2002 Dodge 350 dually diesel manual 6-speed

[Nica]

This is a good friend (co-worker) of mine’s big truck, the size was a little intimidating to me but I love a challenge. After I did my other good friend (co-worker) Mercedes SLK, this co-worker was interested on have me detail his truck. It was his birthday this weekend and so I told him I’d detail his truck.

Process:

Interior:

The interior was bad, so I got a bucket mixed with Meg’s APC and a all purpose MF towel and gave the entire inside a wipe down. Then I used Meg’s #40 on all rubber and vinyl. I like this product, goes on really good and it doesn’t leave that sticky/slick feeling in your fingers. I’ll continue to use it oh and I don’t mind the smell, it has that new smell to it.

Carpet:

I used Meg’s APC mixed with water and (I can’t remember the ratio) sprayed carpet let it set for a bit then agitated with a brush and extracted out with my shop-vac. Works great. I was going for the stripes but they didn’t come that great. I’m starting to pay more attention to the interior because it’s as important as the exterior. Well the owner was so happy with the interior that I got a hug out of it hahahaha.

Wash:

My good buddy CalgaryDetail gave me some Optimum wash (soap) to try out and it works good, not sure if I would purchase this stuff but it gets the job done. I found that I had to really mix the water with the soap quite a bit. One you have it mixed well with the water it works great and gives nice suds. So Optimum wash (soap) and black ShMITT. I like the black ShMITT, I only use this when I know I’ll be doing lots of correction to the paint and this truck needed lots of correction.

Clay:

I used the Ricardo Clay bar (Yellow clay bar). This is my go to clay and I’ll continue to use it, how ever this truck had lots and lots of tree sap stuck/baked on to it and the clay did not remove. I got some tar and bug remover and it still didn’t remove the tree sap, the tree sap really slowed me down. I got a 1:1 mix of Isopropyl and water mix and spray each one and this helped but it was a paint to remove. I’ll be purchasing a few things for tree sap removing.

Polishing:

Optimum Hyper Compund - 5inch orange Lake Country pad – rotary at 1500rpm
Menzerna 106FF – 6inch blue Lake Country pad – rotary at 1500rpm (wicked results)
This truck had lots of bad swirls/scratches and majoirty of the scratches I removed but some were to deep that not even wet sanding woul do, I tried.

Glaze:

XMT Carnauba Glaze, applied by hand and one coat. I like this glaze but I’m going to venture out to another glaze soon. Just to try something new.

Wax:

Souveran Paste, applied by hand and one coat. I’m still pleased with this wax and the paint looks good.


Now for the pictures (lots of pictures):

Before:

[Nica]

Interior before:











Here is what the water looked like when I gave it a wipe down inside before applying #40.

Interior After:




Like I said I tried to get the stripes but no luck this round...still working on it.

[Nica]

Exterior Before:






Majority of these scratches I managed to remove but there were deep scratches that I just couldn't remove. They didn't feel or look deep but not even wet sanding would remove them. Extra caution was taken becuase these panels were made out of fiber glass.






Here is one pass with Optimum Hyper Compund 50/50 shot.


Oh and this is what heps me keep my products oraganized instead of having them all over the garage.

After (it was getting late and we had clouds on so no sun pictures):

[Nica]

More after shots:












Roof shot...me likei




If you look reall close there are some deep scratches left on this side, I just couldn't remove it and I didn't want to remove all the clear coat on the vehicle.

[Nica]

um...more pictures:












Okay that's it no more pictures . I really enjoyed my self detailing this vehicle. I took my time about 18hrs. Started Friday and finished it on Saturday.

The owner was so happy with the results I even got a hug . I told the owner it was his birtday gift .

Must admit, this truck was a challenge and very impressed with the results.

Well enjoy, if there is any feed back/tips/complaints/suggestions please feel free to share.

[milky]

wow..awesome turnaround!!

[sparkie]

Awesome birthday gift! Brother I love all the pics and write up. The truck looks amazing. You are the expert in my eyes. Thanks for sharing your extrodinary work. Sorry it took so long.

[smsag04]

That looks awesome man. It looks like the Hyper Compound is some good stuff. The interior looks really good also.

[P1et]

WOW Nica! You really have done some phenomenal work recently. I say you're right up there with Justin, no doubt!

I really like the turnaround on the interior, I might just have to check that Megs #40 as I love the way it ended up. NICE!

[ehuth1]

NICA !! That one took the cake. Really that time you took a dirty ol' rock to a diamond. I love how you got the visible scratches out of the flares. The inside and out looks Amazing, I probably would have passed that one on to the next guy if it weren't for the b'day involved.