my hot weather detail this weekend...

[Tom Weed]

Here's a black 2008 I think GMC Siera Pickup truck I did this weekend, it's pretty hot outside and even though it's under canopy's, it can be challenging at times. You will have to excuse my pictures since I took them with my DroidX and I couldn't capture all of the scratches in the paint, especially the two front fenders, which when the owner had a lift kit/leveler put on it, it buckled the fenders and have to have them repainted. They didn't have orange peel like the rest of the truck, but the paint, especially on the fenders was really soft...

My plan of attack since the truck was pretty clean to start with was to wipe the paint down with Optimum Opti-clean, then clay using Meguiars #34 as my clay lube and Meguiars blue professional clay. It took me a while to get dialed in on what polish/pad/machine combo to use, I started off with a rotary and Optimum Hyper Polish and a LC Cyan Hydro pad, and while that was better, it still had scratches, so I switched to a LC purple foamed wool pad. I follwed that up with the rotary and an orange LC Hydro pad and Optimum Hyper polish, I still had some hazing so I went with the PC and a Crimson Hydro pad with Menz. PO85rd and while this combo was okay, I was somewhat happy with the results as I still saw some deeper scratches that remained, I used this combo on two drivers side panels. I then broke out the Meguiars MF cutting disks with 105 and the cutting cream, few dabs of each and went to work with the PC, it worked like a charm, it left a haze but it removed the majority of defects. I followed that with the rotary and Menz. 106FA on a Crimson Hydro pad and it removed the hazing and left a great finish.
I polished the chrome rims with Optimum metal polish and then I washed it to make sure I had any splatter removed and and a clean surface to apply the sealant, which was Wolfgang DGPS, I applied it to the rims, and truck body. I dressed the wheel wells with HperDressing and dressed the tires with Meguiars ASD. I used Meguiars Accent Dressing on all the plastic and polished the glass with DP HP glass restorer. I spent most of the day on Sat. and half the day on Sunday working on this.

Before wheel:




After:



I tried to do a 50/50 shot but with my cell phone, it doesn't capture the swirls very well, so here's the finished product:







Here's a cool reflection shot on the front fender:





Thanks for looking!

[Audi X2]

Looks awesome Tom!

[BobbyG]

Tom,

Absolutely a reflection of your skill and work!!

[Tom Weed]

Thank you much Buddy and Bobby as well for the kind words...

[dchristo]

good looking job on the truck and looks like you have a good place to do the work

[C. Charles Hahn]

Looks great Tom! Almost as good as my 2008 Sierra

[PA DETAILER]

wow! black is tough. turned out awesome!

[Tom Weed]

good looking job on the truck and looks like you have a good place to do the work

Thank you much, yes, I have a decent two car garage that I use to stage my stuff and the canopy's provide a good amount of shade for hte driveway to work under.

Looks great Tom! Almost as good as my 2008 Sierra

lol, I'm sure, those are nice trucks for sure and thank you.

wow! black is tough. turned out awesome!

Thank you!

[Alex Boyce]

Looks great, black can be a challenge but it looks like you handled it just fine.