180,000 mi Dodge Ram & Scion tc

jgriesinger · 10-11-06, 04:05

A weekend at the inlaws...

First up, a 180,000 mi Dodge ram pickup. Actually, I was quite surprised at how nice this truck still was for its age (1999) and mileage. It had lots of swirls and a few scratches, but nothing really awful.

Exterior only, father in law worked on interior while I polished

Washed with NXT soap

Clayed with Megs clay (actually pretty clean except for hellacious tar behind wells)

Poorboys SSR2.5 (used in full sun)on hood, tailgate X2 PC speed 6 LC orange pad, Poorboys SSR2.5 on 4" orange pad for trouble spots. SSR 2.5 X1 for most of the rest of truck

-note I really like using the 4" pads, defects seem to melt away alot faster, and although it seemed it would take longer for using a smaller pad, I think it was maybe a bit faster! Also the ssr2.5 finished out quite LSP ready, as long as I made sure I worked long enough

Treated all exterior trim and fender wells with 303

Megs high endurance for tires

Liquid Glass X2 for topper per request

some swirls and scratches on hood:

tailgate before.. the trim soaked up 303 like a mofo

a work in progress, me getting one heck of a sunburn in the meantime

Some afters, not taken by me but hopefully you can get the idea. I was happy about 85% of the swirls did come out

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jgriesinger · 10-11-06, 04:06

Next up mother in laws new scion tc

I really like this car alot. a very cool color with crazy flake. I wish I had better camera skills to capture it.

This car was brand new......BUT! the car seemed to be covered in some sort of very fine grit that would not wash away. It was completely embedded in the paint and all the dealer installed extras, even the windows. I dunno. The grit was not present on the truck so I had a pretty good idea the grit came from the dealer and of course they applied their sealant over it! So I bust out the clay and to my horror I accompllish nothing but covering the car in fine scratches everywhere! Whatever the substance was, it could not be seen, but felt like sandpaper over the ENTIRE CAR. Between claying and polishing I rid the car of whatever this stuff was and improved the look quite a bit in the process.

Wash NXT X2
Clayed Megs Clay
Poorboy's SSR1 on white LC pad PC speed 6 (this paint corrected so easy, a real pleasure!
Liquid Glass X2 (requested)
Megs high endurance on tires

Thanks for lookin!

Msuperbauer · 10-11-06, 04:17

WOW! Looks great! Quick question, what is the "303" you used on the trim, my buddy has a dodge truck, and he can't get the trim to stay black for more than like a week?! Also when it rains, or gets wet, will that "303" run down the paint and leave dark drip like marks?? Thanks, and great work!!
-MIke

jgriesinger · 10-11-06, 04:24

That would be "303 Aerospace protectant" you can find it online or usually in auto parts stores too. It looks great, but unfortunately it is not permanent. I have an old Lincoln Mark VII with really faded black bumpers, and I use Bondo's restore black(?) or something like that. You can find that at walmart, it will be about ten bucks, in the auto section.It actually is a dye and lasts quite a long time, if you take your time and use multiple layers. I do my bumpers every 6 mos and they are jet black and stay that way!

BMWWW · 10-11-06, 06:09

Sir, I'd say you captured the flake in the pain quite well!

Job well done sir!

Brandon1 · 10-11-06, 06:17

that liquid glass looks good.

shows that prep is key.

ret · 10-11-06, 07:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon1

that liquid glass looks good.

shows that prep is key.

Yup....liquid glass has a very nice look to it, and it will magnify poor pre work in a very Zaino'ish way.

Nice job.
ret

jgriesinger · 10-11-06, 07:59

Thanks guys for the kind words. Liquid Glass is one of those products that seems to get left behind when you get bitten by "the bug". I used to use it a lot in the past, and it was kind of nice to see how it stands up to the "boutique" products I have been using. I myself love the hard shine of this old school sealant. I did enjoy the results, especially on the scion.

Scottwax · 10-11-06, 08:17

Excellent work! My brother used Liquid Glass on his old Challenger back in the 80s and still swears by it. I agree, it has that old school hard glass look to it that really works on metallics.