I agree with you 100%! Here's a pic of my '01 Yellow RT/10 after the Clay/Polish/Wax rite of passage:
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I'll post some hi-res pics later in the week.
I noticed minor swirls and scratches starting to appear as I washed my Viper week after week. I know I wasn't putting them in as I have a religious wash routine. So I decided to undertake the Claybar/Polish/Wax regimine I've read about on these forums, here's what I did:
(1.) Clean and I mean CLEAN the car before doing anything with Clay, Polish or Wax. I use Griot's car wash at full-strength to help strip off any remaining wax on the car. I'm also one of those fanatics that will use a leaf-blower to dry the car. I will never use a towel to dry my car. My neighbors get a kick out of watching me blow-dry my car.
(2.) Now that the car is clean, it's time to Claybar. I used Griot's Claybar and Speedshine kit. I've had great success with these products on my BMW's and the Clay is as pure as it gets. This is not a poly-clay and it leaves no residue behind. Speedshine makes the surface super-slick so that the clay can glide across easily. Tips:
- Constantly "work" the clay as you use it. 1/3 of the bar will do the entire car twice. Keep folding it, lubricating as you use it. If it becomes too dirty, throw it out and rip off another piece.
- If for some reason your clay picks up small pebbles, like the ones caught on under side sill gills, pick them out of the clay or throw the bar our.
- If you drop it on the floor, throw it out. I take no chances because once the bar gets dirt or tiny specs of rock in it then it's scratch galore.
(3.) Repeat the claybar routine until the surfaces becomes super smooth. It does not take much, only a few passes across the panel. I had tiny black specs on some of the panels that required me to work the clay a little harder in those areas but overall I can clay the car in about 1/2 hour. When you're done with the claybar routine, wash your car again to remove any lubricant or residue left over from the clay.
(4.) Now you have a clean paint in front of you. How does it look under sunlight and/or flourescent lighting? This will show you how bad your swirls, spider-webbing or scratches really are. If you can't find any. move to Step #6. Otherwise, proceed to #5.
(5.) Removing Swirls/Scratches. I'm not content with hiding these with wax or fillers. They barely do the job and a poor one at that. In order to remove them, you'll need a random orbital, such as the PC7424 and polish or compound. A compound is generally much more abrasive than a plosh. It can leave behind swirls and a dull finish. Do your research when selecting a compound. I've tried many different compounds/polishes out there and settled on the following:
- 3M Fine Cut Rubbing compound for deep scratches, swirls or oxidation. This stuff works great on Vipers. Orange or Yellow compounding pads.
- 3M Perfect-it Swirl Mark Remover for Light Color Cars. They make one for dark cars too. This is a medium polish to remove finer swirls and scratches but leaves behind a beautiful glossy finish. Yellow compounding pads.
- 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. This glaze will leave behind an incredible shine.
I've tried Griot's polishes, Machine Polish 1 - 4. While they work great on my BMW, they did absolutely NOTHING on the Viper's paint. I don't know if it's just my car, but my yellow paint is the toughest I've ever seen. 3M worked really well on it while Griot's did nothing.
The trick to removing swirls and scratches with the PC is heat and pressure. Using the 3M compound and Orange compound pad, I set the speed dial at 4K RPM and with a quarter size amount of the compound, I work it into the area. I'll lean into the PC until it almost comes to a stop so that that pad generated heat. Heat in conjucntion with random orbital's motion removes swirls and scratches. I've had great success with the 3M products. Only took me 1-2 passes over an area to get the job done. You CANNOT mess up your paint with the PC. At least I didn't. Unless you have a dirty pad it's very difficult to create scratches or swirls with the PC.
The 3M fine cut compound may leave the area a little dull. No problem, just follow up with the swirl mark remover and it will leave a slick, glossy finish. Then I follow up with an application of imperial hand glaze. This car is shimmering at this point. I am truly impressed with the 3M products.
(6.) Waxing. Now you're ready for the best part. I've read countless articles on Wax here on the forums, (Meguiar's, Pinnacle, Griots, Adams, etc). I've come to the conclusion that this is a religion. I've tried many but I've settled on Pinnacle's waxes in conjunction with Griot's. Again, this is my personal preference but I've found Pinnacle's waxes give the deepest shine out there and with multiple layers I can go 6 months or more without having to reapply. My wax routine consists of the following:
Right after polishing, which I'll do maybe every 2 years or so, your paint finish is vulnerable. You can move right to waxing but I decided to seal the paint with Griot's Paint Sealant. This gives it a durable, long-lasting foundation of protection and a nice shine. I've used this on my daily driven vehicles and a single coat can last up to a year. I only do this if I've polished the car. With Griot's paint sealant, you can stop here but I'm looking for that deep, 3D-shine which you can only get with layering many coats of wax.
Using alternate layers of Pinnacle Souverign Liquid Wax and Pinnacle Crystal Mist Spray, (I found this technique on the forum) it will give a deep, wet look even on a yellow Viper. It made a world of difference on my car. I apply coats using the PC and a red wax pad. When I say coats, I mean many coats of wax. Right now, I'm up to 12 coats of wax on my way to 20. Applying wax is the easiest thing to do. A small amount of wax, like a quarter-sized amount, goes a long way. The key is to apply a small, thin layers. Let it haze and buff dry. Less is more. It takes me about 20 minutes to apply a layer of Pinnacle wax. It goes on easy and comes off even easier.
Between coats I'll take a white polishing pad and go over the entire car with it. This helps create a sparkling shine and removes any left-over wax I may have missed during buffing.
For the remaining 3-5 coats of wax, I'll use Crystal Mist and Pinnacle Souverign Paste Wax. The paste wax is a bit expensive but the shine it delivers is outstanding, even on a light colored car like my Viper. My pic above at the 12 coats stage. I'll post pics once I'm done this week.
(7.) Maintenance. I use califorina dusters to dust the car before and after I take it out. In between car washes, which I found myself doing a lot less often, I'll use Griot's Speedshine to remove any dirt I may find on the car. This stuff is super slick and when used with clean 100% cotton towls or microfiber towls, leave behind a swirl-free, slick finish. Before I take the car out, I'll go over it with Crystal Mist. In 10min, the car looks like it just got a coat of souverign past wax. I don't need to do this, but I want that eye-blinding shine and crystal mist helps prolong the souvreign wax.
That's it. It sounds a lot more intense than it actually is. It took me 2 weeks, an hour or two a night, to perform the polishing step. I could've done the polishing in one weekend if I had the time. I made a workout out of it. We've had some hot and humid weather here in CT over the last two months and I sweat my ass off polishing in the garage. I dropped 10 pounds during this process. My wife even found me polishing the car in the garage at 2am a few times!!! I found this to be very therapeudic.
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