Correcting ahead of coating

[VetteDream]

I am looking to put ceramic coating on a 2017 Corvette.  It is a car I take to shows, but also drive about 8,000 miles per year.  Not a daily driver, but a fair amount of use.  Since I drive it a lot, I wash it a lot.  Therefore, I am looking to put the coating on, so the exterior detailing will go faster ahead of shows.  

 

Here is my question:  Is GM clear coat on a Corvette hard or soft, thick or thin?  Despite being new, I can see some fine scratches or swirls in the clear coat.  I can only see them in certain indoor lighting.  I would obvously like to correct these before I put a coating on.  I have tried the correcting polish with the orange pad on a test area, and that does not get rid of them.  That was with 2 passes, working the product until it flashed, using a cross hatch patttern and working the machine from slower speed to a higher speed.  The fact that it did not fully correct very hard to find swirls kind of surprised my.  Before I hit a fairly new car with the heavy correcting compound, or even the MF cutting pad, I am wondering if I have room for error, or if it is really thin and soft.  The color is a dark metallic gray, known by GM as Watkins Glen Gray.  

 

Thanks in advance, Todd 

[shane@detailedreflections]

Todd,

 

The only way to know for sure how much clear coat you have to play with is to measure it. I realize that’s not something in everyone’s tool box though. 

 

We haven’t gotten our hands on a C7 Vette yet (sadly), but if the correcting polish didn’t do it it’s a safe thing to say you have a hard clear coat. A car that’s never been polished will tolerate compound just fine, along with correcting and finishing polish. Compounding isn’t a matter of regular practice after you maintain this finish. So go for it!

 

And post pics. 

[Nickfire20]

Shane is the man, I am purely an amateur.  But I do have a GM, so I’ll try to make this quick.  I have a 2016 Black Tahoe.  This time last spring before I had an entire arsenal of Adams, I tried to correct just my hood.  I was using Griots 6” DA, with Griots pad and Griots BOSS Orange correcting creme.  It didn’t do crap.  Then I broke out the Meg’s Compound.  Still barely any correction.  It took 3 hours for just the hood.  Fast forward to December 2017.  I got the Swirl Killer mystery box which came with Adam’s new 1step, 4 of Adam’s pads, and obviously his 15mm SK.  I’m pretty sure I got the entire truck done within 4hours.    My point, the correct stuff makes a huge difference.   Not sure what you’re using??  Also December is colder then spring time,  we want cold weather to correct.  

 

I know GM paint scratches extremely easy, and I feel like it is harder to correct.  (I did my wife’s Honda and it went really quick!)  

 

Just my extremely small amount of experience if it helps.