My new truck/wrecked truck and the ensuing detail

[Adam's Polishes]

Back on December 11th I traded in the TBSS on a 2009 Avalanche... it wasn`t that I didn`t like my TBSS, but it just didn`t have enough room for the family and I was ready to move on. Anyways... I had originally played with the idea of a Sierra Denali and a Tahoe, but I eventually settled on the Avalanche. I realize that this might not be a popular choice, but I have plans for this truck. More often than not if you see a modded Avy on the road (at least around here) its lifted. I`m gonna head the other direction with this and do an aggressive drop on 24`s black this thing out and have something unique.



Anyhoo, pick up my new truck Friday night (12/11/09), the next morning I am helping out at another Detail Clinic at Stillen Performance in Costa Mesa so I hit the road around 7:30am... if anyone in SoCal remembers the 12th, it was DUMPING rain that morning. A guy in a POS 97 F150 spun across all 4 lanes of the 5 freeway and wiped me out, even better he had no drivers license, no proof of insurance, and didn`t own the truck. He was in the fast lane doing 80mph in the rain, the police report later indicated that his tires were bald... perfect storm of sh*t. Good news is I walked away from the accident, spent a week off of work on Robaxin and Vicodin and still doing PT rehab for stiffness and range of motion in my neck and back. I was soooooo pissed... only had 30 miles on the odo when I got hit... that has to be some kind of record.



Thursday last week (ALMOST A MONTH LATER) I finally got my truck back, $9000 in damages and my first payment later I have my "new" truck back. The shop I used was great and went above and beyond to make sure it was as close to factory new as they could make it, and IMO pulled it off. You`d never know this thing was hit. Trying to stay positive I got them to colormatch the front end while it was in there, something I was planning on doing all along anyways.



So that brings us to today... and the detail. After sitting on a dealer lot and then at the body shop for almost a month this thing was rough... I`ll update this as I get the pics uploaded, enjoy!



Day 1:



After a wash and clay I started by documenting the condition of the paint, wanted a good basis for before and after shots. With a little help from my neighbor/friend and my new Brinkman Dual Xenon light I was able to capture the horror that is the paint on this truck.... dealer installed swirls anyone?





After documenting I spent the bulk of the day debadging and getting the dried coffee out of all the cracks of the center console. I had just picked up coffee a few minutes before the accident and knew that it would be everywhere. Also had to remove the silicone slime junk they dressed my interior with at the body shop. Gross.



Hood:





Drivers Side:





Tailgate:





Passenger Side Fender:





Front Bumper:

(remember this is fresh paint, I laughed when the bodyshop told me their guy was a pro and the truck would be better than new when I picked it up)













The Arsenal for Todays work:





Test panel inspection after SHR & FMP:











Debadge Done:





Day 1 complete, packed it in for the night and gonna be up early to resume. Bulk of the panels are done, still have a few to finish. The repaired/repainted panels didn`t need anything more than 2-3 passes with the white pad and FMP @ 5000opm. There were a ton of swirls, but all of them were fairly light. The original panels are another story... looks like the dealer was washing this thing with a push broom and playground sand. Some panels are taking yellow pad + SHR @ 6000opm to make headway, but they are coming up. I`ve also found a few deeper scratches that will be attacked with the 4" spot pads and the cordless tomorrow.



Here it is, no wax yet. Gonna wait 30 days to seal the repainted panels, the rest of the truck will get MSW tomorrow after the correction is done.







More pictures coming...

[Adam's Polishes]

DAY 2 -



Started off with some easier stuff... my back was stiff from the long day polishing on Saturday. Played with varying ratios of VRT/water to get exactly what I wanted. Ended up settling on a mixture thats roughly 60%VRT:40% Water... has a nice gloss to it, but not too shiny and its still spray-able at that ratio. With this truck I`ll be using A LOT of VRT







Once it warmed up a bit and I had my coffee I jumped back into the polishing. Started with a waterless wash wipe down to knock off any dust that had settled overnight and then continued to work one panel at a time and document the progress



Started on the rear drivers door and did a side by side to monitor progress.

