Truck Detailing
- Thread starter ovrszd
- Start date
Even the "touchless" car wash I go through doesn't do that great of the job. It gets the majority of the dirt off but still leaves the last layer. Still, it's better than having all of that salt on it, and I get the underbody washed.
I took my company truck through it last month. You drive under a pole while entering to tell if you're over 7 feet I had forgotten to take the antennas off so jumped out quickly to try and get them off. The first time the machine tried to pass it hit the door and backed up. The second time it pushed the door closed just as I jumped in. The dash got a bit wet but all that I could think of was a scene from "Oh God"...
I took my company truck through it last month. You drive under a pole while entering to tell if you're over 7 feet I had forgotten to take the antennas off so jumped out quickly to try and get them off. The first time the machine tried to pass it hit the door and backed up. The second time it pushed the door closed just as I jumped in. The dash got a bit wet but all that I could think of was a scene from "Oh God"...
NoTrespassing
Elite Member
Hard water is our problem too. It's very very hard and leaves lime deposits on everything. I washed one our cars with unsoftened well water one time and never will again. It looked worse when I was finished. I will wash the cars in town and wax them when I get home. Hopefully after the 5 year treatment we're having done to my wife's SUV we can just rinse it off in town and not worry about wax for awhile.
Kevin
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ovrszd
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That's the result my Grandson is saying to expect. Easy to clean. Very little maintenance for 5 years. This truck will not be a good reference because it does not get driven in Winter.
My wife's Jeep GC will be a better test.
deezler
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Dang, I wish your grandson could do my truck for that price. Also almost 20 years old. I used to spend a lot of time detailing it, but then came two kids, dog, building a house, etc etc.
crashz
Elite Member
Nice looking truck Richard. The grandson did a great job!
Rock Crawler
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I just bought my son a 2010 F-150 XLT from lower WV, pretty decent shape, frame looks nice. Slight rust on the bed cross tubes, but the rockers, cab corners and bed sides are great. We are in the process of clay, compound, polish and ceramic enhanced sealant. He's 16, this is the first time he was willing to go into the garage and work on paint with me. I've been detailing and correcting paint for over a decade. I'm not a real big fan of ceramic coatings for people that like to take care of their paint and especially for people who like to do shows and look the best they can. Ceramic still swirls, still gets hard water damage and if you really want that show level paint, you will want to apply polish at the least LONG before the ceramic coating has failed. So if you want it to look near perfect, you have to work at that. To work it, you remove the coating. It takes the right person with good technique to maintain a swirl free finish over many years. There are two extremes that I see a ceramic working for. The nut and the lazy. I will explain as I go down the rabbit hole.
On the other hand, if your not a paint nut and you just want it to look decent, don't mind the swirls and don't really obsess over washing and desire a more hands off approach to paint care.... go ceramic. The rain will help remove a lot of the heavy crap and it will look... decent. Once in a while you may wash it, but generally you'll let nature do it's thing. Ceramic will not let it rinse clean, but will let it rinse cleaner than with nothing applied.
Most true car guys/gals love to wash the car/truck, many also like tunnel washes for the ease of running by after work due to time limitations and... well... life.
The real car nuts look forward to a bi-annual sealant or wax application, and many enjoy a once a year compound/polish weekend to erase or minimize the swirls from handling. These folks are wasting time on ceramic. It still swirls and it does come off with abrasives such as compounds.
For me, a nice synthetic wax (sealant) is the best option. I get paid to apply ceramic coatings, but I do not apply it to mine. I like to reset the clock at least annually with my Flex 3401 forced rotation random orbital (around $450, but so worth it). I hate swirls!
4 Star Ultimate Paint Protection is a real nice synthetic sealant that has a 6-9 month life on a vehicle. It is about the closest synthetic to carnauba (carnauba is still the gold standard that all others are compared against from a visual depth/wetness perspective, but carnauba has a 4-6 week life span on outdoor vehicles due to UV breakdown.). It is stupid easy and fast to apply, looks deep and wet, does not stain black rubber or plastic and is fairly inexpensive and goes a long way with little product.
