RejeX polymer sealant

[Patman]

I did not wipe down the surface with anything after the polishing step. Hopefully I will still be ok. The polish that I used was 3D HD Polish. I have used this stuff before but this is my first experience with their latest formula. The old formula left a ton of dust behind but this new one left none! Very easy to work with!

I did all the work in my garage and only pulled it outside for a few minutes to make sure I buffed every bit of the Rejex off (which I'm glad I did after reading this thread again and hearing how hard it is to remove if left on too long!) The car is now back in the garage and it will stay there until Monday morning so nothing will disturb the curing process. If I have time tomorrow I might just put one more coat on it, as it seems that 2 coats is a little bit more ideal than just one.

As far as my washing techniques go, I really don't wash the Corvette much at all! Since it rarely sees rain, most of the time I just clean it off with a microfiber towel and detailing spray. If it needs a full wash from getting caught in the rain, I actually prefer to go to a local touchless wash to make things quicker (and since nothing touches the paint, no chance of swirls) Ever since I first polished the paint when I got the car in 2013, it has looked really good, I haven't noticed new scratches or swirls at all (just etching from those [censored] birds!) So I'm pretty good at keeping paint looking good once I polish it to the level I am satisfied with. Hopefully the paint on my new Corvette arrives in near perfect condition, and then I will have an easy time keeping it that way for many years to come.

 

[SatinSilver]

Don't worry about not doing the IPA wipe down. Just going forward a good thing to do with a plush MF towel. Great to hear about no dust with the new polish(the simple things). HD Speed is another good product that polishes and leaves some protection behind. Then after 24 hours you could top it with Rejex. I've seen some great results with that product, even some pics on here.

I know a guy from the Accord forum that was one of the first to get the current gen vette. I think the car was a dark gray iirc. He noticed some paint defects in it so he wet sanded the car. Which amazed me, wet sanding not only a new car but a very expensive one. It did look great afterwards but still. I think those pics were on photobucket so they don't load anymore. Even the Ferraris that arrive at a dealership in California have to be professionally detailed because the paint is all hacked up when they arrive.

edit: also here's a technique for removing bird dirt by Mike Phillips:

Link

 

[Patman]

I am hoping that the paint on my 2018 is going to be considerably better than the paint on Corvettes produced up to this point, but that all depends on the timing of my build. Right now the Corvette plant is closed and they are re arranging the stations as to how the car is built, and slowing down the rate of production from 17 cars per hour to 12 in order to boost quality. They are also opening up a brand new paint facility! The tricky thing is, they have said that when the plant reopens sometime in mid November, that only white cars will be done in the new facility at first, all other colors will go through the old paint shop for a short period of time. But they want to transition the other colors over one at a time, with the more popular colors getting done first, and they have said they want to make the transition as quickly as they can as it'll be very expensive to run the two paint shops simultaneously. I don't have an official target production week just yet, but it's looking like mine might be built around mid December. So that could be right around the time that my color (Torch Red) starts getting done in the new facility. Fingers crossed! Panels that have been test painted in the new facility show a huge reduction in orange peel compared to before.

There is one bad thing about having a car built so soon after the plant re opens though. They have said that all cars built for the first few months will undergo a 4 week QC hold, just to make sure they haven't discovered any issues with the new build procedures (they do the same thing whenever a new generation of Corvette is introduced) During that 4 week hold, the cars will sit outside in the parking lot of the Bowling Green, KY plant. So my new paint will be exposed to the elements all that time, so even if it goes through the new paint shop, the paint will still need a bit of TLC when I get it. I will most definitely go over the finish with a clay mitt (just ordered the Chemical Guys super fine mitt and their clay lube) to remove any contamination.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: Patman
Panels that have been test painted in the new facility show a huge reduction in orange peel compared to before.


That was what the issue he had with his. I couldn't for the life of me think of the term. Interesting about the change over esp with the paint. I remember your previous vette was black. So Torch Red will be quite the change. Too bad you can't come down and see it being built. What color is your current one?

Have you used clay or a clay mit before? Also Iron-X (and the other similar ones) are good to use before claying to help decontaminate the paint esp after it has seen winter use from all the rail dust.

 

[Patman]

My current one is LeMans Blue, so Torch Red will be quite different, I think I'll miss having a metallic color as they look amazing in the bright sun, but I just don't like the current metallic red offered on the Corvette (which is more like a burgundy)

I've never used clay or a clay mitt, so I should probably practice on another car first before working on the new one. I've heard a few people mention Iron X but I'm just not sure what the real benefit of it might be. It just sounds like one extra step that really doesn't do much.

 

[gofast182]

Originally Posted By: Patman
My current one is LeMans Blue, so Torch Red will be quite different, I think I'll miss having a metallic color as they look amazing in the bright sun, but I just don't like the current metallic red offered on the Corvette (which is more like a burgundy)

I've never used clay or a clay mitt, so I should probably practice on another car first before working on the new one. I've heard a few people mention Iron X but I'm just not sure what the real benefit of it might be. It just sounds like one extra step that really doesn't do much.

Depends on your paint color and/or how critical you are. I use a similar product on our white MDX once a year. Ferrous particles from brake dust or other car-related things tends to accumulate on the rear of cars and where spray from the tires hits the sides. Products like that dissolve those ferrous particles. You can see it working via a color change and you'll be surprised how much there can be.