What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

[5vetteman]

Hi,

I was wondering what I should use to wax my 1978 Corvette. It has 13,664 miles on it. The paint is more or less perfect. It is single stage lacquer I believe. I have not waxed a non clear coat car in so long I have no idea what to use!

Thanks for any help!

Rick

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Hi,

I was wondering what I should use to wax my 1978 Corvette. It has 13,664 miles on it. The paint is more or less perfect. It is single stage lacquer I believe. I have not waxed a non clear coat car in so long I have no idea what to use!

Thanks for any help!

Rick

Hi Rick,

I received an e-mail very similar to this last week?

You can use any paint care product in the Meguiar's line for both single-stage paints and basecoat/clear coat paints. The important thing is to choose the right product for the job and in your case the right wax for the job.


Before waxing, either wash your Corvette or wipe the hood clean with quick detailer and a microfiber polishing cloth and then feel the paint with the clean palm of your hand. Does it feel silky smooth? Or do you feel little bumps or a texture to it?

If it's silky smooth then you can use polish it first with a pure polish like Deep Crystal Polish to really bring out the richness of color and add gloss, and then use a wax like NXT Tech Wax or Gold Class Wax after polishing.


If the paint doesn't feel smooth like a brand new piece of glass, then you'll want to use some detailing clay first to remove any above surface bonded contaminants.

If it is a single stage paint, and knowing these paints tend to oxidize more easily than clear coat paints, you might want to use a light paint cleaner like Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner first just to insure any dead, oxidized paint has been removed and the polish and wax.

After the above you will have taken you're car's finish to it's maximum potential and should have a true show car finish. Machine polishing can produce even better results but with older, single stage paints you do have to be very careful as the tend to be softer than modern clear coat paints and sometimes thin depending on who's worked on the car, how often they've worked on the car and what they used when they worked on the car.

Hope this helps...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Nice website by the way, a lot of great photos here,

http://morosoracing.com/photo_gallery.asp

This sounds like a dumb question, (or better it's going to read like a dumb question),

Are you related to the Moroso company? Your last name and website indicates this but we wouldn't want to draw any wrong conclusions.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

I answered my own question with a quick click to the Moroso website!

Moroso Website


Welcome to Meguiar's Online Rick!

[5vetteman]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Thanks for your reply Mike!

I will give the stuff you recommend a try. The paint is very shiny, I would just like to get it looking as good as it can. I will check it to see if it needs clay or not. It has been covered its whole life, and has not been wet. As in it has never been in the rain, and the original owner that I bought it from, never got it dirty enough to wash it. He just dusted it and waxed it. I don't know if that is good or bad!?

Yes, you are right. My dad started our company, and I run it now. Thanks for posting the links to our sites!

Thanks for your help! I appreciate it!

Rick

[TH0001]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Single stage paint will oxidize (and I'm sure your Vette's has). You may not notice until you clean some the oxidation off and can compare.

I would recommend using Meguairs ColorX on the paint to restore the orginal brilliance and polish and wax the paint at the same time. Then I would top with Meguairs #21 Sealent. If you are dilligent in waxing your car with the #21 (every 2-3 months), you probably skip the cleaning step (ColorX) and only do it every year or so when you notice a slight degrade in the apperance of your Vette.

WoW a 78 Vette with that low of miles that has never seen the rain? Amazing

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Single stage paint will oxidize (and I'm sure your Vette's has). You may not notice until you clean some the oxidation off and can compare.

Thus the recommendation to use a paint cleaner in the 2nd post in this thread.

I would recommend using Meguiar's ColorX on the paint to restore the original brilliance and polish and wax the paint at the same time. Then I would top with Meguiar's #21 Sealant.

This is another option, using a strong cleaner/wax like ColorX as the paint cleaner, one thing to consider however is that old, original paint like this should be handled with kids gloves and approached following the philosophy of,

"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

In this case, Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, (recommended in the second post of this thread), is less aggressive than ColorX, and if the paint job is as described,

"The paint is more or less perfect"

"It has been covered its whole life, and has not been wet. As in it has never been in the rain, and the original owner that I bought it from, never got it dirty enough to wash it."

Then while it's likely the upper surface of the paint has oxidized to some level and it may be hard to see this oxidation without cleaning a section and comparing it to an untouched section, at the same time care should be taken to preserve the original paint and chances are very good that Deep Crystal Paint cleaner, together with the cleaning action created by moving an applicator over the surface during application, will be enough to get the job done while still leaving the most amount of paint on the car.

