Black GMC Yukon Denali Paint semi corrected

[tuscarora dave]

This Yukon Denali was done for a co worker from my day job. My intention was to attempt to get it done in around ten hours. Who was I kidding? I ended up working 15 hours on just the exterior. This is far from my best work and it was explained to the owner that I'd not be going for show quality results but rather get it cleaned up, shiny and do a reduction in swirls.

I look at this truck every day at work and the owner keeps it pretty clean for the most part. It must be the lighting where he parks it but I thought it was in a little better shape. When I got up real close and started working on it, I knew that it was going to be a challenge.

I started by washing it with ONR in my driveway as we don't have an outside source of water here and car washing is prohibited in the mobile home park that I live in.

I washed and clayed each panel one at a time using Clay Magic Red Aggressive clay and ONR.

I did two separate test sections, one on the hood and one on the side panels.

The hood was by far the the panel in the worst condition so I started with M-105 with a 3M SuperBuff 2+2 wool pad on my Makita rotary polisher,

followed by an orange Poorboy's 5.5" variable contact pad for Flex Polishers and M-105 on my Makita rotary polisher,

followed by Red Poorboys 5.5" variable contact pad for Flex polishers and M-205 on my Makita rotary polisher.

Finally I finished with a red 5.5" PB VC pad and Poorboy's Polish with Carnauba (blue) on my Flex 3401.

For the rest of the panels I dropped the wool pad from the lineup but kept the same process otherwise.

All pillars were done using Makita rotary polisher with orange Cyclo pad and M-105 followed by Blue Cyclo pad with M-205.

This was a paint only job so I made quick work of the rest of the exterior clean up.

I cleaned the wheel wells with Optimum Power Clean and a soft bristled parts cleaning brush utilizing the leftover dirty ONR mixture in my wash bucket.

After all the polishing steps I drove the truck to the local DIY car wash and re applied the Optimum Power Clean to the wells and the wheels and pressure washed them off along with all the splattered up plastic parts such as the wiper cowl, running boards and rear bumper. The wheels then got a quick ONR spray and wipe. The tires were treated with Ultima Trim and Tire Guard.

I used the OPC to clean the splatter from the door jams and hinges too followed by a Poorboy's Spray and Gloss wipedown to gloss them up a bit.

The Optimum Power clean did a nice job of both removing the thick buildup of crud in the wheel wells and also at removing the polish splatter from the plastic parts and door jams.

In the interest of time the roof was just cleaned and coated with a generous coating of Ultima Paint Guard Plus. We were trying to keep the cost as low as possible and fit all the work into one day. I normally treat the roof the same as all the other panels.

In the end, I wasn't so impressed with my work on this one but I did exactly what I had set out to do which was to wow the customer and keep his cost low.

The customer was absolutely stoked when he came to pick the truck up. He said "WOW" many times and even sent me a text later in the evening saying how happy he was with his truck. He told me today at work that his wife wants her car done now. :dblthumb2:

Today at work the truck looked even better now that the Carnauba has had a chance to begin to cure a bit. If it doesn't rain tonight I plan on capturing a few more shots of it at work tomorrow to later post here.

On to the pictures.

Here's a few pics of the truck as it was delivered to me.

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/002-25.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/016-17.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/009-28.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/003-27.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/008-27.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/011-27.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/014-23.jpg


Here is the hood ready for the test section to be performed.

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/018-17.jpg

This shot is before doing the final polishing pass with the PWC (blue) and Flex 3401

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/029-11.jpg

This shot is after finishing with the Flex and PWC (blue)

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/020-18.jpg

Here are what I believe to be the two money shots from this job.

Passenger side hood.

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/024-11.jpg

Driver side hood.

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/025-14.jpg

Here are some other random shots of the finished paint

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/026-13.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/030-10.jpg

With camera Flash.

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/031-15.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/037-3.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/038-8.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/041-6.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/044-7.jpg


Thanks for looking, TD

[CrownKote]

Dang Dave!!!! Looking good... It may not be your best but it certainly looks great! What did the owner say when you gave it back?

Now get back inside to that A/C and relax... lol..

[LuxuryMobile]

Wow, that paint was hammered. Nice turn around. That picture of the hood (passenger side before) looks sooooo bad.

You must have one happy co-worker.

[dchristo]

thats one heck of a turn around......looks great, I know the owner is happy

[Bunky]

What a beast! Looks like you took a dent out of the swirls. I am also sure the customer is happy if he can recognize a swirl.

