We love cars. Do I mean ‘we’, as in, just myself and my staff? Absolutely not. I am talking about ‘we’ as in, you, me… anyone reading this. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t have a passion for all automotive things beautiful, lustrous, fast…raw……Z06! Okay, well maybe some of you aren’t necessarily Chevrolet Z06 fans. But daggummit, you should be (Jeremy Clarkson, I am surprised you didn’t like it. Afterall, the c7 z06 hits really hard and one would think you could appreciate that)!

All of us at Detailed Designs Auto Spa LOVE it when a c7 z06, or any Stingray really, shows up for a detailing, clear bra or coating service. Sure, we are paid and someone could say that would be the driving force behind being joyed for Corvettes to roll in. But the reality is that, as car enthusiasts ourselves, we truly love these cars. They are so stinking cool. On that note, I have to admit something. Every single time I crank a c7 z06 to move it in or out of the shop I MUST put it in race mode just for the exhaust note. No need to rev it to enjoy the note. The rumble is just so beautiful to hear that a simple idle is enough. The sound the z06 makes is just the tip of what we love about these cars though.

If I carry on about my love for the c7 z06 I don’t know if I would be able to have time to discuss one specific one that joined us for quite an extensive protection and paint enhancement service. Without further adieu, the z06 that comes about as close to “bullet proof” for daily driving as one could expect…

A Consultation That Grew Into Something Else

When the owner of this Shark Gray 2015 Corvette Z06 first spoke with me, he was interested in a professional car detailing inside and out, paint correction, clear bra (paint protection film) installed on the front clip and a Modesta paint coating system with the idea of protecting it from what the Atlanta roads threw at it as a well-driven car. Upon delivery of the car to our shop the owner said he could hear rocks hitting above and behind the cabin. With a z07 package, the z06 has incredibly sticky tires and throw rocks everywhere and he wanted it protected from rock chips and other road debris. His service quickly went from the front clip to a whole car wrap in addition to the car detailing, paint correction and Modesta paint coating system.

Before installing clear bra or Modesta, it was important to the owner that the paint was flawless. This begins by washing, decontaminating, safely drying and then inspection of the paint.

We knew going into this project that the owner wanted something special. So we set our eyes on a tear down clear bra wrap with the idea that the film was as difficult to spot as would be possible. You will see in the pictures that we set a limit to the amount of tear down that is done. For instance, the bumpers were not dropped/removed. I am a fan of retaining factory panel gaps and quite frankly, there is zero gap between the fenders and bumpers. Those suckers are bumped tight up against one another! Creating a 12-16 mil gap is not something we are interested in doing and our clients agree. Other than that, we literally removed everything we could prior to wrapping the clear bra. All parts removed were cataloged. This meant that every single nut and bolt went back to the exact spot it was removed and nothing was left over when the car was reassembled.

Rear fenders were loosened from the body to give an ideal wrap between the fender and the rear quarter windows (heads up, these are not fun to reinstall safely -though we did it)!

Using a Vapor Systems VX 5000 Steam Cleaner to safely remove the front fender flairs.

A few parts waiting to be reinstalled.

Once apart, we corrected the paint to remove the many factory DA sanding marks and light washing swirls present.

Paint correction complete and waiting for clear bra to be installed.

With the paint corrected, we began wrapping the whole car with clear bra.

Make sure to check back in on Part 2, where we watch the project’s protection and enhancement services come to a finish and the Z06 becomes road worthy!