Wheels/Tires:
Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner and Meguiar's Deep Crystal on wheels
Meguiar's APC on tires and wheel wells
Meguiar's Hyper Dressing on tires
EZ Detail brush for the barrels
Swissvax Wheel brush for calipers and small crevices

Wash:
CG Citrus Wash and Gloss via 2BM
Meguiar's Microfiber Wash Mitt

Clay:
Meguiar's OTC Clay
Meguiar's Last Touch

Paint Correction:
Flex 3401 VRG
Meguiar's G110v2 / 5" and 3” Backing Plates
Meguiar's D300 / MF Correction Pads
Meguiar's M205 / LC Black Pads
Craftsman 500W Halogen Lights
Brinkmann Dual Xenon Lights

LSP:
Meguiar’s Ultimate Paste Wax / 4” Meguiar’s Finising Pad

Interior:
Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer

Exhaust:
Meguiar's NXT Metal Polish

I recently got a call to detail one of my dream cars. I didn’t hesitate to take on the job and I was extremely stoked to work on this amazing machine. When the car was delivered to me, it already looked very shiny and only minimal swirls were visible and the car was already in great shape to begin with. The car only had 6,400 miles. I thought to myself that this will be an easy one but boy I was wrong.

Before:




Dirty Wheels




Dirty Exhaust Tips

Wash:


Sonax doing its thing


Cleaning the calipers


Cleaning the wheel barrels


Cleaning the wheel wells


Gunk coming off the wheel wells


Cleaning the exhaust tips


Glaze or oils being removed by the citrus wash








Cleaning the gas tank

It looked like the dealer used some type of glaze because of the oils I was removing while washing the car. In addition, the mediocre beading I was getting before the wash was completely killed after washing the car. After drying the car, I was greeted with the true condition of the paint. It was definitely worse than I originally saw but it still wasn’t bad. Here’s a picture of the clay after doing half of the hood:



As you can see, there wasn’t much bonded contaminants on the car. I was thrilled about this because claying didn’t really take long.

After claying the car, I immediately got into polishing. I started out with Meguiar’s D300 using 5” and 3” MF correcting pads. Here are some pictures through the entire process:


All taped up and ready to go


Before: Driver’s side door


50/50: Driver’s side door


50/50: Driver’s side door


After: Driver’s side door


50/50: Driver’s side rear fender


After: Driver’s side rear fender


Before: Driver’s side pillar


50/50: Driver’s side pillar


After: Driver’s side pillar


Before: Driver’s side front fender


After: Driver’s side front fender

 

Before: Hood


50/50: Hood


After: Hood


Before: Passenger side front fender


50/50: Passenger side front fender


After: Passenger side front fender


Before: Rear Bumper


After: Rear Bumper

Using the D300 created a very slight haze on the paint. This was more evident on the roof - I don’t know why. In order to create the perfect finish, I knew I had to follow it up with a finishing polish. The weapon of choice: Meguiar’s M205. I love this stuff. Here are some pictures after I treated the car with M205:











After polishing the car, I then applied Meguiar’s Ultimate Paste Wax. This wax looks gorgeous on black! Here are some pictures. You be the judge.

After:








Polished the exhaust tips too

 

Photoshoot:















































The Money Shot:



Approximate time: 18 Hours. I really need to shorten my detail time.
Location: Phoenix, AZ

What do you guys think? Opinions, comments and criticisms are welcome! The owner was very thrilled when he first saw his car.

 

glad that you showed most of the stuff done with OTC stuff, did you use a porter cable or a rotary?

 

^ He used the flex 3401 VRG. Upgraded version of the PC

Great job on the detail. Heh it's easy to say shorten up on the time, but it always takes me way longer than expected.

 

the amount of time put in reflects in ur work

 

Wow Marc.....wow.

 

Nice work!

Even though the paint wasn't too horribly swirled, Corvette paint is freaking rock hard so even minor correction is a huge job.

 

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

 

I know your pain. It takes me 10 hours to polish my car with a single polishing step. Did you use the 205 with the PC or the Flex?

Best looking Vette I have seen. Well done.

This is the money shot for me:

 

Just amazing.

 

Lots of detail work and pics.
Thx for posting.
I am thinking Z06 too ..

 

Nice!

 

Beautiful work.

 

Great job .. couple of suggestions

1) Get into using a sealant ... the OTC stuff like that will have a pretty short life especially on black in the heat.
2) Sonax really necessary on those wheels? Looked like just a little brake dust that the wash soap would have taken care of ... I just cringe at using something like that when not needed for the sake of the finish.

 

Very nice!

 

Wow!! Nice work!

 

Looks great, but you should have tried the Blackfire sealent I have heard great things about it.

 

Amazing work!

And +1 on BFWD...totally worth it.

 

Looks amazing!! BFWD is a great product imo!

 

I am jelly. That looks fantastic. Its too bad you're in AZ. I have a black 07 TrailblazerSS that could use the same treatment. And believe it or not, the paint or clear is even softer than the Acura. Anyway, that looks better than new.

 

I had to check it out again....beautiful.

 

Looks good. I've spent countless hours keeping my Z06 clean.