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Clear Coat Restoration Process
2004 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe
By Jason Gauer
Sole Detailer/Owner - Jason's Auto Spa |
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Following the same procedure illustrated in
The Proper Hand
Wash, the vehicle is washed using our Gilmour Foamaster Foam
Gun and Genuine Sheepskin Wash Mitt. A brand new wash mitt for
every vehicle is just one of the many precautions I take when it
comes to caring for your daily driver or Sunday cruiser. |
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The vehicle is primarily dried using the California Jelly Blade
and then followed with an electric leaf blower to ensure water
does not stay collected in various crevices such as lug nut
spaces, side mirrors, and in this case the rear tail light
housings of this Corvette as it often will collect and leak
later. After the wash, the vehicle receives the clay bar
treatment to remove stuck-on surface contamination. |
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Using my state of the art DeFelsko PosiTector 200 Ultrasonic
Thickness Gauge, one hundred or more readings for clear coat
depth are taken from the exterior panels and variances are noted
for reference. This is not something your average detailer, or
even most professional detailers do, because the gauges are very
expensive. That is one of the many things that sets Jason's Auto
Spa apart from the competition. It is not about having the funds
to purchase these tools, but rather raising the bar in detailing
excellence and making it clear that the work I perform is very
important to me.
Here you can see, using the gauge's ultrasound technology, that
the first layer is 1.3 mils thick at this area.
To put that into perspective, the average human strand of hair
is 3.0 mils thick. So the clear coat on
this Corvette is less than half the thickness of one hair on
your head! (Which is entirely normal) Most detailers
assume the clear coat is equally thick in every area, It is not,
and that is why problems and accidents happen when they don't
have the right tools for the job. Not to mention they need to
measure before and after clear coat restoration as there is a
threshold to stay within. |
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The thickness gauge is then connected to my laptop so we can
upload the readings to the gauge's software. I can clearly see
the readings on the thickness gauge itself, but I prefer to keep
these readings on file and note any credible variances that may
show a sign of repainting or other irregularities in the clear
coat or base coat thicknesses. I will take notice of the low
readings and adjust my clear coat restoration methods
accordingly as I approach that low reading area or panel. The
graph pictured above is from a different vehicle I did
restoration work on and is only used here as an example. |
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The area to be worked on first is taped off paying special
attention to edges and other panels. As you can see, I have
divided the hood in half for comparison and inspection to
evaluate the clear coat restoration methods on this particular
application - Specifically the hard PPG CeramiClear that
Corvettes have as clear coats. |
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During the inspection under various lighting conditions, this
being a 1500 watt halogen source, you can see all of the swirl
mark scratches that cover the vehicle. The high powered lighting
source is another way to imitate sunlight on demand for
evaluation purposes. |
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Swirl mark scratches on the front fascia. |
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This light is called the 3M Sun Gun and is widely used by
professional body shops to inspect their work and look for color
variances. The light is extremely bright and the housing of the
3M Sun Gun is equipped with a high speed fan to blow to the heat
away from the light bulb. It can only stay on a maximum of 50
seconds at a time before automatically shutting itself off due
to heat. Through this lighting source, you can see the highly
populated lighter & moderate swirl mark scratches. It is
important to determine the condition of each panel before
continuing on to decide what approach to take in the restoration
methods for this area.
There are well over one-hundred different ways I can approach
any panel for clear coat restoration. |
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This view better shows how bad the swirl marks are under intense
light. The direct sun light will show this just as well. |
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Here you can see the upper left side of the hood looks better and
the lower right side is un-touched. This step is what aids me in
selecting one of the one-hundred plus directions of restoration
I could go forward with. I start with the least abrasive and
work my way up as deemed necessary and safe, keeping in mind a
good starting point due to my experience with CeramiClear clear
coats.
The different methods of restoration vary upon polishes,
compounds, foam pad type, foam pad size, rotary polisher or
random orbit buffer, speed settings on the polisher or buffer,
hand movement direction, hand movement speed, and so forth. Any
variation of these factors will give me different results and it
is important to know and understand all of them. |
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Done the right way in the right hands, black can be the most
amazing color on a vehicle that you have ever seen. All of the
swirl mark scratches have been eliminated, safely. |
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The vehicle is washed to remove any polish dusting that has
collected in the cracks and body lines. Notice the direct
sunlight across the hood - No swirls anywhere. A brand new
genuine sheepskin wash mitt is used for this once again. Prior
to the wash, the vehicle is wiped down with an isopropyl
alcohol/water mixture to ensure all of the polishing chemicals
are entirely removed. This is important as our next step is our
LSP (Last Step Product) in this case it was Zaino Z-2 Pro.
I opted for Z-2 Pro over Z-5 due to Z-5 containing synthetic
fillers, meant to fill in and hide swirl marks and surface
imperfections. I only use Z-5 upon request due to this reason.
Many detailers will use a filler type product that lasts a week
just so you're happy when you pick the car up (Caveat
Emptor) Yet another reason that sets Jason's Auto Spa apart
from the competition. |
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Grand Finale
The pictures do not do it
justice. The owner was very happy and the Corvette looked even
more stunning in person. |
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