[Dr Oldz]

Great job, Dave! I think besides myself that you are the only fan of the VC pads. I really wish more people would carray them! Great example of tayloring your skills to the customers needs while still providing that WOW factor!

[tuscarora dave]

Dang Dave!!!! Looking good... It may not be your best but it certainly looks great! What did the owner say when you gave it back?

Now get back inside to that A/C and relax... lol..


Wow, that paint was hammered. Nice turn around. That picture of the hood (passenger side before) looks sooooo bad.

You must have one happy co-worker.


thats one heck of a turn around......looks great, I know the owner is happy


What a beast! Looks like you took a dent out of the swirls. I am also sure the customer is happy if he can recognize a swirl.


Great job, Dave! I think besides myself that you are the only fan of the VC pads. I really wish more people would carray them! Great example of tayloring your skills to the customers needs while still providing that WOW factor!
Thanks guys!! While it was a real challenge to work on, for me it was lots of fun to work on a black one again. I think when working on black paint, unless if it were for someone rich, we almost always work at a loss money wise. However, for me anyway...I consider the word of mouth that will come out of the deal and also the money shot photos that can be used for marketing purposes. That stuff to me is worth it's weight in gold.


OK let me ask you guys this question... The owner of this vehicle is not into detailing at all and wants a glaze/sealant/wax that will most effectively hide swirls...A kind of glaze with some good durability as an LSP...What product would you guys or anyone reading this thread recommend as a maintenance product for him?

[waxman1]

i know you put a lot of time into this vehicle,but i have simular results,with meg# 3,and a blue foam pad,and mothers wax afterwards. seems a lot of folks like going over the vehicles several times.what is this doing to the clear coat,if it has it? and a lot of folks wont pay for all the time we spend doing this.

[Dr Oldz]

OK let me ask you guys this question... The owner of this vehicle is not into detailing at all and wants a glaze/sealant/wax that will most effectively hide swirls...A kind of glaze with some good durability as an LSP...What product would you guys or anyone reading this thread recommend as a maintenance product for him?


This may just fit for his needs! It is super easy to use and does a pretty good job of filling!

Prima Banana Gloss Liquid Wax, car wax (http://www.autogeek.net/prima-banana-gloss.html)

[michael13]

Great job Dave!

I can imagine how that job would take 15 hours or more.

[fishnugget]

Great post because my Dad has the same truck and I have been procrastinating doing it. Also, the fact that he lives in Palm Springs, CA with 115F heat doesn't motivate me. Would you say the paint is hard clear? This is what I have been reading from this GMC model. Thanks.

[Meghan]

Nice looking Dave!

[tuscarora dave]

i know you put a lot of time into this vehicle,but i have simular results,with meg# 3,and a blue foam pad,and mothers wax afterwards. seems a lot of folks like going over the vehicles several times.what is this doing to the clear coat,if it has it? and a lot of folks wont pay for all the time we spend doing this.
Thanks, He has already had a few of these quick glaze over details done and wasn't happy with them for long. This paint was extremely hard and I did just a partial correction so I am not concerned at all about the clear. I did however explain to him that he needs to be more careful with the paint to keep in good shape.

This may just fit for his needs! It is super easy to use and does a pretty good job of filling!

Prima Banana Gloss Liquid Wax, car wax (http://www.autogeek.net/prima-banana-gloss.html)
Thank you, this is just what he needs. He does understand the diligence it will take to keep it looking this way but will need the help of a glaze.


Great job Dave!

I can imagine how that job would take 15 hours or more.
Thanks Michael, I would have liked to have had you here with me on this one.


Nice looking Dave!
Thanks Meghan!!

Great post because my Dad has the same truck and I have been procrastinating doing it. Also, the fact that he lives in Palm Springs, CA with 115F heat doesn't motivate me. Would you say the paint is hard clear? This is what I have been reading from this GMC model. Thanks.
Thanks fishnugget,
I believe that this was a repaint as I had seen some lighter color peeking through on the door jams and it has tan interior. I am thinking it was a tan/gold at one time. I guess the paint code would tell the story but I didn't look into it.

GM paint is typically very hard though to answer your question about your Dad's truck

[EsCrasston]

very nice work!

[Twister]

Looks great Dave. When I saw "semi corrected" I wasn't expecting to see such great results. You put a lot of time and effort into that thing