my best bud picked up his dream car, a Jetstream Blue Vette. it was dealer prepped and i noticed that it had some light swirls... the swirls may be worse depending on if the dealer used fillers at the time of prep, but i'll have to wait for a proper wash before i can see and assess...

i have been reading that vettes normally have very hard clear coats... i was planning to attack with a very light polish (Optimum) on white pad with PC... wasn't sure if anyone else had any other suggestions or experience with vette paint... he is hell bent on using Zaino because that is all that the vetteforums use, but i told him Zaino won't do much on correction... that has to be done first and then Zaino can be used for ongoing maintenance...

also at time of delivery, there was a rock chip in the hood... the dealer agreed that they can fix it... they even said they would go as far as repainting the whole hood... my friend is hesitant, because he is afraid of having the hood fully repainted with potential color blending issues and early clear coat failure... i told him that a good body shop or detailer should be able to fill in the chip, wetsand it and blend it to the rest of the hood... is this the way to go, or should we let the dealer repaint the hood?

thanks in advanced... appreciate all feedback...

 

is this a brand new car?

 

brand spanking new...

 

Too many cougars jumping on the car?

 

it wasn't starfire red... and he isn't a Dr, but he is a pilot...

 

It would be stupid to repaint the hood just for that. I understand it's a brand new car and he wants it to be perfect, but if he plans on driving it, he'll be getting more rock chips anyway.

I vote for trying to buff it out

 

i think it is more principal than anything else... to be honest i wouldn't blame him either... i pay for a new car, i want it damn new and any rock chips that go into it will be from me putting them there... not when i take delivery of the car and it sat on the showroom... he is very meticulous about his cars... i mean he had an 87 I-ROC Z28 in prestine condition that he sold to buy this vette...

but it is good to see that the dealership is wanting to make it right and offering to go as far as that... right now i wanted some second opinions and im on the bandwagon with having it touched and buffed... i'll try to get a pic of it...

 

Your right in trying Opt. Polish and a white pad first .. see what that does ... give it an alcohol / water wipe after that and see where you stand . Always best to go least aggressive first.

I'd even do 2 or 3 passes with it before I tried anything else.

 

How does it have a rock chip already? Unless it's seen any highway driving I'd be suspicious. Or was it a demo?

 

Or got chipped on the carrier on the way in..

 

thanks... will give it a go and report back...

yeap... it only had a few miles on it when it was picked up... so figured it happened during transport on the truck...

 

The chip would annoy me too, especially if he is planning on a clear bra but repainting seems bad. Fix it the best you can and move on IMO

 

Ok my advice is to have the hood re-painted. I have repaired many rock chips and wet sanded them down but they are never going to be 100%. And if I just bought a brand new car that is what I would do. I understand his fear of color matching issues but having spent alot of time in a paint shop the painter would not re-spray the entire hood with the red paint. He will only lightly sand down the spot, probably spray a sealer on top and then spray just a enough color in the area to fix it. No need to blend into the other panels as the original color will still be on 99% of the hood. (Many people never realize that a fairly high percentage of Brand New cars have been repair/painted before they ever hit the show room floor). After the chip is fixed The painter will spray the entire hood with a fresh coat of Clear and that is how it is done. If your friend likes to Polish his car then it would be advantageous to have an extra coat of clear on the hood. The only warning I have is inevitably there will probably be tiny dust nibs that the bodyshop will wet sand and polish away. If it were me I would tell them not to bother with this as I would do it myself and save the hassle of having to buff out their wet sanding marks that will most likely remain and remove the holograms that will most likely be on the hood. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

As far as OP on a white pad to Polish a Vette hahahahahahahaha! Thats what Vette Clear is going to do to you, Laugh at you! I will be surprised if you remove any of the swirls with that combo but it never hurts to try. At the very least I would start with SIP by Menzerna but more than likely you will need M105 with the PC to correct the paint on a Vette

 

which model vett is it? prior to 01 they had very hard clear coat (at least Z06 did), new onces depend on model, might or might not have hard clear

 

its an 09...

 

I don't think Optimum and the PC will do very much to Vette paint but you're welcome to try it.

 

so then Menz? i was afraid that with it being a new car, i didn't want to go to hard too fast...

 

Couple of things:

The newer Vettes have softer paint, so I'm not surprised that it already has swirls and such in it as a result of dealership prep/washing. We all know the standards there, push brooms and the same bucket used for the whole lot.

The rock chip, seems a little premature. If you don't want to respray it, and understandbly I can see why, then you'd probably be best touching it up. Building the color base, wetsanding it smooth, buffing it, then building a clear base and repeat. I'm personally very capable of this and just performed it on an 01 Silver Z06 that the owner was beyond pleased with the result. That particular car was a little more difficult since someone else tried touching it up before hand poorly, so I had to remove the old touch up.

This way, you fix the rock chip and keep the original paint, and thats critical to someone who kept a mint 87 I-Roc for sure. If you'd like, you can get in touch with me to ask more questions or even have me do the car. I've done a few new cars from dealers in poor condition for their new owners on the dealers bill. Which they'd probably be ok with since its cheaper than respraying the hood.

 

^ This

 

Curious to know what came of this?

 

sorry bout that fellas.. this kinda fell on the backburner as things came up and the car got put away for the winter...

Oakes - will PM you...

 

PM received and responded sir!

 

+1 a brand new car shoud be just that, not one with a re-painted hood, professionally done rock chips are unnoticable