Clarification before I hurt my Z06?

[ZenOhSix]

Howdy. During the winter months while my 2007 Atomic Orange Z06 sat in the garage with the warm blanket on, I went a tad crazy and purchased a bunch of stuff:

: The Wolfgang Füzion Estate Wax Connoisseur’s Kit :
- 8 oz. Wolfgang Füzion Estate Wax with Signature Wooden Case
- 16 oz. Wolfgang Auto Bathe
- 16 oz. Wolfgang Paintwork Polish Enhancer
- 16 oz. Wolfgang Deep Gloss Spritz Sealant
- 2 Cobra Microfiber Towels, 16 x 16 inches
- 2 Foam Wax Applicators
: Wolfgang Detailer’s Bag :
: Wolfgang Elastic Poly Clay Bar 200g :
: Wolfgang Clay Lubricant 16oz :
: The Diamondite Glasswork Kit for Hand Application :
- 3 oz. Glasswork Cleansing Clay
- 4 oz. Glasswork Clay Lubricant
- 4 oz. Glasswork Restorer
- 4 oz. Glasswork Shield
- Zip Sponge
- Microfiber Applicator Pad
- 16 x 24 inch Cobra Waffle Weave Microfiber Glass Towel
: Porter Cable 7424XP & Pad Kit :
- 3 White
- 3 Orange
- 4 Red
: Wolfgang Duo 3.0:
- 16 oz. Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover 3.0
- 16 oz. Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0
- 1 CCS Orange 5.5 inch Pad
- 1 Cobra All Purpose Microfiber Towel, 16 x 16 inches
: Cobra Deluxe 600 Microfiber Combo (x2):
- 4 Cobra Super Plush Deluxe 600 Microfiber Towels, 16 x 24 inches
- 4 Cobra Deluxe Jr. 600 Microfiber Towels, 16 x 16 inches
: Microfiber All Purpose & Wheel Detailing Towel :
- 6 All Purpose Microfiber 16 x 24 inches towels
: Mothers Genuine Lambswool Wash Mitt :
: Brinkmann Maxfire Dual Xenon Rechargeable Spotlight :
: Mothers Detail Brush Set :
: CR Spotless Rolling De-ionized Water Filtration System (DIC-20) :
: Airforce MasterBlaster 8HP dryer :

My car is in pretty darn good shape, but the last time I washed it in general I did notice swirls. This may counter my opinion on "good shape", but it looks great to the average Joe when cleaned up well:









Based on the product I purchased, my plan was to follow the flow-chart that AutoGeek provides. With the products I have, would this be the correct order:

1) Wash with Wolfgang Auto Bathe, 2 bucket system using the CR Spotless filtered water; dry the car with the MasterBlaster.
2) Claybar the car
3) Do the entire Diamondite Glasswork Kit process
4) Use the PC 7424XP with Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover 3.0 and an Orange pad
5) Use the PC 7424XP with Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0 and a White pad
6) Manually lay down the Wolfgang Deep Gloss Spritz Sealant
7) Manually lay down the Wolfgang Füzion Estate Wax

Does this look correct? Ultimately, in this process the one product I would not be using is the Wolfgang Paintwork Polish Enhancer because of the PC 7424 swirl/glaze usage?

Finally, I also purchased some wheels and Carbon Fiber splitter and side skirts. The wheels have paint matched lips with carbon fiber spokes. They look identical to this wheel:

but it has painted outside barrel like:



For cleaning and maintaining these, I assume I would follow the same steps above, but the difference being I would NOT use the PC 7424XP?

Since these wheels were just made should I be worried about the "outgassing"? I doubt they are going to clearcoat, not sure if this makes a difference?

Finally, the Carbon Splitter / Side Skirts are done over in a clear coat of some sort for protection. I have zero worries and should put the wax on that as well? Here are some pictures:



Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure I have it right before I go screw something up.

Mike

[TWEEDERTWEEK]

[Matt]

Sounds pretty good, although you might want to use the diamonite glass system after you've polished so you don't get splatter on your freshly detailed windows.

Also with the CR spotless system, it would offer most benefit to use it only for the final rinse (if your tap water is exceptionally hard then it would benefit you in the wash buckets as well). For the final rinse with softened water, I would recommend useing the sheeting method (do you know it?) to rinse the car.

The wheel maintenance as you suggested will do, just seal the wheels then use wash solution on them to clean them. If you keep it up regularly every few weeks or more often (which I'm sure you will) you should never need to use a wheel cleaner.

