00' Bowling Green Vette, from Vegas to Arizona!

**Wills.WindowsAndWheels** · 06-09-2013, 09:04 PM

This was our first official out of stater. Though he wasn't in town just to see us, his friend (who actually was the first person to drive over 100 miles for us to detail his Z06) had bragged about us so much that, he figured while he was in town from Vegas, he'd have to have us polish out his 2000 C5 Vette!

We were pretty pumped...we had to do a little schedule re-arranging but, thankfully we had an understanding customer who was ok with us moving him later in the week so that we could fit in our guy from Vegas (since he'd only be here a couple days.)

I turned out however, that we were going to have a guest star in this detail...A few days before the scheduled date, the owner of the Z06 sent us an email and asked, if he got there before the client from Vegas...could we do a maintenance detail on his Z lol....he said he was glad he wasn't a selfish, self centered eccentric kind of guy hahaha.

So, up first on monday afternoon was his Z. It was still in good shape from the last time we had done it..but did need a little sprucing up. The last couple of times we just did a maintenance wash and seal, but she was due for a 1-step at this point. It turned out beautiful as always:

Ah yeah, black is back!

After a few hours working on it...we had another visitor:

The C5 had arrived. Honestly it was very clean especially considering it just drove from Vegas down to Arizona. We met and spoke with the owner, told him what we recommended for the time frame we had (2-step polish out and sealant) and got started with the prep. He took off with his buddy in the Z...and we were left to do our thing.

Like i said, looked pretty clean:

But looking a bit closer you could see there was some cleaning that needed to be done:

P21S Wheel Gel to clean em up some:

Wheel woolies to fit between the barrel and the rotor (tight spot)

There we go, progress:

I was working at home and it was over 100 degrees...so yes...i was wearing an undershirt...sorry for the not totally professional look lol:

Cleaned all wheels, tires and wheel wells...and then it was time to document the condition of the paint....well, it was 13 years old:

Clean yes, but very swirled...and then there were pin stripes that we had to CAREFULLY work around:

Headlights were covered with clear bra, as were the side mirrors...but they were nice and swirly too:

The whole car was definitely in need of a good paint correction:

Some were a bit too deep to remove:

Lots and lots of swirls...

Swirled Corvettes make us sad

Tires and such were done, now it was time for a prep wash and a clay bar:

We had reached night fall by now and needed to get the Vette tucked in, but we were back on it bright and early the next morning to do the fun stuff...the polishing.

Dani taped off the pin striping to be sure no accidents happened with the polishers (don't want to accidentally polish over the pin stripes and remove them!)

Then she taped off a test area for us:

Next i was up, once again the Rupes from Mr Kevin Brown at Buffdaddy.com was up to bat. Megs finishing pad primed with 205...yeah i know...whats a combo like that going to do on Vette paint? Well...it does quite a lot with the Rupes 21.

**Wills.WindowsAndWheels** · 06-09-2013, 09:07 PM

Working it...cutting the heavier defects...

The result...well...check it out:

Up close...we were at emerald status:

Remember, we WERE looking at THIS:

And got it to this:

Side by side...here is your transition:

Note this was BEFORE our final polish, this was just the initial cut. The gloss and "pop" of the paint was increased even more after we did a final polish on it.

Some heavier compound was needed in spots to remove the deeper defects. What deeper ones? Well...like these:

Around the gas chamber seems to ALWAYS be one of the most beat up areas. Between the gas nozzle, the rubber hose and people sometimes brushing up against the car while fueling up...it seems that we see this area as always being more beat up that others.

But, we just upped the cut and worked it a bit longer...and it too turned out like the rest of the car:

Not too bad huh?

I continued around to the rear of the car...working the back hatch as close to the pin striping as i could:

This was what it was like before:

And this was after:

While i was cutting away, Dani was working the Rupes 15 and doing the final polishing to bring out maximum gloss:

After working 1/2 of the car, we pulled it out into the sun to check out. Here was our tape line in the sun:

Here was the untouched side of the hood...wow....looks REAL nasty in the sun:

And here is the finished side:

Yes, THIS is how paint should look:

Right side done, left side not:

And then the quarter panel up front...finished:

Up towards the roof finished:

And that nasty rear quarter panel was brought back to a crazy shine:

Rear hatch was just looking RIGHT:

**Wills.WindowsAndWheels** · 06-09-2013, 09:08 PM

Even the side mirror that had clear bra over it...polished out nicely:

A different angle of the rear quarter:

The roof looked gorgeous:

And even the rather swirled front bumper (though NOT rock chipped thanks to the owner putting a bra over the front during travel!) came out awesome:

I had to work the center of the hood after pulling it back in....why was I doing the polishing and not Dani?!

