'05 Tahoe Exterior Restoration Job - lots of pics

[Boomer73]

So having finished my interior restoration job a week or so ago (see this thread http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15391) I moved on today to finish my exterior restoration with a thorough detail. The body was in pretty good shape when I got the vehicle, but the paint had been neglected, and some ass clown had done a $20 orbital job on it so it was swirl mark hell everywhere. Also, since it was an LS it had TRP plastic trim/parts stem to stern. It also came without fender flares, with 16" wheels, no spare, and basic powered (unheated) mirrors. My goal was to keep it appearing reasonably stock. Here's what I did to it:

- Added factory fender flares and painted to match the body
- Painted door handles and lift gate handle
- Painted body side moldings
- Painted front bumper cap
- Painted factory rear pillar/vent appliques to match the body
- Installed DL3 highline mirrors (turn signals, power fold, autodimming, heated, power adjust) with painted caps
- 07+ Yukon/Sierra polished 20" OEM wheels
- Yokohama Prada Spec-X tires
- New wiper blades
- Aftermarket LED tailights with smoked backup lights
- New waterpump

I spent 7 hours today detailing this thing. The process I used was:

1. Wash with Zaino Show Car wash
2. Clean/Polish with Klasse All-in-One on a Lake Country Green CSS pad using setting 6 on a Meguiar's G110v2 DA polisher
3. Glaze with Klasse High Gloss Sealant/Glaze on a Lake Country Black CSS pad using setting 2 on a Meguiar's G110v2 DA polisher.
4. Wax with Pinnacle Souveran Wax, applied by hand and worked in with a 6" Waxmaster el cheapo machine.
5. Finish with Pinnacle Crystal Mist Carnauba Detail Spray

I used Liquid Glass Pre-Cleaner on all the smooth plastic which really does an amazing job of removing the oxidization and polishing it to a glossy finish - its like Brasso for plastic. I used Meguiar's Quick Detailer to clean all the TRP plastic and then followed with Meguiar's Exterior Trim Detailer to bring out the black.

Here are before and after shots of the hood.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And here are some all around shot of the finished vehicle:

There are some more shots in my album. Two things I want to say about this vehicle:

1. I have never been a fan of red. 5 of my last 7 vehicles have been black. But this Sport Red Metallic has been growing on me a lot since I've had it. When I saw it after today's detailing I was so impressed by its vibrancy and depth that its now one of my favorite colors.

2. The the results of this project have exceeded my expectations, not so much because what I've done, but because in doing the project I'm reminded again why I like the GMT-800 series vehicles so much. GM has a really great product in these trucks - they have so much potential.

-B

 

[chistoso]

WOW dude! Truck looks beautiful. Very impressed with what you've accomplished here.

Looks like a brand new vehicle inside and out..

---------- Post added at 06:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------

How do you like those Paradas? I'm rolling 24's and I love the ride, very smooth thread pattern and very quiet.

 

[Boomer73]

Thanks! I've only got 1300 miles on the Parada's but about 1100 of those miles was two 10 hour road trips one of which had about 8 hours of rain. I have to say that so far the traction and the ride quality is an astounding improvement over the factory tires. I suspect the 20" wheels help as well.

By the way, love your Esky. That blue is hard to beat.

-B

 

[chistoso]

Thanks. This body style (GMT-800) is my favorite. As nice and luxurious as the NNBS is I like this one best..

 

[Boomer73]

Yeah I agree 100% and seriously considered buying both an nnbs Denali XL and Suburban LTZ, but was never able to bring myself to pull the trigger. When I look at what I'm getting for the money, I can't make the case. As KSES123 was saying one things the 800s have that the 900s seem to be lacking is a more driver-centric design. When you can go and pick up an '03-06 800 and mod it to your liking for tens of thousands less than a 900, really the only thing the 900s have over you is a more up to date exterior. Is that worth it? Not to me.

-B

 

[BOSS]

thanks. This body style (gmt-800) is my favorite. As nice and luxurious as the nnbs is i like this one best..

x2

b

 

[BOSS]

Did you paint yourself? What steps/process did you follow?

B

 

[chistoso]

Yeah I agree 100% and seriously considered buying both an nnbs Denali XL and Suburban LTZ, but was never able to bring myself to pull the trigger. When I look at what I'm getting for the money, I can't make the case. As KSES123 was saying one things the 800s have that the 900s seem to be lacking is a more driver-centric design. When you can go and pick up an '03-06 800 and mod it to your liking for tens of thousands less than a 900, really the only thing the 900s have over you is a more up to date exterior. Is that worth it? Not to me.

-B

Agreed!

Keep up the great work Erik..

 

[polobuds]

saw your interior project in your photo album. amazing! where did you get most of your interior parts? (plastic panels, headliner, carpet, etc). Might have to replace some interior parts in my tahoe and I'd be interested in knowing where a good place to get that stuff. Thanks!

 

[thehoe92]

wow!! amazing skills! this thing is beautiful now
you really did a great job on it

where did you pick up the mirrors?
how hard were they to wire?
did you buy smooth door handles and paint them or did you prep/paint the textured ones?

also how did you detail the engine?