Same with the carbon fiber skirts, just Fuzion them...... Mmmmmm Fuzion

Nice wheels btw, and nice car too! I love that copper orange, especially on Corvettes.

[Flash Gordon]

Those are the sickest wheels I've ever seen. Very nice

[Bunky]

I would add some painters tape to keep polish off the trim.

As always, do a test spot and see what it takes to get it perfect before charging ahead on the rest. Since you did not post pics of the swirls, it may take more than one pass on hard paints with TSR depending on how perfect you want it.

[ScottB]

those wheels are bad azz ..... really nice order too !

[SeaJay's]

Wow you weren't kidding when you said you went a little crazy on your order! You got yourself come nice stuff there!

The car and wheels are insane! Car is going to look great come spring time! Can't wait to see the pics of everything on it.

[Audi X2]

Looks like you have everything you need for a perfect finish on the Z-06.

Those wheels look insane without a doubt.
Make sure you keep us up to date with pictures!
Beautiful ride and awesome product selection.

[dougaross]

I would add some painters tape to keep polish off the trim.

As always, do a test spot and see what it takes to get it perfect before charging ahead on the rest. Since you did not post pics of the swirls, it may take more than one pass on hard paints with TSR depending on how perfect you want it.

Pretty hard paint. You may find you need some Megs UC or 105 especially if some RIDS become visible after you remove the swirls.

[Mike Phillips]

Based on the product I purchased, my plan was to follow the flow-chart that Autogeek provides. With the products I have, would this be the correct order:

1) Wash with Wolfgang Auto Bathe, 2 bucket system using the CR Spotless filtered water; dry the car with the MasterBlaster.
2) Claybar the car
3) Do the entire Diamondite Glasswork Kit process
4) Use the PC 7424XP with Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover 3.0 and an Orange pad
5) Use the PC 7424XP with Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0 and a White pad
6) Manually lay down the Wolfgang Deep Gloss Spritz Sealant
7) Manually lay down the Wolfgang Füzion Estate Wax

Does this look correct? Ultimately, in this process the one product I would not be using is the Wolfgang Paintwork Polish Enhancer because of the PC 7424 swirl/glaze usage?


Mike

Hi Mike,

You can wash the car first and then go through your process or if it were me and there were water spots on the glass, then I would lean towards using the Glass Restorer first, to get the glass really clean and then wash the car. By doing this you'll remove any cleaning and polishing residues loosened by the Glass Restorer and get them off the car by washing and rinsing the car and then there will be no potential for any residues to enter into the paint polishing process.

That's how I would approach it, of course clean the glass first with some time of spray on glass cleaner like the instruction state here.

Diamondite® Glasswork System Kit for Hand Application


Creating a swirl-free, flawless finish on a clear coat finish means not only using great products but also something I type about all the time and that is... reducing the potential to instill swirls and scratches and part of doing this is making sure everything is surgically clean before you start machine polishing and by washing the car after using the Glass Restorer you will reduce the potential of instilling swirls into the paint by insuring any and all traces of the Glass Restore are removed from the vehicle.

Make sense? Not a super big deal I'm just saying that's how I would approach this project if it were mine as I've polished out a lot of glass in my life and it's usually kind of messy.

See this article,

The Mindset of a Professional Detailer


Besides the above, when you get ready to do the first correction step, understand that it is this step that will take the longest and it is how well you do this step and the results from this step that will make or break the end-results.

So two things...

1. If you're new to machine polishing, consider only tackling a portion of the car to start with, for example the front clip. That is front fenders and hood. To go through the entire process of removing the swirls, polishing and then sealing the paint will take you at least 4 hours, maybe longer depending upon how many breaks you take and how fast you get with the program. Tackling the entire car will take you the entire day from start to finish if you start early. Don't want to scare you or anyone but doing a top notch job on a Corvette or any cool car takes time.

You cannot rush quality.

You can't simply move the polisher faster over the surface to do the job faster as you won't remove the swirls. You must move the polisher over the paint slowly during the first step, the correction step as it is the combination of,

• Rotating and Oscillating action
• Swirl Remover - Your chemical
• Foam Formula - (how aggressive or non-aggressive the foam is)
• Speed Setting
• Downward Pressure
• Work Area Size
• Number of passes or technically, "Section Passes"
• and "Arm Speed"

that determines how paint is removed and it's only when you're removing a little bit of paint off the surface that you in effect level the surface and that's what we call... removing the swirls.


So consider just tackling a section of the car or start early if you want to knock it out in one day, or plan on pulling the car into the garage and doing the entire process over the weekend, that is two days. Just some friendly advice to help you get stellar results on your beautiful Corvette.


