1st Gen

While I have your attention, I am also interested in advice for what you recommend I apply to bottom of the pan and wheel wells, if anything. It is currently coated with ‘Raptor’ brand bed-liner. I live in a very wet corner of the Pacific Northwest, and don’t believe in keeping the car garaged just because it’s raining. Toys like this are meant to be driven, IMHO, and so no hangar queens in this man’s fleet. BUT that means my Camaro needs protection. I don’t have a really good picture of the pan as a whole, other than when the bed-liner was first applied with car on rotisserie, but here is a shot meant to show the exhaust that reveals the pan to some extent and looks like this:

Thanks for your prompt reply and advice! Car was just painted (4-3-2024) and final buff occurred around late April. This picture is relatively low-res and only captures a bit of the vinyl roof, but it’s the best I have until I actually receive my car, hopefully around mid to late June. The car currently has 173 miles on this restoration, but all are prior to this paint job. They are now putting windshield and rear window back in, and bolting all the external parts removed for painting, and it is scheduled for final upholstery on May 20, and yes, I am excited!!!

I am a relatively recent join to Adams Forum. I have a 1968 SS 396 Camaro in the final stages of restoration, and expect to trade final payment for keys around mid to late June. I have purchased the Graphene Ceramic Advanced Coating and have learned in multiple directions that I should wait for at least 90 days from base/clear coat application before performing the coating process. This advice came from both members of this forum, the shop doing the painting, and directly from PPG. So OK, I’m going to wait. I’ll probably go ahead and coat the vinyl on the roof immediately, as well as glass. HOWEVER, the Camaro’s tires and wheels don’t need to wait, and in the case of the wheels, shouldn’t, due to aluminum oxidation reality. These wheels came on the car when I purchased it around 1980, and have been very recently totally buffed to perfection by a shop that specializes in this process. They are either Centerlines or an Enkei version of the same look (jury’s out, and it doesn’t matter to me, since Enkei built very strong wheels, I am informed). Accordingly, I want to coat these wheels appropriately to maintain the buffed shine, and probably should coat the tires as well. Here is a pic to help define my need. I am open to suggestions.

Thank you for your advice regarding caring for the finish while it is curing! I am curious to understand what is required to prepare the clear-coat for protection with the graphene-enhanced ceramic product, once the new paint has reached a point in time when it is fully cured, both at a chemical and evaporative state? That is, do I need to remove a 'Brilliant Glaze' coating before applying the graphene/ceramic coating? If so, what do you suggest for both product and process that I use to prepare the finish for the graphene/ceramic protective coating?

So, here is what I hear from my restoration shop: If I drive it this winter, while the paint is fresh, DO NOT USE pressure to rinse it off, just open hose. But DO rinse it off and let it dry before you cover it with custom cover. The paint and the inside of the cover need to stay abrasives-free to avoid scratches. Further, they say that I will notice that at first, the water will just bead off (as if it had a protective coating) but eventually, the water will not, and that is a sign it is hardening and no longer out-gassing. They suggest waiting at least 3 months, maybe more given the temperature and the cover. There is no question in my head about whether I will be driving it. I will definitely be driving it, rain or shine, so I guess I cross my fingers and hope nothing occurs that can damage the paint while it is still curing, vulnerable, and unprotected. Bottom line is new paint seems to be a time of some slight risk, regarding when to apply any protective coating for the first time. I’m sure for reasons of potential liability, none of the companies selling “protection” really address this topic, and the concern that people in my situation feel. I suspect there are probably go/no go testing procedures available, but they are perhaps out of the reach of us common folk, so in the end, we just apply and cross our fingers. Potential Product: Adams might be able to come up with a simple “cover a small section for some period of time, and then test the cover material” test. Something like a pregnancy test kit, with release of liability, of course. Hah!

Oh, sorry, asked and answered. My bad. It appears there is no test to tell that outgassing is complete, so I'll ask a slightly different question: what happens if I apply the finish too soon? Will there be bubbles or other forms of bad news?

Hello, I am new to Adams, but intend to use your graphene-infused ceramic finish on my ’68 Camaro. It is currently completing a rotisserie-based full restoration, and has a brand new paint job (PPG base and clear) in Cordovan Maroon, along with new vinyl cover on the roof. I expect to take possession in late December/early January. I understand that this paint should finish out-gassing before I apply any finish, but I am not clear when that would be. I have not been able to find anywhere on your website where this is discussed. The car will be garaged, but will be covered with a ‘Platinum Shield’ breathable car cover from carcovers.com, due to sharing the space with our cat. This is winter now, with temperature ranging from 50 during the day down into the mid-20’s worst case at night. The garage is fully enclosed, but unheated. We live 2 miles from the Puget Sound, and it is very humid here. Most of you would call it rain. I doubt this paint is going to be in a hurry to cure, but I will wait it out. I just don’t have a good idea what ‘wait it out’ means. I would like to know if there is any test process I can follow to establish that the new paint is stable, fully cured, and ready for the ceramic finish to be applied?

I bought this Camaro in 1980 or so, and drove it every day for six or seven years. Parked it meaning to restore it, but life happened. It stayed garaged, and finally it was sell it or do it, but circumstances had changed that needed me to hire it done. It was a frame-up rotisserie job, with new rear quarters, passenger inner tub, new front fenders and skirts, new pan from firewall to front of trunk, new sub-frame with control arms, springs, disks, MAJOR build on the 396, re-do on the Muncie M20, etc, etc. The restoration shop has put around 100 miles on it, and it’s now in upholstery shop to do the interior. So, best I can do right now is a picture from around 1983 when I was on a jobsite in Los Vegas. Once finished, it will still look pretty much like this, except they did an exceptional job on polishing the Centerlines, and the rubber is new Cooper Cobras, black side out.

I’m sorry for using the term “polish”. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive my ignorance. I just took the term from the actual text of Adams’ website URL: www.adamspolishes.com. And what appears to be the name of the company, as well: “Adam’s Polishes”. Clearly, I should have used the term “coating”. My bad. Are you, by any chance an employee of Adams? Or perhaps, of one of their competitors? In any event, if your intent was to diminish my sense of excitement, well done.

Can't wait to try out the graphene polish! I have been a fan of carbon nanotubes for many years, and graphene seems like the next step. My '68 Camaro is just finishing up a complete restoration. Only question I have is: how long do I need to wait from the application of clear coat over base coat before I can apply the coating?