Protecting my 95 Suburban from Utah winters.

[moab]

I bought an extremely clean 1995 2500 4x4 GMC Suburban with 107,000 miles on it from California which was always garaged. This vehicle has all original paint with no dents. 1995's were known to eventually have peeling paint and this one is not missing any paint anywhere. The paint is in great shiny condition except on the drivers side rear where it has some slight oxidization. My best guess is this 3 foot by 3 foot oxidized area got hit by the sun through a garage window, but I am not sure.

Unfortunately I will have to keep this vehicle outside in the Utah winter weather, so I want to protect the paint on this vehicle.

I am getting ready to place an order with Autogeek. Right now I am thinking of ordering a Griot's 6" polisher with Lake Country 5" backing plate and 5.5" Lake Country pads. I am unsure of exactly what polishes and waxes to get. I have been reading as much as I can about Meguiar's product line, Klasse high gloss sealant and Pinnacle Souveran wax.

What products would you use to remove the oxidization and detail this vehicle with? Thanks in advance.

[Mike Phillips]

I bought an extremely clean 1995 2500 4x4 GMC Suburban with 107,000 miles on it from California which was always garaged. This vehicle has all original paint with no dents.

Score!

I am getting ready to place an order with Autogeek. Right now I am thinking of ordering a Griot's 6" polisher with Lake Country 5" backing plate and 5.5" Lake Country pads.

That's the most powerful foam pad combo you can get. Read this thread, lots of info besides marking your backing plate....



Video: Mark your backing plate to make it easy to see pad rotation

I am unsure of exactly what polishes and waxes to get.

Being the paint on this Suburban is almost 20 years old you seriously want to take the least aggressive approach.

ONLY use high quality compounds and polishes.

I have been reading as much as I can about

• Meguiar's product line,
• Klasse high gloss sealant and
• Pinnacle Souveran wax.

All good products...

What products would you use to remove the oxidization and detail this vehicle with?

Thanks in advance.

Since you say you're going to be leaving this Suburban outside, exposed to the elements of winter in Utah... if you want to keep it simple, then try to fix it with the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish combo and seal her up with something like M20 Polymer Sealant.

Get some 5.5" LC Flat pads in Orange and White and at least one blue one to machine apply the M20 Polymer Sealant.

Use the orange pads with the compound and the white pads with the polish. After you get the paint to where you're happy re-apply the M20 Polymer Sealant as a "Maintenance Wax" as it has a light amount of cleaning ability and that's what you need and want for something this big with paint this old parked outside 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

[moab]

Mike

I ordered your book, The Art of Detailing before I seen any post from you here. Thanks for all of your information. This 95 Suburban is in amazing condition and I want to take good care of her. Utah salts the roads during the winter here which is very harsh on vehicles here over time. This 95 would probably take 20 years to start rusting out here if neglected because it looks like it is one year old. 98 percent of the black factory coating is still on the axles and springs of this rig. Extremely hard to find any rust on the frame also. I got lucky when I bought this one. It needs zero mechanical work also.

[Mike Phillips]

Mike

I ordered your book, The Art of Detailing before I seen any post from you here. Thanks for all of your information. This 95 Suburban is in amazing condition and I want to take good care of her. Utah salts the roads during the winter here which is very harsh on vehicles here over time. This 95 would probably take 20 years to start rusting out here if neglected because it looks like it is one year old. 98 percent of the black factory coating is still on the axles and springs of this rig. Extremely hard to find any rust on the frame also. I got lucky when I bought this one. It needs zero mechanical work also.

That's a lot of truck for the money when it was new. Assuming you stole it the condition makes it an even better deal.

Hats off to you for appreciating the truck and the condition and being pro-active in maintaining it into the future.

IF it has any exterior textured plastic trim, get either Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant or CarPro PEARL and start right now applying one of these products and then regularly apply it and the plastic will stay in nice shape.


I taught a class at Mobile Tech Expo on how to restore and maintain exterior black plastic trim once and the key was to start doing something to the trim while it was still in good shape, don't wait till it looks horrible and then look for a late night TV infomercial "Miracle Product" to save it.

