This gentleman came to see me and I debated doing the car now or in the Spring. I had quite a few personal commitments, but he was agreeable to having me keep the car for 2 weeks so that I could work on it a little here, a little there until I could get it done. Well, during that time, SEMA comes and Essence gets announced for sale. After reading about it from several reputable detailers, I decide to give it a shot too. The customer is more than happy to wait and let me use his baby as a guinea pig for this new polish.

So, here it is as it arrived. I had seen it in the sun and knew there were a TON of swirls in it, and it was going to be some serious work. He also decided (wisely I believe) to have the wheels pulled and the barrels coated as well. The shots are from outside on the first day with late day sun showing no swirling, to inside shots showing it, to some shots a week later after the wheels were done and 1/2 the hood compounded:




















There were quite a few chips that needed to be filled as well:
































After doing the wheels, it was a beautiful sunny day, so I pulled it out to shoot the swirls in the sun. Note the hood: the driver's side has been compounded (only) with TB black wool + M100 + Flex 3401. You can see the swirls on one side and not on the other:





















OK, OK, maybe I'm beating a dead horse here with all the swirls shots, but my point is that there was not one single panel that didn't need some serious correction.


First up was to clean the wheels, barrels and wells. The barrels were shot with Tarminator which was followed by Zep Citrus. The faces were cleaned with Megs HW and a demoted wash mitt. The tires were cleaned with Zep 505. The wells were cleaned with LATA.

The car was then washed with Megs HW followed by a second decontamination wash using IronX paste. It was then brought inside and clayed using my CarPro clay towel.


First up was going to be wheel removal. Each one was individually removed and given another intensive cleaning. The barrels were then polished using my Megs DA and a 4" yellow B/S pad with Reflect. That was followed by Duragloss Squeaky Clean and then given a double coat of CQuartz Finest. The face was chemically cleaned and coated too. The calipers were also coated although the paint has a really rough finish to them, so I honestly don't know how well it will work on them. I informed the customer of that. While waiting for the coats to cure, I cleaned the plastic wells and coated them with Duragloss beta trim coating. Here's some shots of 2 of the wheels:























Once the wheels were done, they were torqued back to spec. The tires were shot with OptiBond via my air gun prior to being lowered back down.


Now it was time to smoke a cigar...oops, I meant play with some paint! Corvettes are notorious for having hard paint, and this 2002 model was to be no different. I used my reliable combo of Flex 3401 + M100 + black TB wool. Even that was taking a few times to get some panels as good as I wanted them to be. I usually go panel by panel, compound and polish as I make my way around the car. This time I couldn't as I was waiting for the Essence to be shipped to me. I had the whole car looking pretty damned good and even invited the customer to come check out the progress (I'd had it a week by this time). My combo had really turned the paint around!

Oh, one thing: I had texted Corey about the order of operation for using touch up paint with Essence: ie, before or after. He suggested before, so I went around the car filling all those spots (and many more) that you saw in the above pics a few days before my Essence had arrived.

Finally my Essence arrived. I have used M205 with a yellow B/S on hard paint before with good results, so I tested that pad with the Essence on 1/2 the hood and then the other half I used the CarPro Gloss pad. The gloss pad won for glossiness. I've read that some people find it to have a short working time, but I was not finding that. I could work it almost as long as I do with 205. I was thrilled with the results I was getting from it. The surface sure seemed smoother too! I dropped the top and polished the convertible folding cover as well as the waterfall piece that goes between the seats. Both pieces subsequently got coated too. The exhaust tips were hand polished by Reflect and subsequently double coated with CQF.

So, my impression of Essence: A+!



Next I coated the windshield, but with a Richy twist: I polished 1/2 of it with Essence and not the other half. Forte seemed to go on the same way on both sides, but the polished side was sure smoother prior to coating. I've asked the customer to let me know how one side compares to the other. Corey hadn't been asked that yet, so I took a flier on it. My belief is that the polished side will fare better, but I'll have to wait and see. It will affect how I do future Forte jobs.


The paint was then double coated with CQF and baked with my IR light.

The convertible top was sealed with Duragloss 341 which also made the top look more black and dark too. It's a great product!!


Here we go!






































Outside shots next...