2008 Corvette owner looses sleep untill.....

[gmblack3]

5300 miles on this 08 vette in Crystal Red metallic.

Unfortunately client was referred to a true hack among hacks. After he threw the hack out, he calls me. He was on the verge of breaking down while his recently purchased 2008 vette left him with a few sleepless nights. He had hired this (unbeknown to him) hack to remove some water spot etching from the hood.

The next evening he dropped the vette off. I told him I would do my best to remove all of the DA sanding marks and restore this vette to its former glory.

I took a few pics:







Bret arrived the next day at 9am. I had already QEW'd, clayed the car and did a few straight IPA wipedowns.

Next step was to see how much clear coat was left. I was having problems getting constant reading using my PosiTector 200 Advanced Gauge. I was getting plenty of readings of 1.5 mill at many places on the car. I made a call to DeFelsko. The tech was very helpful. We reset everything and made some changes to the gate setting (+1.5) to solve the surface reflection issue.

I determined that there was plenty of clear left. There was a max .10 mill of clear on the hood less then the untouched rear deck.

More hackage pics:













We taped off a test area in the center of the hood.

Using M105 w/ a Surbuf pad and my XPPC at speed 6, I was suprised to find that 90-95% of the defects where removed on the first go with this unbeatable combo. A few deeper pigtails remained that where removed with the next application of the same.







Bret worked on the right side while I did the left.

Here is Bret getting his surbuf/M105 on:


After the M105 step the front was polished with:

M205/black LC classic flat/XPPC6

The doors and rear of the car where polished with:

M105/orange LC classic flat/XPPC6
M205/black LC classic flat/XPPC6

These pics where taken prior to the after polishing wash.















We where done for the day and Bret headed home. I would finish the next day myself. Thanks for your help Bret!

The next day was forcast for light rain early and clouds the rest of the day.

I foam down the vette with my lance using 3oz of Z7 in my 32oz water filled bottle.



I then pressure washed the foam off, cleaned the wheels, wells and tires.

I refoamed and washed using the 2BM and a sheepskin mitt.

Rinsed for the last time and dried the car with compressed air followed by a big blue WW drying towel.

I applied 2x of ZFX'd Z5pro followed by Z8 to the paint and side/rear glass.

Tires got Z-16.

Windscreen got Aquapel.

Final pics on a cloudy day.

[Reflect]

You're too late, we've seen this already! Awesome work. Tell me, how do you like the surbuf pads you've been using? We're all interested.

[richy]

I went on their website and there are several different types of pads. Which ones do you recommend and for what stage? Amazing, amazing work with the PC...boy, you coulda won some bets with the before shots in combination with a PC! Instead, you gained a life-long customer. Please do share about the pads (and thanks for posting it here too!).

[gmblack3]

Thank you very much guys for your kind words.

I posted a bunch of info in the other thread.

Feel free to ask away in that thread and I will try my best to answer all of your questions.

Of course Kevin Brown is the one who invented these methods. So please thank him as well.

[Duratys]

Impressive work with a PC. Nice to see you posting again

[Domman56]

Awesome results man!!! and I'm actuallypersonally a lover of cloudy daypics, they show the deepness of the paint

[kustomizingkid]

Amazing work!

[PorscheGuy997]

Excellent job on that Vette, Bryan! I'm not really sure why the hack decided to sand it, but it sure was a mess.

I went on their website and there are several different types of pads. Which ones do you recommend and for what stage? Amazing, amazing work with the PC...boy, you coulda won some bets with the before shots in combination with a PC! Instead, you gained a life-long customer. Please do share about the pads (and thanks for posting it here too!).

The Surbuf pads are quite interesting. Basically, you have a foam disk that has these "Micro Fingers" attached to it. The "fingers" are short in length, but they take a bit of strength to bend - nothing like wool.

The pads have a much greater amount of surface area than a foam pad. When combined with M105 or another non-diminishing abrasive product, you can achieve some serious correction. Also, the pads are very light and rotate easily.

As far as pad size goes, the 7" is the way to go. I have the 5.5" pads and placed an order for the 7" pads last night. The 5.5" pads are too light and rotate very fast. I actually use almost no pressure and speed five. With too much pressure, you can force the "fingers" to curl up into the pad and reduce the cut.

There is no definitive way of using the Surbuf pads. My technique is different from Kevin's and Bryan's, but I still get the same results. The pads are not easy to use, but they are very effective.

[Reflect]

I wonder how they'd work on a rotary.

[blackjz]

i am wondering the same thing since i dont have pc...