SteveDoten

Chrome covers just don't look right, who has polished the rear cradle/LCA's????

Let's see some pics

Noticed Bret Bradbury invested the time into his Z06 in the FI section(blownblueZ06)

Suprfun

Fast one

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...trol-arms.html.
Thanks to the Sharkhide coating the polish has held up well.

SteveDoten

that's a 1997 or early 1998, only years with the ABS unit out back

NICE WORK

Suprfun

I knew I shouldn't have subscribed to this thread! Well looks like I know what I'll be doing for one of next winter's projects! Great thread Steve and beautiful job Fast one.

$$$frumnuttin'

same here....like I don't have enough other projects to do this summer! Ineed to google this Sharkhide coating...

Funnone

Sweet Oh my... I don't drive mine the rain If my cradle looked like that it would never leave my Vette Nest....

2004c5blackcoupe

The cradle and control arms clean up very easily using a portable drill and wire wheel attachment. Finish with some mothers billet polish.

$$$frumnuttin'

I did the research for you guys....here's the verbage...go to the site to see some pictures, etc I think I'll be ordering some of this stuff...

SHARKHIDE Metal Protectant was originally formulated forty plus years ago by a group of chemical engineers, whose mission was to create a product that would protect aluminum structural and decorative trim pieces (in the building industry) from the damaging effects of masonry mortar as well as the elements. SHARKHIDE was an instant success! But with the advent of new building styles and materials, the SHARKHIDE formula was no longer needed, and set back on a shelf. And that's where it remained until the mid eighties.

Since then, we here at Flatwater Inc. have introduced the remarkable features of this product into such industries as Marine, Automotive, Cycle, Aircraft, Trucking, RV, Architectural, Building Maintenance and many others. Actually the working principals behind SHARKHIDE are very simple. The materials that make up SHARKHIDE Metal Protectant are a proprietary blend of many types of resins. These resins are then suspended in a blend of two different solvents. When applied to a surface, the solvents rapidly evaporate leaving the actual SHARKHIDE Metal Protectant behind. This forms an air tight film over any metal surface, and will protect against just about anything Mother Nature can throw at it.

In the marine industry, SHARKHIDE is used primarily on aluminum hulls such as Pontoon boats, Houseboat, and Fishing boats. In most instances, a couple of good coats can last many years. It's not uncommon to see three to five years of protection. On applications like motorcycles, muscle cars, show cars and other things that don't see a lot of exposure to the elements, you may see as many as eight or more years. In severe duty applications such as fire/rescue equipment, over the road trucks, dumps, tanks and the like, you can still enjoy one to three (or more) years of protection. And one of the many great features of SHARKHIDE is when it is time to reapply, there's no need to strip or prep the original coat. Since SHARKHIDE's "self etching", you simply wipe a fresh coat over the old one, and the new coat will partially melt, and blend right info the first!

Below are some pictures of test panels we did to send dealers for displays. We simply wiped a couple of coats of SHARKHIDE Metal Protectant on the right sides of the panels when they were new. Then, the panels were submerged in lake water for a few hours at a time. After just a few weeks of this, you can already see a huge difference between the protected and unprotected sides.

Vetteman Jack

The pieces in the pics look great. One of these days I'll take the time and try and get mine that polished.

ALLEGRO

Damn I like that !!!

Fast one

I use three different grades of Nuvite to polish aluminum or plastic; like sandpaper, coarse is the first step then medium and fine for the finish step. Some of their customers polish Airstream trailers and old, unpainted aluminum airplanes, that's where the electric polisher saves time. By using sandpaper first then this polish with car buffing pads a sheet of aluminum can be brought up to mirror quality, the same steps also work good on plastics. http://www.nuvitechemical.com/

GCG

I checked your link to Nuvite. I guess you are using what they call NuShine II, right? It comes in different grades, as you said, Grade S, C, G6, etc.
Which ones are the 3 grades you use?
Could you share some details of the process you followed?
Your car looks beautiful. I wouldn't dare to drive it!

Fast one

I use Nushine grades F9 then G6 then S grade after the sanding is completed. First, a die grinder or dremel with a burr removes any casting flash or unwanted cast part numbers. Start sanding with a coarse enough sandpaper that will remove any deep scratches, this step is important because it levels the surface, then work up in steps ending at 1500 or 2000 grit. A Dewalt 4"x4" palm sander speeds up the sanding and the rubber pad doesn't dissolve when using wet sandpaper and water. For polishing small parts a floorstanding drill press allows you to hold the part with both hands, slow buffer speeds seem to work best and won't melt plastic parts. For large parts or sheet aluminum a car buffer does a good job. It's important to start with clean buffing bonnets, they wash up great in the clothes washer, and to switch bonnets when switching compounds. Here's the info from Nuvite: http://www.nuvitechemical.com/images...%2012-2011.pdf.

SteveDoten

about 6 hours of sanding before polishing is needed on the cradle and LCA's

No easy way to complete this task.

SteveDoten

any others out there? good winter project

Toque

It scares me to see this.

If I start something like this where will it end... ?

I'm WAY too O.C.D. about my car already. I need to stop reading posts like this.

Toque

JETninja

Looks like we wont see Toque for a few months now.....

MSG C5

Man I want a 4-post lift!!!!

GB Vette

If someone was to go to the trouble to sand everything down and polish everything it would probably look something this Steve Since this pic the sway bars straps have been chromed and the Bilstein's replaced with LG coilovers...