Christmas Gift To My Father....17 Hour Labor of Love

[imported_JoshVette]

So I told my Dad I had a special gift for him this year and that I was going to fully detail his truck.....he thought I was just going to clay and wax it or something....



So it's not a Ferrari or anything fancy, but it's my Dad's truck and he takes good care of his stuff so I thought he'd like a "new" paint job.



It's an 03 F150 and took me about 17 hours to perfect. It was very scratched up all over and took me nearly 3 days to finish.



I really wanted to blow him away with it all.



I'll describe the process as I go since it was so involved.





First up all the damage, defects, scratches, swirls, gauges and anything else you can image.



Swirls on the hood to give you an overall idea of the condition.

Next up, some scratches and scrapes

I know these scratches look small in the pics, but I honestly think there were none less then 3 inches long.

Now onto the wetsanding. I had to wetsand very large area and very curvy area since this is a step side bed, so it was very difficult to polish it all out perfectly. I used 2000 grit and it did the job perfectly.



Let the games begin.

Sanding the front bumper.

sanding the "flare" side.

This will give you a more true idea of how large the scratches were along the bed.

More sanding.

Sanding part of the tailgate

Now onto the other side of the truck.

Lots more sanding on this panel as well.

Sanding the door scratches

Next up polishing out sanding marks.

 

[baseballlover1]

Well... knowing how goo you are... im guna take a guess and say this thing is going to be PERFECT and amazing!... we shall see... and i will be right, i know i will be. Looks good so far!

 

[imported_PlatinumEdition]

nice...post up those afters quick!

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Alright now that I've got it all washed, clayed and sanded I can move onto the polishing.



Normally I would sand last after polishing out what I could, but I didn't have the patients for it, there was just too many scratches in this case.



I used the Makita rotary with a LC white pad, Menzerna IP with rpms at 1500. First I dab it around then a couple sprays with water to give it a little lube, then spread it around on 600rpms, then up to 1500 for a few passes and to work in and break down the polish, then once heated up and polish broken down I turn it down to 1100rpms and work it in a little further, it usually finishes out perfectly hologram free, even on Ford soft clear.:clap:



Here's some swirls on hood,

Now you see them

Now you don't

before

after

before

after

Here you can see swirls as well as alot of the entire panel sanded, after just one pass with the rotary, it was nearly perfect again.....scratch free.

after

It's hard to believe this is the same panel anymore.

Here's the passenger door I sanded with swirls. I actually had to go over this panel with an orange pad first then back over it again with the white pad to finish down any holograms it left.

after

The other rear panel

Swirls and sanding marks

after 2 passes

Tailgate

after

Now that all the sanding and correction is done, time to hit it with some ZAIO and finish her off for some glamour shots.

 

[imported_DJ Mayo]

awesome man. That thing was bad

 

[baseballlover1]

Wowww!!!! Great Job Josh!!!



Just GREAT!

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Here's some interior shots, sorry no befores, but there was one big nasty stain in the middle that seemed to disapear before too long.



Basically just dusted it down, vacuumed it out and hit it all with some 303 and a microfiber.



Sprayed some 303 stain remover on the stain and let it dwell for a few minutes, then scrubbed it all with a brush and revacuumed the appolstry.

well, there was a big stain on the middle seat, but I got it.

Now for some glamour shots. I'll be honest, the whole truck was only about 90%-95% perfect, but all the scratches came out better then I thought. I spent 17 hours on this truck for my Dad and I was wore out afterwards otherwise I may have taken it even further....



This was once a beat up, scratched up pick up......

No more scratches here, that wihite stripe is on the road.

ditto

These curves took some time and quite a bit of caution with the rotary, but they turned out perfect.

The most difficult part of the truck, this is a concave curve of the bed panels.

more beautiful reflections of my Dad's truck.

The other curve, I even polished the under side of the step as you can see it gleaming with the reflection of the street.

You know what they say......Like Father Like Son...:bow

Thanks, any questions and comments welcome.

 

[Todd@RUPES]

This is one of the those jaw dropping threads... I really don't even know what I could say to keep from drooling. Ace!

 

[JohnZ3MC]

Beautiful work on the F150. You could just be the best son in the whole world.

-John C.

 

[kh765]

That is some incredible work...

 

[mazdaguy]

Beautiful Job!

 

[imported_Sludge1]

Terrific work. This is the kind of detail that I come to Autopia to see. I'm sure your Dad was blown away by his "new" truck. The whole detail is inspirational. Thanks. :up

 

[Stephenwz968]

The wetsanding and scratch removal is wonderful-great job!

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Well... knowing how goo you are... im guna take a guess and say this thing is going to be PERFECT and amazing!... we shall see... and i will be right, i know i will be. Looks good so far!

Thanks, it finished out about 95% perfect. It was very difficult to get it 100% since it was a flare side and had so many curves.

 

[imported_JoshVette]

awesome man. That thing was bad

It was really scratched up alot more then what I could show with pics, my Dad takes great care of it, but it's still a truck and get used as a truck so the scratches will be plenty.

 

[netspec]

That's a damn fine job on your Dad's truck JoshVette!:up

 

[imported_JoshVette]

This is one of the those jaw dropping threads... I really don't even know what I could say to keep from drooling. Ace!

Thanks Todd, it was a real challenge doing that flare side, I'd never wish it on any detailer but it was good practice for me with all those curves. It turned out nicely.

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Beautiful work on the F150. You could just be the best son in the whole world.

-John C.

:chuckle: I've been saying that same thing to my parents for years.....:spit:

 

[imported_JoshVette]

KH765 and Mazdaguy, thanks.:hifive:

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Terrific work. This is the kind of detail that I come to Autopia to see. I'm sure your Dad was blown away by his "new" truck. The whole detail is inspirational. Thanks. :up

Thanks, yes he was pretty happy to see it. I got it back to him just after the new year and told him for the new year he'll have a new truck. :xyxthumbs



My parents have made so many sacrifices for me, even though I'm grown now, I just wanted to do something to give back to them.:bigups