Spyder Build Thread

[mjannusch]

I don't have a true rotary polisher, but do have a DA Porter Cable polisher that seems to work pretty well. I'll try with a flashlight and see what I can find...

[stealthee]

I got a PC DA as well. We were trying to buff and polish my cousin's wife's TSI and the DA's just weren't doing the job. He dug out an old rotary and went and got a wool pad and the difference was AMAZEBALLS. He also burnt through in a few areas...

[Jeff V.]

Tell us more about the ceramic coating. I keep seeing it on the Corvette forum, and Vira was asking if it's something she should do to her VR4 after she gets the paint fixed.

[aaronatstate]

[quote=""Jeff V.""]Tell us more about the ceramic coating. I keep seeing it on the Corvette forum, and Vira was asking if it's something she should do to her VR4 after she gets the paint fixed.[/quote]

I'm going to get it done to the Stealth once I get the rear bumper repainted (and that spoiler). A buddy of mine had it done to his black BMW Z4, and he said all he has to do to wash it is basically spray it with water, and dry it a blower. No water spots, nothing. Looked really good when I saw it too.

[DCIV]

I’m in for the same info Jeff is.


Coop

[mjannusch]

[quote=""stealthee""]I got a PC DA as well. We were trying to buff and polish my cousin's wife's TSI and the DA's just weren't doing the job. He dug out an old rotary and went and got a wool pad and the difference was AMAZEBALLS. He also burnt through in a few areas...[/quote]
I'd rather have some scratches than burn through the paint. Fixing a mistake on a tricoat pearl isn't something I want to have to deal with. I'll maybe try the a more aggressive pad on the DA and see how that works. I was using a "medium" pad. None of these scratches look very deep, at least the ones I've seen, so hopefully just a little bit more pad with the same polish will take them out. There was one nasty scratch on the side of the tonneau cover that I concentrated on a bit more than the rest of the car, and it did take that scratch out no problem.

[quote=""Jeff V.""]Tell us more about the ceramic coating. I keep seeing it on the Corvette forum, and Vira was asking if it's something she should do to her VR4 after she gets the paint fixed.[/quote]

[quote=""aaronatstate""]I'm going to get it done to the Stealth once I get the rear bumper repainted (and that spoiler). A buddy of mine had it done to his black BMW Z4, and he said all he has to do to wash it is basically spray it with water, and dry it a blower. No water spots, nothing. Looked really good when I saw it too.[/quote]

[quote=""DCIV""]I’m in for the same info Jeff is. [/quote]

Ceramic coating... Where to start. So originally I got introduced to this stuff by Jesse Rink. He had OptiCoat ceramic professionally done on his maroon Stealth and it looked incredible. It looks "wet" all the time, and all you really need to wash it is a hose and something to dry it with. Nothing sticks to it, water just rolls right off. It has antistatic properties, so it doesn't even get very dusty.

That was maybe 3 years ago, and in that time they've come out with ceramic coatings that you can apply without problems yourself. The early stuff, and "professional" stuff is somewhat picky about how it is applied and can cause issues if done improperly. The pro stuff is pretty much "permanent" once applied.

The newer stuff isn't permanent, but lasts around 2 years, and can be applied with an applicator sponge and the excess wiped off. You need to have the paint underneath as close to perfect as you can get it, and any wax or silicone-type polishes need to be stripped off before application. Once is is on there, only serious buffing will cut through it to fix flaws below.

I decided to do it on the Corvette last year, and did it myself. Thankfully the paint from a "defect" perspective was really good. It has the typical modern-day orange peel like most new cars do, but other than that no swirls or scratches. I used Wolfgang Uber Ceramic, with a kit that Autogeek has.

https://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-paint ... g-kit.html

A little more info:
https://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-uber- ... ating.html

Beading:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv3VB5Iq_kM

Basically since I put it on, the Corvette only gets run through the touchless carwash and it easily takes off any dust that manages to settle on it. I don't normally drive it at night just because of my schedule, so it doesn't get bugs on it and such - or the small ones that do get on the front are taken off easily with the touchless carwash. I'm sure I could hose it down at home and blow off any remaining water, but the carwash works well enough.

[Jeff V.]

So the people who put Xpel film over top of this coating are just wasting their money

Vira's car is in very rough shape. We're going to have to have the paint corrected by a professional before we give any consideration to coatings.

