1997 Toyota T100 Oxidation Removal
Show N' ShineDiscuss 1997 Toyota T100 Oxidation Removal in the Auto Detailing Forums forums; I've got a neighbor who works in Kenya one month on and one month off. He does something with ...
I've got a neighbor who works in Kenya one month on and one month off. He does something with oil drilling. Anyway, we are in his last week of 'one week on' and we made a deal before he left. He does incredible things with wood and I had a project I wanted to trade him for. So I got to polish his 1997 T100 truck and he will make my wood project for me. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
The thing has been ridiculously neglected, but fortunately it is from a time when paint was practically bulletproof. It had some damage that wasn't going to get fixed by polishing, but a lot of it was just really bad oxidation. I knew that would clean up easily with the tools and products I had in mind. The Flex 3401 and some XMT3 should do the trick.
I washed and clayed it last night and started working on the paint this morning. Because it is black and the sun was just not at the right angle, 'before' pictures were kind of tough to take. The camera wouldn't focus on the damage and just zeroed in on the reflections. You know the type of damage though. Just sort of rainbowy and oxidized looking black paint.
I bust out my red FLEX pad and went to work. I wanted to get some half/half shots since that was probably the only way the difference would really be seen with the lighting I had to work with.
I did the same thing on the hood. That part was just so much worse looking in person, but this shows it off pretty well.
The top of the cab was pretty terrible too, but I didn't think to get the half and half up there. I figured I had what I needed.
All in all I have about 5 hours of polishing into this beast. I went over it once with XMT3 and then once more with XMT1 just to clear out some haze. It looked so much better than I thought it would after that second pass. Then I used some Wolfgang Polish Enhancer and then a final step of Wolfgang Paint Sealant. Nothing looks better on black than Wolfgang, so it only seemed appropriate.
The paint may still not be perfect, but I think it is still going to blow the owner's mind when he gets home next week. The difference before and after was pretty awesome. I love vehicles like this. It took some time, but it wasn't really that difficult. I was glad for the opportunity and really hope he likes it.
I used Eagle One products for the wheels and tires. I have used some great tire shine products in the past, but Eagle One can compete with any of them, IMHO. Once you find a tire shine that lasts for two weeks without turning brown or slinging all over the place, then I say you should stick with it.
...I agree. I stuck with AM Cool Blue for a LOOOONNNGGG time. Now use OCC products.
I haven't used a paste wax since who knows when (6mths?), looking at trying out powerlock on a particular customer due to the Illiadelphia hands thread.
I still use the occasional paste wax. I love love LOVE Wolfgang Fuzion. That stuff is insane. And Pinnacle waxes are second to none. I just don't like using them on big projects. I especially don't use them this late in the season. Now is the time to start prepping for winter. Waxes look great, but they aren't going to stand a chance against a Utah winter.
Thanks to my Pad Washer sitting in my Pad Washer Cart it was pretty easy to stay on top of cleaing the pads. I just sprayed them with the Pad Renewing Solution and scrubbed them out everytime the color was gone on the bottom of the pad. If I could still see red then I kept going, but it didn't really take long before it was full up. I probably scrubbed out that pad seven or eight times before the job was done. It was awesome being able to clean it without needing to take it off my machine. That saves a ton of time AND it saves the pad. I've lost more pads from ripping the velcro backing off while cleaning than I'd care to think about. The pad washer paid for itself pretty darn quick and the cart paid for itself pretty fast too. When you add up the time you save going back and forth to your supplies and cleaning your pads, it can pile up on you.
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