She was pre-occupied for some seriously tedious work...working around the pin stripes by HAND

Bless her heart. She spent well over an hour just working those two small areas by hand, removing as many defects as close to the pin striping as possible. It paid off and gave the paint a much more finished look. Finally after all polishing was done, we were able to seal it up, do some final touch up cleaning, dress the tires/wheel wells and then enjoy the results:

Serious gloss:

Oh, look whos back!!! The Z!

Rick, (left) circling around his OLD Vette (yes he actually owned it first and then sold it to his buddy!) While Dave (present owner) inspects it at a distance:

Got gloss? Nevada plates, we're expanding ....

Low stuff needs cleaning, polishing and protecting as well:

Pin stripes looked great against the glossy finish:

The owner can be seen here with Dani, checking out the pin striping under an LED light...big improvement from what it was:

A few deeper scratches remained, but still...huge improvement:

The headlights that were clear bra covered looked awesome too:

The sun was gone by the time we finished up, but under the LED light you can see how the other half of the car looked....awesome:

One deep guy left on this side mirror...and a little rock hit, but the rest...was sweet:

The mess that was above the door handle was cleared up too:

Great reflection:

The poor gas door was back to looking better than new:

**Wills.WindowsAndWheels** · 06-09-2013, 09:10 PM

A deeper scratch here n' there but...very few and far between:

Not swirled Corvettes make us happy...

Dave and Rick putting the bra back over the front to prevent any damage on the road while i went around and touched up a few spots:

Detailers and owners together enjoying the results and having a little fun:

Then just the detailers

All opened up, it just looked like an emerald pool:

It was time for everyone to head back home. Rick heading out first in his Z, back to Tucson.

And then Dave with the C5 following behind:

One last shot:

Was sad to see em go BUT, both of them said they'd be coming back for maintenance details in the future. Will be good to see both of them again. Dave grabbed some supplies from us so that he could help maintain the finish in between details (towels..lots of towels, mitts, soap etc) Can't wait to see them again in a few months..will be cool to have one out of town Vette and one out of state Vette to work on again.

Thanks all for reading, hope you enjoyed it as always.

**Wills.WindowsAndWheels** · 06-09-2013, 09:11 PM

A deeper scratch here n' there but...very few and far between:

Not swirled Corvettes make us happy...

Dave and Rick putting the bra back over the front to prevent any damage on the road while i went around and touched up a few spots:

Detailers and owners together enjoying the results and having a little fun:

Then just the detailers

All opened up, it just looked like an emerald pool:

It was time for everyone to head back home. Rick heading out first in his Z, back to Tucson.

And then Dave with the C5 following behind:

One last shot:

Was sad to see em go BUT, both of them said they'd be coming back for maintenance details in the future. Will be good to see both of them again. Dave grabbed some supplies from us so that he could help maintain the finish in between details (towels..lots of towels, mitts, soap etc) Can't wait to see them again in a few months..will be cool to have one out of town Vette and one out of state Vette to work on again.

Thanks all for reading, hope you enjoyed it as always.

**BlackHawk** · 06-09-2013, 09:15 PM

Amazing work! Perfect example effectiveness of the Rupes!

**Mike@DedicatedPerfection** · 06-09-2013, 09:32 PM

Wow beautiful work you guys! Great Job!

**Wills.WindowsAndWheels** · 06-09-2013, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by BlackHawk

Amazing work! Perfect example effectiveness of the Rupes!

I agree, love those machines. We'll take most of the credit lol...but man that Rupes makes life easier and makes much quicker work of what would normally be very difficult paint to cut.

Originally Posted by smack

Wow beautiful work you guys! Great Job!

Thank you !!