Near Finished Wetsanding and Buffing RT, Wax Question

[Vipuronr]

Okay, some of you may have seen my progress pictures and comments from wetsanding my '98 red RT/10. I am pleased with how it is coming out and wondered about wax. I am aware, but haven't used Turbowax or Pinnacle - both mentioned on this site. But, from my past Vette show days, I have always had good results from Meguiar's products.

Questions are:

For side sills, due to the extremely hot temps after driving, doesn't the wax melt off and, if that's the case, are there any waxes that resist this?

What wax would be best after wetsanding and buffing the paint. I know there are different ingredients and I am not sure if there are waxes that are better for this particular process.
Having been a loyal Meguiar's product user for years, can anyone explain why I should pay three times the price for one of the above mentioned waxes...no insult meant to either product.

Here are a few pictures, so you can see results.

Driver's side:

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Driver's side hood:

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Thanks very much.

Peter

 

[silverz06vette]

What was your wetsanding process?

What did you use to polish it out?

 

[agentf1]

I prefer Zaino which is a synthetic especially on my Black Z06 (dark color) and Viper due to it being a synthetic and holding up to the heat well. When I use wax on either one of these cars I usually get a lot of sweating or hazing once the car sits in the sun or gets hot and I have tried some of the better waxes on the market such as Zymol Vintage and Swissvax Concorso both odf which are incredible waxes as far as carnuabas go. I also like Supernatural which is a carnuaba product. Pinnacle is also a nice wax for red and I did not experience as much sweating with PS but it has horrible durability, like 2 weeks.

 

[Vipuronr]

I did post on the RT/GTS section, but maybe I should have posted in here.

This is what I did, pretty much doing one to two body parts at a time:

- Wetsand with 2000 grit wet sand paper - make sure you keep wiping and looking to see if you have evenly sanded the gloss off the paint. (you also need that "feel" so you can feel the slight unevenness of the paint as you sand).
- Once completely sanded (no gloss anywhere), you then do first buffing with (I have a DeWalt) variable speed buffer...it is heavy, so you have to know what you are doing. I used a liquid polishing compound. Put on small area and do two passes -one at slower speed (1400-1800 rpms)going over the area with some pressure at first, then lighten the pressure to begin "polishing" that same area. Wipe clean and check for how glossy the paint is. Then second buff pass increase speed to 2200 to 2400 and buff with light pressure...really trying to bring out some shine.
- Then Meguiar's liquid paint cleaner with a vibrating orbital buffer. This gives the paint that clear shine, taking out the micro-scratches left by the polishing compound.
- I finished off with Meguiar's Carnuba Wax (non-clearning).

It is very important that you exercise patience and wipe and check progress. The one thing I have learned from my body shop experience, is if you get tired to stop and leave for another time...and this can be very tiring. I put on some good tunes and have a travel container of coffee!

I was asked if I sanded through the clear coat, and I did not. Its a matter of the feel I developed when at the body shop. Again, if you rush, you certainly increase the likelihood of going through the clear coat.

Another thing, very important: you cannot correct poor prep work with sanding of the paint. What you accomplish with wetsanding is smoothing out any imperfections in the paint itself. The only way to take care of poorly prepped fiberglass, is to repaint the car!

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Hope this helps....more pictures of my finished RT in the RT/GTS post at:

http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-gts-discussions/627557-im-finished-wetsanding-my-rt-10-a.html

Thanks.

 

[Vipuronr]

One of our members recommended Reflections by Mother's. I just ordered it because it is more of a top coat gloss enhancer that is formulated to go OVER your wax to add a deeper shine.

I like the shine as it is now, but anything that will make the paint shine more or give a deeper luster...I am going to try.

Keep you posted.