corvette detailing?

[refurbish]

hello everyone,
I have an express detail service mostly offering 1 step details
( all in one ) products such as polish/wax combo,waterless wash
colorx,etc...

my question is what would be safe/gentle enough for a corvette?
I've detailed several types of trucks and cars but never a vette,
so I'm a little leary on what to use.
any vette owners or detailers with knowledge of vette bodys
could give me any sugestions that would be great.

thanx guys/girls

[Boss_429]

To my knowledge, OEM Corvette paint is no different than most other OEM paints (could be wrong though?). Therefore, you should be able to use the same products.

Anyhow, these links may help you:

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3666

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4683

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5117

[RDVT4ME]

I use Meguiars stuff on my vette and it looks great.

Paint is paint. You can use the same products you use on the rest of your vehicles.

[Lt1Corvette]

Vette paint is standard Chevy paint. Even though it has a higher price tag, it still gets the same paint job.
Depending on which model you are working on, you just want to be careful in some of the area's. Headlights and some of the side engine vents on the earlier models a prone to cracking if you push to hard.

[the other pc]

If you do heavy compounding with a rotary you would want be careful to avoid excessive heat build up. Surfaces on a Vette, as well as Lotus, Avanti, and other plastic bodied cars would tend to get hotter, faster than their metal counterparts. This is also true for plastic bumpers on metal bodied cars.

For light polishes, waxes and all-in-ones it shouldn't be an issue unless the operator is unskilled with a rotary.


PC.

[mirrorfinishman]

Re: corvette detailing?

Originally posted by refurbish
my question is what would be safe/gentle enough for a corvette?

any vette owners or detailers with knowledge of vette bodys could give me any sugestions that would be great.

Actually, the paint process, especially the clear coat process for recent Corvettes does not appear to be the same as most OEM or Chevy paints.

Based on my own experience, I have found that it is much better to use the least aggressive products such as either carnauba wax or polymer wax, rather than using a cleaner type polish. This is especially true when it comes to black and other dark colored Corvettes. I would much rather give a Vette two coats of wax instead of even thinking of using any type of cleaner. The key with Corvettes is to be as gentle as possible with the finishes.

[Jetskied]

The Corvette paint may not be standard issue pick up truck paint, but it is no different than any other paint job out there. Have owned German cars, Caddies, Lincolns, and pick up trucks and can tell you that the clear on a Vette is not that sensitive to the product you use. Most cleaner waxes are gentle enough for any surface. You might want to be extra careful with a rotary, but you would say that with any other car. I highly doubt that GM is gonna use a specialized paint just for the Vette. They may use different paint for their lower line cars and their higher line cars, so that means the means treat it like a Caddilac. BTW the XLR is built in the Bowling Green plant. If you check properautocare.com they have an article stating that the Domestic clear are actually much harder than German clear coats. The reason is that the higher speed in German will cause severe chips in the paint if the clear was hard.

[Lt1Corvette]

Originally posted by Jetskied
The Corvette paint may not be standard issue pick up truck paint, but it is no different than any other paint job out there. Have owned German cars, Caddies, Lincolns, and pick up trucks and can tell you that the clear on a Vette is not that sensitive to the product you use. Most cleaner waxes are gentle enough for any surface. You might want to be extra careful with a rotary, but you would say that with any other car. I highly doubt that GM is gonna use a specialized paint just for the Vette. They may use different paint for their lower line cars and their higher line cars, so that means the means treat it like a Caddilac. BTW the XLR is built in the Bowling Green plant. If you check properautocare.com they have an article stating that the Domestic clear are actually much harder than German clear coats. The reason is that the higher speed in German will cause severe chips in the paint if the clear was hard.

That is interesting. I guess Audi didn't get that memo from the other german companies.

[the other pc]

I wouldn't be surprised if Corvette paint is formulated a little differently, for example they may need a different ovenizing process to accommodate the fiberglass shell. But the bottom line is that it's still a modern urethane two-stage finish and will respond well to standard detailing products and processes.

Since you're a professional and your niche requires all-in-one and/or high throughput products I would suggest you contact your local Meguiar's rep and check out products like M6 Cleaner/Wax, M66 Quick Detailer and D15 X-Press Liquid Wax.


PC.

[Vetter]

I use Meguiars products on both my '63 and '99. The NXT products are excellent and results are great One is black, so I am picky on the products.