2004 Dodge Dakota

[BanditSRT]

This is my first Show N' Shine here on AutoGeek so be nice! I'm still working on taking better before and after shots so please bare with me This is my dad's 2004 Dodge Dakota. It's his daily driver so it was filled with all sorts of marring. The worst part though was some sort of overspray that found it's way onto the front end and driver's side. It looked like white paint. The weather was crazy when I did this which is why some pix came out kinda dark. It was cool and cloudy when I started but warm and sunny when I finished... just in time to see my work in the sunlight.

Here's my process:

-Wash with ONR (this was my first time using it and I LOVE it)
-Clay with Zaino Z-18 with Mother's clay lube
-Optimum polish on an LC light cutting pad via PC
-Optimum Poli-Seal on an LC white polishing pad via PC
-Top with Natty's Blue paste wax via hand
-LSP was Pinnacle Crystal Mist

Tires were cleaned with Simple Green and dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant

Before:

Swirls were pretty heavy in some areas...

...but, overspray was my big problem to deal with.

It was great, I even got my dad to help me clay!


During:
I taped this area off to show how bad the swirls really were. (left side is polished)

We pulled it back out of the garage to see it in the daylight and he exclaimed "Oh my gosh it's a different color!" lol (it's not clear in the pic but the front fender has been polished)


Afters:



I don't know which product it was, but the metal flake really popped with this combo.




Overall, my dad was extremely happy with the outcome. This was my first time using OP and I must say I really liked it. It dusted very little compared to PB SSR2.5 and 1. Also, I hadn't planned on using Crystal Mist as my LSP. When we pulled the truck out into the sunlight, I saw what looked like holograms in the paint. My first thought was that the Poli-Seal didn't have time to cure (about 30 minutes) before I topped it with Natty's. So, I hit it with some Crystal Mist and all was well BTW, this was my first time using Crystal Mist (got it at DetailFest) and I love it!

[Nica]

Nice write up bro and I like the part of getting dad to help out that's cool...nothing like bonding at the garage cleaning a car nice.

That color sure is POPING!!!

Thanks for the pictures and the review.

[sparkie]

Great write up. You and your dad really turn that truck around. Awesome job. This is a sweet Pic.

This one too!

[HighEndDetail]

Nice deep blue

[AUdakota]

Nice to see another clean dakota.

[Nuke33]

Looks good

[Sevenrd]

Great work!

[supercharged]

Looks pretty good!