Please help friends: Corvette Grandsport Question!

[Ohio Detailing]

Hey everyone!

I just received a new project, working on a 1996 Corvette Grandsport with under 8,000 miles - virtually a flawless example of a an almost 20 year old Vette Convertible.

It has just been sold to an out-of-state collector, so the current original owner who has loved and adored it like a child for years hired me to focus much of my efforts ON THE WHEELS (black powder coated I believe?).

HERE IS A LINK TO A NEW GALLERY THE OWNER HAD PROFESSIONAL TAKEN: 1996 Corvette Convertible - Grand Sport (http://www.jamiejansenphoto.com/finishedpictures/Corvette/index.html)

My QUESTION: What chemical/chemicals and agitation techniques and polishing techniques and hardware/products would be advisable for this project?

MY APPOINTMENT IS SUNDAY, leaving me merely 24 hours of preparation from now basically - so... PLEASE HELP with any and all insight friends - as SOON as you can!

[ihaveacamaro]

Optimum power clean is safe on all wheels, I don't know about polishing powder coated wheels though. The Daytona brushes are great for all wheels

[Ohio Detailing]

Optimum power clean is safe on all wheels, I don't know about polishing powder coated wheels though. The Daytona brushes are great for all wheels

GREAT, I love Power Clean, I know it's the most expensive APC, but that's moot, because it's the BEST! I'll take that, and of course I have and LOVE the wheel brushes.

Anyone have any ideas on polishing and/or sealing the wheels afterward to provide gloss and protection!?

[Paul@F.T.D]

That is a rare and beautiful breed of car my friend you are privileged to able to work with it enjoy! I belive they were painted btw.

[ihaveacamaro]

As far as sealing, my favorite wheel sealant is blackfire crystal seal. One Spritz or two is enough to do a whole wheel.

[FUNX650]

The finish on these particular 1996 Corvette wheels were painted a gloss black.

The LSP you use on the body-panels paint will work.

I often will apply Wolgang DGPS to painted wheels.

:)

Bob

[slapshot]

I use Wolfgang DGPS sealant followed up by a coat of liquid Souveran on all of my painted wheels. They are all gray/silver on my current cars, but they look wet and shiny. I think something along that line would make the black GS wheels look great.

[Meticulous-Detail]

I use a nice coat of 476s on wheels for protection. If they are painted I would clay , light polish, seal and then top with a gloss enhancing product like a glaze.

[Ohio Detailing]

Thank you EVERYONE SO MUCH!

Yes, after reviewing the images it is obvious they are painted.

On the way now to the client's location, thanks again for the wonderful help guys, a job like this with 24hr notice didn't allow me ample time to properly prepare or grab my high-res camera, but I'll use my cell phone if anyone is interested.

Take care! :)

[Paul@F.T.D]

Thank you EVERYONE SO MUCH!

Yes, after reviewing the images it is obvious they are painted.

On the way now to the client's location, thanks again for the wonderful help guys, a job like this with 24hr notice didn't allow me ample time to properly prepare or grab my high-res camera, but I'll use my cell phone if anyone is interested.

Take care! :)

Yup post those pics man. My old man had one, love the Grand Sports.

[slapshot]

Thank you EVERYONE SO MUCH!

Yes, after reviewing the images it is obvious they are painted.

On the way now to the client's location, thanks again for the wonderful help guys, a job like this with 24hr notice didn't allow me ample time to properly prepare or grab my high-res camera, but I'll use my cell phone if anyone is interested.

Take care! :)

Need you ask about pix??? of course we do!!!!

[ShaunD]

So what happened with the GS? Where are our pics:)?... Hope it went well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using AG Online

[Ohio Detailing]

Hiya fellas!

What a day yesterday - and although I can always put a positive spin on things, it wasn't what I hoped it would be.

