2007 black Escalade (Probably my last for the season)

**richy** · 11-21-2016, 10:54 PM

My new work schedule has severely dampened my available time to do cars. I honestly thought that I would be done for the season and I was OK with that given the 80+ bags of leaves that I have been raking non-stop for weeks. But...it was not to be. This customer is a gentleman for whom I detailed his yellow Corvette. He was actively trying to purchase a Cadillac Escalade for his wife and did he ever find a great one! 2007 with 57,000 km (about 38,000 miles). The only fault I could find was the RF door was re-painted. It was obvious for the lack of orange peel that the rest of the vehicle had. Anyway, I got extremely lucky with the weather to work on it! Last Thursday and Friday it was in the mid to upper 60's. I was wearing shorts and a T shirt...pretty damned nice for mid November I'd say.

Here it is as it arrived to me:

Crappy Dealer tire shine all over the lower panels:

First up was the wheels. The barrels were cleaned with BAM wheel acid as well as the faces which were then followed up with Zep Citrus. The tires were cleaned with Zep 505 and the wells with LATA. The barrels were then shot with Aqua Bead.

The 'Lade was then shot with my foam cannon:

That was followed by Megs HW and a subsequent claying with a clay towel. It was then blown off with my Master Blaster.

Here's what it was looking like:

Now it was time to do what really mattered...smoke a cigar...I mean Polish Paint! I used the 3401 + 3M black wool pad + M100 for most panels, although the worst ones got SS Chop Top. I was amazed at how the CT was finishing down on the one door. This is ONLY after having been done with CT:

The polishing stage was done with a yellow B/S pad + 3401 + Essence. Here's that same panel after the 2nd step:

Here's a 50/50 shot (not taped off or anything fancy but I think you still get the idea) of the hood:

I was happy with the results this combo was giving me:

The head and tail lights were also given the same 2 step process. The chrome wheels were hand polished with Essence. I compared it to 205 and the difference was noticeable. Essence absolutely rocked this chrome! The vehicle's paint, wheels, head, tail lights and side and rear glass were all given a double coat of Gloss Coat which was followed by Opti Seal. The trim was done with DLux. Here she is all done inside the garage:

Here's 2 shots outside from 2 days later. The temperature had literally dropped over 30 degrees!

Thanks for looking. Comments are always appreciated. There is a small possibility I may do one more car this season if the weather co-operates. If not, I'll be hanging up my polisher until next year. <sigh>

**custmsprty** · 11-21-2016, 11:02 PM

Nice job! You'll need all winter to recover from all that landscape!

**fly07sti** · 11-22-2016, 12:02 AM

Fantastic work as always! Now instead of working and smoking, you might be able to relax and smoke.

**coles_paint_correction** · 11-22-2016, 12:09 AM

Nice work as always rich, happy to hear you got some decent weather to work with.
Finally ordered one of them flex's to!

**Sicoupe** · 11-22-2016, 10:12 AM

Another killer job my friend! His wife will love it.

**Jaretr1** · 11-22-2016, 10:25 AM

Very nice! When black looks good, it looks VERY good!

**Hoytman** · 11-22-2016, 10:45 AM

Long time since I posted, but nice job, Richy.

**BadgerRivFan** · 11-22-2016, 11:07 AM

Wow!

**Bill1234** · 11-22-2016, 11:10 AM

I hate cleaning chrome clad aluminum. Ive used brown royal at near full strength and simple green near full strength and it doesnt clean oddly.

Which LAs totally awesome do you use?

**richy** · 11-22-2016, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by custmsprty

Nice job! You'll need all winter to recover from all that landscape!

Thanks very much, but unfortunately, no. I'll be still working on leaves for at least a month by the looks of what's still to fall.

Originally Posted by fly07sti

Fantastic work as always! Now instead of working and smoking, you might be able to relax and smoke.

Thanks very much Don. Not until all the leaves are down or if it snows on them first. At long as it's not too cold out, I don't mind.

Originally Posted by Bigry18

Nice work as always rich, happy to hear you got some decent weather to work with.
Finally ordered one of them flex's to!

Thanks and good for you!! I hate the negative press about it; it's an incredible machine that finishes down every bit as nice as a Rupes. Try it with black wool and it will blow your mind.

Originally Posted by Sicoupe

Another killer job my friend! His wife will love it.

Thanks Kyle! She was very happy too.

Originally Posted by Jaretr1

Very nice! When black looks good, it looks VERY good!

Thanks so much! Big work=big reward.

Originally Posted by Hoytman

Long time since I posted, but nice job, Richy.

Thanks and I feel honoured that you posted for me; it's much appreciated my friend!

Originally Posted by BadgerRivFan

Wow!

Thanks bud!

Originally Posted by Bill1234

I hate cleaning chrome clad aluminum. Ive used brown royal at near full strength and simple green near full strength and it doesnt clean oddly.

Which LAs totally awesome do you use?

Bill, I've used both the yellow which I cut to about 50% and the orange which I cut either the same or sometimes less. I picked up their version of CLR the other day but haven't had a chance to try it yet.