2001 ZO6 Detail...(56k take a nap)

[SkeeterJD]

Thought I would post a few pictures of a recent detail I did on a dealer owned ZO6. The car was in really horrible shape, as you can see in the pictures.

You name the defect, this car had it. Massive swirls, water spots, bird etchings, minor scratches, and the ever present buffer trails.

For the first time, I really wished I knew how to use a rotary. After 15 long hours (five of them were spent on the wheels!), I finally got the paint to almost a pure swirl free finish.

The paint was extremely hard. I had to polish a 2'x2' section for almost 4 minutes before it got most of the defects out. I own a 2001 C5 coupe and this paint, I felt, was much harder than mine, which surprised me.

Time for the goodies (shield your eyes on some of these...nasty swirls ahead!!)

Deck lid




Hood




Canopy (Notice the bird etching)



Fiske Forged Wheels



Now the good stuff...the afters!!

Deck Lid


Hood


Canopy

[SkeeterJD]

Fiske Forged Wheels After


The whole package!




I think it turned out pretty well. The only problem, which made me sick was that a wind storm came through here 2 days ago and erased pretty much everything I did. I drove by the dealer just to take another gander at it and a small tear came to my eye. It still looked great, but not as good as 15 hours would show.


The process:

Deep crystal car shampoo
Clayed the entire car
83 DACP
80 Speed glaze
7 Showcar Glaze
2 coats of NXT

The wheels I used Meguiars All wheel cleaner (those wheels are cool, but a total pain to clean. Anytime you have to break out toothpicks to get into those little crevis' thats not a good thing.

Let me know what you think. I am by no means a professional, I just begged a friend at the dealership if I could do it and he told me that it was a great idea. He really thought I did a great job, which is really the only thing I needed from him.

Enjoy the pictures.

[Mike Pennington]

Before and after pictures are awesome, congrats

We should all applaud for your results as well as dedication (15 hours...wow)



Mike

[SkeeterJD]

Thanks Mike, it's always great to hear that you did a good job.

Part of me really likes working on black cars because you can see a definite result at the end, but the other part of me knows that can also be a huge downfall. Black shows everything as we all know, hence the possibility of pulling out your hair trying to get that perfect finish.

With a rotary, it's quite possible to get even a better finish and better yet, do it a lot quicker, but until I make that jump I submit myself to taking as long as it takes to get the paint where I think it should be.

Thanks again.

Scott

[sneek]

great job! the afters are awsome

[Mike Pennington]

We agree...Black is the best and worst color to work on

Mike

[RDVT4ME]

Nice work!



That car was really a mess.

You might look into getting a Mother's powerball for work on wheels like that. They have a large and a small size. It may help make the process a bit faster. Some of the really tight area's will still require fixing by hand.

Again, great work! Always glad to see a vette getting proper care.

[35th Anniversary SS]

Excellent work! It pains me to see someone who would shell the $ for Fikses but not take care of their paint.

I also have a 2001 ZO6 to detail this coming Saturday... Im glad Im working on a much more forgiving silver, rather then that "kick your butt" black.

I had a black F-body last weekend in similar shape... 14hrs later...

Awesome job!

[SkeeterJD]

Originally posted by RDVT4ME
Nice work!



That car was really a mess.

You might look into getting a Mother's powerball for work on wheels like that. They have a large and a small size. It may help make the process a bit faster. Some of the really tight area's will still require fixing by hand.

Again, great work! Always glad to see a vette getting proper care.

I have the powerball, and seriously considered using it. However, those Fikse wheels have a pretty hard edge to them. I think that if I used that powerball, I'd have little red pieces of foam everywhere.

I'm kind of a chrome guy, but I think the high polish I put on the aluminum rims really makes it stand out.

[rascal]

Skeet:

Great job on the Vette bro!

Did you use the PC on it? If you did, seeing the results you made on that car really gets my hopes up on my black car. It's not as swirled as that, but it has it's fair share. I have some #80 and #83 in tow the job this weekend. I just got my PC and bunch of goodies from ADS today.

Again, great job on that Vette!!

[SkeeterJD]

Here's some more nasty befores! Followed of course by the more pleasant afters.

Exhaust tips - NXT All metal Polysh

Before:


After:


Brake Caliper (rear) - Degreaser

Before:


After:



Here's a question I was meaning to ask some of you. When detailing someone elses car, do you ever take the wheels completely off like I have done here? I always do it to mine, because to me, a nice clean inside barrel of the rim always sets the car of really nice. Nothing like have a nice sparkling rim on the outside and peering just beyone the spokes and seeing a nasty brown layer of brake dust and road grime. Just curious if anyone else does this.

Scott

[SkeeterJD]

Originally posted by rascal
Skeet:

Great job on the Vette bro!

Did you use the PC on it? If you did, seeing the results you made on that car really gets my hopes up on my black car. It's not as swirled as that, but it has it's fair share. I have some #80 and #83 in tow the job this weekend. I just got my PC and bunch of goodies from ADS today.

Again, great job on that Vette!!

Yep...PC all the way. Followed the standard 5-3-5 speed settings

5-polish
3-wax
5-wax removal

I did do the #7 by hand though. I've tried it with the PC but it seemed like I got more streaking if you can believe it.

Good luck on the PC this weekend rascal.

Scott

[rascal]

Ah..a fellow "Scott" on board.

Exhaust looks good, as does the brake calipers. I don't have the chance to remove the wheels completely off a lot of times. I have only done it once on my car, but that is b/c I had concrete to support it on. I will admit, the wheels and wheel wells look better when they are cleaned properly through.

[evo77]

Originally posted by SkeeterJD Here's a question I was meaning to ask some of you. When detailing someone elses car, do you ever take the wheels completely off like I have done here? I always do it to mine, because to me, a nice clean inside barrel of the rim always sets the car of really nice. Nothing like have a nice sparkling rim on the outside and peering just beyone the spokes and seeing a nasty brown layer of brake dust and road grime. Just curious if anyone else does this.

Scott [/B]

I hear ya brother! I take off my wheels every once in a while to clean inside the barrel. I'm like you, I can't stand to have a sparkling exterior only to look at the clean wheels with brown dirt visible inside the wheel.

I actually once owned a set of two-piece wheels which had the centers painted silver while the barrel and lip was polished aluminum which was NOT clear coated by the way. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying it was to keep them clean. Not only would they stain easily from water spots and such, they would pretty much require a full down repolish of the inside of the barrel each washing because they would look like ****. Needless to say it drove me nuts enough to sell them. LOL

Great job on the detail!

[N.E.W.car]

Looks really good - but I have a question...

Now, don't let this ruin all the praise you have gotten so far (you did a great job), but I am seeing what looks to me like very minor buffer-trails in the following pics.



It could be the sun playing tricks though. I am not trying to be rude, I just wanted to point out the small imperfection I found. Most of us here are perfectionists, so hopefully you can appreciate where I am coming from, and the spirit in which I pointed this out!