How to restore and maintain black plastic trim

[moab]

It does have some plastic trim on it. It has the SLT package with white plastic trim around the wheel wells and plastic trim on the rear bumper. All the trim looks like new. Thanks for telling me what to use to protect the plastic with. This 95 has white paint.

When I buy a used vehicle I like to put all new fluids in it and get the automatic transmission serviced. Change the small stuff like a new radiator cap, new radiator hoses, new thermostat, put a new serpentine belt on and replace the belt tensioner. CHEVY'S are known for fuel pumps going bad on them, so I am going to put a new fuel pump in this vehicle. The original owner told me it has the original fuel pump in it. Basically I like to replace parts before they fail especially on this vehicle which I may keep for a decade.

I bought this 95 Suburban for $4,200.00 and paid a car hauler $900.00 to deliver it from California to my home in Utah. I wanted the 1995 year because they were one of the most reliable years while also not being too expensive. Getting a clean low mileage one is just icing on the cake. This has the big block motor, with the 4l80-E transmission and the 14 bolt rear end. This is a heavy duty Suburban that should be reliable for over 200k. Nothing major should need to be rebuilt on this until I run it well over 200K miles. I respect this rig and it will be taken care of by me. I estimate I will put around seven thousand dollars into this rig total with new tires and then it will be a reliable vehicle I can trust.

[Mike Phillips]

When I buy a used vehicle I like to put all new fluids in it and get the automatic transmission serviced. Change the small stuff like a new radiator cap, new radiator hoses, new thermostat, put a new serpentine belt on and replace the belt tensioner. CHEVY'S are known for fuel pumps going bad on them, so I am going to put a new fuel pump in this vehicle. The original owner told me it has the original fuel pump in it. Basically I like to replace parts before they fail especially on this vehicle which I may keep for a decade.

Great best practices there... I'm kind of the same way except I tend to rip out the running gear which is usually headed up by a small block and then install a big block and all the rest of the vitals as well as everything else that matters.

My current truck I bought used and the previous owner did a "pretty good job" of rebuilding it but it looks like the used the old radiator, belts, hoses, power steering pump etc. when they installed the motor.

Kind of weird because they spent $1200.00 on a Billet Torque Converter?

Since I've owned it I've recently changed out all the belts and hoses and installed a new aluminum radiator. Next summer all the running gear is coming out and I've giving it to my buddy Dave in exchange for him fabricating and welding up the mounts for a divorced Dodge NP205 Gear-Driven Transfercase that will sit behind my brand new Turbo 400 that will sit behind my rebuild 454.

Here's my Dana Sniff Tranny already to go....





Then I don't plan on turning a wrench on it for at least 10 years depending upon how hard I driver.

I bought this 95 Suburban for $4,200.00 and paid a car hauler $900.00 to deliver it from California to my home in Utah.

I wanted the 1995 year because they were one of the most reliable years while also not being too expensive. Getting a clean low mileage one is just icing on the cake.

This has the big block motor, with the 4l80-E transmission and the 14 bolt rear end.

That's the icing on the cake!

This is a heavy duty Suburban that should be reliable for over 200k. Nothing major should need to be rebuilt on this until I run it well over 200K miles. I respect this rig and it will be taken care of by me. I estimate I will put around seven thousand dollars into this rig total with new tires and then it will be a reliable vehicle I can trust.

Like I said before....

Score!

I'd wash the paint with Iron X to make sure all iron or metal particles are removed, then machine decontaminate the paint with a Nanoskin pad on a DA Polisher, then machine polish and wax.

[moab]

The 4l80-E transmission in my 95 Suburban is based on the turbo 400 transmission. They can both be built up to handle very high horsepower far above and beyond what they could handle out of the factory. I am not aware of Dana Sniff, but I am sure they build an extremely tough transmission if you bought it.

[moab]

Mike

I have been reading your The Art of Detailing book. Very nice detailed information and great pictures.

What would the difference be between Meguiar's M105 & M205 vs Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and Ultimate polish you recommended?

Do you recommend waxing over the Meguiar's M20 or M21 synthetic sealant?

I am ready to place up to a $400.00 order with Autogeek due to my funds are now in my PayPal account. Thanks for all of your help.