Detailed: Lifted 3500HD Duramax (Day 1 & 2)
Jul 26, 2010 | 12:28 PM
#1
Thread Starter
FormerVendor
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,134
Likes: 1
From: Boulder, Colorado
Detailed: Lifted 3500HD Duramax (Day 1 & 2)
DAY 1:
Chase and I have been trying to work out a day to get his truck by my place for a full treatment, but weather has been wreaking havoc on scheduling.
As you'll see in the pictures, this isn't exactly the kind of truck you pull into the garage to work on...
unless your garage is an airplane hanger!!
Anyways, as K&N Filters wants to use the truck for some promo material and we were running out of time. So rather than fight the heat we decided to break it up into a 2 day ordeal...
My best friend Anthony came over to assist and thankfully so.
Got underway around 5pm, the subject a custom bulletproof suspension equipped Chevy Duramax 3500HD LTZ:
The interior was in excellent shape so I decided not to shoot any pics, a quick scrub down with Leather & Interior Cleaner and an Interior Brush broke up what little dirt there was on the light tan interior, all surfaces were treated to a dose of Leather & Interior Conditioner including the door seals. A quick vacuum with the Metrovac and the inside looked factory fresh.
Carpets were spot cleaned with Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner and a carpet brush. HD rubber mats were pulled and hand scrubbed with a 50/50 APC mixture.
Exterior started with the wheels and tires... not only the dirtiest part of the truck, but they rival the paint for sheer surface area, due to the size of the job the pressure washer was going to be a necessity:
The wheels, tires, and fenders were blasted out with a wide fan angle spray at 1800psi to break up all the junk... a 50/50 mixture of APC and the fender brush tackled the tires while the Boars Hair Brush and Green Wheel Cleaner made short work of the wheels.
Next came my time to shine... being the 'tall guy' I was nominated to handle the pre-rinse. The truck was overall in excellent shape, but there were some obvious areas of neglect simply by virtue of the fact you can't reach the center of the hood without something to stand on. Continued with the pressure washer as it made soaking the outside and reaching everywhere easier. Also got under the truck and blasted the underside completely.
After pre-rinse we moved onto foaming... no... there are no shots of the new foam gun... just its capabilities. This was generated using 3oz of Adams Car Wash Shampoo to 29oz of water.
After washing we broke for dinner then returned outside to clay bar using detail spray as lube, under the warm glow of the halogen lights.
After claying we did a secondary wash and quick dry in the dark. We discussed the plan of attack for day 2 over a couple of beers then called it a night. We were to resume work at 6am the next day to try and avoid the mid day heat.
to be continued...
Chase and I have been trying to work out a day to get his truck by my place for a full treatment, but weather has been wreaking havoc on scheduling.
As you'll see in the pictures, this isn't exactly the kind of truck you pull into the garage to work on...
unless your garage is an airplane hanger!!
Anyways, as K&N Filters wants to use the truck for some promo material and we were running out of time. So rather than fight the heat we decided to break it up into a 2 day ordeal...
My best friend Anthony came over to assist and thankfully so.
Got underway around 5pm, the subject a custom bulletproof suspension equipped Chevy Duramax 3500HD LTZ:
The interior was in excellent shape so I decided not to shoot any pics, a quick scrub down with Leather & Interior Cleaner and an Interior Brush broke up what little dirt there was on the light tan interior, all surfaces were treated to a dose of Leather & Interior Conditioner including the door seals. A quick vacuum with the Metrovac and the inside looked factory fresh.
Carpets were spot cleaned with Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner and a carpet brush. HD rubber mats were pulled and hand scrubbed with a 50/50 APC mixture.
Exterior started with the wheels and tires... not only the dirtiest part of the truck, but they rival the paint for sheer surface area, due to the size of the job the pressure washer was going to be a necessity:
The wheels, tires, and fenders were blasted out with a wide fan angle spray at 1800psi to break up all the junk... a 50/50 mixture of APC and the fender brush tackled the tires while the Boars Hair Brush and Green Wheel Cleaner made short work of the wheels.
Next came my time to shine... being the 'tall guy' I was nominated to handle the pre-rinse. The truck was overall in excellent shape, but there were some obvious areas of neglect simply by virtue of the fact you can't reach the center of the hood without something to stand on. Continued with the pressure washer as it made soaking the outside and reaching everywhere easier. Also got under the truck and blasted the underside completely.
After pre-rinse we moved onto foaming... no... there are no shots of the new foam gun... just its capabilities. This was generated using 3oz of Adams Car Wash Shampoo to 29oz of water.
After washing we broke for dinner then returned outside to clay bar using detail spray as lube, under the warm glow of the halogen lights.
After claying we did a secondary wash and quick dry in the dark. We discussed the plan of attack for day 2 over a couple of beers then called it a night. We were to resume work at 6am the next day to try and avoid the mid day heat.
to be continued...
Jul 26, 2010 | 12:29 PM
#2
Thread Starter
FormerVendor
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,134
Likes: 1
From: Boulder, Colorado
Day 2 - the saga continues 
Got a little bit of a late start... 6am comes a tad early when you're up late the night before. I had to give myself a stern talking to about the importance of punctuality.
I then documented all the areas we were really trying to focus on, the suspension was one area that was a big eye sore, as were the scrape marks on the bedsides from where the previous owner had obviously had a drop in bedliner.
