Tahoe Reconditioning Project

[Mrclean81]

This is my first post here, outside of the intro forum. Im a professional detailer and figured I would post up a project Border Patrol Tahoe that I eventually bought for myself. I had close to 40 hours total in this truck.

http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoebefore1.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoebefore3.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoebefore4.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoebefore6.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoebefore9.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoebefore2.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoebefore11.jpg

---------- Post added at 01:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:46 AM ----------

All of the glue was removed using Car Brite's Take Off. The entire truck was wetsanded using 1000 grit paper, then buffed out with 3M Perfect-It 2 compound. Heres a 50/50 shot.
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoebefore13.jpg

After the compounding was finished, it was polished out with Auto Magic's Risk Free polish and a blue polishing pad, then with a white finishing pad, Auto Magic's Strawberry Wet Wax was applied. All of the machine work was done with a rotary.
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter8.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter9.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter12.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter13.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter14.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter15.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter1.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter4.jpg

The black wheels and mud grips were replaced with stock wheels because this was for a dealership and it had to be put back to factory specs.
No before pics of the interior, but trust me it was nasty. 13 hours was spent on the interior alone.
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter6.jpg
http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae188/mrclean81/mobile%20details/USTahoeafter5.jpg

Thanks for looking
:)

[Travieso]

very nice great work

[Mrclean81]

very nice great work

Thank you :)

[Doomsta510]

wow nice job there, any tips to get the interior clean again? My interior has seen better days before my dog, i have urine stains on my seats and smells i want to remove.

[Tahoekid1993]

great job man! Ive got a friend in the detailing buisness and they do great jobs as well! Again good job,looks great!

[Mrclean81]

wow nice job there, any tips to get the interior clean again? My interior has seen better days before my dog, i have urine stains on my seats and smells i want to remove.

What I use on everything other than seats and carpet is a dry foam call Xtra Duty from Car Brite. VERY good stuff, similar to Tuff Stuff or Blue Coral but twice as strong. For seats and carpet, I personally use a heated extractor but there are alot of differant ways of doing it. Foam is a good one as far as over the counter products go. Folex is also a good otc product for seats and carpet. The tricky part with seats these days is they have to be cleaned evenly or else they will look spotty. Good microfiber towels are a good idea when doing seats too. As for the smell...that can be a chore if its really bad. There are tons of products that are supposed to compleatly kill the odor, but they dont. Normally, if the seats and carpet are shampooed, the headliner is cleaned, and the rest of the interior is cleaned up the smell will usually fade away. Ive known of people sticking dryer sheets in the springs of their seats to absorb the odor and they swear it works. A good quality air freshener that also kills malodor would be my suggestion over all. Chemicalguys.com has some of the best Ive ever used.

---------- Post added at 12:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:20 AM ----------

great job man! Ive got a friend in the detailing buisness and they do great jobs as well! Again good job,looks great!

Thank you I really appreciate it.
In case anyone is wondering, the diamond shaped marks in the rear head rests and the hole in the floor that I patched is from the cage that was in there to transport illegal aliens.:mexsmoke:

[ecordell]

what'd you do to get that engine bay lookin so damn good?

[My01yuk]

clean81, you do great work. I need to have mine yuk detailed on the outside, you can see scuff marks like the 50/50 shot you took on mine. Or maybe I should just buff it myself but not sure what rpms' etc to use. Might be a project in the next several weeks. Again, nice work bro.

---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:44 AM ----------

Never mind, saw what you used and think I will try the same stuff.

[Mrclean81]

what'd you do to get that engine bay lookin so damn good?

I used some very strong degreaser called Hot Stuff from Car Brite and a 2000 psi steam washer. Every one of these Border Patrol trucks are horrid under the hood. On any other vehical Ive ever done (1000s) Hot Stuff has cut every last speck of dirt, grease, oil, etc off with no prob. Im washing these engines at least 3 times. Ive never seen engine bays this nasty.

I see your from Olney..your not far from me :)

---------- Post added at 11:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:17 PM ----------

clean81, you do great work. I need to have mine yuk detailed on the outside, you can see scuff marks like the 50/50 shot you took on mine. Or maybe I should just buff it myself but not sure what rpms' etc to use. Might be a project in the next several weeks. Again, nice work bro.

---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:44 AM ----------

Never mind, saw what you used and think I will try the same stuff.

Thank you. It all depends on what machine you use, how comfortable you are with it, and your pad/product choice. I personally prefer a wool pad and medium compound on my rotary, but unless a person is pretty experianced with a rotary its a wheel of death. I often use a light compound like 3M Perfect It 3 and a foam cutting pad if the scratches arent too deep. Its safer and finishes down alot better. Color of the vehical is also a huge factor. Dark colors and rotary buffers dont play well together. I use a DA polisher for those which is the safest and really the best way to do it. A good DA with the right pads and products will make a paint job look like a mirror.

[thehoe92]

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

truck looks great now!!

[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 whore 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 bitch with swirls, I had a black RC Dakota a few years back and some jackass 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 FUCK! (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!

[Frathoe TFM]

What did you use to clean the engine components?

[clkelley]

What did you use to clean the engine components?

I just about missed it myself.

I used some very strong degreaser called Hot Stuff from Car Brite and a 2000 psi steam washer.


GREAT write up, I need to wet sand our kon, it has some pretty good swirl marks where someone somewhere in it's past has attempted and failed to properly polish it. It isn't REAL bad, but I can't stand it.
....

[Blkout02]

looks super clean