David Shiel

I do not want to start a debate about which is the best wax. There are many great ones out there. I have tried most. I like this one the best.
Eveyrone has their favorite. But, it is the sequencing, "tools" and the method I wanted to share more than favoring any product.
Just passing this along. I never wash my Vette! And no swirls or scratches. I just picked up my 8th Vette, a pristine, 2002, 19K mile, Speedway White convertible, and it had been garaged all of its life with no visible or feel-able contaminants. My last one, a Galaxy Silver 01 with 13K miles needed to be clayed first.

Here's how I care for it: I dust with a California duster to remove most dust and other crap. Wash one and only time if necessary. Clay if indicated. I have not had to do either.

I then apply over to a two day period two coats of Mequiar's Ultimate Liquid wax. Takes 25 minutes a coat max from start to finish. No white residue, easy on and off. Thin coat it.

I follow that with a go over with Mequiar's Ultimate Detailer in about 10 minutes time. As you do additional detailer applications, the gloss deepens. Voila! To keep it perfect, after a few drives, I dust it first and hit it with the Ultimate detailer. Hardly anything sticks to the car.

If it does get wet, I use a California Squeegee to remove water, then hit it with the Detailer.
I use the same method on my lady's 13 Mustang GT convertible which is not garage kept. The finish looks factory. It has never been washed.

I once owned and operated a high-end detail shop in Pa. Very few of the cars we did ever saw winter slush and salt. However, the best materials we had in 1980 cannot hold a candle to those currently available at auto parts stores and Wally World. The best we found after months of experimenting was a product called Astroshield and one by Collinite called Insulator wax, that was, as I stated, in 1980. Customers would rave about the gloss. What I am using now is far superior. It is not cheap, but very effective. A bottle will do at least 15 or more waxes. The detailer, at least 15 go overs, if not more.

So, I hope this helps someone. I can tell you, people often ask how I keep the deep gloss finish, so I thought I should share it with my Corvette friends.

Dave Shiel- Summerville , SC

dadaroo

So, you did buy it. Very good, I hope it remains relatively problem free. As you already know, I work for beer. I can provide the cigars.

Mr. Sam

senicalj4579

Awesome thanks for sharing. What do you think of liquid glass? I use it on my car.

jpm995

Thanks for the good info. I just bought my first vette [02 z06 with 11k miles]. Its never seen rain, and i want to keep it perfect. i have no idea how to take care of a non daily driver, and was unsure of washing. My boss has show cars and recommends Adams products but he never drives them and laughed when i asked about road dirt.

David Shiel

Yep. It is fully detailed and in the garage. It had only 2 H codes and no com codes. I cleared them before I left with it n the drive back from Raleigh and checked them when I got home. NOT A SINGLE CODE. But, if you want to come this way for an overnight stay , we will provide the beer of your choice and steaks, and you won't have to work at all.

I just cannot find a flaw on this car and am very pleased with it. With the headers, catted X pile and Borla and tune it sounds awesome and no drone. It is much quicker than the 01 and the shift points are set just right-not mushy and not to firm. I am adding a straight drop in replacement K&N air filter. I'll get some pics and send them on as time allows..

David Shiel

products available today, seem to be fine. I gave half a can of LG to my bro when he was here visiting. I have finally found the combo of products I really like. Waxes are like ladies, as we all seem prefer different varieties. It is a matter of trial and error to find the right one. I am pleased at where I have arrived. I cannot conceive of better, easier result.

David Shiel

on that new 02 Z.
Try my approach and if you can improve on it, please let us know. At least this gives you a starting point. We can always learn. I definitely have no need at all to wash mine. It strips wax and also can leave light swirls if not very careful when drying.Plus it is a lot of unnecessary work. I never even have to wash my wheels. They are chrome OEM 2011, 18 and 19" replacements for stock, and I treat them the same way.

Vetteman Jack

Thanks for the tips. Everyone likes to have a car that really shines, is protected and doesn't require hours and hours of work to get it looking great.

