97 Corvette repaint and full paint correction

[GoFast908Z]

A couple years ago I did a full detail on my dad`s C5. Came out nice and he and my mom took it to So-cal for a vacation. Unfortunately on their way back it got hit by several large chunks of broken up cement that came falling out of a big semi truck.

Fast forward to a month ago.....the corvette underwent a full repaint. I asked the bodyshop to take it easy with the buffing after they did the wetsanding to leave as much clear coat material as possible. To the guys doing the work this translated into "oh we don`t have to really do much at all..." Hack work ensued and left a severely scratched, swirled, and deeply scored surface. The paintwork itself was good, it was just the finishing work that was poor.

As this car belongs to my father, the job had to be exceptional. So the task was to tackle all the defects, and there were many. Sanding scratches, heavy swirls, DA sander pigtails, overspray, random isolated deep scratches (RIDS), holograms/buffer trails, etc....

35 hours was what it took to do a full correction on this car. Upon completion, the paint was above 98%+ flawless.






The pre-wash rinsing showcases strong water beading. This indicates the presence of a heavy glaze filler applied by the bodyshop. This will hide swirls, scratches, and other imperfections. Also explains why many cars look great after a bodyshop buffs them but look quite poor after a week or two.






Foaming the car to get it ready for washing...







Initial test spot on the hood. After compounding with a wool pad, serious correction resulted, but wasn`t quite good enough. More extreme measures were needed.









Compounding finished and starting to look better, but still a long way to go.







Some of the paint issues around the car....













DEEP scratches




















Some deep sand scratches








Making more progress....















After...









Ok.....it gets kinda bad here.

[GoFast908Z]

After heavy compounding with wool and rotary, the heavy defects were leveled out. Final polishing will remove the rotary holograms and restore even more gloss.












All paint correction work is now finished and the paint is ready for protection.


















Since the paint is only a few weeks old it needs to be able to breathe and out-gas. Applying wax or sealant is not advised during this 30-90 day process. Luckily Chemical Guys Blacklight is a new product that protects the paint but allows it to continue the out-gassing process.






















Gotta have the sun pictures to show the full correction.



























Remember that trashed passenger door?.......

[GoFast908Z]

Looking better now!




























Reflecting.....everything












Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoyed the read!

[rzatch]

Wow Jeff you did an excellent job on your dads car, both of you should be proud. When you said it gets kind of bad here I wasn`t expecting the pictures to follow to be as bad as they were. Some wet sanding scratches could be expected from you asking for them to not do much but it looks like they have rocks in their wash mitt by some of the rids. The Blacklight really has it looking dripping wet, good choice.

[rider9195]

That thing is GLOSSY! Great job Jeff!

[CT3]

They definitely took it easy on the clear, lol. Great job bringing it back to the condition it deserves!

[CH.Detailing]

Amazing how different two people`s perspectives can be for what is to be considered a finished product, clearly you had a better view of things than the bodyshop did!

Excellent work!

[RootsRadical]

I`ve seen new paintjobs in similiar conditions more than a few times and it never ceases to amaze me just how paint shops can turn out such crap work. I`m glad that you were able to get everything looking great again. Your dad had to have been very happy.

[classofshine]

Man that thing was hammered! Was the entire car painted?

Im curious about the Blacklight being safe for fresh paint? How did you determine this?

[GoFast908Z]

Wow Jeff you did an excellent job on your dads car, both of you should be proud. When you said it gets kind of bad here I wasn`t expecting the pictures to follow to be as bad as they were. Some wet sanding scratches could be expected from you asking for them to not do much but it looks like they have rocks in their wash mitt by some of the rids. The Blacklight really has it looking dripping wet, good choice.

Thank you! It was a labor of love for sure. He was blown away by the result.

That thing is GLOSSY! Great job Jeff!

Thanks!

They definitely took it easy on the clear, lol. Great job bringing it back to the condition it deserves!

Yeah there was a lot to work with, which is exactly what I needed, given its condition. Thanks CT3!

Amazing how different two people`s perspectives can be for what is to be considered a finished product, clearly you had a better view of things than the bodyshop did!

Excellent work!

Haha, I know right? Slather some glaze on it with a rotary @ 3000rpm and it looks amazing right???.....NO! But it was good enough for them. But my dad deserved better.

I`ve seen new paintjobs in similiar conditions more than a few times and it never ceases to amaze me just how paint shops can turn out such crap work. I`m glad that you were able to get everything looking great again. Your dad had to have been very happy.

Thanks! He was thrilled. He knows my work but was thinking he`d have to deal with some issues once he saw it in the light. When he picked it up he was pretty much speechless.....mission accomplished!

Man that thing was hammered! Was the entire car painted?

Im curious about the Blacklight being safe for fresh paint? How did you determine this?

Yes, full repaint. I`ve discussed it at length with a few industry leaders and tested it myself with no issues.

[holland_patrick]

What else did you use on this car???what compound and finishing polishes?

[GoFast908Z]

what else did you use on this car???what compound and finishing polishes?

105, 300, 203, 205, 85rd

[Todd@RUPES]

Great job Jeff, that looks amazing!

[Marc08EX]

Amazing work on the Vette, Jeff!!! That paint was just hammered but you still made it look perfect. I really love seeing huge improvements on black paint jobs.

[tropicsteve]

i can`t believe the paint shop returned the vette with such a trashed finish. very nice turnaround, jeff.