Preparing the Red Vette for Ceramic Spray Coating

[RayS]

I have been reading, thinking and trying to come up with the best strategy for preparing the father-in-laws Red Vette for CSC.  However, the Vette is his pride and joy and I want to make sure that it is as pristine as possible and really don't want to mess up the graphics.  Some of you may remember my last session with it and for the others here are the pictures of what I'm working with, please pay attention to the graphics as that is the area I'm concerned with.

 

The place that sold him the cart, put the graphics on and they did a good job.  There are no signs of peeling or cracking and it has been kept inside when not in use and I fully condition it about every 6 months.  The seats are the easy part, they get Adam's Leather Conditioner with 2 or 3 coatings over several days to make sure the seat plenty of moisture.  The windshield is treated with Adam's glass sealant, the tires are done with tire & rubber cleaner and tire shine.

 

For this adventure, I'll do a strip wash inside and out, get the trim conditioned and then I'f like to use One Step and/or Finishing Polish on it, then hit it Surface Prep and then Ceramic Spray Coating.  I know I can use Revive Hand Polish, that is what I used the last time, but I also know I can get it better.  It comes down to the risk to the graphics, these are not passenger car level decals, nor are they overly flimsy

 

The cart is also small enough that I can do the entire thing by hand and I don't really think I could get more than 3/4 of it with the SK 15 anyway - the nano would be ideal and I'll be letting the wife know I need one to take care of her fathers golf cart. 😁   I'll have the SK 15 with me since I'll be doing the father-in-laws Red Equinox and which will get Ceramic Paste Wax, plus I'll have plenty of other supplies for the other vehicles that I need to do.  

 

Thanks for giving this some thought and I'm looking forward to your feedback.

[shane@detailedreflections]

So with a lot of vinyl, if you change your technique just a little you can work with it and polishes. We will use a finishing polish and a minimal cut pad, light pressure and a quicker arm speed. Heat is not your friend in this case. 
 

The biggest question is why do you need to do anything with the graphic?  Work up to it cautiously by hand or machine and then prep and coat like normal. That’s the approach we would most likely take. 

[RayS]

18 hours ago, shane@detailedreflections said:

So with a lot of vinyl, if you change your technique just a little you can work with it and polishes. We will use a finishing polish and a minimal cut pad, light pressure and a quicker arm speed. Heat is not your friend in this case. 
 

The biggest question is why do you need to do anything with the graphic?  Work up to it cautiously by hand or machine and then prep and coat like normal. That’s the approach we would most likely take. 

Thanks Shane.  For the front that makes perfect sense and I can do that without a problem.  For the sides, basically where the seat is at, all the gold pieces are individual so there is a lot of Red in between and the cut out areas and they are mostly small.  Would you recommend going to the outside and skipping everything in the middle of the graphics in that area?

[shane@detailedreflections]

1 hour ago, RayS said:

Thanks Shane.  For the front that makes perfect sense and I can do that without a problem.  For the sides, basically where the seat is at, all the gold pieces are individual so there is a lot of Red in between and the cut out areas and they are mostly small.  Would you recommend going to the outside and skipping everything in the middle of the graphics in that area?

You have a couple of options. 

- hand polish with revive which is probably adequate 

- light pressure with a finishing pad and polish, maybe even slow the speed down a bit to mitigate heat. 
- if you want new toys and have a rotary around, the auto triz mini polisher is a great setup for that kind of work. A polisher the size of a chapstick cap. 
 

I’d start with revive and see how it looks. If you want more, go from there. My guess is those areas aren’t heavily damaged. 

[RayS]

I finished the Ceramic Spray Coating on the golf cart today.  The cart was in good shape after last years cleaning, but it still needed plenty of TLC.   Getting the sand out out all the crevasses was the fun part, then it was on to One Step Polish with a Orange hand pad, avoiding the graphics.  After the One Step, I went over the body, including graphics with Revive Hand Polish and the blue hex pad.

 

The black areas were cleaned with diluted APC, then covered with tire shine. The floor was brushed, cleaned with diluted APC then treated - don’t use tire shine on the floor boards in golf carts, it makes them extremely slick when wet.  Out of respect for Adam’s, I will not list the product used for the floor board.  The top, which is now white, was cleaned twice with APC.   

once everything was cleaned and polished, I went over it with Surface Prep and then on to the CSC.  It sat overnight and then I hit with ceramic boost, let it sit an hour and then a coat of Brilliant Glaze.

 

The seats have had two coats of Leather Conditioner and I may do them one more time this week.  The hub caps are being replaced.  The ones on there are cheap places with a chrome looking finish that is flaking off.  We ordered a set of carbon fiber replacements that will be here on Friday.

 

The father-in-law was real happy and as we drove around the park, he received a lot of compliments on the cart.

[stalebreadjr]

Nice @RayS !  I hope he said thanks!   

[Rich]

Looks brand new!!

[Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin]

@RayS Wow very impressive!

[mc2hill]

Nice work Ray!  Hope you are enjoying our nice weather.

[RayS]

9 hours ago, mc2hill said:

Nice work Ray!  Hope you are enjoying our nice weather.

Thanks.  The kids said it was nice in South Carolina today with the low 70’s, it was a 78 and a beautiful day to be on the Hernando Oaks Country Club course where I was very happy to take 3rd place in the tournament. 

Edited November 28, 2019 by RayS

[falcaineer]

54 minutes ago, RayS said:

Thanks.  The kids said it was nice in South Carolina today with the low 70’s, it was a 78 and a beautiful day to be on the Hernando Oaks Country Club course where I was very happy to take 3rd place in the tournament. 

 

Stop rubbing it in, Ray! We got 16" of snow yesterday and it was 20* today! 🥶

[falcaineer]

3 hours ago, RayS said:

Thanks.  The kids said it was nice in South Carolina today with the low 70’s, it was a 78 and a beautiful day to be on the Hernando Oaks Country Club course where I was very happy to take 3rd place in the tournament. 

 

I was so focused on the temps I failed to congratulate you on talking 3rd...well done! If you're ever in CO, we should go play. It's awesome at altitude - drop at least one club for average distance. And the Academy courses are beautiful.