2017 Explorer Platinum: Richy's Wife's New Ride

[richy]

My wife has a 2011 Dodge Durango Citadel in blackberry with tan leather interior and the Hemi engine. She loves the car! Instead of going with a new Durango, she chose a new Explorer Platinum version. In Canada, the Platinum is the top version and comes loaded with just about everything, including massaging seats! It also parks itself like my Lincoln will. The dealer had to trade vehicles to get it and it was transported by truck from 4 hours away. The dealer was good enough to allow me to keep it for a few days to do my thing to it. We have her Durango up for sale and I have negotiated 3 weeks in which I can sell it for more than their trade allowance.

Here it is as I got it from the dealer:




















First up was the wash. Prior to washing, I sprayed it down with IronX spray. It was only just built in June but already there was contamination on the paint:











The vehicle was then foamed and washed with IronX paste on a wash mitt. That was rinsed and another wash using Pink soap followed. It was brought inside and clayed with a clay towel, using Prime for lube.

The first stage of intervention was going to be the wheels. They were pulled and the barrels were cleaned again with ONR followed by Squeaky Clean and finally Eraser. The barrels were coated with DLux. The faces of the wheels were coated with Feynlab Wheel & Caliper. The plastic wells were coated with DLux as were the calipers. Here's 2 shots of the plastic wells after being coated:







The interior was done next. I removed all the plastic and scraped the window stickers off with a straight razor and window cleaner. The carpeting was vacuumed (I was bummed, I had run out of 303 Fabric Guard for the carpeting). The plastic and wood pieces (including the wood on the steering wheel) were all coated with Feynlab Ceramic Lite. The leather was treated with CarPro Leather coating.

The engine was power washed off and cleaned with Zep Citrus and a brush. The plastic bits and pieces were treated with DLux.

The exterior trim was treated with DLux. On the side mouldings where it says "EXPLORER" with silver trim, I coated that with Feynlab Plastic. The tires were dressed with Opti Bond.

The paint was polished with a yellow Buff & Shine pad + M205 with a little DG Squeaky Clean added to the pad. This works as the pad gets gross as it pulls the crap out of the paint. Here are a few shots of it after being polished and prior to coating it:











I worked on the car on and off for about 3 days. Last up was the paint coating. I had some leftover Feynlab Self Heal Plus from my Lincoln. I was able to do the hood, front fenders and double coated the front bumper and back bumper (where you load the luggage notoriously gets scratched). For the rest of the vehicle, I double coated it with Self Heal Lite and then topped that with Ceramic Lite. I doubt there is a smoother finish than this car. It has an unbelievable slickness to it. I called my buddy over just to feel it. I applied nothing to it afterward: no UWW or anything. The pieces that can't be treated with the Self Heals were coated with Feynlab Ceramic, including head and tail lights, roof and the lower silver parts on the front and back. The side and rear glass and top glass were all coated with Ceramic Lite. The windshield was triple coated with Fly By Forte. The panels were baked in while I celebrated with copious amounts of red wine (no I didn't over cook it, LOL). Here's a pic of the glow from the IR light, or my wine, I can't remember which:





Here it is all done. Now we're just waiting for her Durango to sell and then the delivery can be final.















































She is excited for the new one, but is also very sad to see the Durango go. I know she's gonna love the 3.5 EB every bit as much as she did the HEMI. Thanks for looking.

[Bill1234]

Really nice explorer and they are very fast too. Some of the reviews dont like them but I found the platinum model to be good value

[VISITOR]

congrats!

[richy]

Really nice explorer and they are very fast too. Some of the reviews dont like them but I found the platinum model to be good value

Thank you Bill. The Citadel is the equivalent model (loaded with everything), so the Explorer had to be on par with that. I wanted the EB engine for her, so it comes with it already.

congrats!

Thanks kindly!!

[Bill1234]

Thank you Bill. The Citadel is the equivalent model (loaded with everything), so the Explorer had to be on par with that. I wanted the EB engine for her, so it comes with it already.


Thanks kindly!!

Personally, I feel the hemi is outdated and the ecoboost has so much torque down in low rpms that the thing almost flies

[fly07sti]

Congrats on the Mrs new ride. Looks newer than new! Don't how it is up where you're at but a lot of Police out here are now in Explorers. On a side note, lots of wine but no cigars? I'm smoking as I write this. lol

[pilotpip]

Thank you Bill. The Citadel is the equivalent model (loaded with everything), so the Explorer had to be on par with that. I wanted the EB engine for her, so it comes with it already.


Thanks kindly!!

I like the EB so much, I own two vehicles with them. My wife loves our 14 explorer sport. Very comfortable.

[richy]

Personally, I feel the hemi is outdated and the ecoboost has so much torque down in low rpms that the thing almost flies

I absolutely concur.

Congrats on the Mrs new ride. Looks newer than new! Don't how it is up where you're at but a lot of Police out here are now in Explorers. On a side note, lots of wine but no cigars? I'm smoking as I write this. lol

Oh, buddy, over the 3 days, many were killed, LOL. It was 12:30 am when I finished, so if I smoke that late, I can't sleep.

[Aaryn NZ]

Massaging seats?! My bug has got . . . umm . . . . I'll get back to ya on that one.

Seriously nice bit of kit there Richy. I like the interior trim, especially the stitching on the white leather, very nice. I'm a fan of pearl white I must add - yeah I know, its not the norm for many detailers but when its been done right, like you have done here Richy, it sure does look stunning.

Was there much to do in terms of polishing/correcting/preparation before coating? Ooh ooh, my Bug has a bamboo parcel tray! Pretty cool you got it fresh with all the plastic still on also. I like CQuartz Leather, seemingly never ending bottles, goes a long way. Nice touch with coating the wood trim with Feynlab, be interesting to see how this holds up too.

Anyway, super job mate! Congrats on the new rides, I look forward to hearing how the Self Heal performs going forward.

P.S - hope you have some Kiwi wine over there Richy!

Aaryn NZ.

[goldendodo19]

The 3.5 in that truck is great. Enjoy it!


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