 

[Z-56 Hoe]

awsome work inside and out. I want that center console bad~

 

[91RS]

Did you attempt to sand down the texture or fill in (with primer or something) the texture on the plastic before painting?

Where did those tails come from? I've seen those on a Suburban on my way to work and I've been wondering where to get them.

 

[Boomer73]

saw your interior project in your photo album. amazing! where did you get most of your interior parts? (plastic panels, headliner, carpet, etc). Might have to replace some interior parts in my tahoe and I'd be interested in knowing where a good place to get that stuff. Thanks!

All the interior parts were purchased off of ebay except for the drivers side A-pillar trim, the passenger side rear coat hook, the console rear panel, and the console pocket. These were all gmpartsdirect purchases.

Did you attempt to sand down the texture or fill in (with primer or something) the texture on the plastic before painting?

Where did those tails come from? I've seen those on a Suburban on my way to work and I've been wondering where to get them.

Did you paint yourself? What steps/process did you follow?

The painting was mostly done by a local body shop across the street from my house but some was done by my neighbors son-in-law who is a painter at a shop across town and I did the mirror caps myself. The handles were previously painted handles I got off ebay so they were already smooth. However, the bumper cover, body side moldings, and the mirror caps were all TRP. I sanded the mirror caps, but did not sand either the body side moldings or the bumper cap. If you look very closely at the body side molds, you can see a little bit of texture visible at the edges, but the bumper cap you can't tell it was ever TRP - its completely smooth. The body shop did both these parts and they used some kind of leveling/filling spray-on primer that filled in the low spots on the texturing beautifully. They also used a flex additive on all the plastic parts. It looks fantastic even with your nose right up on it.

The tail lights also came off ebay. There's another post in this forum (here http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15371) where these tails were called out. A number of guys here have them or the version of them with the clear backup lights. Honestly, while I like these tails, if I were to do it over again I'd buy the ones with the clear backup lights. I think they have a little more OEM-like look to them.

Here's the clears: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/00-0...ccessories&hash=item51936a3c4b#ht_6806wt_1165

And here's the smoked: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2000...Accessories&hash=item4cefb5afce#ht_2856wt_939

More than one vendor is selling the exact same tails and the prices are sorta all over the place, so shop around (on ebay) for them. You should be able to pick them up for a little over $100.

where did you pick up the mirrors?
how hard were they to wire?
did you buy smooth door handles and paint them or did you prep/paint the textured ones?

also how did you detail the engine?

I STOLE these mirrors from a guy on ebay that was doing a trailer mirror swap and didn't know what he had and hadn't listed them properly. After a couple of emails back and forth I realized what he had and got them for $120 shipped. DL3 mirrors for $120?! I couldn't believe it. I paid $275 for my previous set that I mounted on my Sierra and I felt I got a good deal having seen them go for $400+ regularly.

The mirrors are almost plug and play. You have to remove the door panel and there are three nuts that hold the mirror onto the body. It's simply a matter of pulling the wires through the hole in the door, nuttin' back on, and plugging the wiring harness in to the door panel. To get the power fold to work sometimes the BCM needs to be reprogrammed by the dealer, however, I've talked to some people who it worked for "out of the box." I've done two DL3 mirror swaps and both times I had to have them programmed for power fold. Everything else works fine right away including the turn signals.

The engine was really not in bad shape. It was covered in dirt and pollen, but not too greasy. I went through two rolls of paper towels with windex and degreaser wiping everything down then treated all the plastics with Armour All. The engine bay is about the only place I'm willing to use that stuff. I'm a big fan of wiping it on with a paper towel or shop rag, letting it sit, then wiping it off with a microfiber towel to avoid that sloppy/greasy film that just attracts dust and dirt.

See my other post for the answer to your handle painting questions. One thing I looked for when I got the handles was ones with the metal pins in them. The ones with the plastic pins always break sooner or later.

-B

 

[91RS]

Thanks, those look like pretty nice quality lights too. I like that they take care of the fast blink.

 

[LazyAssLou]

lovin that color bro!

 

[Tahoewhat]

Man awesome job. Looks 100x better. Dont care for that color much either, but after seeing your cleaning job and the way it looks now, man, very nice. lots of hard work though.... definitely paid off... Looking good. What are you plans to it now? Selling it?

 

[HMFDZ28]

Your Truck looks mint!!!! Major cograts on the love added to her!

 

[polobuds]

Thanks for the info Boomer!

 

[Boomer73]

Man awesome job. Looks 100x better. Dont care for that color much either, but after seeing your cleaning job and the way it looks now, man, very nice. lots of hard work though.... definitely paid off... Looking good. What are you plans to it now? Selling it?

Yes. State inspection this week and I will list it for sale probably Friday or Saturday.

-B

 

[VT19]

Yeah I agree 100% and seriously considered buying both an nnbs Denali XL and Suburban LTZ, but was never able to bring myself to pull the trigger. When I look at what I'm getting for the money, I can't make the case. As KSES123 was saying one things the 800s have that the 900s seem to be lacking is a more driver-centric design. When you can go and pick up an '03-06 800 and mod it to your liking for tens of thousands less than a 900, really the only thing the 900s have over you is a more up to date exterior. Is that worth it? Not to me.

-B

boomer you have to explain all these 800s 900s??? im confused.