Ceramic is sort of a gimmick being over sold to many who have unrealistic expectations. It does not prevent scratches, does not prevent swirls, does not prevent chips, does not negate the need to wash if you actually want a clean paint finish and does take away a good deal of your money.
If you have a Corvette that is garaged, rarely sees dirt and gets a 2 bucket wash every 2 to 4 weeks and is stored over the winter, it may be worth it. If you run through your towns scratch-O-matic tunnel wash... no use. If you are happy with a touchless (sort of) wash... waste of money.... you don't even care that the vehicle is till dirty.
Different products for different folks. I think most would be well served with a detail and mild correction, good sealant and occasional hand washes followed by a spritz with a spray sealant such as the very good Maguire's Synthetic Xpress Spray Wax used as a drying aid. As in wash, rinse, spritz on wet car and dry. Done. That will boost the heck out of the hydrophobic properties, depth and shine, slickness and amaze you. And it's about $30 a gallon from Autoality.
But alas! This all opinion and is subjective to the core. I only speak from my experiences, no doubt that you can find people with opposing views. The spice of life.
On the other hand, if your not a paint nut and you just want it to look decent, don't mind the swirls and don't really obsess over washing and desire a more hands off approach to paint care.... go ceramic. The rain will help remove a lot of the heavy crap and it will look... decent. Once in a while you may wash it, but generally you'll let nature do it's thing. Ceramic will not let it rinse clean, but will let it rinse cleaner than with nothing applied.
Most true car guys/gals love to wash the car/truck, many also like tunnel washes for the ease of running by after work due to time limitations and... well... life.
The real car nuts look forward to a bi-annual sealant or wax application, and many enjoy a once a year compound/polish weekend to erase or minimize the swirls from handling. These folks are wasting time on ceramic. It still swirls and it does come off with abrasives such as compounds.
For me, a nice synthetic wax (sealant) is the best option. I get paid to apply ceramic coatings, but I do not apply it to mine. I like to reset the clock at least annually with my Flex 3401 forced rotation random orbital (around $450, but so worth it). I hate swirls!
4 Star Ultimate Paint Protection is a real nice synthetic sealant that has a 6-9 month life on a vehicle. It is about the closest synthetic to carnauba (carnauba is still the gold standard that all others are compared against from a visual depth/wetness perspective, but carnauba has a 4-6 week life span on outdoor vehicles due to UV breakdown.). It is stupid easy and fast to apply, looks deep and wet, does not stain black rubber or plastic and is fairly inexpensive and goes a long way with little product.
Ceramic is sort of a gimmick being over sold to many who have unrealistic expectations. It does not prevent scratches, does not prevent swirls, does not prevent chips, does not negate the need to wash if you actually want a clean paint finish and does take away a good deal of your money.
If you have a Corvette that is garaged, rarely sees dirt and gets a 2 bucket wash every 2 to 4 weeks and is stored over the winter, it may be worth it. If you run through your towns scratch-O-matic tunnel wash... no use. If you are happy with a touchless (sort of) wash... waste of money.... you don't even care that the vehicle is till dirty.
Different products for different folks. I think most would be well served with a detail and mild correction, good sealant and occasional hand washes followed by a spritz with a spray sealant such as the very good Maguire's Synthetic Xpress Spray Wax used as a drying aid. As in wash, rinse, spritz on wet car and dry. Done. That will boost the heck out of the hydrophobic properties, depth and shine, slickness and amaze you. And it's about $30 a gallon from Autoality.
But alas! This all opinion and is subjective to the core. I only speak from my experiences, no doubt that you can find people with opposing views. The spice of life.
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deezler
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Couldn't agree more. 6.0L LQ4, 4L80 trans. Mine is an '03 SLT, so leather and a few power things, but still pretty spartan compared to anything new. The previous (original) owner wanted a manual transfer case, so I have one of presumably very few SLTs with a front bench, instead of a center console with electronic T-case.
Pretty much a bullet proof drivetrain. I'm only at 115k miles now; this truck can pretty much last the rest of my life. 13/14 mpg isn't amazing, but, it's acceptable. Sadly, the rocker and cab corner rust is starting to accelerate. I had it contained well for the last few years, but it lives outside now and stays damp.