The paint had not gotten overly dusty overnight so we opted to skip the rewash and instead did a complete wipe down with waterless wash and a couple of drying towels.
I started out with the PC and 4" focus pad setup to attack the areas that would need more specific attention. I worked my way around the truck buffing out the deeper scuff marks and imperfections.
Look, no more bedliner scuffs!!
Anthony concentrated his efforts on polishing the wheels, suspension, and dressing the undercarriage. One good thing about detailing a truck this big is the fact that its rather easy to work on the underside. Metal polish was used to restore the suspension, then topped off with Brilliant Spray Glaze. The finder lining as well as all the exposed frame areas and black suspension parts were treated with Invisible Undercarriage Spray.
Once the rolling stock was complete the trim was dressed, including Super VRT on any plastic or rubber and In & Out Spray to get the cowl and other hard to reach areas. Next we got set to divide and conquer! Splitting the truck down the middle, we each grabbed a bottle of Swirl & Haze Remover, Fine Machine Polish, an assortment of pads, and went to town. For the mostpart the truck was in good shape and needed minimum coaxing to get back to near perfect.
After polishing was complete the truck was given a wipe down with distilled ice water, one panel at a time. The temp had risen and I was worried that Americana would have a difficult time curing. I worked methodically, cooling the panel first, wiping dry with a fresh waterless wash towel, then applying a thin coat of Americana. I proceeded this way around the entire truck - cool, apply, remove. Once the whole truck was treated I made a second pass again starting with an ice water treatment to keep the panel cool and manageable.
While moving the truck back in the driveway earlier I had spotted some light scuffs and haze no the faux wood dash paneling. I taped off the edge nearest the navi screen where the scrapes were closest too and buffed out using the flip pad and Revive Polish. I ended up polishing out the rest of the faux wood panels and treating them to a coat of Americana.
While I focused my attention on the interior Anthony was hard at work buffing out the remaining suspension parts, doing a hand application of Machine Superwax to the wheels, then finishing everything off with a coat of Brilliant Spray Glaze.
still more coming....
Got a little bit of a late start... 6am comes a tad early when you're up late the night before. I had to give myself a stern talking to about the importance of punctuality.
I then documented all the areas we were really trying to focus on, the suspension was one area that was a big eye sore, as were the scrape marks on the bedsides from where the previous owner had obviously had a drop in bedliner.
The paint had not gotten overly dusty overnight so we opted to skip the rewash and instead did a complete wipe down with waterless wash and a couple of drying towels.
I started out with the PC and 4" focus pad setup to attack the areas that would need more specific attention. I worked my way around the truck buffing out the deeper scuff marks and imperfections.
Look, no more bedliner scuffs!!
Anthony concentrated his efforts on polishing the wheels, suspension, and dressing the undercarriage. One good thing about detailing a truck this big is the fact that its rather easy to work on the underside. Metal polish was used to restore the suspension, then topped off with Brilliant Spray Glaze. The finder lining as well as all the exposed frame areas and black suspension parts were treated with Invisible Undercarriage Spray.
Once the rolling stock was complete the trim was dressed, including Super VRT on any plastic or rubber and In & Out Spray to get the cowl and other hard to reach areas. Next we got set to divide and conquer! Splitting the truck down the middle, we each grabbed a bottle of Swirl & Haze Remover, Fine Machine Polish, an assortment of pads, and went to town. For the mostpart the truck was in good shape and needed minimum coaxing to get back to near perfect.
After polishing was complete the truck was given a wipe down with distilled ice water, one panel at a time. The temp had risen and I was worried that Americana would have a difficult time curing. I worked methodically, cooling the panel first, wiping dry with a fresh waterless wash towel, then applying a thin coat of Americana. I proceeded this way around the entire truck - cool, apply, remove. Once the whole truck was treated I made a second pass again starting with an ice water treatment to keep the panel cool and manageable.
While moving the truck back in the driveway earlier I had spotted some light scuffs and haze no the faux wood dash paneling. I taped off the edge nearest the navi screen where the scrapes were closest too and buffed out using the flip pad and Revive Polish. I ended up polishing out the rest of the faux wood panels and treating them to a coat of Americana.
While I focused my attention on the interior Anthony was hard at work buffing out the remaining suspension parts, doing a hand application of Machine Superwax to the wheels, then finishing everything off with a coat of Brilliant Spray Glaze.
still more coming....
Jul 26, 2010 | 12:30 PM
#3
Thread Starter
FormerVendor
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,134
Likes: 1
From: Boulder, Colorado
Even managed to buff out the trailer hitch
Windows were cleaned up with Glass Cleaner and a Glass towel, final inspection, then we cleaned up, and took some pics of this badboy:
Not easy getting a reflection in this color, but we managed
and the first of the post delivery rolling shots... after I retouch the rest of these for Chase I'll post them here:
Windows were cleaned up with Glass Cleaner and a Glass towel, final inspection, then we cleaned up, and took some pics of this badboy:
Not easy getting a reflection in this color, but we managed
and the first of the post delivery rolling shots... after I retouch the rest of these for Chase I'll post them here:
Jul 26, 2010 | 12:43 PM
#4
hey ive been meaning to message you, i just got some nnbs gmc 20s and they have a few surface scratches on em in the clear coat, is there any way i can get these out? i almost just used 3m scratch remover but i figured i would ask you before i screwed em up haha....
