2001 Blue Corvette Convertible Paint Correction.

[tuscarora dave]

Hi Autopia Forums members.

I worked on this Corvette paint correction from Monday through Friday last week and wanted to share some photos and info regarding tools, pads, products and processes used to complete this job.

This Car belongs to the office manager at "Access Bus and Van Sales LLC.", the bus and van sales company that I rent my shop from here in Etters PA. The car owner "Joanne" just purchased the car about a month ago and it looked pretty sweet when she picked it up from the dealership. I did a paint correction on her daily driver so she knows what a finely finished paint finish looks like. She wasn`t really up to speed on the smoke and mirrors used in the detailing industry, so I told her that after a good 5 washes or so that she`d probably be wanting some detail shop attention for it. And so it was....

Joanne is a pretty impressive woman in many ways. She`s one of the coolest, down to earth women that I know. She`ll be forwarded a link to this thread so I`ll add that she`s "smokin Hot" and doesn`t even know it, that`s part of what makes her so cool. What I`m particularly impressed by though, is Joanne`s ability to spend the afternoon wash & waxing her own vehicles and the attention she pays to the details. I never see any wax in the cracks on her cars.

So the Vette was washed by Joanne a few times, "Tim" the bus and van sales business owner washed the car a few times and I washed it once for her. As I stated shortly after the purchase, the glaze was gone by the 5th wash and the true condition was beginning to reveal itself. I did a chemical wash and clayed the car to really discover the true condition of the paint. After seeing the true condition of the paint, I went in to Joanne`s office and we discussed "Corvette Paint" and I informed her that to make it perfect would take a ton of hours and that it would be a very expensive process. Thinking she might want something quicker and cheaper than a total paint correction, I was somewhat surprised when she said "I want it perfect".

I usually get a late start at the shop, showing up at around noon but I spent a few nights at the shop this week, well past midnight. I did a 3 step paint correction plus a chemical strip to remove any polishing oils after the M-105 steps which I`ll show photos of, then followed the 105 steps with a M-205 finish polishing session, followed by my usual glass cleaner wipedown and ONR wipedown to prep the paint for the application of the Opti-Coat 2.0 permanent paint coating. (Wait till Joanne washes it for the first time)

I`m sure she`ll be impressed at the acrobatics that the rinse water does all over the paint.

OK enough chatter, moving along here are some pics before the initial wash and clay process.









Into the shop for a few overhead light reflection shots. It was hard to capture the true depth of the paint defects with my little point and shoot camera, trust me when I say "The defects were worse than they appear in the photos."





^^^This was a very deep etching, possibly caused by some tree sap that may have sat there for some length of time during the car`s earlier life.



Underneath of the ocean of swirls and finer scratches on this Corvette, there were a ton of random isolated deeper scratches (R.I.D.S.)

I`ve learned over the years of doing paint corrections, where to draw the line between creating a near perfect paint finish and foolishly chasing scratches, removing way too much film build. I`ve also learned great techniques for making a deeper scratch simply appear to be gone. 95% of the R.I.D.S. were leveled out of the paint, but a few deeper ones needed to be finessed from many different angles with the wool pad and 105 to create the illusion of them being removed.

Allow me to talk now about some of the products, tools and techniques involved in this job.

I used Meguiars Deep Crystal Wash concentrate with a shot of degreaser to strip any remaining fillers during the wash.

I clayed with purple medium aggressive clay and ONR as clay lube and gave the car a final rinse with my pressure washer to make sure that any contaminates left in or under any moldings were completely removed before moving on to the rotary compounding stage.

The car could have been wet sanded completely but I dreaded the thought of buffing deeper wet sanding tracers out of this super hard paint. My concerns about the tracers are because I really don`t have the right tools and sanding supplies that I am comfortable with using on this type of paint and these curved panels on the Corvette. I`ve been talking with Kevin Brown about making the right purchase but money is just a bit tight so I`ll cross that bridge hopefully in the near future.

The danger spots were taped off, as I was ready to do some serious rotary buffing with wool and 105. Never can be too safe in certain areas.

I decided to go with my Makita 9227C and a 6.5" Purple Foamed Wool pad and M-105 for the initial cutting. There was a lot of meticulous working of the deeper R.I.D.S. to make them undetectable to the untrained eye. This was accomplished by lightly priming the edge of the wool pad and working on the deeper scratches from one side and then the other side and then turning the polisher and working from yet a few more angles.



