Another Detail Job Finished

[longwoodklon]

I have seen many folks on here posting pictures of their detailing, so I thought I'd join the club. I have an album here called Detailing - June 2008. Not sure why it doesn't show when you click the camera icon. But you can see it by clicking on 'Longwoodklon -- view public profile', then you'll see the album.

I want to thank Brandon for the advice, I sent him a PM back in Feb. and he responded with good info. I basically took his advice, which was:
Meguiars #83 (compound), #80 (fantastic polish/glaze), and M21 . Use the 83 with the orange pad, and brush afterwards to remove residue. Use white with 80, and black/blue for M21.

In addition, before I began with the PC, I clayed the entire truck. That left my hand a little sore so I took a couple days to recuperate and went to work with the PC. The PC took me an evening, #83 then #80 and finished with the M21. The truck is so smooth now, it feels great.

I also got some PlastX for the headlights, it worked pretty well but I'm wondering if using some 2000 grit and wet sanding first might be the way to go. I also steel wooled the chrome, which was/is oxidizing.

You will notice in the pictures I am missing the door rubber on the lower window area. With some other TS advice on here, I got those pieces for $26 at my local Toyota, just put them in last night. Now, no more cracked rubber when I put my arm on the door sill with the window down.

Finally, the biggest pain in the a$$ part. My IS wheels were holding up great, til the last tire shop managed to knick and scratch the lip when installing new tires. After that, the clear coat started flaking off the lip and it looked terrible. Quotes were $125/wheel to polish the lip, which I figured is too much for a truck this old and with so many miles. So, on Fathers Day, I sanded them all by hand. Took about 1hr. per wheel. Used 220 to get the clear coat off(most time wasted on this step, that clear coat was a b!tch), then 600, then 1000. They aren't a high gloss like factory, but I actually like the polished look better for now. I have a Mothers Power ball, so if I want to shine them up a bit later I can do that.

So, I probably spent 10-12 hours on this truck, but it looks like new(well, I got it in Oct.'00, so it looks as good as an 8 year old truck can). It is no longer my daily driver, so I figured some TLC was in order. I can garage it and keep it looking good longer. Prior to this, I probably washed it 2x last year, waxed it maybe 2 years ago, so it was neglected.

Thanks for looking and reading this long post.
/Mike

[TundraBear]

she looks great! i'm really impressed with how well the rims came out. i need to do that to mine as well. sorry for the interrogation, but i've never done any sanding before, so could you break down your process a bit? is the clear coat only on the lip or are the on the arms too? how did you get in the crack where the lip meets the arm? all that was done by hand?

i bought my rims used nad they came with a few scuffs on the arms as well, but if i could get the clear coat off like you did, that would make them look 100 times better!!

thanks!

[longwoodklon]

Originally Posted by TundraBear

she looks great! i'm really impressed with how well the rims came out. i need to do that to mine as well. sorry for the interrogation, but i've never done any sanding before, so could you break down your process a bit? is the clear coat only on the lip or are the on the arms too? how did you get in the crack where the lip meets the arm? all that was done by hand?

i bought my rims used nad they came with a few scuffs on the arms as well, but if i could get the clear coat off like you did, that would make them look 100 times better!!

thanks!

Thanks, that was the hardest part of the whole deal. I had heard on another thread that only the lip was clear coated, someone used a pressure washer to get the clear coat off. Tried that, but it didn't work for me. They had said they used a pressure washer and hot water, so maybe that would've worked but I didn't try with hot water.

The clear coat does seem to be only on the lip. I tried steel wool, 1000 grit, 600 grit first and it was just painfully slow. Even with the 220 grit, it took a lot of hard work and sweat to get that clear coat off.

Where the lip meets the inner part of the wheel, it isn't perfect. Basically you are folding a piece of sandpaper in half or fourths, so you have a nice solid edge of paper. Use that edge to go along the inside edge of the rim. Also, where the lip meets the inside of the wheel, there is a small ridge so it makes it easier to keep the sandpaper on the lip only.

The clear coat is by far the biggest work on this job. Hitting it with 600 and 1000 grit is easy once the clear has been removed. I'd imagine the next step would be wet sand with 1000, and then maybe 1500??? Then a Power Ball and Mothers metal polish. Only concern is the bare aluminum, I suppose I could wax it. But I think it looks fine, and if need be I can hit it with 1000 grit when/if it starts looking bad again.

I had planned to do this months ago, but was afraid it would really screw them up. With a quote of $125/wheel, I was left with no choice. Not gonna pay someone $500 to clean them up when I could buy new ones for $800. A lot of these places also want to re-clear coat it again. No thanks.

As far as the arms, don't know how to clean them up. I believe they are painted, so you can't really sand/polish them. I've seen others on here that painted them gun metal, so maybe you could have them repainted? But unless it was real bad, I wouldn't bother. I have some knicks here and there from use and tire guys hitting it with their wrenches, it's bound to happen.

/Mike