and coat. The owner has texted me nearly every day since lol...he keeps telling me how many head turns he is getting and how he loves how it looks. We'll see it next week when it comes in for its maintenance wash.
 
 
 
Definitely covered in glaze. Ive heard they are using a new painting process for the C7's though so...what you saw up at B.G before may not be what is happening there now? Whatever it is...its pretty sad to see a new car like that.
 

Lol @ Hate Buffed it...SOOO true...just buffing with an attitude on that thing! They need to stick that guy on an old beat up boat or something instead and tell him to leave the pretty cars alone.
 
 

Crazy but kinda good for business right? lol Honestly I even though it pays us more - i still hate and dont understand why NEW rides come out like this - or anywhere near it....but something tells me this won't change anytime soon :-\
 
Thank you Bryan, really appreciate it :)
 
 

Yup, got that right lol. They do look good when they are finished down though. Just saw it again today...was DIRTY from a rain storm but cleaned up with the quickness :)
 
Amazing as always! I have to wonder if the hack was at the dealer or did the factory do it, my guess is dealer has a new car prep guy with coke bottle glasses.
 
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