Just finished washing, claybaring, waxing - pics!

I don't think I've posted full-size pictures of my car on this site yet. There's bits and pieces, yeah, but no "glamor" shots. I finally got around to doing the whole shebang on this car. I really wish the owner before me waxed the damn thing, but it was some old lady I think. At least she didn't drive it much.

Washed the car with Turtle Wax "Ice" - I really like it, very few water spots. I used the Mothers Claybar System, which is on sale at Murray's right now for $14.95. I've used the Macguires version, but it's $10 more for the same results. Finished it off with Macguires NXT Tech Wax 2.0 - just came out, and I still love this stuff. Worth the extra money, IMO.

Okay, so here's the pics! Sorry, I took 'em with my phone.









Picture of my new intake:


Picture of my new 3.4" Intense MPS:


These pictures just remind me that the Riviera BEGS to have chrome rims. It really brings the look together, I'm glad I dropped the $450 for this set.

Edit: I didn't do the windows yet, so don't judge me!

That is beautiful, and your hard work shows! Excellent color, too, and it looks awesome when cleaned up this much!

I think I have the sole Riviera with a somewhat dirty hood. Everyone elses I see looks like all brand new tanks under there and new hoses and everything looks pretty and new. My stuff is not purely filthy but dirt has built up in the little hard to reach spots. I've tried cleaning it but it's going to take me a very long time to get it all clean...

Nice car though!

Nice job! how do you keep that plastic trim at the bottom so good looking? mine looks like crap.

Very nice looking ride. It really shows you put a lot of work into it.

very nice...mine would turn out that way a few years ago..but these damn ohio winters have really took there toll..specially on the hood..

well done. bet the paint feels 10x better after the clay bar. is that the first time you've done it on the riv?

TonySmooth89 wrote:

Nice job! how do you keep that plastic trim at the bottom so good looking? mine looks like crap.

meguiars "natural shine" rubber & vinyl protectant works very well spray some on a towel and buff to a nice dark finish.

Wow, another person besides me and Aaron who has that paint job! Beautiful, I love that color, you rarely see it on any kind of car. Those tips look awesome on there too. Looks perfect.

Now all I've gotta do is get the damn swirl marks out of it...

ZEP wrote:

Now all I've gotta do is get the damn swirl marks out of it...

Zaino #5 from zainostore.com

...problem solved!

Thanks for all the compliments guys! I really did spend a lot of time on this. About 45 minutes washing, a full hour to claybar it, and another hour waxing, polishing the wheels and cleaning up that plastic trim!

First off, the plastic trim. Honestly, this is the first time it's looked so good. I got some wax on the plastic trim, which is very hard to avoid. I asked my dad what I should do to get the wax off. I was thinking alcohol, but he said no. He gave me a little spray bottle filled with - I never would have seen this coming - Skin So Soft bath oil by Avon. It worked really well, and when I was finished, the towel I was using was BLACK. It made it shine really well, and cleaned it much better than washing it did.

I will definately get this Macguires shit though, I'm sure it's better.

And thank god, the tips are stainless steel. They don't have any rust aside from right at the weld.

Took me an hour to wash all the winter dirt off, and the next hour and a half to wax and seal the paint. I don't have chromes, so I just sprayed the rim cleaner on, the tire cleaner/UV protectant on, sprayed it off with a high-pressure setting on my hose, and scrubbed the tires a bit. It's tough work, and takes a good stiff arm, but it's all worth it. I got some paint sealant on the plastic lip on the front of the car 2 months ago when I washed it, and it's still there now. I just never bothered and figured a good rain would wash it off. Nope!

My car is still in the same condition as far as rust goes on the underside of the car. I have that electronic rust protection, and it seems to work very well, plus I did the underbody wash to get the salt off from under there. The car has no more rust than when I got it, hopefully I can keep it that way!

sweet!

very nice looking car,i will second the color its a nice looking color.thats a lot of hard work trust me man i know. you worked ur ass offf

Looks way cool

jax95riv wrote:

Zaino #5 from zainostore.com

...problem solved!

Actually, I've been planning on getting that for like a month now. First time I heard about it actually was on your cardomain site when I was looking at Rivs on there. I'll be ordering the full giant package they offer, but that'll be next month. I've heard great things about Zaino so I'll give it a shot. I actually used their glass cleaner to clean the hard water off my windows. That was like the most amazing product ever...

Anyways, those chrome wheels look awesome on there. I hate my alloys on mine. They make the car look 10x better.

I wasn't particularly proud of my car when it had the alloys on it. Sure, it was nice, but it looked rather "dull." Then the chomes went on, and POP! Man, made it look like a million bucks!

Definitely worth the money. And chrome isn't just for looks, either.

It's so much easier to clean than alloy (especially the Riv's stock alloys, LORD).