My Father`s 2011 GMC Sierra gets Ceramic

**richy** · 10-19-2017, 09:40 PM

My father is 80 years old and used to build hotrods when he was a kid. He`s lowered this truck and had custom made fender skirts for it. Very unique looking truck as a result!

I coated his truck at least 3 years ago. It was due. It also had some bad scratches in it from using the wrong thing to remove snow. I had filled in the scratches a few weeks ago. I wasn`t going to be leveling any of them. This was a case of make it look better, not perfect. The hood was badly scratched and received the most work, but here it is as it arrived:

I was also doing the interior, specifically targeting this back seat carpet stain:

The wheels were done with the wells being cleaned by LATA, the tires by Zep 505 and the barrels and faces cleaned with Zep Citrus using various brushes and 3D Pink Soap. The trim was cleaned with LATA and agitated with a brush. The paint was cleaned, foamed and clayed with a clay towel.

The hood was compounded using Flex 3401 and M100 and a black wool 3D pad. I found the sweet spot for removing defects was about speed 4. Anything higher did not result in more correction but did generate dusting. At 4 it was not dusting, but yet was correcting the defects.

There were some other areas that needed that stage as well, but I tried to limit the time spent chasing bad defects. My goal was to dramatically improve the paint, with no illusions of perfection. That`s also why I steered him to Ceramic and not Self Heal Lite....didn`t make sense on this one. Any defect removal was followed up with a yellow B/S pad + M205. The rest of the paint just got the M205 stage. It was doing remarkably well at getting the paint to glow although I was having to clean the pad at least once a panel as it was pulling a lot of crap out of the paint. The chrome bumpers got polished with the Flex and 205 as well. The running boards were hand polished with M205 as well. I used Ceramic to coat the boards, chrome and all, and all of the remaining trim. Ceramic does very well on trim.

The interior was vacuumed first and then I used my Mytee Lite extractor after spraying the carpet with Zep carpet cleaner and agitating it with a DA and a carpet cleaning attachment. The leather seats and plastic door grabs were quite dirty and were cleaned using my interior cleaning pad and Optimum Power Clean. That was followed by using UWW lightly misted on the seats and then wiped down well with a dry mf. That got them clean and smooth to the touch.

Here it is 19 hours later with both inside (at night) and outside shots:

Thanks for looking. We was very, very pleased, which made me proud.

**Sizzle Chest** · 10-20-2017, 09:28 PM

Well done and an excellent `customer` to have done it for!

**BudgetPlan1** · 10-20-2017, 10:23 PM

Nice. What are the differences between Ceramic and Ceramic Lite?

**richy** · 10-20-2017, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by Sizzle Chest

Well done and an excellent `customer` to have done it for!

Scott, thanks kindly. I kinda hope he stays around for a lot longer!!

Originally Posted by BudgetPlan1

Nice. What are the differences between Ceramic and Ceramic Lite?

Ceramic is stronger, lasts longer but is not as slick to the touch as Lite is. Ceramic also offers 3 year warranty and Lite for 1 year.

**RTexasF** · 10-21-2017, 07:55 AM

I always look forward to your threads and this one is no exception. I love the old style fender skirts, very unique for a pickemup truck.
My Dad passed away in 1985 and I still miss him. I can tell you treasure your Pop by doing this for him. Well done Sir, well done

**Never Enuff** · 10-21-2017, 09:46 PM

Truck looks excellent!!!! Your willingness to do that for your Dad speaks volumes about you and your family values. I totally agree with some of the above comments. One question-----I saw the "mini" baseball bat in the pocket of the drivers seat---does your Dad play baseball????? LOL
Jay

**WT Taggart** · 10-22-2017, 12:01 PM

Richy, vehicle looks great, love how your dad lowered the truck “Chip Foose” if Canada, given it the proper stance, thanks for sharing my friend.

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**tom p.** · 10-22-2017, 04:44 PM

Richy, great stuff !! He`s gonna be luvin` that truck !!!!!!

**richy** · 10-23-2017, 09:58 PM

Originally Posted by RTexasF

I always look forward to your threads and this one is no exception. I love the old style fender skirts, very unique for a pickemup truck.
My Dad passed away in 1985 and I still miss him. I can tell you treasure your Pop by doing this for him. Well done Sir, well done

Rick, and likewise, you always seem to take the time to comment. And that, my friend, is much appreciated! Those skirts were custom made for him. It`s literally the only one around with them.

It`s funny, when he turned 80 this year, we had a party for him. He said he never thought he`d make it to this age. He`s overcome a lot of obstacles in his life..we jokingly refer to him as the man with 9 lives. He recently fell off his dock and hit his head while falling into the Detroit river...damned near drowned. We`re not sure what life # that was, LOL. I will be crushed when he`s gone as I`m sure you were too.
Thanks again Rick.

Originally Posted by Never Enuff

Truck looks excellent!!!! Your willingness to do that for your Dad speaks volumes about you and your family values. I totally agree with some of the above comments. One question-----I saw the "mini" baseball bat in the pocket of the drivers seat---does your Dad play baseball????? LOL
Jay

No, but he and my mom are big Tiger`s fans. They were there in `84 for the win.

Originally Posted by WT Taggart

Richy, vehicle looks great, love how your dad lowered the truck “Chip Foose” if Canada, given it the proper stance, thanks for sharing my friend.

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My absolute pleasure. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!!

Originally Posted by tom p.

Richy, great stuff !! He`s gonna be luvin` that truck !!!!!!

Tom, yes he is! Let me share what feedback he posted on my site:

Bill Howitt
10/23/2017 12:49:31 pm

My truck is a 2011 and sits outside 12 months of the year. Not in beautiful California but in bitter Canada with lots of salt covered roads.After all, we are the home of Windsor Salt Mines.
I didn`t believe the running boards or hub caps could be saved, much less the scratched paint. A full paint job was considered--$4000!
Well, I just saved myself a lot of money and am more than just pleased with the results. Every inch of the truck was treated--plastic, metal, chrome and glass with amazing results. Even the girl at Tim Hortons asked me " what year is your truck? Is it new? I love it"
Truck looks great and I`m 20 years younger. Bill