Here is a red Dodge Dakota Quad Cab that belongs to a friend of mine. He works with me and drives probably 150 miles round trip each day to work. This truck is
driven. And to make matters worse it is driven on a lot of back roads in rural NC through some swampy areas so bugs are killed at an alarming rate! Believe me he does his part for NC insect control. Anyway he wanted the truck detailed and I had been wanting to do it for some time because I thought I could really make the red become
RED with the awesome products I now have in my arsenal and the things I have learned here from everyone.
The truck is very well taken care of and the inside was really just a little dusty and faded. The interior carpet is absolutely pristine and like I said the interior was really just in need of a good dose of DP Total Interior cleaner and DP Interior Surface Protectant. I didn't really realize that the dash and such were a little faded until after the DP surface protectant. The dash went back to it's original gray color and looked new again. Like I said at first the inside looked so good that I didn't take any pics because I didn't think it would make much difference when I cleaned it but I wish I had to show the difference the DP made. Oh well note to self always take pics of the interior regardless how nice it appears.
The truck like I said was well taken care of just really dirty with road grime and bugs and paint was just a flat red. Here are some examples of what all the lower panels looked like before I started:
You can see here where I had cleaned the wheel wells and some of the fender flare got clean in the process. You can see the grime.
I did some extra things because I wanted his truck to look really good and I think I got that
! Well here is what I did:
Wheels/Tires: I cleaned the wheels and tires with DP Gel Wheel cleaner and Black Schmitt. The back barrels of the wheels got ARO and EZ detail brush. For anyone that has cleaned the wheels of a Dakota/Durango this brush is a must have. The EZ brush got all of the barrel in between all spokes and just did a great job. The only stuff I couldn't get off was mainly on the driver's front tire barrel. He seemed to think that might be dried on deer blood where he decided to destroy something other than an insect one day. Anyone have any advice/tips for getting dried blood off of wheels? I also glazed the wheels with DP Wheel Glaze and used the Mother's MiniPowerball to remove it. The wheel wells got ARO as they had a lot of road grime and tar. The tires were dressed with Surf City Beyond Black Tire Pro and a Cobra Flex Foam applicator. I really love the look of Surf City Tire Pro and it is becoming my go to dressing. Wheel wells were dressed with Stoners Trim Shine.
Bugs and Lower Panels: I started with the bugs as there must have been a gaggle of them. I sprayed the front down with Stoners Tarminator and let it sit for a few minutes. Then I sprayed with Poorboy's Bug Squash and used my Pinnacle Safe Scrub and knocked those bugs out. I was amazed at how easy they came off. I sprayed all the lower panels with Stoners Tarminator before I washed the panel and let it sit until I washed it.
Clay: I sprayed the panels down with my soap soulution from the AG foam gun and clayed with Clay Magic.
Wash: I used DP Xtreme Foam in the AG foam gun and a Cobra Microfiber/Chenille Mitt and a rinse bucket. For the lower panels I used a White/Yellow Schmitt and used the yellow side. After the wash the truck looked so much better and fresher so I knew that it would only get better with what I had in store as far as polishing and LSP. I dried it with the leaf blower and Cobra Guzzler.
Engine: Engine got the usual. A light rinse, followed by Megs APC with agitation from a soft brush, then followed with another light rinse. It was then dressed with Stoners Trim Shine.
Trim: All trim like door handles and mirrors and wiper cowl got Poorboy's Trim restorer. The back bumper got Stoners Trim Shine.
Glass: All glass got Stoners Invisible Glass.
Interior: Like I said the interior got DP Total Interior Cleaner followed by DP Interior Surface Protectant and it looked brand new again. Again, sorry about not taking pics. I also vacuumed all carpet and got a small stain out of the headliner with the DP TIC.
Paint: Ok here was the part I had been waiting for. Every since he asked me to do this and we set up a time I must admit I have been planning and anticipating what I was going to do for this truck. I got what I thought would be an unbeatable combo together. I knew I wanted to do a cleaner, glaze, and sealant. I contemplated and went back and forth and settled on a combo. Well the day before I was to do the detail DantheMan came through with a sample of Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant. I had never tried the Wolfgang but really wanted to so I made a change on the sealant I was going to use and went with the Wolfgang. Thanks DantheMan it worked every bit as you described!
Well I wanted to start out with a cleaner so I started with my favorite, XMT 360. The truck had some minor swirling and I figured it could use the extra sealant so this was a definite for me. As always 360 never lets me down. It cleaned and got rid of most of the minor swirling. I probably could have left the paint alone after that (and if I had I could have entered it into the S&S contest for Sept.) but I wanted more. I mean it looked great after the 360 but I wanted it to look awesome, jaw dropping for him so I figured we would move on to glaze. The 360 was put on via the PC and an orange LC pad. If you have never tried it this polish pad combo is great!
Since I was topping with a sealant I knew that XMT Finishing Glaze was out. I have Menzerna Finishing Glaze and almost went with that but Brandon1 had been so kind as to give me some RMG to try and I really wanted to give it a whirl and figured what better color than red. So I used the RMG and must say the shine was a 10 on the WOW factor. I almost wish I had used the Menzerna as I would have loved to have seen that as well on the red. It was put on via the PC and a white LC CCS pad.
Next up was the sealant. I have always wanted to try the Wolfgang and like I said DantheMan hooked me up with some that came the day before the detail. That seemed like fate so I figured it needed to go on the truck. Man again another 10 on the WOW factor. This stuff went on super easy and came off just as easy. It was put on with the PC and a blue LC finishing pad.
The 360 was removed with a Cobra Jr., the RMG and Wolfgang DGPS were removed with Cobra Indigo.
I was so pleased with the way the truck turned out. The red would almost hurt your eyes it was so shiny. My buddy was really pleased as well and that is the most important. It was a pleasure doing the detail because I knew he would appreciate all that goes into making it look that good!
Well here are the before and afters:
The signature shot!
Thanks for looking and all tips, advice and comments always welcome.
The red looks dripping WET, and I knew you would love wolfgang deep gloss paint sealent 
Hell, I have it with me in the bed 
I would love to try RMG to, sounds like a winner. Again, very nice detail.
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