Basically, since I like to keep things organized, I'll kind of list a few bullet points as they come to mind - but FIRST AND FOREMOST thank you to everyone! :)

1. Although the Corvette Grand Sport was garaged... I'm in Ohio, and yesterday it was in the teens, and much worse with the wind, and THERE WAS NO HEAT of any sort
2. I had never been hired to do a 'wheels only' detail, and ended up being vastly inaccurate in my estimated time to complete the project. It took four hours, WITH an assistant (partially because the owner stayed out there the... entire... time... making distracting pointless small-talk and taking our attention away from where it was needed and what we were being PAID FOR)
3. After the first hour I could no longer feel my feet, and my hands weren't far behind
4. THERE WAS NO, ZERO, ZILCH lighting in the garage - literally, NOT A BULB was operational... so I had to have my assistant hold an extremely strong blinding light next to me to offer any sort of illumination whatsoever (seriously, like detailing in a freezing dungeon)
5. The GrandSport, although nice, did have cosmetic issues aplenty that were obvious and very apparent as light hit the paint - yikes, I didn't say a thing however because the vehicle already sold, and I didn't want to make any waves... as the owner was already EXTREMELY excitable (do most Covette owners of a car that is basically worth around $20-30k max ((it sold for $24)) believe they have a Pagani Zonda R crafted from carbon fiber!? All they did was talk about something called the "Bowtie" award for HOURS - yeah, this is 16 years old, scratched to high heaven, and has some mold on the convertible top - get over yourself)

6. THE WHEELS: The sole reason why I went over there ended up being a bit moot to a degree, I say that because the wheels were already somewhat 'clean,' and sure my final work revealed a new very improved visual appeal, didn't create any sort of dramatically massive difference.
-- The owner politely argued with, and talked-over me, the entire time refuting the fact they were painted wheels, and rather clung tightly to the fact they were powder-coated
-- Any car that is knocking on 2 decade's door will have some issues, but they seemed to perhaps think that having this Vette parked for years, and years, in a damp garage with zero heat, would be remedied by my 4 hours of cleaning and polishing (with the wheels STILL on the car no less), and continued to drone on about the 'spots' on the interior of the wheels (basically it was affixed deposits and brake-dust and rust etc that was barely noticeable visually unless under direct light)
-- The wheels themselves were scratched, scratched, and then scratched some more, gee it was almost like there were painted!? Weird.
-- Lastly, the very first thing I ask upon arrival was if the wheels could be removed, and they said "No, there hasn't even even been a tool put on the lug-nuts,let alone removed." I wanted to SCREAM, "You don't have a Bugatti! The Lug Nuts have plastic covers on them anyway, let me take them off the car to get a much better result and SAVE TIME!"

I learned several, very, important, lessons! It's odd, after 11 years detailing in some shape or another, I'm still learning lessons. I guess that's alright, as countless millionaires and CEOs all write books about how they learned things after 30 years running a Fortune-500 company.

I need to recalibrate my business practices, and reserve the right to change my pricing upon VISUAL INSPECTION OF A VEHICLE, and also, set MY OWN rules for detailing beforehand (ex: "I will have to take the wheels off, or I cannot accept this job," or "Is the garage lit and heated even to some degree so I don't risk pneumonia over a few dollars?" or perhaps "I work much better and more efficiently when I am able to perform my job you hired me to do in solace with my assistant, so I can offer you a better end-result by focusing my attention where it belongs, your car, not idle fraternizing." aka - LEAVE ME ALONEEEEEEEE)

In closing... I didn't get a single picture with my cell phone. Honestly, after being talked-over, bored to death by the owner (which was nothing more than her flimsy attempt to stay there to examine every move we made like the Gestapo), kept from doing my job, forced to listen to life-long stories and pretend to be interested, not being able to feel my toes at ALL, and working in an other-wise pitch black garage as the winter wind howled outside... I just wanted to leave; plus... the garage looked like an episode of hoarders, and would not make a single decent photo anyway.

Seriously though, as far as this wonderful awesome forum goes, THANKS AGAIN GUYS! If it wasn't for your guidance, I would have used Meg's Degreaser to looser road-grime off the wheels, and that may have been bad (?). I would still like to know if those little brown sports are removable?

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY! :)

[FUNX650]

Hi Dynamic Detailing...

-Sorry you had to work under these conditions...
Including all of the BLATHER!!!

-I agree that a job's price-estimate is best given after a:
"Walk Around" with the Customer...If it's at all possible.

-I'm glad to report that:
Not all Corvette owners living in Ohio are as this Customer so depicts.

:)

Bob

[Ohio Detailing]

Hi Dynamic Detailing...

-Sorry you had to work under these conditions...
Including all of the BLATHER!!!

-I agree that a job's price-estimate is best given after a:
"Walk Around" with the Customer...If it's at all possible.

-I'm glad to report that:
Not all Corvette owners living in Ohio are as this Customer so depicts.

:)

Bob

THANKS BOB! Great advice, a very awesome suggestion to relay to potential customers which will avoid many wrinkles like this, and also create an even understanding! :)