A buddy's new F-150 and hack shop save

[evolutionwc3]

A buddy at work just picked up this '07 F-150 Lariat edition with just over 7K on the clock. He isn't the type of guy that really cares about maintenance and cleanliness so when the dealership pitched him "Protex" he pretty much bought right into it since this one application will provide a lifetime of paint protection! "It's just a truck", he kept telling me. I pestered him about this and when he told me it is a clear spray that is applied over the paint (no correction)- I told him why I didn't think it was such a great idea- he then asked if I thought I could do something comparable... I knew he was heading to Vegas with his wife for the weekend and if he wanted to leave me some keys I would certainly give it a shot.

I headed over to his house early Sunday morning and wanted to get it as close to perfect as I could. I knew 2 things going into this; 1) What he considers clean, I consider filthy and 2) knowing this, my work would be primarily for self satisfaction because he wouldn't notice the details.

Here's my story:

Interior: The interior was in decent shape, but there was the normal grunge in the cupholders and faint coffee stains down the sides of the center armrest and the carpets.
-Vacuumed entire interior
-APC 4:1 on the carpet and mat spots
-Meg's QID on all plastics
-Adam's leather cleaner and conditioner on front seats (only conditioner on rear seat)
-Meg's QID on EDGE swabs for column stalks, vents etc.



Exterior: The exterior was pretty nasty as we have been getting quite a bit of rain. This is subsequently stirring up alot of sand and gravel left over from the winter storms.

Sand on the running boards:


The wells:




The exterior received the following:
-APC in the wells
-P21s on the wheels, cleaned with EZ-detail, swissvax, and a variety of Mother's brushes

Dwelling for 4-5 minutes:


After a little agitation but before rinse:


The rest of the truck was left to soak for 5 mins under some foam via the Gilmour filled with the DP mix and then cleaned with a grout sponge and 2 bucket method with DG901.

Making some headway:

[evolutionwc3]

Now for some correction. I first clayed using Clay Magik Blue and an ONR mix. There was very little contamination so this step went pretty quickly. I then inspected the paint via halos and the Brinkmann swirl finder.





And then on the driver's door I spotted this:


I immediately got some strips of Megs Unigrit 2500 and 3000 into a little mix of warm water and a splash of ONR. I continued on with the rest of the truck. This was all done via Makita Rotary and a mix of LC CCS pads. I probably wasted a bit of time here but wanted to see what LC Blue/UF would do. It ended up doing a little bit of correction on the first pass then nothing on the second. I moved up to an LC White pad and 106FF and my test panel revealed the following:



I was pretty pleased and used this combo for the rest of the truck. Some of the heavier swirled areas like the fenders required and additional pass or two, but for the most part this was an easier one.


Backed it out to check in the sun:



Back to the driver's door. I hit it with the 2500 and and it started to level out. I did make a mistake here by not taping the adjoining panel, I did not catch the edge but I won't let this happen again.




I then hit the sanding spot with SIP on an orange LC CCS followed by a Prepsol wipedown and saw the following. You can still notice the faint white line that was to the left of the touch-up paint but I wasn't comfortable taking off any more clear.


Happy with this I moved onto the LSP. Going for durability I simply went with 3 coats of DG105 and I told him to keep it out of the automatic washes.




His mother-in-law brought his sons over and the older one like the reflections (both rear panels had orange peel like this).


Here is some of the stuff I skipped over.
-glass got Eagle one Glass and Window cleaner on a cobra WW
-Wheels got a lot of claying and zymol seal
-Tires got Z16
-Wells got Adam's invisible undercarriage spray (did that on my way out-not in the pics)

I know there is a bunch of stuff I didn't mention but hope everyone enjoys. Cheers

[ScubaStevo]

Looks great. I know what a paint these things can be.

[twitch]

Very nice job on that truck. There is a ton of surface area on those bad boy's too. I know when I start on the front fender and look to the back I go, maaaan I have a long day ahead of me.

I don't know if it's just the lighting but the 105 seemed to darken the paint a good bit. Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

And most importantly... Did you change his "it's just a truck" mentality? I'm guessing not because that attitude is hard to curb!

[evolutionwc3]

Twitch- I kind of thought the same thing about the color darkening with 105, but didn't want to mention anything because I thought it could have been from exhaustion. I also thought the 105 muted the flake, but that paint had so much it would be very difficult to tell.

[twitch]

Now I am color blind to an extent (but can certainly see different shades) and the difference in color from picture # 8 and the second to last picture is noticeable.

It could be the angle of the sun and the different time of day to get that illusion but nevertheless it does look darker. Now that's not a bad thing at all... just something I noticed when scrolling through the pics.

[Scottwax]

Outstanding correction skills!

[Twinscroll]

That really does look great. I really liked the wet sanding segment there with the 2500grit. I'm looking to learn more about the wet sanding techniques but that paint correction that you did there was very well done.

[Invigor]

G2 FTW! Certainly one of Ford's nicer colors

nice job on the truck

[rebelde33]

The color looks great!

[ReLoaDeD BuLLiT]

great job, looks like you got most of the scratch out man