My sisters 2002 Chevy Tahoe

[Slate G8 GT]

Every year for my big sis's birthday I clean her truck up for her which up until this year, when I found detailing forums and machine polishing, entailed a wash and some OTC wax:gasp:. So seeing as how huge this thing is and the only other attention it sees all year is the occasional touchless car wash I figured it would be a perfect test bed for testing the new Optimum compound II on the Megs MF cutting disc and my first attempt at Opti-Coat.

Here's what I was up against.













I started at about 2:30 in the afternoon after I got off work and it was about 103 with a heat index around 115:what:. I first tackled the wheels and wells. I uses Zep citrus for the wells, blech white on the tires, and iron x folowed by ZC on the rims. I then attacked all the bugs and trim with OPC 3-1 and a bug sponge. Next up was a Dawn wash with some OPC sprayed on the really bad spots. Then I used some tarminator on the usual spots behind the tires, it was my first time using it and I must say I was very impressed with it, just melted the tar away. By this time it was around 6 and I decided to call it quits for the night

I got started claying it about 7 the next morning with megs clay and NR as a lubricant.
Here's a couple of shots of the hood after claying.





Now it was time for the fun to begin, I broke out my GG6 with 5.5 inch MF cutting disc and the new opt. compound II and went to work. I primed the pad and only added 2 or three pea size drops for each section. I wanted to see how little work I could get away with so I made 2 heavy pressure, slow passes followed by one light pressure pass. To my amazement this removed all the oxidation and swirls and left the paint with very little hazing. It did leave the RIDS though which this truck is covered with. So I added a couple more drops and went back to work, this time I did 4 pressure passed and 2 light passes, can u say bye bye RIDS:clapping:. It did leave a really bad one but I think it would take sanding to get it out.

Before



50/50



After




Seeing as this isn't a show car and is quite abused and I was on a limited time schedule I did the rest of the truck with my first method of 2 heavy passes and one light pass.

My only issue was I did experience some dusting with the compound. I don't know if I was using too much or what.

Dusting



Now it was time for the OC. I pulled it out of the garage and into the shade of the house, it was about 4:30 and about 98 degrees when I applied it. I used the supplied foam applicator to apply it, I primed the pad with about 10 drops from the blue tip. I started in the center of a section and used an outward circling motion to spread it out. The product would instantly flash a rainbow color and then disappear before I would get finished with about 3x3 section. If a spot didn't disappear when I finished a section i just gave it a light swipe with a MF towel and it was gone. I only used about 8 CC's of OC on all the paint and glass.

My advice for anyone scared about the application of OC is DON'T BE, I've never used any type of WOWA products (all i've ever used in wipe off products) and after about 2 sections I had the hang of it and was cruising along.

Now for the after pics. No comments on the tires or trim, it was late and I was hot and tired so I didn't get the UTTG put on:ahand:. I'm also gonna use OPT Metal Polish on the chrome. Plus every rim had at least one spot with clear coat failure that I'm gonna try to make look decent and apply OC to 'em.










And this why u don't leave bird bombs on your paint

[rider9195]

Nice 50/50 shot! I really need to try out that Optimum Compound II. That isn't much dusting compared to M105. The Tahoe turned out great!

[guess23959]

the paint came out excellent

[dwengier77]

Hope your sister appreciates what a great brother you are !!! The Tahoe looks great.

[Y2KSVT]

Great job! That's a lot of real estate you covered. Just claying that Tahoe is a task. Your sister is very luck!

[panthercz]

Great job! I hope your sister loved the finished result!

[Slate G8 GT]

Thanks guys, yeah she was really excited about it. When she saw it she said "Did you buy me a new truck, b/c that doesn't even look like mine!!".

As for the dusting it wasn't that bad, it's just that everyone says it doesn't dust so i wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong. Actually when I used D300 it dusted more than this, I haven't used 105 yet.