Not your typical detail!

[Underdawg736GTC]

Ok guys here`s my first official "contribution" to Autopia!



I posted this over at MOL last year, some may have seen it but I haven`t seen anything like it over here.



Being on an ambulance is pretty fun and rewarding job at times, one thing though is that the vast majority of the rigs out there are in dire need of some detailing, I can understand the crews that are out for the majority of their shifts and barely have time to eat let alone wash up the their rig. The "auto soap" of choice that a lot of companies use is Dawn or any other dish detergent. Most rigs only see wax during the first 6 months of service, then the newness will wear off and their shiny, glossy paint will turn dull and flat with no real reflections.

Anyways, at work I`ve been trying to keep up with the shine but it had been a really busy year for us. Two weeks prior I figured I`d start getting the two rigs ready for some upcoming events and winter. Initially I wasn`t going to go all out but with fairs and parades I figured why not. The first rig I pretty much neglected this year, it was all sorts of swirled and plenty of EVO-IDS (that`s Emergency Vehicle Operator-Instilled Deep Scratches/Swirls!)...similar to DISO`s! This dirty gal needed some lovin and she got it.....a weeks worth, I guess that`s what I had coming since I pretty much neglected her for a year!

Sorry guys but I didn`t get any before pics, aside from a quick wash and wax in spring you can imagine what I`m dealing with.



We have 2 twin 2002 Ford E450 Type III Ambulances that where made by Horton Emergency Vehicles. The twins have roughly 87k each on odo and with our maintenance program they`ll probably last us another 10 years easily. When I first started full time in 2008, their paint was seriously neglected and had been waxed maybe 2 or 3 times in their lives up to that point.



Tools of the trade:

G110 v1 - I`m looking to upgrade as soon as financially possible!

Blue Coral Car Soap - It`s what we had on hand.

Purple Power - Tires, mud flaps, and front wheel wells.

Turtle Wax Tar and Sap Gel - It`s what we had and did an ok job except you really had to put some elbow grease into it, I now use Tarminator by Stoners almost exclusively.

GC Endurance Gel w/tire applicator.

Meg`s Blue Clay w/QD - Took easy care of the remaining stubborn tar and rail dust.

Meg`s Hot Rims Mag and Alum Polish w/Mothers Powerball - Brightened up all exterior metal work

M105 - Knocked out a lot of the EVO-IDS, cleared up all of the emergency lighting, and did an awesome job putting the "stainless" back into the stainless steel!

M205 - Took quick work eliminating the majority of the remaining swirls and brought out a rich glossy white and orange paint.

M16 x2- (by hand) This was put on the cab as well as the front and back sides of the box since they pretty much receives the most punishment.

NXT 2.0 (liquid) x2 (by G110 v1) - This was placed on the sides of the box and metal work as they seem to hold the wax for a longer period.

Megs QID for interior cab and box.

Ultimate Protectant - Shine and protect all textured exterior trim.



All in all it took about 57 hours over 7 work days to get her back up to standards. We had a relatively "quiet" two weeks during that time, only running a hand full of calls so that helped me out a lot!



Method of Madness:



Day 1 - Wash de-tar and clay the rig. One bucket and boar hair brush.....can`t possibly do two bucket w/grit guards by hand, that`s just begging to be interrupted....plus there`s no one here that will even consider spending that kind of time washing the rig.

The rig is a tar magnet and there were literally hundreds if not thousands of little specs of tar in every nook and cranny. What the TW Tar and Sap remover didn`t get, the clay did with ease. Also there was plenty of rail dust especially on the lower half of the rig, clay knocked those out pretty quickly! Purple Power cleaned up the tires and an alright job on the wheel wells and mud flaps. Total time about 5 hrs.



Day 2 - Finished claying and started work on the metal. It`s been a year since I last polished up the metal and it was fairly oxidized with little reflections. The Mag/Alum polish with the Powerball brought the diamond plating back to near mirror like quality. Also Megs Endurance Gel brought the shine back to the tires! Total time about 7 hrs.



Day 3 - More metal polishing (by hand this time), brought up the shine on the smooth polished aluminum grill light casing, siren housing, fuel area, rear door holders, antenna, and the chrome plated grill and light trims. Finished up with the diamond plating as well. Not perfect as there`s a whole mess load of severe water etching, especially in the back, but there`s a remarkable improvement to them! Total time about 6 hrs.



Day 4 - Finished up with the metal polishing, rims and bumper shined up. Start cleaning and correcting paint (cab) w/M105. For the most part I only needed to do one pass. Working areas from 1`x1` up to 3`x3` starting with enough pressure to keep the pad moving using a crosshatch pattern (up, down, side to side, and diagonal) easing up on the pressure the I went on the section. Smaller areas and the top of the box (front) was worked by hand using M105 and a Megs yellow applicator pad. Using the crosshatch pattern with plenty of passion for up to 1 minute working time. This was probably one of the roughest parts due to having to contort myself to reach back behind the lightbar. Total time about 9 hrs.