Untouched section:





Reworked section:





Side by side:





Continued around the truck in the same manner... lost a little time to passers by and people coming over to ask questions. When you spend 2 days at a time polishing a truck it gets attention, and everyone wants to learn, I`m always more than happy to oblige, but it does slow me down if I have to teach and work at the same time.



Wrapped up around 4:30 after applying buttery wax to the back half of the truck, I had promised to take the wife and boy out to dinner. I opted not to bother sealing it yet as in 30 days I`m gonna need to strip and spot correct any problem areas when the paint is done curing, buttery will do a good enough job of protecting the unrepaired panels in the meantime.



Final shots:







I`m loving the blacked out front!!





Hood reflection:

[Jrichards4]

Sexy!! I don`t care what people say the new style Avalanche look good!! Awesome job on the clean up!!

[longdx]

That is a great job. I really like the Avalanche without the plastic cladding and the black really sets it off. Here is to better luck in your future with this truck, Lord knows you deserve it.

[Dan]

That is a great job. I really like the Avalanche without the plastic cladding and the black really sets it off. Here is to better luck in your future with this truck, Lord knows you deserve it.

I agree, it looks like crap with all the tupperware on it, but painted, it looks decent.

[bryan]

nice job, I hear you on how long it takes, I have an 07, in black and it looks friggin wicked when its polished but damn does it ever take a long time

[Barry Theal]

I just detailed that exact vehicle but it was the Z71 package on it. Its a very badass truck. sorry to hear about the accident. Good luck with it! Those adams pruducts look nice!

[4cruizn]

Really nice work on that one. Glad you`re back on the road and the work looks phenomenal. Any pics of the accident damage pre-repair?

[Accumulator]

Dylan@Adams- Glad you weren`t seriously injured.



Nice job of correcting all that marring, and IMO it sure looks better debadged :xyxthumbs



What about using a LSP-based approach for at least some of the plastic trim/cladding? I`m even doing the rubber on my Denali`s runningboards/step bumper that way, and it`s working out swell. Not like you need any advice from me, but it seems like you`ll be doing a lot of VRTing. That producct/water ratio does give a really nice look....

[MDetail]

That Avalanche looks alot better than some of the previous versions, and it`s very versatile. Nice job with the paint work

[Adam's Polishes]

Dylan@Adams- Glad you weren`t seriously injured.



Nice job of correcting all that marring, and IMO it sure looks better debadged :xyxthumbs



What about using a LSP-based approach for at least some of the plastic trim/cladding? I`m even doing the rubber on my Denali`s runningboards/step bumper that way, and it`s working out swell. Not like you need any advice from me, but it seems like you`ll be doing a lot of VRTing. That producct/water ratio does give a really nice look....

I`m gonna play around with some different options, just started here to see what would happen. The first real test was the other day when we had some light drizzle/mist. Being that the VRT is water based I was afraid any moisture would cause it to streak, blotch, or run down the bedsides. The moisture did run down the sides, but the ratio of product is low enough that it didn`t leave any streaks and the plastics still look freshly dressed.



I`ve never had anything with this much exposed textured plastic so its going to be a learning process... as I play with different options and combination I`ll be sure to share the results.

[Accumulator]

I`m gonna play around with some different options..I`ve never had anything with this much exposed textured plastic so its going to be a learning process... as I play with different options and combination I`ll be sure to share the results.

Roger that. I found myself in the same situation once and it took a while to figure out what`d be best for me. At least your current regimen didn`t result in a lot of issues when it rained.

[craigdt]

Itl be interesting to see how you deal with all that trim, as previously mentioned. Looks great

[adrock2003]

Which pads are those and where do you get them?

[black03mach]

hex logic at chemical guys or at adams



truck looks great!