2006 Cadillac Escalade - Black - Complete Detail - 100 pics

David Fermani · 09-14-08, 08:04

2006 Cadillac Escalade – (Black) ~ Complete Detail

I had the opportunity to spend the entire weekend with this 2006 Cadillac Escalade in solid black. The car was full of deep swirls and needed a complete clean-up from head to toe. This owner is not only my 1st client since relocating to Florida 2+ years ago, but is my best. He allows me total control in the reconditioning/preserving of his vehicles and commutes well over an hour from Miami to W. Palm just to have me take care of them.

Here are some other threads I’ve done on his vehicles:

http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-b...xpedition.html

http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-b...werwashed.html

It’s a real pleasure to be able to take my time on each project right from the comfort of my home. This specific time, I choose to really work the paint polishing out every possible defect and then bringing up the gloss in a multitude of processes. The owner dropped the vehicle off Friday
evening and I immediately began my process of extensively prepping it.

**Befores**

**Wash Process**
The complete exterior 1st received a thorough 1500psi blasting with my power washer to remove any and all loose debris and grime to mitigate additional damage once being hand washed in the 2nd step. I then pre-soaked the exterior with a mix of Auto Magic(AM) Red Hot degreaser & E-Z Suds Liquid Concentrate and hand washed each panel, component and wheel well to insure that nothing would interfere with the polishing process to come. Wheels,tires & wheel wells were cleaned with AM Magnificent
wheel cleaner.

The owner requested that I remove all the custom Swarovski crystal encrusted emblems & decals. I 1st heated each one up with my 500W halogen and carefully pulled each one away with my MAC trim pick. I then removed the remaining 2-sided tape with a plastic razor blade. I then wiped away the left over glue with Goof-Off solvent. There was quite a bit of shadowing and I used Meg’s 105 compound with a Lake Country yellow wool pad to remove it.

**Surface Contaminant Removal**
After washing, the surface felt relatively smooth, but after doing a close inspection with cellophane paper, I noticed tiny little bumps on the surface. I 1st used AM blue Clay Magic lubed with AM Body Shine. After drying the surface, I then dry sanded everything with 4000 grit sandpaper from Micro Surface Finishing Products. This grade of paper allows for quick and easy surface prep with little to no marring (especially after claying). It really makes a significant difference in both the appearance & feel of the finished product.

**Test Panel**
After trying out several combinations of products & pads, I decided on using Menzerna Intensive Polish with a Micro Surface Black Lambs Wool(BLW)
pad for the initial correction of the heavy swirls. This pad IMHO cuts much better than a Purple Foamed Wool, leaves the finish with less buffer trails and does not lint at all. It also lasts 10 times longer than PFW works great with Menzerna polishes and really allows more bite in the defect removal perspective. Especially on this super soft Cadillac clear.

Here’s some different pads & plates I’ve been experimenting with. Each one gives a different/special feel when buffing and once mastered, can really help support the user in tackling individual areas of certain vehicles.

I then taped off and covered all critical moldings & trim to allow for safe as well as thorough buffing.

David Fermani · 09-14-08, 08:06

After cutting down and removing all possible defects with IP/BLW, the vehicle got washed again and wiped down with 91% alcohol. I then went with Menzerna 106ff with a LC Orange CCS foam pad (broken in really nice). This really disintegrated the fine buffer trails the BLW left behind and brought out the shine/depth that was begging to come out. After doing almost the entire vehicle with success, I ran into problems (on the hood) with the 106ff polish lumping up and spiting out of the pad after high speed break down and while bringing down the buffer speed from #3 to #2 on my Makita. I can only assume that high humidity and 95 degree heat were to blame. The truck was parked front forward in my hot garage where not much air was moving. I opened up the door to the house to bring in cold air to the front of the truck and it immediately fixed the problem. I then washed the truck again and did another alcohol wipe down. Then, to add more icing on this black cake, I used Menzerna 85rd with a LC Gray finishing foam pad. Even though the finish was 100% swirl free by this point, I still felt the gloss bar could be raised on this black beauty. After successfully jewelling the finish to bring out max gloss, I ended the buff-a-thon process with 3M Ultrafina with a LC blue foam pad. This was pretty much only used to guarantee that the
final finish laid out flat and really evened out the gloss. By this point, I was totally satisfied with the end result and proceeded with my final (5th) wash/alcohol wipe down before my LSP.

Here’s some shots without LSP:

**In Process Shots**

LSP of Choice: Mark-V Paint Sealant

**Interior**
The interior received an entire clean up and every square inch(minus fabric)
got scrubbed with a toothbrush and AM Special Cleaner & then blown out with compressed air to insure no wetness of debris remained.

Carpets were spot cleaned and shampooed with AM E-Z Clean HD. The carpet was split up into multiple sections and after laying down and scrubbing the shampoo suds into the fabric, I sucked up the wetness with my RIGID 6HP vacuum. After, remaining dampness was dried up with heavy toweling with cotton towels. This not only helped dry the fabric, but also lifted remaining soiling & chemicals.

Leather was treated with AM Leather Conditioner applied with an old cotton sock.

**Miscellaneous Details**

All textured trim was treated with AM Bumper Magic:

weekendwarrior · 09-14-08, 08:16

Wow - sounds like a lot of work!!! Great Job.

David Fermani · 09-14-08, 08:17

Chrome & Polished trim (exhaust/wheels/plate frame) was cleaned with Micro Surface 4000(broken in piece) and then treated with Klasse AIO.

The engine compartment was pre-soaked with AM Red Hot degreaser and then power-washed. Then considerable effort and caution was used to blown out water from all electrical and engine components. I then treated the engine belts/hoses with AM Super Dress-It and Klasse AIO was applied to all painted and chrome pieces.

Before:

After:

In addition to power-washing to remove polish dust and residue, I also removed loose trim to wipe out hidden crevices.

***AFTERS***

P1et · 09-14-08, 08:29

Huge turnaround, looking fantastic!

stiffdogg06 · 09-14-08, 08:31

what a turn a round!!

Awesome job David

BigAl3 · 09-14-08, 08:39

never surprised with your work, it's always stunning!

p.s. i wish i had my old powell shirts (loved cabellero's style, he was my fave), i remember back in the day i got a special bones brigade t-shirt through the mail and i kick myself as i don't know what i did with all of them

. did you ever find animal chin? LOL ...