Fosscore's 2013 Suburban LTZ Build Thread

[jerryjoe28]

fist off, WOW that thing looks great and yes the rack really sets it off!
2nd..... I have no idea what the first seller was talking about lol

 

[BADRIDES]

Man u gotta take SUBURBAN off that one side or ad it back to the other side. My OCD is taking over and it s not my vehicle.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Man u gotta take SUBURBAN off that one side or ad it back to the other side. My OCD is taking over and it s not my vehicle.

Lol

 

[Fosscore]

fist off, WOW that thing looks great and yes the rack really sets it off!
2nd..... I have no idea what the first seller was talking about lol

Thx man. @jerryjoe28

That seller and the whole series of emails and events was worthy of the post. Lol

Man u gotta take SUBURBAN off that one side or ad it back to the other side. My OCD is taking over and it s not my vehicle.

@BADRIDES
I know man it is killing me,
but look back at the first pages and see what it looks like under the letters.

It would look absolutely horrible if I started picking away at the paint and I just do not want to put those lettesr back on the passenger side. It looks too good.

I may have to go back to the original painter, but I know he will not want to paint it again. I think it took him 3 times to color match it the first time and he swore off ever doing WDT again. He was pretty pissed at the WDT when I picked it up before I decided to buy it.

IDK. OCD is killing me every time I look at it. Lol. Sincerely appreciate your OCD as well.

 

[Fosscore]

It's always the little details that makes the difference. Nice work!

@Tonyrodz
Yessir. Wanted to be the only Suburban around my area rocking the Esky rack. Lol

 

[08HoeCD]

Nicely done.

 

[Fosscore]

Nicely done.

Thx man.

 

[kwOH]

My daughter said today was going to be a great day. She was right.
The Escalade roof rack is installed and looking sweet.

Let me start out with a funny story about my search before my actual write up.
I started the search for the Esky rack back in late October when I knew I would be buying the truck. I found one on eBay and bought it. I waited a little longer than what should be expected for the shipper to get back to me with shipping info wondering where my paid for rack was.

The following messages from the vendor responding to my emails are unedited from our comms back and forth about the rack.

1st message
"Hi on your Most Recent Purchase as we were getting ready to ship your item a Day after transaction was Completed i have some sad new my guys put the roof rack near our Heavy duty Part something fell on the roof rack Damage the item as we looking in our warehouse to Locate the other Unit that was Inventory way before this unit me guys cannot Locate it at this moment we were looking to issue a full refund we apologies for any inconvenience or Delay this may have Caused we are so sorry about this Matter thank you for your time and Patience."


2nd message
"Hi we are Not happy Because we Would Definitely Like a Customer who need to item to get it in Great Shape instead of Damage in Our Warehouse. But am Definitely Working Hard to Make Sure you Receive A Replacement from another Vehicle we brought off the Auction. if you Have Seen Another Roof Rack Else Where Please Lets us Know So we can Issue a Full Refund so get it thanks."


Final message
"Hi Good day we got the truck off the Auction did a Inspection Chrome section was Painted by the First Owner in some Green Army Color the cap as we are not in the OEM Pearl White Please be advised that we will be just issuing a Full Refund to your Account Sorry about any inconvenience this may have Caused thank you for your Cooperation and Patience."


My refund was issued and I went back on the hunt. I could only find two ESV/XL roof racks with WDT end caps as I was hoping to not have to color match those. One sold and the other one looked a bit rough and then a third one popped up. I bid a few dollars off the asking price and it arrived in probably the best packaging for a used part I have seen. Long box stapled together, filled with foam peanuts with every part plastic wrapped individually and taped together. This rack is from an 2003 Escalade.

The whole rack was pretty dirty, so I separated all the parts and gave it a good scrub. The WDT OEM painted end caps are in perfect condition and only needed a light compound and wax to get them protected and super shiny. All mounting hardware was included and in great shape. The cross rails are off the truck at the moment and just need a clean, paint and clear to get them back to that OEM look.

There are no scratches on the chrome rails and they shine, however if you TYF look at them you can see they have had a long life in the sun. She looks good, compliments that long body and I'm pretty stoked to have that Esky rack on the Suburban.
On to the pictures.



View attachment 71061

View attachment 71062

View attachment 71075

View attachment 71076

Nice rack!! Lol. Looks amazing, 110% better with that one.


Sent from iPhone 7 plus using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Fosscore]

Thx man. It is a nice rack indeed!! lol Definitely makes the difference and finding the end caps in perfect condition was a score as well. Plus I wanted to match the 06 on top.

 

[Fosscore]

Color Match Front and Rear Bow Ties and OnStar Antenna

Today was color matching day for the front and rear bow ties and the OnStar antenna. I pulled the front and rear bow ties off the truck and did the OnStar antenna in place.

I did Plasti Dip the bow ties back in November with white, Pearlizer and Glossifier because I wanted to see how it would come out and I didn't want to have the OEM gold color on there. The back bow tie I did in place and it turned out pretty good. The color was not an exact match, but pretty damn close and had a good gloss. The front bow tie, I pulled off, however neither the color nor the gloss turned out very good, but they both worked well in the interim until I could order the proper WDT code 800J rattle cans from automotivetouchup.com.

WDT is a three stage paint consisting of a ground coat, mid coat and clear coat to achieve the correct mix of metallic and gloss. I already had some adhesion promoter and gloss clear coat so I only had to order the first two stages, which cost $40 for the two rattle cans. Not cheap, but no comparison when looking at the pictures of the Plasti Dip.

The front bow tie has 2 odd speed/compression 10mm nuts that hold it tight against the grille along with a piece of double-sided tape in the middle of the emblem. I had to loosen the top grille bolts (10mm) so I had a little extra room to get my hands and the ratchet in behind the grille to loosen the bolts. There are two plastic posts that guide and align the emblem perfectly in the middle of the chrome LTZ grille. This entire bow tie was color matched.

The rear bow tie is held on by a massive piece of double-sided tape that covers the entire back of the emblem. I just had to work some fishing line back and forth until I hit the posts, then carefully pry the emblem off the applique'. There are 2 skinny posts that guide and align the emblem on the rear applique'. I taped off the chrome outer part and color matched the inner bow tie.

I lightly sanded the gold and black on both of the emblems, hit them with 2 coats of adhesion promoter and 3 coats of the ground coat, mid coat and gloss clear coat.

I painted the OnStar antenna in place as I was not going to remove the headliner to get to it (I did delete it off my 06 Tahoe as I was replacing the headliner at the time so getting to the bolts was easy). I gave the antenna a light sand, 2 coats of adhesion promoter and 3 coats of the ground coat, mid coat and gloss clear coat. It looks so much better color matched on the roof now and ties in with the Esky roof rack end caps.






Plasti Dipped. You can see the color variation and shine difference between the front (left) and rear (right) emblems.


Plasti Dip peeled off, sanded and ready to paint.


The rear applique' would probably look much better properly shaved and smooth. Maybe for a future mod.