Day 5 - Finished what little needed to be done with the M105 and started polishing the cab with M205 (by hand again for the hard to reach spots). Once finished she received a coat of M16 by hand. Door jams were cleaned by M105 and protected w/M16. L/S box was cleaned and corrected w/M105 with the same method. Started polishing w/M205. Total time - 9 hrs.



Day 6 - Came in at 2 am to get a head start. Cleaned up door jambs on the box, second coat of M16 on the cab, finished polishing on the L/S box, cleaned, corrected, polished and 1 coat of M16 on the back end of the box. Cleaned/corrected R/S box. Total time -14 hrs.



Day 7 - Light at the end of the tunnel!!! Polished up the R/S box, found a little "present" left for me by the night crew.....yeah you`ll see below! Both sides and metal got 1 coat of NXT 2.0 via G110 and a black finishing pad. All exterior trim dressed w/UP, Interior cab and box cleaned up with QID. Interior stainless steel polished up w/M105. Rig looked over for anything needed missed that needed corrected, final wipe down and inspection. Total time about 7 hrs.



I wasn`t planning on spending so much time on the rig, but once I got into my "zone" I just kept finding things to correct! Of course I got the eyeballs of why I`m going crazy on the rig, they just don`t care or don`t understand. Would you want someone you love being cared for in a filthy ambulance? I think not. It doesn`t have to be up to my or MOL or Autopian "standards" but to me, a dirty banged up rig just screams carelessness and unprofessionalism. One night the rig went out on an MVA (accident) and I was told that several of the firefighters commented on how good the rig looked. Also had a member of a sister company come in to chat and was floored on how well our rigs were kept up. To me that makes all of this worth it and keeps my motivation and pride up in this profession as anyone in EMS can tell you that you can get demotivated and burned out very quickly.

Anyways here are the end results, The weather didn`t cooperate very much, it was cloudy and rainy for the majority of the 7 days I was at it. Also I didn`t have much decent light to work with to check on my progress. I was very nervous that I was going to pull her out into the sun to find all sorts of marring, hazing, and anything else I could`ve inadvertently caused but alas I pulled her out and she was in much better shape then I could`ve hoped for! I believe I knocked out about 50%-60% of the EVO-IDS....many were just to deep and with a time constraint I couldn`t spend more time on. Also knocked out 85% of the swirls. She was not "show car" perfect but I wasn`t going for that to begin with. This by far was my most intense detail at that time and had far exceeded my expectations!



My regular camera is out of service at the moment so all pics were taken with my iPhone.

Enjoy!



Just to give you an idea, here`s what the first due rig looks like.....not extremely bad...















My working space,







Here`s the "present" that was left for me from the night crew. Wasn`t that nice of them??















A little clay and 105 cleaned it up real nice!







Didn`t get many during shots, but here`s the end result.







50/50ish,















































































Some interior shots.















Finally some beading shots taken in the days after.



















Well I hope I didn`t bore you guys with this little write up!



Please let me know what y`all think, good, bad, indifferent.....it`s all good!



Again thanks,



Sean

[Grimm]

Very nice.

[SeaJays]

Nice work! Really brought that thing back to life!

[Thomas Dekany]

Awesome! Although I never want to be anywhere near one of those things. Ever. I wan to go quick.

[Underdawg736GTC]

Thanks you SeaJay and Thomas! Yeah usually if you see us, you`re not having the best of days!

[mikenap]

Thanks you SeaJay and Thomas! Yeah usually if you see us, you`re not having the best of days!

LOL, true words there!



Great work!

[G'kar]

Nicely done...Quick question does your Rig have the RUDO Rotogrip automatic snow chain system on it?

[DeanSweet]

impressive. Probably better than when it was originally delivered.

[Paul Sparks]

Wow thats a lot of sq feet. Looks great.

[C. Charles Hahn]

That rig looks awesome! Easily one of the best kept EMS trucks on the road.

[Scottwax]

Shiniest ambulance ever!

[JohnKleven]

Great work. Best looking ambulance I`ve ever seen.

[MusicMan]

Cool write up man...nope ive never seen an ambulance done. I DID see someone do a write up on a short bus once though! I liked the pictures of the paint after it was rained on, nice and beaded..looked sharp.

[Underdawg736GTC]

Thank you everyone! It`s good motivation to get her squared away for the summer!



G`Kar, I don`t know the exact name, but we have Onspots. They`re mounted beside the rear wheels and when you hit a switch they start to spin the chains under the tires.



As this detail was done last September, she`s due for another which I`m probably gonna start on it on Tuesday. I don`t think I`m gonna get aggressive with the pain except for some spot corrections and fixing some paint chips. The inside needs some attention and so does all the diamond plating, so that may be where my focus is gonna be.

I also have a very neglected, never been properly detailed paratransit (wheelchair) van that our transport side has. That puppy is gonna be an adventure and a half!! Hopefully I`ll have some MF pads to test out.