Dan@Adams Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 Hey everyone! I've been working on a Corvette this past week in the evenings. It's for a friend's uncle. I think it is safe to say that in 20 years of detailing, this is the most difficult vehicle I have ever worked on. It's GM gloss black on a C5 Corvette - most will agree that this combo requires a lot of work to get right, as the clear coat is very hard and can be tough to get it to finish down just right. It looks like this particular vehicle spent most of its life under a car cover, that was pulled on and off the vehicle, creating a lot of deep scratches in the process. Below are a few Before/After shots and explanations so far. Compounding is now complete, so I will move onto Polish and then our UV Ceramic Paint Coating Kit this weekend. These first 2 pictures were how the car showed up to me, almost as if soap and water had been left to bake into the surface at some point. These pictures are AFTER washing and drying with Waterless Wash and clean waterless wash towels - it was far too cold and rainy outside to do a bucket wash, and there actually wasn't much dirt...this was all "baked in" to a degree. In other words, all of this spotting was so dried/etched into the surface that Waterless Wash did not remove it: This was after claying the passenger-side hood, roof, front fender, door, and rear quarter with our Fine Grade Clay: Claying did remove the majority of the streaking, spotting, and staining on the surface. In this photo, the passenger side was after clay, driver side untouched yet: Here are some before/afters of Compounding different areas of the Corvette. I initially started with the Blue Microfiber Cutting Pad and blue Compound, but that combination was not strong enough to accomplish what I wanted in a time-efficient manner, so I moved up to the One Step Pad with blue Compound. For those that have not used it, the One Step Pad is a hybrid design microfiber and wool pad that has strong cutting capability: The rear panel had spots of clear coat over spray in several areas, as did the lower portion of the passenger front fender. It appears these two areas and a few more appear to have been repainted at some point and not fully sanded and buffed out. Deep vertical scratches in the passenger door from another door hitting into it. There was paint transfer too, but the clay bar took care of that: It looks nice in this picture, but there is still significant haze in the paint when looked at under the Color Match LED Light. The White Foam Pad and Polish will take care of that though: Stay tuned for more. I will try to update this thread throughout the weekend RayS, cskipgo, falcaineer and 5 others 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRZN Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 Looks good Dan. The washing marks/water spots in the first couple pictures, were they there from your washing, or embedded from previous washings? Dan@Adams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan@Adams Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 1 minute ago, BRZN said: Looks good Dan. The washing marks/water spots in the first couple pictures, were they there from your washing, or embedded from previous washings? Absolutely embedded from previous washing before he brought it to me. My mind was boggled when I was wiping with Waterless Wash and clean waterless wash towels and the streaking and spots did not reduce at all! I should have clarified that. I will edit the post now 👍 BRZN 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayS Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 I've had a few tough ones with the 10-50 year old vehicles I like to do, but nothing with that hard of a clear coat, plus being black. The turn-around already is amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing the end results. Dan@Adams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris@Adams Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Nice save Dan! Dan@Adams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcaineer Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Really impressive work, Dan! Dan@Adams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 Come on Dan. I've been waiting to see the finished product! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan@Adams Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 10 hours ago, Rich said: Come on Dan. I've been waiting to see the finished product! It's not finished. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supersport79 Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 First, let me start by saying nice SS. Second, did you layer the coating? If so, when did you do it, right after whipping down the first layer (entire vehicle) or did you wait and if so how long? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcaineer Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 On 5/17/2020 at 6:02 PM, Supersport79 said: First, let me start by saying nice SS. Second, did you layer the coating? If so, when did you do it, right after whipping down the first layer (entire vehicle) or did you wait and if so how long? Dan is a busy dude and may have lost track of this one. But I can guess what he'd say, even if he didn't layer it... Wait 1-2 hours between the first and second coating layer. There's no real benefit to doing 3+ coats, the law of diminishing returns applies, so you can stop at 2. Dan@Adams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan@Adams Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 Chris is correct. I only put 1 layer of UV Ceramic Paint Coating on this vette, but if I were going to apply a second layer, it would be 1-2 hours after the first layer, then after wiping away the residue from that second coat, I would allow the full 24-hour cure time. If I notice any uneven or light spots of coating using the UV LED light, I will go over those areas again, but usually I just do one layer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan@Adams Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 To update this thread, I finished this car over the weekend. The owner picked up it and dropped off another one for me to start. The new car is in much better condition, so I've already knocked out compounding half of it as of last night - more on that in a different thread soon. Here are some interior before and after photos, a before and after of an unreleased product that Adam has already teased in one video so I think I can mention it (One Step Metal Polish & Protect). The floor mats weren't bad, but I did pull a lot of dirt out of them: Dirt marks on the side bolsters from rubbing up against the plastic trim pieces next to the seat. Leather & Interior Cleaner and an Edgeless Utility Towel took care of these heavy stains no problem: The driver side kick panel had a large number of deep scuffs that Interior Detailer would not remove. Leather & Interior Cleaner with a Deep Clean Eraser did the trick: Pretty nice improvement I would say, sorry for the slightly different lighting: Exhaust tips cleaned up well: stalebreadjr, kaj41354, falcaineer and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan@Adams Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 Finally, here are a few shots of some areas of the car after being coated with the UV Ceramic Paint Coating Kit and topped with CS3. I didn't get any full profile shots of the completed Corvette, since we had to jump start the battery and he wanted to get home with rain on the way! Thanks for looking, and keep on shining! falcaineer and stalebreadjr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRZN Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Looks great Dan! Dan@Adams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayS Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 That really looks great Dan, thanks for sharing. Dan@Adams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stalebreadjr Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 I really enjoy reading these! Great job and thanks for posting this! Dan@Adams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 I don't care how old your Vette is, or any car, take care of it! As long as I'm able, my cars won't look like that. Great job Dan. Hope the guy keeps it nice now. Dan@Adams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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