1990 Corvette - Extreme Makeover Pictures & Process

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

1990 Corvette - Extreme Makeover Pictures & Process


Here's the before pictures....

In the below shots you can see the tattle-tell signs of holograms which means this car has been buffed out by someone that doesn't know how to use a rotary buffer.

:nomore:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Here's the after pictures....

:xyxthumbs:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

1990 Corvette - Extreme Makeover

Here's what we used,

• Compounding - Wool Pads - Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher

• First Step Polishing - Foam Pads - Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher

• Second Step Polishing or Jewelling - Foam Pads - Flex PE Rotary Polisher

• Machine Wax Application - Foam Pads - Rupes Mini 12

Blackfire SRC Compound & Blackfire SRC Finishing Polish

Lake Country Wool Cutting Pads
Lake Country 6.5" White Foam Polishing pads
Lake Country 5.5" Gold Jewelling pads
Flex PE 14 Rotary Polishers

:dblthumb2:

 

[boomer1649]

Re: Sign-up: 1990 Corvette SUPER TRASHED! - Thursday, February 20th

Mike, no pro yet but enjoyed working with rotary buffer and wool pad again. Also, great to see Louie there and all the new guys. One of the most interesting things to me is how much interest and activity these projects create within the AutoGeek community. Do one car and educate thousands! See you next time. Den

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

And here's how we took this diamond in the rough and turned it into a glistening gemstone....


Tape-off and cover-up

First everyone pitched in to tape-off Jay's Corvette...

Microfiber cover-up towels to protect the interior from accidental splatter from a 3- step rotary buffer process.

Remove Above Surface Bonded Contaminants
Next we mechanically decontaminated the paint using the Nanoskin Autoscrub Pads with dual action polishers and Detailer's Universal Clay Lube.

Note: Camera setting was off for the first few shots but you get the idea...

How to use a rotary buffer with a wool pad and a compound
Some of the guys had never used a rotary buffer before and some of the guy wanted to learn the 10 @ 10 Technique when using a rotary buffer to pick up your bead of product on the fly.

Here I'm pointing out to avoid buffing on top of raised body lines...

Time to get busy....

Some areas need to be dealt with by hand like the sunk areas of the headlight buckets...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Continued...


First Foam Pad Polishing Step
After compounding using the BLACKFIRE SRC Compound we moved on to the first polishing step. For this we switched over to 6.5" Lake Country white foam polishing pads and the BLACKFIRE SRC Finishing Polish.

The goal here is to remove any holograms left by the fibers that make up a wool cutting pad plus maximize the gloss and clarity of the clearcoat.

You can see in this first picture the paint is starting to come alive!

Jeweling
Next we contiued to use the same polish but switched over to 5.5" Gold Jewelling Pads

Tips on how to jewel paint using a rotary buffer
Before starting, we went over a few tips and techniques for how to jewel paint when using a rotary buffer.

Less than the weight of the machine
This is showing that we're actually using a little bit less than the weight of the machine for the last few passes for this section. The idea being that polishing paint is an art form, not a grinding process. As the pad becomes wet with product it will easily compress with just the weight of the tool. For your last few passes you want light pressure via the pad contact, now heavy pressure and to get light contact you need to watch and prevent pad compression.

Next up... machine waxing....

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Machine applying a paste wax

I'm a machine guy and any step I can do by machine that's the way it's done.

Here were going to use a 3.5" soft foam waxing pad on the Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher to machine apply BLACKFIRE BlackICE.....

Wipe-off!

If you've never worn microfiber gloves while wiping of a show car wax off a highly polished finish you don't know what you're missing. The gloves make it easier for your to hold the towel and keep you from putting fingerprints on the car.

More to come!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Adding graphics....
Jay missed his calling, he's really very good at this and there's at least two other write-ups on this forum where he shows you how to do this type of work.

And that's how you do it!


On Autogeek.net

All products used in this project can be found at Autogeek.net or call,

1-800-869-3011

And reference this thread for help getting exactly what you need for your car project.

 

[Radarryan]

Wow! Wow, wow, wow, wow wow! That's all I can say! That must have been a challenging process but you rallied the troops and have a fantastic result on your hands, Mike! :dblthumb2:

Thank you for taking the time to make the write up, resize the pictures, post it, and answer all our questions! Your effort is inspiring! BlackFire makes some quality products and they were nicely showcased that evening.

We (I ) have been waiting a while for this project, ever since he came by for the wash, and it did not disappoint! rops:

 

[alfortuna]

This was my first Thursday evening session with Mike Phillips at the Show Car Garage. Last June, I particpated in a detailing mini-clinic that Mike presented for the Everglades Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America. His program was excellent so my expectations were high for last night's project. Mike never disappoints and his team of experts helped to transform Jay's 1990 Corvette with a beautiful show car finish. My special thanks to Mike and the great guys who shared their expertise with this newbie. This was a fun evening with new friends and lots of satisfaction. I can't wait for the next project car. Hope to see everybody and their rides at Detail Fest next month. Please drive smart! Al Fortuna

 

[FrankS]

Corvette came out real shiny.