This of course was done after working to remove the swirls, wash induced marring and not too deep scratches first.

After the rotary work was finished, I decided to use the Flex 3401 with a Lake Country hydrotech Cyan 6.5" pad and M-105 to remove any wool buffer marks that were left after all of the cutting. There were some deeper holograms after working at all the deepest R.I.D.S. from so many different angles with the edge of the wool pad.

The Cyan pad did an awesome job at removing the holograms from the paint.

I was a bit apprehensive about working on the rubbery plastic rear fascia and front area forward of the hood with the heavy rotary and wool pad. For the lower front areas of the car I decided to go with my new Harbor Freight pneumatic rotary polisher and orange Cyclo pads combined with M-105 to cut these areas.



For those of you who may not have worked on these C-5 Corvettes yet, the very front and very rear of the car (in front of the hood and behind the trunk lid) are made of a material that is kind of a cross between plastic and rubber with the very same super hard clear sprayed on them, however these sections have had a flex agent added to the paint to allow it to be more resilient in the event that the plastic is stressed so the paint doesn`t crack.

This paint still takes a long time and a lot of buffing to level out the paint defects just as the rest of the car. These front and rear sections, because of the nature of the substrate get very hot very easily, and this substrate material doesn`t dissipate heat well at all so if not handled correctly they`re very easy to overheat and could cause the paint to wrinkle or melt right off of them.

My technique for working on them is to buff them with lots of M-105 to keep the 4" pads on the wet side, but not so wet that I am slinging compound everywhere or hyper lubricating the pad. I work a small section for about 2 section passes then move to the opposite side of the car and work a section over there while the first section that I worked has sufficient time to cool off. I then jump back and re work the first section, continuing in this fashion until all of the defects have been removed to my satisfaction.

This takes quite a bit of time to accomplish and working with this little H.F. pneumatic rotary allowed me to do it with precision and control.

For the rear plastic section, I decided to try out the new Lake Country UltraFiber 5.25" microfiber pads that my detail supplies guy brought by my shop that day. The pads feel nice and light with a stiff foam and a sturdy feeling barrier between the velcro backing and the foam of the pad. Working on the Corvette rear section would prove to be a bit too much for the UltraFiber pads.

Keep in mind that this was the very first time for me working with the pads and "I am" one to push things past their limits to see what they are made of. I strive to be fair in my assessment of a new product or pad, but I also want to be honest in my assessment. I have been consistently disappointed with the quality of some of Lake County`s pad offerings (particularly their 4" Spot Buff Pads) as the velcro backing very easily separates from the pad. The new UltraFiber pads would be no different.

This photo shows the UltraFiber pad after just 20 minutes of use, working a section then stopping to clean the pad with a pad cleaning brush and then spin blowing it clean with compressed air just as I do with the Meguiars Microfiber Cutting Discs. Re applying product and moving onto the next section.



I get tired of hearing that maybe you got a pad from a bad batch but I thought "OK maybe I did", I pulled the other pad from the bag and went to apply it to the backing plate when I noticed this..Never even used it so I guess it is a bad batch.



In this next photo, I have to admit I set out to destroy this pad and it wasn`t all that hard to do on this hard paint over a substrate that doesn`t dissipate heat very efficiently. When this one let loose it was like a tractor trailer tire letting loose on the freeway, there were chunks of burnt foam spewing all over the trunk lid of the car. I did this by trying the Supplemental wetting agents KBM technique. These pads like to be used with very little product, ensuring that they do not get even a little saturated with moisture. Using them with so little product is just too slow for me so I won`t be buying any more of them.



OK moving along, here are some photos of the Corvette`s paint finish after the rotary with wool, and the Flex 3401 Cyan pad and M-105 steps. The night before I took these next few photos, I mixed up a pump up sprayer with a 10:1 dilution ratio of degreaser and water. I loaded it, a bottle of ONR QD dilution and a bag of brand new microfiber towels into the car and drove it up to the local coin-op do it yourself car wash to give the car a chemical strip to remove all the polishing oils and the dust from the m-105. I was delighted with the finish that I achieved with M-105 only. Here are the photos of the car at this point, the next morning.









