Waxing and Polishing a C3 Corvette: Wax On, Wax Off

I think it is fair to say that waxing a C3 Corvette in a hot Florida garage is true dedication.

Waxing and polishing the finish every so often is crucial if you want your paint job to last, and as I have mentioned before, my Corvette's paint job is approximately 20 years old. And the fact that it looks great after two decades shows how far a little care will go.

The front bumper, front fenders, and T-tops were repainted in 2016, and the rear bumper was repainted about a year ago, and what a fiasco that was.

The rest of the car still has the "original" red the previous owner picked and that paint still looks great after many years of normal use.

Some of the tools I used for this project included my cheapo 6-inch orbital waxer/polisher by Black & Decker. For $30 it is a heck of a bargain and it works great for my detailing needs. Yes, you could spend a lot more on a fancy polishing machine, but that's optional.


I also used Adam's Paint Finishing Polish this time, plus clean microfiber towels for polishing and the final hand buffing.


Writing about waxing a vehicle is—for both the writer and the reader—as much fun as slow dancing with grandma, so I'll spare you the details.

You're welcome!

Instead, I'll show you a few photos of the process of buffing my Corvette since it looked so good.





And for those of you who would like to spend the next fifteen minutes of your life watching a video of the process, along with my entertaining rambling, click the YouTube® play button below.


And this is the finished product. Of course, photos fail to do justice to how great it looked in real life. Plus, I waxed my Vette the day after I had finished undercoating the wheel wells and polishing the rims, so it looked awesome.


Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the article as well as the video and maybe gained a little bit of motivation to go out in the garage and give your car a nice coat of wax.

Thank you for following my '76 Vette Blog!



Product Links... (#sponsored)

Meguiar's Ultimate Compound | Part No. G17220 - 20 fl. oz.
Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax | Part No. G18220 - 20 fl. oz.
3M Perfect-It Show Car Liquid Wax | Part No. 39026 - 16 fl. oz.
Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfiber Towels | Part No. X2020 - (3-Pack)
• Car Polisher Polishing and Buffing Covers | 5-6 Inches (20-Pack)

• Black & Decker 6-inch Random Orbit Waxer/Polisher