Big, Black, And Dirty.........(That`s what she said!) Cadillac Escalade

[gaga]

Hey guys, could some one recommand a product that can remove tuff water spots? Thanks,

[BradE]

White Vinegar. Pour some straight white vinegar on the spot and let it sit for a minute or two. Then wipe away. Vinegar is a acidic and will loosen the mineral deposits in the water spot. Once you have done that you will need to determine if the spots etched the surface, if it did you will need to use abrasives to remove the etching. :up



Once done re-wax or re-seal depending on which product you use.

[admac]

i believe white vinegar mixed 50/50 with water is the recommended way to get rid of waterspots.

[imported_JeffBruce]

The autopia car book...say Distilled Vinegar...have no idea the difference..

jeff

[Lemonxxs]

Good tips..hopefully the paint did not get etched!



Good Luck!

[imported_doug]

Jeff - your question made me curious. Happen to have two bottles of white vinegar, so I looked. One is called "white wine vinegar", the other is "distilled white vinegar". The latter is not made from grape juice, but grain. I suspect either would do the job. Also, the label says it is about 5% acid.

[Lemonxxs]

I wonder what the acid level is in the ABC system stuff????

[Don2000g]

The vinegar issue is not too complicated. You can start with a 50/50 solution if you like and then use it at its normal strength if the 50/50 mix doesn`t help too much. At any rate, you will still need to follow Showroom`s steps of resealing the area with a sealant and/or wax. The abrasives may be needed if you see etching as Showroom outlined earlier. Laters

[Rokkz]

I had the same problem with my oldies car. On Tuesday I used Meguairs #9 with Random Orbital unit until the polish had basically disappeared. Was very surprised as I thought I would require a more abrasive polish.



The only problem now is to remove the etching/water spot from the glass…. pain in the butt. Tried the same technique as above but without success probably due to the fact that I had a clear coat to cut into on the paint and nothing but glass on the windows.



Has anybody had any success removing etching/water spots with a paint cutting compound from glass?



Cheers

[bjwebster]

I have never used it but... I know Griots Garage carries two types of glass polish. I know, I know griots is overpriced, but the few things I have gotten there have been good! Maybe others can comment

[Don2000g]

Griots glass polish = good product

[Tru_Shine]

This is one of my older details that I had done, but forgot all about doing a write up on it. This job was over 25+ hours over the course of 2 1/2 days and I was just bout ready to slit my wrist half way through, lol. The GM clear coat is so hard, it`s like trying to cut a Diamond sometimes.


This Escalade came to me in pretty rough shape and I only had 2 days to complete. Lets begin, and see how it turns out on todays episode of Tru Life: I`m a detailer


Here is what i was brought

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade001.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade003.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade004.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade005.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade006.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade007.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade008.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade009.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade013.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade015.jpg

First the wheels and tires and Fender wells were cleaned with APC and Diablo wheel gel using various brushes

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade024.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade025.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade026.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade027.jpg

Then I foamed down the Escalade with my Karcher Foam gun and Karcher pressure washer

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade016.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade017.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade018.jpg

The Foam really helps breakdown and suspend the dirt up off of the vehicle keeping it from causing more harm to the paint.

I left the foam to dwell for a bit to help "roll off" some of the dirt with it.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade019.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade020.jpg

I ended washing the truck 2-3 times to get all of the grime out of all the concealed areas. it was Mitt Washed using the 2 bucket method and then rinsed thoroughly.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade022.jpg


After all of the dirt was finally washed away, here is what the paint really looked like.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade028.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade029.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade034.jpg

Next was getting it prepped and clayed, It was pretty bad, more then likely has never been clayed, this was just after one half of the hood. I had to fold the clay bar numerous times on this one.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade037.jpg

Now lets check out the paint close up and see what we have.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade038.jpg

I did a test spot on the front fender and dived right into it using the Purple foamed wool pad with M105 on the FLEX 3401.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade040.jpg

This clear coat was rock hard. I knew I was in for some late nights with this one. It took about 4-5 passes to get to the level I was looking for.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade042.jpg

So I started making my way down the driver side using this combo.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade045.jpg

Here is the sun beaming through the garage door window

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade046.jpg

here it is after cutting the door

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade049.jpg

This is the hood 50/50 shot

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade063.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade065.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade076.jpg


And this is the rear hatch before and after

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade070.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade071.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade072.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade074.jpg


to remove all of the crud in between all the emblems. I used M105 on a Cue-tip.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade080.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade079.jpg

So lets use the magic of time and skip to the Finals. after compounding the paint was polished using M205 and the Tangerine Hydro tech pad. then the paint was sealed using Black Fire Wet Diamond.

here are the finals.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade082.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade083.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade081.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade084.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade085.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade089.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade090.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade091.jpg

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k126/ericwitt04/TruShine%20detailing/Black%20Escalade/Escalade092.jpg

Thanks for viewing, Have a blessed day!

[tjharvey]

Beautiful work Eric! That beast looked horrible when it was dropped off X_X

And talk about a lot of surface area to cover...that is a big car.
I just detailed my girlfriend`s brand new BMW last weekend, and was amazed how bad the paint contamination was...I was folding through the clay to get fresh clay exposed frequently!

Anyhow...beautiful work and thanks for sharing...and really appreciate the details you provide!
\m/

[bmw5541]

Eric,

I`m surprised that you didn`t go run screaming into the night after seeing the condition of that Escalade.:scared:

That was a top notch save my friend. Great work as usual.:thumbup:

[imported_jaredpointer]

Great work. What are people using to wash their cars? Brillo pads?!? :)