North Coast Vettes at Meguiar's

[Mike Phillips]

North Coast Vettes at Meguiar's

On November 13th, 2004 Meguiar's was proud to host the North Coast Vettes club for our Detailing 101 class!

This was an enthusiastic crowd eager to start as demonstrated by the caravan of Corvettes driving down the road and into the Meguiar's Corporate parking lot out side Meguiar's Garage!

























Mike

[Rockpick]

WoW!!

Looks like an EXCELLENT turn out! After living in Bowling Green, KY for nearly 6 years, I've seen my fair share of Vettes but, several of them all in one spot is a HUGE head snapper.

Great job guys! I hope you all enjoyed your time in the Meguiar's classroom and shop... I know I sure did!

RP

[Lt1Corvette]

I don't know why, but that hood looks awfully familair
That is a huge turn out of Vette's. I hope all the people in the class had a great time. I can't wait to see the before and after shots on the plastic monsters!

[froggy47]

Owning a black car is a sort of "Agony & Ecstasy" experience. My car has never been so pampered, being worked on by 30 plus great folks who love Corvettes!

Mike and his assistants have so much knowledge & passion for the proper care of cars I felt like my car was in good hands even with people working on it who had not used the techniques and tools before.

Meguiars has an amazing "toobox" of products, a little info overload at first but then after you experience some "hands on" learning it all starts to make sense. 83, 80, speed glaze, tech wax - 2 coats

How to analyze YOUR finish & what it needs is an important part of the process before you even touch the car

Thanks Mike & the rest of the great Meguiars guys for giving up some Saturday time to help us all learn how to take care "America's Sports Car" the awesome Corvette!

And thanks to Barry Meguiar & his company for a really fantastic seminar. Keep it up. I think every seminar you put on makes a whole lot of lifetime customers for you.

[Mike Phillips]

We had a SUPER turn-out for this class with Corvettes representing a wide range of body styles, like this 1968 427 Stingray!



Mike

[Mike Phillips]

The members of the North Coast Vettes Club showed up bright and early! After parking their Corvettes and grabbing some hot coffee and a pastry, everyone grabbed a chair for the classroom portion of the class. As you can see from this picture, we had a full class!


Full Class!

[Mike Phillips]

After the classroom portion, we all went outside and did what we call a Walk-by where we walk by all of the members cars and discuss each owners car care habits and and evaluate the current condition of their Corvette's finish.

During this time, we try to select a dark colored, or black car to pull into Meguiar's Garage to use for the hands-on training portion of the class.

For this portion, froggy47 was generous enough to volunteer his Corvette which is both a daily driver and a weekend racer!



The first thing we do before evaluating and working on the car is to wipe off all the light dust and other fresh contaminants using Quik Detailer



Here members of the North Coast Vettes Club and a special guest use the Quik Detailer to wipe the Corvette down.

[Mike Phillips]

Next, everyone is encouraged to help clay the car to remove Above Surface Contaminants, especially if they have never use a clay bar before. To do this we used Meguiar's Quik Clay System



Learning to use Meguiar's Quik Clay System to remove bonded contaminants







With a lot of enthusiastic and passionate people joining in the fun, it doesn't take long to clay the car and restore a smooth, slick feel to the paint!



After claying an area, the surface should feel as smooth as glass. The reason for this is the clay bar will remove any contaminants from the surface and pull them onto itself where it traps and hold them. From time to time, students are encouraged to fold and knead the clay into itself to expose a fresh clay surface. After claying an area, Meguiar's premium microfiber polishing cloths called Ultimate Wipes are used to remove any residue and leftover Quik Detailer.



Wiping off any leftover residue after claying the finish with a microfiber polishing cloth

[Mike Phillips]

Next we inspected the finish with our eyes to see that it was filled with lots of fine scratches as well as deeper scratches uniformly throughout the entire finish. To remove these scratches by hand, we opted for a clear coat safe paint cleaner by Meguiar's called, ScratchX



First we applied some ScratchX to a clean, soft foam applicator pad



Then we applied the ScratchX to the finish using a combination of circular and straight-line motions


We followed the method of applying ScratchX to remove defects outlined in the below how-to article.

How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX


After applying the ScratchX, we removed it using a clean, Ultimate Wipe. Paint cleaners like Scratch do not need to dry before removing. After working the product into and against the finish until the microscopic diminishing abrasives have broken down, we removed it immediately afterwards.

Note: ScratchX will start out as a whitish film after you spread it out onto the area to be worked, and then turn clear looking after you have worked it long enough to break the diminishing abrasives down.

[Mike Phillips]

After removing the ScratchX, we then applied a thin coat of a pure polish to create brilliant high gloss with a deep, rich reflective shine Deep Crystal Polish




First we applied some polish to a new, clean foam applicator pad.
(Always use a separate pad for each product to avoid cross-contamination)



Then we applied the polish into the paint use a nice gentle, overlapping motions.



Polishes like the Deep Crystal Polish do not need to dry before removing. Just like the ScratchX paint cleaner, after applying the polish to the finish there is no need to let the polish dry, simply wipe off any excess using a clean, dry microfiber polishing cloth or a clean, soft terry cloth towel.

[Mike Phillips]

After removing the polish, we then applied one coat of Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax and allowed it to dry for approximately 15 minutes and then removed it.


First we apply some NXT Tech Wax to a new, clean foam applicator pad



Then we apply the wax to the finish just like we applied the pure polish using overlapping motions and laying down a uniform coating.



Waxes like Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax are designed by RD to dry in approximately 10 to 15 minutes. You can also use the Swipe Test to determine if you coating of wax is ready to remove.

How to tell when a Meguiar's wax is ready to remove - The Swipe Test

After the NXT Tech Wax had dried to haze and was ready to remove, we asked our guest to remove the wax using a clean microfiber polishing cloth and to share with the class if the wax was easy, or difficult to remove.

I think you can tell by the smile she's wearing that the Tech Wax was quite easy to remove!

[Mike Phillips]

After removing the NXT Tech Wax, the owner backed his Corvette out into the sun where everyone could see a dramatic reduction in swirls and scratches and a clear coat finish that has a deep, dark wet-look shine!

[AlbertFattal]

SWEET! When I went to visit, the place was PACKED! Had to park in back haha. Looks like they had huge fun

-Albert

[Mike Phillips]

After learning proper hand techniques we moved on to tire dressings. Hot Shine High Gloss Tire Spray is an easy way to restore a deep, dark high gloss shine to your tires!



With it's patented adjustable spray nozzel for a wide or narrow spray pattern, simply choose your setting and then spray Hot Shine onto your tires!



For those that prefer a trigger spray version we demonstrated Hot Shine High Gloss Tire Spray (Trigger)

[Mike Phillips]

We then moved on to Interior Care where we tried out a 2-Step Approach, using

Gold Class Rich Leather Aloe Cleaner
Gold Class Rich Leather Aloe Conditioner



And a one-step approach using Gold Class Rich Leather Spray