2. Removing the swirls out of a clear coat finish by hand or machine, and this includes ANY type of machine, is must a matter of slicing the car's panels up into smaller sections and the buffing out each panel section by section. When you finish one section and start a new section, overlap a little into the previous section for uniform swirl removal which equates to a uniform beautiful, swirl free finish over the entire car.

Make sense?

Here's something I wrote when I first came to Autogeek from Meguiars and a video that explains what a "Section Pass" is and how to do one.


Here's how to do a "Section Pass" when trying to remove swirls, scratches and other below surface paint defects.

How to do a Section Pass

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70g83mnTn4]YouTube - How to do a "Section Pass" with a Porter Cable 7424XP[/video]




When talking about machine polishing on discussion forums or even in detailing classes, the below questions always comes up,

• What's a pass?
• How many passes do I make?
• What's a section pass?

The definition of a pass
There are two definitions of the word pass as it relates to machine polishing with any type of machine.


Single Pass
A single pass is just that. It's when you move the polisher from one side of the section you're buffing to the other side of the section you're buffing. That's a single pass.


Section Pass
A section pass is when you move the polisher back and forth, or front to back with enough single overlapping passes to cover the entire section one time. That's a section pass.

In most cases if you're removing any substantial below surface defects you're going to make 6-8 section passes to the section you’re working before you either feel comfortable you've removed the defects or you're at the end of the buffing cycle for the product you're using.


Buffing Cycle
The buffing cycle is the amount of time you are able to work the product before the abrasives have broken down, (if you’re using a product that uses diminishing abrasives), and/or the product begins to dry and you lose the lubricating features of the product. Different products have different buffing cycles depending upon the type of abrasives used in the formula and the different ingredients used to suspend the abrasives and provide lubrication.



Factors that affect the buffing cycle include,

• Ambient temperature
• Surface temperature
• Size of work area
• Type of machine
• Type of pad material
• Humidity
• Wind or air flow surrounding the car
• Amount of product used
• Technique

Wet buffing technique
Most compounds and polishes should be used so that there is enough product on the surface to maintain a wet film while the product is being worked. The wetness of the product is lubricating the paint as the abrasives abrade the paint and cushion or buffer the abrading action so the abrasives don’t simply scour the finish leaving behind swirls and scratches.


Dry Buffing Technique - Buffing to a dry buff
There are some products on the market where the manufacture recommends buffing the product until it dries. As the product dries you’ll tend to see some dusting as the product residue becomes a powder and the paint will have a hard, dry shine to it.

Although some manufactures recommend this, it’s important to understand what’s taking place at the surface level as you buff to a dry buff. As the product dries, in essence you are losing the lubricating features of the product and as this happens friction and heat will increase. As friction and heat increases, so does the risk of micro-marring the paint or instilling swirls either by the product residue or the pad material and/or a combination of both.

While we trust that the manufacture knows their products best, when we take a close look at what it means to buff on a delicate surface like an automotive clear coat, it doesn’t make sense to run a buffing pad on top of the paint without some kind of wet film to lubricate the paint at the same time. We always recommend that you follow the manufacturer's recommendations and use your own judgment.

Everyone new to buffing wants to be told some easily identifiable sign that they can use to tell when it's time to stop buffing and it's not that simple, so here's an indicator I've always used and taught to others,

Wet film behind your path-of-travel
As you're making a single pass with the polisher, the paint behind the path of travel of the buffer should have a visible wet film on it. If the paint behind the pad is dry and shiny, you've run out of lubrication and you're dry buffing. Turn the polisher off. Wipe the residue off and inspect using a Swirl Finder Light to make sure you didn't dull or mar the paint, you usually won't cause any harm, but pay attention when your running the polisher and don't buff to a dry buff. If you do, you can quickly re-polish that section by cleaning your pad and adding a little fresh product and making a few new section passes.


UMR
Remember, in most cases the goal is UMR or Uniform Material Removal. The reason for this is so that you remove an equal amount of paint over each section and in turn over the entire car. In order to do this you need a method that you can control and duplicate and for most people following a back and forth, side-to-side pattern works because it’s easy to remember, easy to do and easy to duplicate.


Resources
The above video segment is a 4 minute clip filmed during the extended version of How To Remove Swirls using any Dual Action Polisher like the Meguiar's G110v2 and the Griot's Garage ROP and all models of he Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher, including the PC7424XP, PC7424, PC7336, G100


How to Remove Swirls using the Porter Cable 7424XP or any D.A. Polisher