This truck belongs to a repeat customer. It's a beautiful colour with iridescent paint that changes from green to blue to purple..just stunning. The clear is also very hard on this big beast too. It had some scratches in the hood as well as swirl marks on the doors and the side of it. I did a few things differently that yielded great results. THE PROCESS: WHEELS/WELLS/TIRES: The wheels on this car are chrome and beautiful. The owner has an issue with them with the dealer and they are getting replaced so I did not spend any time on them at all other than washing and drying them. The tires had been treated with some God-awful dressing that was slimy and too shiny. Yuck. The dealer keeps putting it on even though the customer tells them not to! It was tough to get off and took Zep purple and a good scrubbing. It took 2 times with the Zep to get it off. The wells were sprayed down with Zep Citrus and scrubbed with a long handled brush. The wells are so visible on these beasts that I really wanted them to be properly cleaned and well dressed. They were subsequently dressed with Adams. The tires were ultimately dressed with DP gloss gel. Much better. The wheels did not receive my usual treatment...I think they felt neglected, hehehe. FOAM/WASH: This is one of the tips I wanted to share. When I have received a vehicle with an obvious coat of wax on it, I have usually just added an ounce or 2 of Zep Citrus to the DG 901 soap in the cannon and that's it. I tried this time forgoing the DG and just used the Zep in the foam cannon. I added at least 2 ounces to it...maybe a bit more. It foamed up beautifully and had no problem removing any wax on the surface. It was allowed to dwell for a few minutes. The truck was then washed with 2bm which showed no beading whatsoever. PAINT CORRECTION: This is another area where I came up with a different way (sort of) of doing things. The clear was so hard on this beast that I ended up going more aggressive with my pad choice (no biggie there) but amazingly found that they would finish down like a much milder pad. For instance, on the sides where the swirls were, I used an orange flat LCC pad and Menz 105. It finished down beautifully. I then went over it with a white flat LCC pad and Menz micro polish. Even on the hood, where I needed to use a PFW pad and Menz PG, it still finished down OK. I followed that up with the orange pad/105 combo to nice results. The white pad ensured a quality finish. I then applied/removed DG 501 by hand to clean the paint and to help the flake jump. I was really enjoying the gorgeous colour working on this vehicle. The 501 had 601 put over top to flash cure it and then 105 was applied. A coat of Collinite 845 was added over top for ridiculous protection. PROBLEM AREAS: Every vehicle (like a lot of people) has its own issues. This one was no different. The hood had lots of little scratches that the CFL's showed off and it also had a scuff alongside the one horizontal section of the hood between the 2 levels. (The pic is not very good for showing the swirls and scratches in the hood unfortunately). Hood Scuff: After correcting the hood scuff, I guess I did OK, b/c this creature was trying to mate itself in the reflection (and I thought I was vain) There were a few chips that needed repairing. Unfortunately, a gorgeous colour like this is very difficult to match with touch up paint, but I did my best to fill them in and at least not have the white showing. They tended to look a bit more blue than the surrounding colour however. There was another eye-grabbing issue and that was a scratch that ran on and off along the back deck lid. It was filled with touch up paint and wet sanded where possible to smooth it out. I actually went pretty darned close to the edge trying to hide as much of this scratch as I could. Judge for yourself in the afters. Some of it was completely corrected and was invisible, some other still a bit. There was also a scuff mark along the driver's side rear 1/4 panel just below the glass. My 3" white wool pad made that go away. The driver's side running board also had a few scratches, including a few deep ones. I decided to wet sand those. The chips that were small were filled in using a pointy toothpick. I have yet to find a small enough brush that can match the very, very small amount of paint I can dab into a chip using the toothpick. Dealing with the size: It was the width that presented the problem. For the glass, I wrapped a mf around a sqeegee I had to get the centre of the glass clean (on the outside). For the hood, a bit of showboating with one-handed polishing for reaching the middle: CHROME: The chrome running boards were a little scratched up so I tried using 2 different products on them. P21s polishing soap did not do much but surprisingly Collinite Metal polish made them jump and improved their appearance. ENGINE: Everything seemed to take so long on this beast just due to the sheer size of it and the engine was no exception. It was pw'd, degreased with Zep Citrus, pw'd again and then dried with a leaf blower. The