I had to get a photo of my helper "Josh", laboring on a decal removal by the light of the moon and the miners lamp strapped around his head. This guy rocks!!! His attention to detail is impeccable and he stays busy doing stuff that I don`t even have to tell him to do. He`s a trustworthy guy with a great outlook on the world. I`m very grateful to have him helping me from time to time.



While Josh was working on the decal removal on the Chevy Uplander wheelchair van, I was in the shop running a traditional style DA polisher with a red 5" Lake Country finishing pad, using M-205 to further refine the finish that the M-105 steps left behind. After the M-205 gloss refinement step, the car was then wiped clean using a glass cleaner that I use in the Opti-Coat preparation of the paint. This is basically spraying the glass cleaner somewhat generously and wiping with a brand new soft microfiber towel. When the towel gets too wet I wring it out and follow that with a dry towel to remove any remaining liquid. After the glass cleaner polishing oil removal step, the paint gets an ONR wipedown just before the Opti-Coat application.


For applying the Opti-Coat, I use an applicator that I buy from Harbor Freight tools. It`s a soft microfiber covered non-dense foam applicator about the size of a deck of playing cards. It`s intended use is for applying stain to wood finish trim but they are nice and soft, do not mar finely polished paint, cost $2.99 for 6 applicators and they allow for a nice smooth, even but thorough application of the Opti-Coat and they don`t grip the paint and go flying out of your hand like the silly applicator that comes with the Opti-Coat. Also, this applicator allows for more thorough coverage while using less product.

I work very quickly, using both my sight and my memory to apply the Opti-Coat without missing any areas. I apply it to each section in one direction and then switch directions and apply it to that same section in a completely opposite direction. After the application on each section, I very lightly wipe a brand new soft 70/30 microfiber towel over the entire section wiping in one direction only, to ensure that any wet areas that haven`t flashed are knocked down flat. My intention here is to smooth down the high spots while leaving the maximum amount of Opti-Coat behind on the paint.

I like to take a black Sharpie and draw an X on one half of one side of the applicator and then apply the Opti-Coat directly to the opposite half of the other side of the applicator. I do this because I find that it is really easy to lose track of what part of the applicator I`ve been applying the Opti-Coat to. With all that you need to do during the application, such as keeping the tip of the syringe in an up facing position so your not dribbling Opti-Coat out all over the floor as you`re working, switching hands with the applicator and the wiping towel while being sure not to drop anything and keeping your eye on what you`re doing and what you`ve already done, it`s easy to get it confused and end up applying the Opti-Coat to multiple sides of the applicator. The X made with Sharpie eliminates the confusion.

OK here goes the Completed After photos of this car, I had 50 hours of total labor in this job.





















It took me quite a bit of looking and thinking hard about what is sitting on the lot that would make this reflection in the last few photos...Looks kind of like a rocket ship or perhaps a storm trooper from Star Wars was sneaking around checking out my finished work?.?. Maybe you guys can take a guess at what it is...? I figured it out but just for fun, I ain`t telling... Thanks for reading through my long winded thread.TD

[tuscarora dave]

[Pats300zx]

Beautiful work Dave !!!

[TroyScherer]

Great work Dave!!!


She turned out look sweet.

[mjlinane]

Excellent work!! Love the hood reflection shots.

[Todd@RUPES]

Excellent post Dave. I read every word, appreciate your unfiltered opinions, and enjoyed the excellent detail work. Thanks for posting.

[dd1101]

Great work

[Trouble]

Very nice work Dave! Keep up the good work

[AutopiaTech]

Great work Dave!

Send me a PM with your order number and I`ll have the pads replaced.

[Gurge]

awesome writeup! thanks for posting that. along with some product testing along the way

curious to see the block you use to apply opti coat. currently using the blue shop towel (after giving up on the yellow foam flying out of my hands as you perfectly described)

[Shockwav86]

All I have to say is holy cr@p, that looks amazing!! Nice job!! It`s nice to know that people still care enough to want there cars perfect.

[JSFM35X]

Dave, good to see you over here! Nice job on the Vette. I am way scared of that rock hard clear, way to knock it out.

[zckid]

that`s an awesome job Dave.

always love your write-ups and explanations, your desire to help. thanks a lot Dave.

cheers

Zaid