Pics & Vids: Grumman Aluminum Van Extreme Makeover!

[Mike Phillips]

Pics & Vids: Grumman Aluminum Van Extreme Makeover!



Click on the pictures --> they are actually videos - they just doesn't have the red arrow on them.


Before



Test Spot
Here's the results from a 3-step Test Spot I just did to a section of the side of the van...






Before pictures















After shots

















Products used - Autogeek.com


First Step
Remove oxidation and deeper holograms

Wolfgang MetallWerk™ Fine Aluminum Polish

6.5 inch 50/50 Wool Acrylic Polishing Pad

FLEX PE14-2-150 Rotary Polisher

RUPES BigFoot LHR 19E Rotary Polisher




Second Step
Remove holograms and restore clarity to aluminum

Wolfgang MetallWerk™ Concours Aluminum Polish

RUPES 180 mm (7 inch) Blue Coarse Foam Pad

RUPES 180 mm (7 inch) Green Medium Foam Pad

Flex XC 3401 VRG Dual Action Orbital Polisher



Third Step

BLACKFIRE Paint Prep
Chemically strip the aluminum for a ceramic coating



Fourth Step

Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Wheel Coating
Seal the aluminum to help prevent oxidation

[rlmccarty2000]

Free class or “help I got a ton of aluminum to polish”?

What are you going to seal it with? Try some Collinite #850.

Polishes and leaves behind protection for aluminum/metal.

[Mike Phillips]

This is funny...

Free class or “help I got a ton of aluminum to polish”?

Both. Sometimes I feel like Tom Sawyer in the story where he gets in trouble and his Aunt Polly makes him whitewash the fence. He in turn makes whitewashing the fence a hard thing to get to do and this causes the local boys to barter their treasure for the opportunity to do the whitewashing.

So yeah, this is a hard job but it's also a skill that some people want to learn and this Saturday, free of charge, they will have the opportunity to learn and then possess both the knowledge and skill on how to do this type of "craft". They will also then have the experience and the knowledge to know when to take on a project like this, free or paid, and when to be smart enough to turn it down. That's value in and of itself.


Fact is - ever since I moved from Oregon to California to work for Meguiar's the second time, I'm the only guy in this industry, that I know of, that creates cool and/or unique projects and makes them open to the public and then documents them with the before, during and after pictures. These are all free projects, you could also call them classes, that I put together and opened up to the public.

Name one other person that does this in the industry,

1. Creates projects - (I could just do my day job and then go home)
2. OPEN to the public - not private selected teams
3. Documents before, during and after and all the pictures still exist to this day.
4. Answers questions on process, products, tools and techniques from the projects.

Below is just a sample - I'll add all of the projects from Autogeek. Would take a while to gather all the links from all the projects at MeguiarsOnline.com


BIG projects

North Miami Beach Police Mobil Command Unit - Show Car Makeover

Meguiar's Big Rig Extreme Makeover - Pictures & Videos!

Pictures: RV and Motorhome Detailing Classes at Autogeek



Wetsanding projects - Who else brings in Special Interest Cars (and boats), where the owners let strangers wetsand their vehicles.

Finished! - Wetsanding a 1929 Model A Sedan Delivery Streetrod - Fresh Paint

Scuff & Buff - Wet Sanding Single Stage Metallic Paint - 1948 Willys Jeepster

Mirka Abralon for Hand Wetsanding and Machine Wetsanding 1934 Ford Pickup Streetrod Project

Pictures: Wetsand, Cut & Buff 1971 Fury Police Car!

How to wetsand, cut and buff a gel-coat boat




Car projects - some very cool stuff that most people will never get to work on.


1967 Mustang GTA Fastback - Pictures & Comments Thread

1966 Blown Nova - Extreme Makeover - Pictures & Videos

GTechniq Makeover - 2012 High Voltage Yellow Scion tC 7.0

24' Pro-Line Boat - Extreme Marine Makeover - Oxidation Removal!

