Tahoe Reconditioning Project

[Mrclean81]

whats the advantage of wetsanding the paint?
how hard is it to do?
is it easy to screw up

truck looks great now!!

Wetsanding greatly helps in leveling the paint and smoothing out any defects or orange peel. In this case, it was to remove the deep scratches put in it from smashing through God knows what. I also do all the touch ups on rock chips and deep scratches before I sand, that way they are smoothed out and almost invisable when its done. The down side to wetsanding is that if your not careful you can sand too much and go through the paint. Most vehicals these days have a healthy clear coat that makes it alot safer but its still not fool proof. Sharp body lines and the edges of panels always have less paint than the rest of the vehical and these are the spots that you want to stay off of. Plus, everywhere you sand you also have to buff and you always have to keep that in mind. A good rule of thumb is to stay an inch or so away from edges with your paper. This way you dont have to run the buffer all the way up on a sharp corner and risk burning through the paint. Once a person gets the hang of it its not hard to do. It really sounds harder than what it is. Its just time consuming. Heres a link to a differant Border Patrol truck I done that was even worse than this one. I dont want to ***** up the detailing section here with non related vehicals but its a good example of what wetsanding can do
http://www.detailcity.org/forums/detailers-showcase/29341-f250-border-patrol-project.html

 

[thehoe92]

I have orange peel on my doors, its noticeable after I detail it
I have a Chacoal Black tahoe so do you think it would be more difficult to do?
I would probably do a quarter panel at a time
but great tips.. I might try it soon on a rear quarter panel near the bumper so its not as noticeable

 

[Mrclean81]

I have orange peel on my doors, its noticeable after I detail it
I have a Chacoal Black tahoe so do you think it would be more difficult to do?
I would probably do a quarter panel at a time
but great tips.. I might try it soon on a rear quarter panel near the bumper so its not as noticeable

It wouldnt be any harder to sand and buff, but dark colors like that show swirl marks like crazy. Swirls arent too hard to remove if you have the right stuff though. If your going to be using a rotary machine, your gonna fight the swirls alot more than you would with a DA polisher. Downside to a DA is they have less cutting ability than a rotary. Its a double edged sword unless you have both (which most people dont). I would definatly do what you mentioned and try a small spot that isnt too noticable first and see how it goes.

 

[thehoe92]

It wouldnt be any harder to sand and buff, but dark colors like that show swirl marks like crazy. Swirls arent too hard to remove if you have the right stuff though. If your going to be using a rotary machine, your gonna fight the swirls alot more than you would with a DA polisher. Downside to a DA is they have less cutting ability than a rotary. Its a double edged sword unless you have both (which most people dont). I would definatly do what you mentioned and try a small spot that isnt too noticable first and see how it goes.

I've got a DA with swirl remover
I barely have any swirls as it is I just want to take my paint to the next level and seeing how its a 2003 its been weathered
does the rubbing compound make a difference like what kind you get?
I have Meguiars Ultimate Compound right now because I'm new to rubbing compound and didn't want to mess anything up with a more abrasive compound

thanks for your help, its always nice to talk to someone whose detailed for a living just to make sure I'm doing everything right

 

[Mrclean81]

I've got a DA with swirl remover
I barely have any swirls as it is I just want to take my paint to the next level and seeing how its a 2003 its been weathered
does the rubbing compound make a difference like what kind you get?
I have Meguiars Ultimate Compound right now because I'm new to rubbing compound and didn't want to mess anything up with a more abrasive compound

thanks for your help, its always nice to talk to someone whose detailed for a living just to make sure I'm doing everything right

Im not sure of the true cutting abilities of Ultimate Compound but I know a few guys who use it and really like the way it finishes down. Megs makes some good products so Im sure it cuts decent. What pads do you have or use with the DA? Im gonna base this off of Lake Country pads just as a referance. If it were me, and I was planning to wetsand and use a DA to buff it out, I would start off on a panel like we talked about thats not noticable with 2000 grit paper. I would use the hardest cutting pad LC makes, which is yellow and try the Ultimate Compound. If it buffs out and looks good, try another panel. If it DONT, I would make a trip to Auto Zone or OReillys and pick up some 3M Perfect It 3 or you could also go to autogeek.net and check out what they have. After the compounding is done, proceed with polish or swirl remover and then wax. I personally use alot of differant kinds of polish depending on what Im working on. For nice vehicals that I really want to make glow, I use Poorboys polishes, sealant, and waxes. Ive found them to be some of the best on the market, and work very nicely in the sun which is a big deal for a mobile detailer.

 

[ecordell]

I must say, I'll be looking for that stuff man. You do very good work. Yea we aren't real far apart, probably 2.5 hrs +

Dude, you flat knocked the hell out of that F250! nice work.

The hoe92, your dark color is a ***** with swirls, I had a black RC Dakota a few years back and some ******* hit the rear corner. My brother and I (mainly my brother) pulled the metal back out and finished it back real smooth like, well the paintjob on the bed was so damn slick that I had to cut and repolish the cab and frontend, needless to say after compound I stepped back and thought ****! (it was swirled all to hell lol)
Tossed a little 3M final glaze (gray in color) on there, got my slow polish on and BAM, glass! I suprised myself. But it still didn't compare to the work this guy has done, he's got some slick shit goin on!

 

[Lowered On them Thangs]

Hella work!!!!

 

[stevek]

Border patrol is using Optima's? No wonder why it's so damn expensive

 

[sanddperformance]

looks good you just washed 100k off that motor

 

[vserduchka]

Does anyone else see the screwed up part of this?

Not to knock your profession because You've got to make a living and money is money, but the dealer that's selling these cars is probably passing them off as having an easy life!