I might have to see about getting a DIY kit so I can do the wheels on my car. Anything to help with the brake dust buildup. I don't want to go to low dust pads because I really like how the stock pads feel.

[mjannusch]

The coating does help with brake dust, but not eliminate it. I'd say it accumulates at about half the rate, and is easier to get off than without the coating. I have a wheel brush and it just takes water and gentle brushing and it all comes off easily.

Xpel is going to provide a bit better physical protection against rock chips and things like that, but the ceramic will keep it clean better.

I'd think you would want to put Xpel underneath, and then ceramic over the Xpel - but I have no experience with that at all...

[aaronatstate]

[quote=""Jeff V.""]Vira's car is in very rough shape. We're going to have to have the paint corrected by a professional before we give any consideration to coatings.[/quote]

My buddy who had his Z4 done, had the same place correct the paint and then put the ceramic coat on. Cost about $1200. Not sure what the breakdown of services was though.

[Chris GTO TT]

We had Stek Dynosheild installed on our Outback hood, front bumper and fenders. It looks amazing and offers much greater protection than a ceramic coating. It is also self healing if it gets scratched.

[Jeff V.]

I was reading a thread where the guy had this done:

Did a complete polish on car
Clay bar
Light Compound
Cermamic coat whole car, wheels, windshield, door jams, etc
Than did a complete walk through of car and a full day to cure
Xpel of about 90% of car, did not do rear, top, or back glass paint area, might do down the road but not needed

So that's why I got confused. Why apply a hydrophobic coating and then put plastic film on top of that?

[mjannusch]

Yeah, that doesn’t make sense to me... I’d do the Xpel under the ceramic so you get the benefits of both, but I’d do one or the other not both. Sounds like a waste of money to me.

[Jeff V.]

Well, the guy who paid for it apparently does't know either

That is a question I have seen on the forum and goes both ways and I can't really comment on that just started on the process of looking a few months ago but will say it was a easy decision as Rob has done hundreds of cars the same way and was in the process of doing 3 other cars while doing mine for the 5 days and saw his work 6 months ago plus many others that had there car done 1,2 3 years ago with great results still and no issuses. That made my decision easy

Translation: I paid for it because his shop looked nice.

Full thread if anyone else cares. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c7 ... r-now.html

[mjannusch]

Well, if everyone else is doing it then it must be good...... lol

I mean, from what I've seen - that's most Corvette owners.

[mjannusch]

I put it up on the hoist and went over the fuel connections at the tank again. Tightened the clamps a little more on the return hose, and tightened down the fuel pump hat nuts. I think the hat nuts were the problem - I just kind of snugged them down originally, which didn't compress the gasket enough. Pretty sure that's where the leak was from after I filled the tank. Just so much mass moving around in there, it was going to find a way out if at all possible. Never leaked just testing things in the garage.

I haven't had a chance to work on the paint anymore this week... Lots going on at work, and I'm out in Boston next week. I'll maybe try to get some done this weekend, but need to spend some family time.

Spyder tuning tomorrow if I end up free in the morning.

Had the Seadoos out last Sunday at my sister's lake house. Got the GTX up to 73 mph, which was fun.

[mjannusch]

I want to cut some holes in my radio bezel for the antenna switch and LCDBC rotary encoder, so I was looking for a spare stock one... Oh wait a minute - I have a 3D printer. So now it is printing one...

There are some 3D parts for 3/S on Thingiverse, and a radio bezel happened to be one of them. It was customized for some other uses and USB ports along the bottom that I don't need, so I just edited it to fill in what I don't need and it is printing in ABS right now. Sweetness...

[Jeff V.]

How long does it take to print that?

[mjannusch]

5 hours to print it in ABS at the finest resolution.

It isn't the smoothest, but ABS it tougher to print than PLA. This is my first ABS print, and it stuck to the heated bed and layered really well. Maybe a few little adjustments to temperature and it'd print almost perfect. The face of it is flat, since that printed directly on the bed, and I will probably wrap it with carbon fiber vinyl anyways.

[ChargerX3]

Wow, that actually looks pretty darn good. Is that plastic as pliable as the OEM unit, or more brittle?

[Jeff V.]

Wow. That came out nice.