Stolen and Recovered 2012 Escalade Premium (re)build thread

[Jmccormick]

Were did u find the rear bumper?

I drove down to Indiana to a salvage yard that had 1 surplus rear bumper assembly left.

They got it from GM, left over from final assembly.

It was a great deal at the time, $850.00 Rear bumper cover, step pad, chrome strip, sensors, harness, and both exhaust tips and already painted OEM black. I priced everything out individually and it was well over $1500 plus paint at the time.

 

[Jmccormick]

I wrapped up the buffing last night.

I removed the door handles real quick to get up close and tight. I also had to remove the mountain of caked on white wax from the previous dill weed "detail" shop.



Finished!




Very pleased with the results, I still need to seal the rear bumper but I ran out of microfiber towels.

I also swapped the license plate bulbs to LED to match the rest of the vehicle. I plan to swap the reverse lights and under mirror approach lights to LED as well.




I am going to clean the interior up next, and drive it for the winter.

 

[Jmccormick]

If anyone has black door handles laying around i would really like a set!

 

[Tonyrodz]

Looks showroom new! Looks like glass, fantastic job.

 

[Goodinblack]

Awesome work

 

[Jmccormick]

Pulled it outside for a quick picture!


I fixed the fog lights too! they haven't worked for years. A little digging resulted in my finding the fog relay to be missing. kind of random but I am happy it was a $5 fix!



Friend gave me his Front door handles off of his 2013 Sierra for $20, now to find the rear handles.









Very happy with how the truck has turned out so far. I am also WAY under budget which never happens in car world or escalade world for that matter!


Thanks for the replies and hi fives.

 

[Jmccormick]

Ordered my AC Delco (BWI) OEM Front magnetic ride struts!

If anyone has been putting off the strut replacement on their Z95 Magnetic ride truck now would be the time to do so!

Amazon just dropped the price from $250 (already a good deal) to $195 for the fronts.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EDQ14DE


Dealer wants $450+ each.

 

[Jmccormick]

Got home from work this morning, my other two door handles I purchased off of ebay showed up along with my new front struts.

Swapped the handles real quick and was super pleased with the result.







I went over to my dads house (next door lol) and used the lift to make quick work of front strut replacement.




2 hours later, struts are swapped. They were both 100% seized. All of the oil was blown out of them too. Truck literally drove like a dump truck. After swapping the struts it rides like a caddy again and I am very happy.



I am going to enjoy the truck now for the time being. Spring time will bring lowered suspension and new wheels are tires.

I am also working on ditching the wood grain interior to something a little more sportier.



Thanks for the hi fives!

 

[Tonyrodz]

Looks great! Awesome that your father has a lift too! Lol

 

[Merc1973]

Great transformation. Thanks for sharing!