Working on Suburban

[THier]

Suburban came under attack from the PC DA, and tried some experiments. Here are some photos.

I had some spots where there was paint in dings, this is one I wet sanded, before the DA.





I did half of it with the DA and a "light cutting" pad and the paint cleaner from Perfect auto finish. I am not sure what caused this dent and paint,, but here you can see dent. Sorry I didn't take pic before I sanded it.




This was after I completed the first pass, I hit it again then waxed it,, It totally disappeared.





I was happy with the results,, and I thought damn those rear pillars are ugly, here is one done half way with same method.





Then I thought,, how about those nasty wheels, again,, half,





This pic doesn't do justice to the difference between front and rear, but rear was even worse than the front.




I figured IF the wheels were cleared,, the the paint cleaner would be ok,, as it is "clear coat safe"


I didn't get any pics of truck completely done,, but picture the last pic with a coat of Next gen wax from Meguires,, and you get the general idea.

Damn this Suburban is huge, and this was a lot of practice with the DA, now I feel 100% comfortable with it now, Els' van has some nasty dings with paint,, I plan on working on her van as well. I want to find an article I read a while back about using a heat gun and ice to pop dents.

I am no professional detailer, but I am VERY happy with the results, this is a 1996, with almost 170k on the clock. Doesn't look too bad IMO.

We do have some detailing experts,, litterally,, over at PTCrew.com, and the knowledge gain from them is huge.

Tom

[BaldMark]

Tom,  Did you use to do body work?  That is impressive!!!  I'm either too impatient or don't know what i'm doing! I've never had results like that.

[THier]

Tom,  Did you use to do body work?  That is impressive!!!  I'm either too impatient or don't know what i'm doing! I've never had results like that.

Nope, I have been a mechanic my entire life (professionally for 16 years) but never did body or paint work. Like me post said, over at PTCrew (dot) com there are two profession detailers, one owned Perfect auto finish in Chicago, one works for Meguiars as a detailer of show cars, then are are a few of "advanced hobbist" detailers. I have done research of it, asked a lot of questions, and this battleship gave me a lot of practice. I am now comfortable in tackleing the wifes newer van. It helps to understand how modern clear coats work, and how scratches are usually in the clear coat, and you must remove the very first layer to remove the scratches.

Tom