1954 Ford F-100 - Extreme Makeover - Process and products used

Blown 1934 Ford Pick-up - Show Car Makeover - Modeled by Kristin

1972 Corvette Stingray - Extreme Makeover - Process and Products Used

1990 Corvette - Extreme Makeover Pictures & Process

2012 Fiat 500 - Chemical Guys Show Car Makeover

2006 Mercedes-Benz SLK 350 Show Car Makeover Pictures

1955 Chevy & 1947 Buick Slantback - Show Car Makeover! - Pictures & Videos

2013 Dodge Charger - LIVE BROADCAST - Black Label & Rupes Polishers

1959 Chevrolet El Camino - Extreme Makeover - Modeled by Christina

Pictures: 1947 John Deere Tractor - Show Tractor Makeover!

2002 SS Camaro Extreme Makeover! - Pictures & Comments
1998 Isuzu Rodeo Extreme Makeover! - Single Stage Paint

First Place for Worst Paint - 1942 Olds Extreme Makeover

2014 Post SEMA New Product Review at Autogeek

2013 Post SEMA New Product Showcase!

Pictures: 1940 Ford Panel Delivery - Secret Project

Pictures: 1991 Alfa Romeo - Porter Cable 7424XP Ultimate Challenge!

Rupes Polishers - Extreme Makeover - 1965 Chevy Streetrod

1938 Plymouth Sedan Streetrod Extreme Makeover!

1970 Barracuda Extreme Makeover

Pictures: 1993 Ford Explorer Extreme Makeover

Pictures: 1969 Oldsmobile 442 - Extreme Makeover! At Autogeek!

1955 Chevy Bel Air with a $15,000.00 Custom Paint Job - How to remove water spots

1957 Chevy Extreme Makeover - Pictures & Videos

1959 Impala - Mothers Extreme Makeover! - Pictures & Comments!

Pictures: 1966 Orange Chevy Nova Super Sport Extreme Makeover

1985 GMC Rally Van - Extreme Makeover! With McKee's 37 - FLEX- RUPES - BOSS

1987 Corvette Show Car Makeover - SONAX Showcase

1956 Bel Air Show Car Prep at Autogeek's Show Car Garage!

1970 440 Cuda - Part 2 - Show Car Prep

Pictures: 2002 Panoz Esperante - BLACKFIRE Crystal Coat Paint Coating

Ford Excursion Extreme Makeover!

1971 Dodge Charger R/T - 1940 Oldsmobile Streetrod shine by Pinnacle

1954 Hudson Hornet polished with Rupes UHS

Pictures: 1928 Model A - Wetsand, Cut and Buff at Autogeek

Breaking in the new Show Car Garage - 1932 Deuce Roadster!

2010 Camaro EXTREME Makeover! - NEW SEMA 2014 PRODUCTS

How to restore a Barn Find - 1969 Ford Thunderbird - #7 Rub Out + FLEX = 3D products

1949 Chevy 5-Window Pickup Extreme Makeover - Pictures & Videos

Custom Paint Job - 1980 Corvette - RUPES & Gyeon - Extreme Show Car Makeover at Autogeek

1970 Mustang Mach 1 - Video and Pictures

700 HP Hennessy Vette and Jeep Cherokee - Waxed and Coated

2017 Jeep Wrangler MONSTER JEEP Mike Phillips Autogeek

2012 Dodge Challenger + Menzerna Color Lock Makeover

RUPES EASY GLOSS System - EXTREME MAKEOVER - 2006 Toyota Tundra - YEARS of neglect!

Pictures - 1988 BMW M3 - D166 Show Car Makeover!

Pictures & Videos: 2003 Honda Civic Extreme Makeover - Duragloss

Pictures: 2016 Challenger Scatpack Shaker & 2016 Dodge Hellcat - Black Label Diamond Paint Coating

Pictures: 1972 Corvette Stingray - Original Single Stage Paint - Autogeek Extreme Makeover!

Pictures - 1989 Mercedes-Benz - Low Mileage Beauty All Original Beauty!


Pictures: RUPES Detailing Class at Autogeek - 1948 Chevy Fleetmaster Streetrod

Pictures: 1947 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe - Show Car Makeover at Autogeek!

Simple Concours Car Prep - 1973 Toyota FJ40

Pictures: 1987 Buick Regal T-Type WE4 Turbo - Show Car Makeover at Autogeek!

Pictures - Black BMW Z3 and Black Nissan Altima - Extreme Makeovers at Autogeek's Show Car Garage!



I'll add the rest when I get time....

What are you going to seal it with? Try some Collinite #850. Polishes and leaves behind protection for aluminum/metal.

