Dedicatedperfection: Prep Silverado for customs clearance/ship back to U.S.

**Mike@DedicatedPerfection** · 05-21-2016, 01:27 AM

Dedicatedperfection: Prep Silverado for customs clearance/ship back to U.S.

This one came to me from a neighbor that needed his vehicle cleaned up so he can ship it back to the U.S.

This vehicle belongs to a construction worker and treats it as such. Also over here not many pickups are driving around and whenever someone needs to borrow it, it was always out on loan for others to use it. Think of it as the village bicycle. Everyone has used it and never returned it clean. He also mentioned after arrival here he more or less let it go and never kept up with it. Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me to remove all the filth and get it ready for inspection.

The owner of this vehicle is a carpenter and surely uses his truck just as if it was a work truck. You can see in the following pictures just how dirty the interior was. After getting started on vacuuming the interior I started to run across wood screws. I picked up a few of them but there was no end in sight. I decided to vacuum them out rather than pick them out by hand. I must have pulled up 100 screws. You can now hear my shop vac rattling around with a bunch of wood screws.

Anyhow this one really wore me out. I quoted 5-6 hours to transform the truck but it ended up being 10 hours. Boy was I whooped! No decontamination or polishing work when prepping for shipment unless customer pays extra for it. No polishing on this one!

Interior:
Vacumed out with Shop-Vac
Dash and door panels cleaned up with Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner Conditioner
Door jambs/crevices blown out with Tornador Black/BLACKFIRE WW

Wheels and wells:
Wheels & Tires cleaned up with Meguiar’s D143 Wheel & Tire Cleaner (2 rounds)
Wheel Wells Cleaned and tires cleaned up with Meguiar’s D101 APC

Wash:
HP chassis rinse with Kärcher chassis cleaner
Foamed chassis with Pinnacle Gel wash/Meg’s D101 APC
HP rinse to remove soap residue from chassis
HP body rinse to knock off loose dirt
Pre foamed with Meguiar’s Hyper-wash/D101 APC and left to dwell
HP rinse to remove soap residue
Bugs removed with Sonax Bug remover & Bug Scrubber
Washed via 2BM, Grit Gaurds, & Meguiar’s Hyper-wash
Blow dry with leaf blower
Dried/waxed with Meguiar’s D156

Engine bay:
Foamed with Pinnacle Gel wash/Meg’s D101 APC
HP rinse
Multiple rounds with McKee’s 37 engine degreaser
Various brushes to remove filth

Miscellaneous:
Tires, Trim, Engine bay dressed with Meguiar’s All Season Dressing
Windows Cleaned with Wolfgang Perfekt vision glass cleaner
Pictures taken with Nikon D3200 and hooded 18-55 kit lens

Here is what I had to work with

Boot mark on tailgate

Talk about filthy!

**Mike@DedicatedPerfection** · 05-21-2016, 01:31 AM

Look at the orange peel on this!

**Mike@DedicatedPerfection** · 05-21-2016, 01:39 AM

First up the undercarriage

Moving on to the wheel/tire assembly. First round

Second round

Next up wheel wells and tire again

**Mike@DedicatedPerfection** · 05-21-2016, 01:43 AM

Next up the engine bay

Then the bed

Scrubbed with a nylon bristle floor brush

Time to start on the body

**Mike@DedicatedPerfection** · 05-21-2016, 01:47 AM

Finally made it to the end

**oldmodman** · 05-21-2016, 02:21 AM

That was (is) one beat truck. I guess all the folks that borrowed it had never drive such a wide vehicle so they just drove it toward the curb until it scraped. Poor wheels.

For what you were given to work with it turned out very nice. I wish you had a picture of what the carpet looked like under those rubber floor mats. I bet that was the real nightmare.

Unless it has no miles on it he should (now that it's clean and shiny) sell it in Germany where it is a fairly rare vehicle. And might just have a boost in value due to the rareness.

**briarpatch** · 05-21-2016, 08:23 AM

Nice work...believe it or not, I prefer doing vehicles like that over garage queens....the shock on peoples faces is worth the labor. Do not remember the last time I saw a window crank.....

Mike Phillips · 05-21-2016, 08:24 AM

Great example of a TOTAL Extreme Makeover!

**AZ Mike** · 05-21-2016, 08:34 AM

Great job Mike. I don't think I could have typed the post after those 10 hours.

**Paul A.** · 05-21-2016, 09:32 AM

Now THAT'S a 10 hour "cleaning"! It looks great now. At least when he gets it home he may be the only one getting it dirty again and it won't get trashed so quick. There seem to be a lot less people borrowing the buddies truck back home...they all have their own.

Beautiful work, Mike. Thanks for letting us see it.