[5vetteman]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Mike,

I am going to head to the store and pick up the products you recommended.

Should I use anything else? I am not sure how much, or what kind of wax is on the car now. Should I use anything to try to remove any old wax first?

Thanks again for your help!

Rick

[Murr1525]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Well, if you are going right now, I'll toss in an answer... Maybe.. Have to get it cleaned first, and go form there.

If you are planning to wash it, get some Gold Class soap and good towels, etc. Otherwise, get a couple big bottles of Quick Detailer and wipe it all down good with plenty of QD.

Then feel the surface, take a look at it with sunlight, other typs of light. See if it is rough, any swirls, etc.

I cant imagine that it wont have a few bonded on things, I would expect claying to be a good thing.

After that, it is up to you. If there are no swirls, then you can stick with very mild products. Either just a wax, or to keep things simple, I could go with the Cleaner/Wax topped with your favorite wax.

If there are swirls, you can either live with them, and just use the above products, or start to look into some swirl removal products, like ScratchX.

What it Means to Remove a Scratch

How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX

How To Remove Swirls By Hand

There are other products of course, but more steps required... up to you how many steps you feel like doing.

Since TH0001 mentioned ColorX, here is a link of it in action. It is a stronger cleaner than the Cleaner/Wax, but still mild in the grand scheme of things. One of my favorite products:

1986 Ford Bronco II - Extreme Makeover

Hope the helps a little.. Really try to use the bes tquality sponges, towels, etc you can, rather than random generic brands. That is really as important as anything else for a classic car that you want too keep the same.

[TH0001]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Let me also state that....

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Mike,

I am going to head to the store and pick up the products you recommended.

Should I use anything else? I am not sure how much, or what kind of wax is on the car now. Should I use anything to try to remove any old wax first?

Thanks again for your help!

Rick

Hi Rick,

The paint cleaner, (as well as clay if you use it) will effectively remove any previously applied wax providing you a fresh base to start with.

Everyone would like to see some before and after pictures, so we can show you how to upload them to the gallery, or if you e-mail a few to me I'll do it for you.

Click here to send me an e-mail --> e-mail <--

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

If you are planning to wash it, get some Gold Class soap and good towels, etc. Otherwise, get a couple big bottles of Quick Detailer and wipe it all down good with plenty of QD.

Just to chime in,

Not sure how Rick is going to approach this but often times the owners of cars such as this, (a classic car, low mileage, supposedly never in the rain or washed with water), will choose not to wash the car because washing will introduce water into all kinds of cracks and crevices and create the potential for rusting of metal parts.

It's a risk many owners of such cars are not willing to take. In these cases, the next best thing is to wipe the car down as Murr1525 has suggested and that's to use plenty of a mist & wipe product like Quik Detailer and plenty of soft, clean microfiber polishing cloths.

Rust is the biggest enemies of classic cars and the worst place to get it is in the places you cannot see or easily get to in order to remove it and then protect the metal.

[TH0001]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

I saw your post on Corvetteforum.com stating that you where going to pursue the Zaino route instead.

Just so you know (I also posted this that forum), Zaino is finicky when you apply it to a surface. It is not a simple product to use as in you just wipe it on and off like a wax. The surface most be prepped specifically for Zaino application, and many Meguiars products will not let the Zaino bond to the paint.

FWIW, Zaino doesn't have the bite to bond to a surface that has oils in the surface, so in your case I would skip the DC2 application. Honestly, in your case, if looks are important to you, I would skip Zaino all together and switch instead to Meguiars #21 Synethic Sealent.

If you do a search on for #21 on autopia.org (a website with a lot of product information sharing, some good, some bad) you will see that a lot of previous Zaino users have switched to #21 based on the amazing looks (both gloss and reflection) that #21 provides.

Here are a couple pictures of Corvettes I have detailed with #21.

[TH0001]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

as a side, why aren't the pictures coming up?

[5vetteman]

Re: What should I use to wax my '78 Corvette? (Non clear coat lacquer)

Alright! Thanks for the tips guys!

For the time being, I am not going to wash it. I will spray the heck out of it with detailer, gently clay bar it, then use the cleaner, polish and wax that Mike recommended. It has a lot of fine swirl marks. I will take some close-ups if I can before I start.

Wish me luck!

Here are a few pics of it.

Thanks again for the help!

Rick