Enjoyed using the rotary with the different pads and products.

As always, it was fun working with the rest of the crew.

Thanks again Mike for the opportunity and tips and thanks Jay for the pizza. :dblthumb2:

 

[57BORNTORUN]

Corvette came out real shiny.

Enjoyed using the rotary with the different pads and products.

As always, it was fun working with the rest of the crew.

Thanks again Mike for the opportunity and tips and thanks Jay for the pizza. :dblthumb2:

You have to say Frank and Den we are getting much more comfortable with rotary's and wool pads.It`s been awhile since Jewling with the foam pads as well.Since Robert and Chris were not there Den filled the shoes of resident comedian but keep your day job Den.Tim.

 

[FrankS]

You have to say Frank and Den we are getting much more comfortable with rotary's and wool pads.It`s been awhile since Jewling with the foam pads as well.Since Robert and Chris were not there Den filled the shoes of resident comedian but keep your day job Den.Tim.

Tim, it's true that we're getting more comfortable with the rotary, especially with the Flex since it's lightweight and smooth. You got to really watch your technique though. Wouldn't mind getting more practice. :xyxthumbs:

 

[57BORNTORUN]

Tim, it's true that we're getting more comfortable with the rotary, especially with the Flex since it's lightweight and smooth. You got to really watch your technique though. Wouldn't mind getting more practice. :xyxthumbs:

Focus on your technique and look away with mine LOL.It`s all good as we worked hard and got it done and thats what counts.Some of us laying on the ground doing the lower panels at our age certainly is not a pretty site perhaps.But "Old Guys Rule" and then we go back to bed.:buffing:

 

[cmanningjr]

I never thought white paint could look so good!! Y'all take everything to the next level..

Looks great!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mrclean]

Corvette came out real shiny.

Enjoyed using the rotary with the different pads and products.

As always, it was fun working with the rest of the crew.

Thanks again Mike for the opportunity and tips and thanks Jay for the pizza. :dblthumb2:

me too frank, i really like the fact that mike went all rotary on this project. gave us all a good lesson on rotary 101.

Focus on your technique and look away with mine LOL.It`s all good as we worked hard and got it done and thats what counts.Some of us laying on the ground doing the lower panels at our age certainly is not a pretty site perhaps.But "Old Guys Rule" and then we go back to bed.:buffing:

you're not lying about guys getting down and dirty, check out this picture that i shot of the fellas getting real comfortable with the rotary :buffing:

frank is definitely getting the hang of the rotary.

thanks mike for all the tips, tricks and techniques that you're always sharing with us. it was a pleasure working with the crew, great work everyone!
also thank you to jay for the pizza and soda :dblthumb2:

 

[57BORNTORUN]

me too frank, i really like the fact that mike went all rotary on this project. gave us all a good lesson on rotary 101.





you're not lying about guys getting down and dirty, check out this picture that i shot of the fellas getting real comfortable with the rotary :buffing:

frank is definitely getting the hang of the rotary.

thanks mike for all the tips, tricks and techniques that you're always sharing with us. it was a pleasure working with the crew, great work everyone!
also thank you to jay for the pizza and soda :dblthumb2:

Either Frank is either really focused or really uncomfortable(Or perhaps both)Can`t wait for the next one and that is easy for me to say being less than ten minutes away and sometimes having Louie as my Chauffeur.Good times, Great people.Thanks Mike and Jay.:buffing:

 

[mrclean]

Either Frank is either really focused or really uncomfortable(Or perhaps both)Can`t wait for the next one and that is easy for me to say being less than ten minutes away and sometimes having Louie as my Chauffeur.Good times, Great people.Thanks Mike and Jay.:buffing:

frank told me that for the next car he's going behind the back and with his eyes close on the rotary. lol.
youre really luck tim, few minutes away from the greatest garage in florida and to top it off louie brings you in a porsche!Im the MAN

 

[57BORNTORUN]

frank told me that for the next car he's going behind the back and with his eyes close on the rotary. lol.
youre really luck tim, few minutes away from the greatest garage in florida and to top it off louie brings you in a porsche!Im the MAN

I much prefer his new Toyota pick-em-up truck. Easier for this old guy to get-an-out of.Speaking of the Greatest garage in FL. since the passing of Smokey Yunic and only having that Mopar guy in N.Florida looks like Autogeek wins.

 

[The Guz]

Beautiful work.