0MikePhillips

Video: A Show Car Wax for a Show Car Finish at Show Car Garage

3M's but not 3M
Mike the owner and Mike his buddy joined me, (Mike Phillips), here at Autogeek's Show Car Garage to put a Show Car Finish on a 1954 Corvette


This Corvette was restored as part of a car collection and painted approximately 20 years ago using a basecoat/clearcoat paint system. Although from 5 feet away it looked great, we felt the paint and could feel Above Surface Bonded Contaminants of some type all over the paint, even the sides using Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay.





These are the contaminant after claying just the passenger side door, a vertical panel that is often times skipped by most people. Although contaminants primarily build up on horizontal surfaces, you can still have Above Surface Bonded Contaminants on vertical panels. Because we wanted to maximize the gloss we clayed all the paint panels.



There were some very light swirls in the paint but Mike aka Merlin will be doing a complete swirl removal process on this car down the road so for today the goal is just to apply a coat of wax to protect the paint and create a show car finish.

In most cases, claying will remove a majority of anything off the top surface of the paint, so after claying you really need to apply a coat of wax or a paint sealant.

What we want to do with this project is show that with just two simple steps, claying and waxing with a true show car wax, you can bring out the full richness of color and maximize the glossy look everyone loves...




Souveran Paste Wax can be applied by hand or machine, I personally prefer to apply all my waxes and paint sealants by hand plus the owner Mike has never used a DA Polisher before, only rotary buffers, so I wanted to introduce him to one of the most popular types of machine polishers in the industry.


Using a microfiber glove to hold the wax, you can pop the wax out of the jar and then simply swipe the wax a few times across the face of the foam finishing pad and you're ready to machine wax. Sometimes it helps to lightly heat the outside of the plastic jar with a Hair Blow Dryer as this will loosen the grip crated by surface tension the wax has with the jar.






Here's Mike the owner using a DA Polisher to machine wax his Corvette...







Next up I get Mike aka Merlin on our forum set-up to machine wax...






Then I put some wax on the face of my pad and we thoroughly waxed this Corvette in less than 10 to 15 minutes...




Notice the cord over the shoulder to prevent it from marring the finish...










Pinnacle Souveran Wax does not need to dry before removing, so after we machine applied the wax we then slipped on Microfiber Gloves and removed the wax using Cobra Indigo Microfiber Towels.





The microfiber gloves make it real easy to grip the microfiber towels plus you never leave any finger print smudges should your hand touch the paint in the process. For show car quality work, you can't go wrong taking the extra step to wear microfiber gloves.

0MikePhillips

Continued...

As the wax comes off the gloss appears...



Beauty shots...










Here's a shot of the dash and cockpit...




Comfortable seating for two...





The 1954 Corvette had little fins leading back to the tail lights...




Chrome Headlight protectors protect the headlights and give classic Corvettes a unique style





The shape and design of the front grill is a work of art...





These are the original 1954 Corvette Hubcaps... do an eBay search and see what just a full set of these goes for now days...






Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay and Clay Lubricant safely remove above surface bonded contaminants and restores a clean smooth surface which creates gloss and provides a perfect surface for applying the Pinnacle Souverän Carnauba Wax.



All three types of DA Polishers work great as do any of the soft finishing pads available at We Are Car Care -- Car Wax, Car Polish, Auto Detailing Supplies, Car Buffers & Car Accessories Store




Pinnacle Souveran, a true show car wax also called a finishing wax...



Parting shots...

0MikePhillips

Continued...

Here's a quick video I took using my iPhone 3GS before Mike and Mike left with Mike's 2-door Chevy...





Products Showcased


Pinnacle Natural Brilliance
Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax
Pinnacle Clay Lube
Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay


Microfiber Products
Cobra Indigo Microfiber Towel
Cobra Microfiber Gloves


Tools
Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher
Griot's Garage Dual Action Polisher
Meguiar's G110v2 Dual Action Polisher


Pads
6.5" CCS Blue Finessing Foam Pad
6.5" CCS Red Ultrasoft Wax/Sealant Foam Pad
5.5" Lake Country 5 1/2 Inch Gray Flat Pad

Luster

Beautiful car! Nice work Mike. Don't you just love working on the older Vettes? (Any Vettes for that matter!) That's about all I do anymore. No more mini-vans in this driveway!

The '54 looks fantastic!

0MikePhillips

I love working on classics... the panels are usually large and smooth, like you see on this 1954 Corvette.

Also, not pebble textured plastic trim or ugly rubber trim, most the classics have chrome or stainless steel trim...

Classics are a pleasure to work on... most new cars just require more work and carefulness...

Oh yeah... this is a "driver", he drove the car about 40 miles to bring it to the studio...

cmonkey713

Cool! This is the same stuff that I use on my Black C-6 with perfect results every time.

0meghan@autogeek.net

That Souveran makes that paint look like water, very nice job Mike, I just love the classics!

Sawbone

... edited

FYRARMS

Huh?

Grzldvt1

Ok, I will be the rebel.... Really a "Carnuba wax" I see nice results, but I produced many best in shows at Monterey week with Zaino, Kamiakze Miyabe and Feynlabs Heal Lite. All have a pantload of durability and shine where as my experience with even high end carnuba's they dissipate over time and become dull.
Why is this Carnuba superior to those products? Not being disrespectful, but curious.

ronkh57

Thread was done in 2010

capevettes

Yes, things have changed a bit over the last 8 years.

ronkh57

Are you north or south now?

zunkil

8 years old post! However Like this waxing. I use waterless car wash regularly to clean my car https://theeffectiveguide.com/best-waterless-car-wash/ and still looks like a new waxing car(3 year old).

capevettes

Still up North. Heading South early December. Looking forward to sun and warmth!

ronkh57

Give a shout when down. We can meet for lunch.

capevettes

Sounds good. Will do.

Grzldvt1

Apparently I had too much of CA's finest grape beverage...LOL Never mind

psychodiagnostik

I don't really watch any car TV shows, I find the youtube/podcast automotive content to be far superior than anything on TV. There used to be some decent ones (Wheeler Dealers was OK), the shows came a long way since the extended commercial format of "Hot Rod TV" where they portrayed working on cars like playing with Legos. It's just that there are so many great project car youtube channels now, I haven't bothered to watch car stuff on TV.