paint and plastic pieces were treated to 303 Aerospace. Here are the BEFORE pics of the engine: ALL FOR NAUGHT? As I got it close to my garage door, I realized it was going to be VERY tight to get it in. I disconnected the garage door from the track and that just allowed me about 1.5" of clearance. INTERIOR: The driver's side floor by the seat had what appeared to be chocolate firmly melted into the carpeting. I broke up as much as I could with the vacuum and then let my Gaia steamer at it. I first spritzed the area with some Zep High Traffic and then steamed it and re-vacuumed. BYE BYE. All the other carpeting was vacuumed and steam cleaned. The leather was cleaned using Ken's AG pad with 303 cleaner cut at 32:1 and then steamed. It was then treated with 303 Aerospace as was the plastic. [U][SIZE=3]Misc:[/SIZE][/U][SIZE=2] The flat black bars in the front were done by hand with DG 501. The silver scuff area at the bottom was polished with a white pad and UCCL followed by DG 501. The black trim was dressed with DG flat black in the back. The glass was cleaned with Zep glass cleaner. The bars on top were cleaned with Collinite Metal polish. [B][U][SIZE=3]BEFORES:[/SIZE][/U][/B][SIZE=3][SIZE=2] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0094-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0095-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0096-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0097-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0098-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0099-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0101-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0102-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0103-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0104-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0105.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0107.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0108.jpg[/IMG] [SIZE=4][U][B]AFTERS: [/B][/U][SIZE=2]The outside shots were done after paint correction but before anything else like glass, interior, etc...wanted to get some sun shots![/SIZE] [SIZE=2][IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0032-2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0033-4.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0034-4.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rhowitt/Live2Detail/DSC_0035-4.jpg[/IMG] [/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE] Scratch all gone: Scratch repair hardly visible (and you can see how close to the edge!): The disappointing part was the chips on the door...they didn't fill nearly as nicely as the others. I was not going to wet sand there! Side of hood defect gone: Defects gone: Thanks for looking at this lengthy post! Comments and feedback are always appreciated.
what a nice color man. Never seen that color on a hummer here yet. Those things are huge, tons of area to cover especially in the polished area LoL. Came out great though. Excellent work and very nice pics. How long did tat take you?
Richy, you are a patient man. I could never get around doing a SUV, mind you a HUMMER!!!!! Great job! love the cigar! What kind?
Lovin the tight squeeze into the garage, mine is the same way with most vehicles that size. That is an interesting color for a Hummer, I have not seen that color here in the states.
Looks great Richy! You are right that paint is amazing, fits the H2 a lot better than I was expecting.
Thank you. I took me 17 hours but I billed the client for 16. He's been good to me. Thanks Sergei..I always appreciate your kind words and taking the time. Thank you Tom! Thanks Rennes...the cigar is a Don Tomas. Thanks..it's a detail job SUPERSIZED! I'm glad it made it. I've also got a bright yellow 4 door F250 coming that is quite tall too...I'm not sure whether it'll fit or not either. Maybe that colour is a Canada only thing?
Nice job Richy. Those freakin things are all over the place out here. Have a lifted black one coming in soon.
Very nice work. THat color is great. In fact, I have always been a fan of the H2. Very fun to drive. What LSP did you use on it?
Great work as per usual! How high is your garage? I've always been to scared to put an H2 in my garage, I know Escalades fit in just fine, but when I am pulling into my garage, I never feel like the roof has clearance. It doesn't look like that'll fit in there. *Awaits a "That's what she said"*
Thanks Jason, I appreciate the feedback from my brother from another mother! Beast is the perfect word for it I think! Thanks Pat. p1et...it took 17 hours. Took 2 hours alone just to do the motor! Thanks Ken..I'll be looking forward to seeing that job when you're done. It's got 3 layers of protection on it: DG 501/105 and the LSP per se is Collinite 845. Thanks Chris. I was very happy the sun was out so I was able to capture some of the nuances of the colour. Thanks Sneek...it's just a standard opening I think. I didn't want to risk not raising my door so I disconnected it. Thanks Chas..I too was pleasantly surprised.
