CorvetteForum at Meguiar's - Round 2!

[Mike Phillips]

Craig drove over 400 miles to attend Meguiar's Detailing Class; here's his Corvette looking racy with it's bold color scheme!



Red always looks great on any year Corvette!

[Mike Phillips]

One member drove to Meguiar's on his BMW Touring Bike,



And serious car enthusiasts and President of the C3 Mini Cooper club joined us for the day to shoot some video of this event. Here's his Mini Cooper, "Lil 'Octane" looking spectacular as always!

[Mike Phillips]

The classroom portion of Meguiar's Detailing 101 class starts at 9:00am sharp with a power point presentation, product discussions and a time for questions and answers...





At approximately 11:30 am, we adjourn to Meguiar's parking lot to do what we call a "Walk By" where we walk by each of the members Corvette and inspect, evaluate and discuss their car care maintenance program.

[Mike Phillips]

The finish is evaluated both visually for below surface defects such as swirls, scratches, water etchings, etc. and with the clean palm of our hands to evaluate for above surface bonded contaminants such as overspray, mineral deposits, tree sap mist, and other airborne contaminants.



Owners are asked what they are currently using and if their finish is not up to their expectations, we offer product and process suggestions for removing defects and restoring a show car shine.

[Mike Phillips]

Some Corvettes have a clear, glassy wet-look to them and need little or nothing to improve them. Such was the case of this Torch Red Corvette...



While not raining, it was a bit on the overcast side which made it difficult to fully see the true condition of each car's finish. It's always best to inspect a painted finish in at least two kinds of light with one of them being bright sunlight. Bright sunlight will tend to show buffer swirls and cobweb-effect better than anything and will help you to determine what products and procedures will be necessary to remove the defects.

[Mike Phillips]

After walking by and inspecting all of the finishes on the Corvettes present that day, we chose John Cunnane, aka 93ZF6 Corvette demonstrate on.



John moved to SoCal from Florida, driving his Corvette all the way out here and since arriving has had to park it outdoors continually.

The clear coat finish was filled with swirls and water mark etchings, that even without the sun were quite visible.

[OctaneGuy]

Great pix as always Mike! I know you got plenty more there, but just wanted to say I had a great time, and those Corvette enthusiasts were really friendly. I didn't feel like an outsider (with my MINI) one bit.

Hope the video turned out ok. I had a little difficulty with your tripod at first--takes a really delicate hand--I didn't quite get it right until after the 2nd tape!

But I learn something new every time. Your classes make a great refresher course for me.

Richard

[Mike Phillips]

Next we brought John's Corvette into Meguia'rs Garage for the hands-on training portion of Meguiar's Detailing 101 Class.

The first thing we do is to wipe the entire car down with Meguiar's Quik Detailer to remove any light dust, dirt or other airborne contaminants from the finish before we clay the finish.

[Mike Phillips]

After wiping the finish down, it doesn't take long to clay the entire car with a team full of enthusiastic Corvette Owners on hand!





To remove any above surface bonded contaminants, we used Meguiar's Quik Clay System.



Clay bar technology removes aboves surface bonded contaminants without scratching the finish or removing any paint. It is the safest way to remove bonded contaminants contaminants and restore a [b]smooth-as-glass feel to your car's finish.

[Mike Phillips]

Claying and then inspecting to make sure the contaminants have been removed. Before claying you will fill little tiny bumps on the finish, after claying, the finish should feel perfectly smooth.





It's incredible how much dirt and other contaminants can build-up on your car's finish that your eyes cannot see but the clay bar will remove!

[Mike Phillips]

During our classes, there are plenty of Meguiar's products to test out to see how they perform.



One such product is our new NEW NXT Generation Glass Cleaner with our new Supreme Shine Microfiber.




Here a member of CorvetteForum gives NXT Generation Glass Cleaner a test run on John's Corvette Glass with crystal clear, streak-free results!

[DaBoz]

Hey Mike.... had a great time Saturday Learned a lot and met a great bunch of guys!!

Here's some NXT results.....






Gene

[AutoNova]

Man we really miss out being on the east coast.

[Mike Phillips]

After removing the above surface defects, it's time to remove the below surface defects. To do this by hand, Meguiar's recommends their ScratchX . ScratchX is what Meguiar's refers to as a Paint Cleaner. Meguiar's paint cleaners use diminishing abrasives that break down as you work them against the finish



For light cleaning a finish in fairly good condition, you usually get away with one application and work a fairly large area at a time.

For a finish that is filled with water spot etchings and hundreds of thousands of swirl scratches, you need to reduce your work area to a smaller size and apply 2 and sometimes 3 applications, working each application in thoroughly.





When you apply ScratchX to the surface, mark out in your mind the area you're going to work, then start by spreading the product out over the area, then start working the product against the finish. Remember, spread the product out first, then work it. When you first start out the ScratchX will look a whitish/opaque against the paint, as your work the product against the finish it will turn clear and oily looking, this is an indicator you have worked the product enough to have broken the diminishing abrasives down and hopefully you will have removed a small amount of paint which is how you remove below surface defects.

For this demonstration, we applied the ScratchX three times and worked it in fairly aggressively. After working this product in, you immediately remove it with either a clean, soft microfiber polishing cloth, or a 100% cotton towel. Meguiar's paint cleaners do not need to dry before removing, nor should they be allowed to dry. Simply work the product in and then remove.

[Mike Phillips]

After removing the residual ScratchX, we then applied a thin coating of Deep Crystal Polish





After working the polish thoroughly yet gently into the pre-cleaned paint, we immediately removed it. Like paint cleaners, Meguiar's polishes do not need to dry before you remover them. Simply apply, work in well, then remove with a soft clean microfiber polishing cloth, or a clean, soft 100% cotton towel.