This is my mom's truck that is a well optioned LS, but ever since she bought it I always wanted to put the fender flares on it and get rid of some of the "base model" bits. Here lately I've finally been able to. We installed the 20" LTZ take offs a while back and the turn sigal mirrors (couldn't find painted ones sadly). I was searching for accessories and found that GM actually did have a very nice selection of accessories for these vehicles. I bought the GM Performance exhaust and double walled tip which sounds and looks very nice. Most everything else has been discontinued. I ended up buying the Accessory door handle kit and liftgate handle NOS from dealers that had them in stock still. The Accessory door handles are bascially Escalade handles and the liftgate handle is just all black (I bought the last one available new in the country!). Then I found out GM never made painted black fender flares and since textured was out of the question so I had to make my own. I bought NOS Accessory fender flare kits for the front and rear and had them painted black.
I went a little nuts on the detail! I just waned to "clean up" the paint after I removed the side moldings and before I installed the fender flares, which turned into a two day job! This has been due for quite a while anyway, I just haven't had time to do it and the weather wasn't being nice until the last week or so anyway (way too hot). I didn't take any before pictures because I was rushing to get started since I was loosing my shade, but it was pretty badly swirled. Probably saw few hand washes before she bought it. It isn't perfect, the truck does have 97k miles on it so there is some imperfections only a repaint will correct, but I'm very happy with the results especially with only a PC. Very shiny, deep, and wet looking.
The process:
Foam and wash with DP Xtreme Foam.
Clean wheels, tires, and wells with DP Gel Wheel Cleaner.
Meg's 105 on an orange LC pad.
Meg's 205 on a white LC pad (did this twice, wasn't happy with the first round).
Wash again to get rid of polish dust.
ClearKote Vanilla Moose on black Wolfgang pad.
Clearkote Carnauba Moose Wax on blue Wolfgang pad.
Optimum Opti-Bond on tires, wells, and various other plastics (actually a little to shiny for my taste on the bumper and mirrors).
Will probably put on a coat of Opti-Seal at the next wash.
Now for the pictures!
These are both of the hood, which has a fair amount of road debris chips.
I went a little nuts on the detail! I just waned to "clean up" the paint after I removed the side moldings and before I installed the fender flares, which turned into a two day job! This has been due for quite a while anyway, I just haven't had time to do it and the weather wasn't being nice until the last week or so anyway (way too hot). I didn't take any before pictures because I was rushing to get started since I was loosing my shade, but it was pretty badly swirled. Probably saw few hand washes before she bought it. It isn't perfect, the truck does have 97k miles on it so there is some imperfections only a repaint will correct, but I'm very happy with the results especially with only a PC. Very shiny, deep, and wet looking.
The process:
Foam and wash with DP Xtreme Foam.
Clean wheels, tires, and wells with DP Gel Wheel Cleaner.
Meg's 105 on an orange LC pad.
Meg's 205 on a white LC pad (did this twice, wasn't happy with the first round).
Wash again to get rid of polish dust.
ClearKote Vanilla Moose on black Wolfgang pad.
Clearkote Carnauba Moose Wax on blue Wolfgang pad.
Optimum Opti-Bond on tires, wells, and various other plastics (actually a little to shiny for my taste on the bumper and mirrors).
Will probably put on a coat of Opti-Seal at the next wash.
Now for the pictures!
These are both of the hood, which has a fair amount of road debris chips.