95wht6spd

I think the main take-away here is to keep the car waxed. I recently purchased an 08 Passat, that I don't think was ever waxed, or even washed. It had every kind of surface issue, scratches, acid etched from bird ****, entire top surface oxidized to a medium gray (black car). After 40 hours of wet sanding, buffing, polishing, wax, etc. it looks many times better, but not near as good as my 95 Vette that I have always washed and waxed regularly.

95wht6spd

I am probably going to try the Chadwick's products, once I deplete what I have.

What do you guys recommend using for water spots on a black car? I don't think there is much clearcoat left on the top.

Pounder

On my daily driver Chadwicks takes off the water spots,I just leave it sit for minute or two !!!!!!! I really really like the stuff !!!!!!!

neutron82

well I do like to drive my car, I can't just leave it in the garage and keep it detailed just so it looks good all the time... no matter how nice the weather is it will still get dirty from driving... I have tried zaino and didn't like it, it was just too difficult to remove the residue and took way too long to do the whole process... then I tried chadwicks and that stuff does work pretty decent but it just isn't the same as actually washing the car... it's good as a detail spray... recently I tried adam's buttery wax after washing with meguiars and that is the best stuff I have used to date... I will probably continue using that and might buy some more of their product line... I do like a clean car but I am by no means a waxer

RueBurgundy

I am a huge proponent of Meguiars Ultimate but do realize the stuff is packed, PACKED, with oil and fillers so what looks like a perfect finish might be anything but underneath. Personally I think fillers are a good thing, especially for older cars like ours, but to each their own. I'm gonna have to give ultimate detailer a try sometime.

Rico7142

SaxyVette

real corvettes get dirty..show queens..ecchhh..a bird in a gilded cage.

imlowr2

I've been detailing my show cars and streetrods for decades. A couple issues here to be noted. When you use a California duster, you need be careful of how much dust and dirt is on the car. If you wipe the car down, your grinding sand and dust into the finish of the car. If you just detailed it, or waxed it, the duster is fine. If you don't want to wash the car, get a microfiber towel and moisten it, then wipe down the car of all dust and dirt. Someone mentioned Adam's polishes prior. I personally know Adam and have met him at several car show, swap meets etc. His product is OK, but very expensive. In addition, you have 20 different varieties of applications to use and it gets confusing. His kit is about $100. You need to remember something. It's not really the wax that makes the paint look good, it's the paint job itself. If your paint is in good shape without dulling and oxidation, your wax job will look just as good using Turtle Wax for $3 a bottle. Some waxes work differently and ease of application differs. It's funny how Adam's Waxes uses cars with $10-15K paint jobs and 10 coats of clear to show how his wax works. I use Meguiar's just because they have been around for so long and it's a pretty decent product for the price. Never use dish washing detergent to wash your car, unless you want to remove any protection on the paint. I don't have a $10K paint job, but Meguiar's works nicely without killing my wallet. I especially don't want to spend $100 on wax products.

95wht6spd

I was thinking about this the other day, when using my CA Duster. How do you clean these? I feel it will remove the coating if I wash it.

zdeckich

I guarantee you have swirl marks! You are just not using good lighting to see them. And if you use a California dusters, those only create small scratches and swirl marks.

S.C. vette

Thx for the tips... from another 02 Speedway White, SC owner.

neutron82

I agree,he does have an extensive line of products but if you take the time to look through it you can probably eliminate quite a bit of them if you focus solely on what you plan to do to your car, at least that's how it worked out for me... I have been using meguiars car wash for quite some time and like it so I didn't feel the need to switch that, but as far as the adam's stuff I just bought the detail spray and buttery wax to try them out and I like them... overall my paint is in pretty good shape but it does have some swirl marks if you get it in bright light so I might try his 2 step hand polish then finish it off with his wax... all of the name brand stuff is expensive but with the adam's I seem to use far less of it than the others I have tried... zaino I will never buy again, just not a fan at all and I went through a bottle of chadwicks pretty quick... maybe because you can use it on everything it went faster but I am not sold at all on the waterless car wash... if you actually drive the car there is just no replacement for a real car wash, now if you leave it in the garage all the time and just like to keep it looking good then yes, something like chadwicks would be much easier