Most products I've used to seal polished aluminum tend to dull the finish. At this point I'm not sure what I'm going to use but I'm leaning on a PBL Coating.

[SWETM]

Will be following this cool project!

The value of what you share outside of the classes you have. Is just unbelieveble worth of knowledge for one as me who live over the pond.

How about a group picture of you guys and gals when you are done with this. So we can see the dirty works of polishing aluminum. How are you taking care of the polishing residue when polishing something like this? Where and how you clean the pads and so on.

Thanks a ton for all you are shareing!

/ Tony

[Mike Phillips]

Will be following this cool project!

Stay tuned to my Facebook page as I will be doing some FB Live videos today



My FB page

The value of what you share outside of the classes you have. Is just unbelieveble worth of knowledge for one as me who live over the pond.

Thank you for the nice compliment, I appreciate it.

How about a group picture of you guys and gals when you are done with this. So we can see the dirty works of polishing aluminum. How are you taking care of the polishing residue when polishing something like this? Where and how you clean the pads and so on.

Good idea! At some point we'll get a group shot and I'll share it.

Thanks a ton for all you are shareing!

/ Tony

Thanks Tony - wish you were here to help out.


It's 8:40am as I type and the first guy has arrived. I have Stick Figure playing on the garage stereo system and after I change into my work clothes we're going to start.


This will be the official picture and video thread for this project.


Stay tuned...

[Mike Phillips]

Continued...

Here's where we started...













We have ONE RUPES rotary in the garage and she's brand new out of the box. Guess today is as good as any to give her a test run.




I think it's about 9:30am and we're off to a strong start....




Here's Edson testing out the new RUPES rotary polisher....







Everyone else is using the FLEX PE14 Rotary Polish....








In this picture, we've switched over to the FLEX 3401 with RUPES course blue foam cutting pads.














By the time pizza arrived we had compounded and polished the passenger side, front and back of the Grumman Van.




I flipped the truck around and we tag-teamed the driver's side. By turning the truck around we were able to leave the cardboard down were it was already taped together and taped to the floor to keep the floor clean. It was easier to turn the truck around then to move the cardboard.




We started with the Wolfgang MetallKerk Fine Aluminum Polish and finished with the Wolfgang MetallWerk Concours Aluminum Polish






We also tested out the Buff & Shine microfiber pads for cutting instead of wool pads on rotary polishers to get max cutting without instilling holograms...

























Chemical Stripping
Here's Andre spraying the aluminum down with BLACKFIRE Paint Prep. We did this after wiping all the polish residue off the van. No matter how much you wipe, there always seems to be a little more black stuff coming off the aluminum.









Here's Johnny chemically stripping the front of the van...







Here's Tony spraying on the Pinnacle Black Label 850 Ceramic Wheel Coating











For both the chemical stripping and the application of the coating, we used the Buddy System, this is something I teach in all my classes when it comes to prepping and applying ceramic paint coatings.

[Mike Phillips]

***Update***


Here's a couple of videos from this project.

>>click<< on the pictures as these are videos, not actually pictures


RUPES Rotary Polisher





Machine polishing aluminum

[Mike Phillips]

Done!





















Products used - Autogeek.com


First Step
Remove oxidation and deeper holograms

Wolfgang MetallWerk™ Fine Aluminum Polish

6.5 inch 50/50 Wool Acrylic Polishing Pad

FLEX PE14-2-150 Rotary Polisher

RUPES BigFoot LHR 19E Rotary Polisher




Second Step
Remove holograms and restore clarity to aluminum

Wolfgang MetallWerk™ Concours Aluminum Polish

RUPES 180 mm (7 inch) Blue Coarse Foam Pad

RUPES 180 mm (7 inch) Green Medium Foam Pad

Flex XC 3401 VRG Dual Action Orbital Polisher



Third Step

BLACKFIRE Paint Prep
Chemically strip the aluminum for a ceramic coating



Fourth Step

Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Wheel Coating
Seal the aluminum to help prevent oxidation

[Mike Phillips]

Continued....


Extreme Makeover Team!







From left to right...

Tony, Dan, Johnny, Andre, Josh, Edson and Jim





Nice work everyone!

[Renozx12]

Outstanding work guys!

I wish I lived closer so I could have helped out, it turned out phenomenal !!!