Z06Durham

Looks great OP! Love the AW on the C5's! Clays & cleaners will go a long way to giving you a great base for waxes, sealants, glazes...etc.

My car has a problem with eating wax & sealant; either that or it just disintegrates at the speeds I want to drive

FLK-JR

Good job...that clay bar job is my best friend. My car stick out as far as shine amongst my vette club buddies because they simply don't want to do the 3 hour or so labor of claying..polishing and waxing but the difference is worth it!!!!

Corvette_Ed

I wish it had only been three hours. This was the first time this had been done to this paint job (OO had car repainted some time shortly before trading it in) and it took me two days to do a thorough job of it and make sure there were no rough surfaces left anywhere on it. Then the third day was spent hand rubbing the cleaner/wax to remove the small surface scratches, followed by a good coat of carnauba, also applied by hand. Then I got to start on cleaning the inside.

Z06Durham- Thanks! With the enjoyable driving I've been doing lately to push my car and make sure I've fixed everything that needs it I think I've about worn off both coats of wax. I'll be spending another weekend with the clay bar and carnauba very soon. It's been about a month so the carnauba is about due for a refresh anyway.

Z06Durham

I hear you man. It seems like every time I go out to my car I can see it's missing some luster and depth...sure enough if I do a test spot, I end up doing the whole panel, lol. Not to mention the paint scratches if you look at it wrong, or fail to bring the car flowers or a diamond ring before driving it

Have you tried any sealants? I've all but about given up on carnauba waxes. They're great for show car finishes, but real-world lasting durability, not so much. The best system I've found that works on both the black Z & my white Accord daily driver is wash (2 bucket method) -> clay -> (cleaner wax - optional) -> Klasse All-In-One (has cleaners) -> Klasse High Gloss sealant. It's a d@mn near glossy bulletproof finish, and if you want, you can top it with a glaze or carnauba to really give it some extra depth and warmth!

Vetteriffic

It looks like new....ok you convinced me to give it a shot...thanks

Corvette_Ed

Without a decent buffer I've stuck mainly to a base coat of the Meguiar's cleaner/wax followed by a second coat of carnauba. I don't mind the monthly requirement for renewing the carnauba one bit; if I wasn't waxing the car at least once a month I'd feel like I was neglecting my paint job. Besides, because of my accident in 2005, and the 28 surgeries that followed, this first clay detail I did was the first time in seven years that I've been physically capable of waxing my own car. It was quite a milestone in my recovery, and each time I wash & wax I'm able to judge the effectiveness of my physical therapy and how much progress I'm making.

Z06Durham

Good for you! Hoping each additional waxing session yields additional progress in your recovery

FLK-JR

Cool..glad to hear you are recovering well!

needdlex

I've heard of a clay bar, but know absolutely nothing about it. I also have an AW C5, can you PM me the products you used and technique?

headhawg

The OP got me motivated to attempt my first clay bar job. The previous owner told me he had done it once and the car looked pretty good. I wasn't sure how much better it could look as it is AW but I thought that I would give it a go. By hand I did a wash --> clay --> Blackfire polish --> one coat Rejex. I thought that it looked great -- bettter than it did -- but I knew for sure when my wife told me to do the same thing to her car.

Here's a couple of pics.

Corvette_Ed

Very nice! I just love the way the AW glows in full sunlight after a clay bar cleaning.

Corvette_Ed

Bumping this so Pump03's wife can see what my 2000 AW looks like when it's clean. It's filthy dirty right now and the problems I've had with it since yesterday delayed this morning's planned wash & wax so it wasn't looking its best.

brian90505

Nice job! Looks great!