Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

I finally decided to wax my truck. It's only been around ten years.

A valuable Life lesson.

While I like and appreciate my truck it has to live at the curb, uncovered. It's parked across the street so it doesn't even get the shade from the large trees in front of our house. It's not getting driven too much now either. Especially now.  I did make two trips up North last month. One to Roseville, a bit north of Sacramento and another to Placerville east of Sacramento in the foothills.

The reason for these trips was to pick up some furniture that my Wife wanted. The trip to Roseville netted us a three piece wall unit that consists of lower cabinets topped by  bookshelves. It was reminiscent of the items that I used to see displayed at the old Ethan Allen showrooms. For a blue collar kid like me, Ethan Allen was an unobtainable dream. The unit was free, so the trip was well worth it. The second trip was for a tall, antique, multi level cabinet from the late 1890's. She wanted it, and she paid for it, so that was worth the trip also.

Either way it was a break from the shelter in place.  We just wore masks when we were around other folks. I've gotten used to that. Might as well, as that's what our future look like.

Because the truck sits at the curb I've noticed that the paint was starting to look dull.  I knew that I better take action before the clear coat starts to oxidize, then it will be too late.

I carefully washed the truck and besides noting that some very dried bird crap was clinging to the hood, the paint looked okay. Dull, but okay. Luckily the bird droppings didn't discolor the finish.

I washed it the new microfiber wash mitt that I just bought.

I've heard a lot about microfiber but I really didn't get it. I was still using my old T shirts and terry cloth towels.

I've had this for almost a year and hadn't even opened the package.

My Brother even gave me a 36 pack of towels from Costco last Christmas, I hadn't even opened it, let alone used them yet. What was the big deal?

I googled microfiber and read about it. It's really just a much denser polyester weave that not only grips the dirt molecules, it also somehow attracts them. Most cleaning can be done with plain water. As opposed to normal cleaning, which floats away the dirt with dispersants like soap or detergent.

It cleans with physics instead of chemistry. At least that's what the article said.

Anyhow I bought the mitt and some other cleaning and polishing supplies, at the local
O' Reilly's.

You can see how dull and cloudy the finish has become.
That Ryobi polisher fell off the truck many times during the job.

I had bought a Ryobi power polisher last summer at a swap meet. It was brand new in it's case and came with two polishing bonnets. It only cost me 15 bucks so I thought that it was a good deal.

It is an orbital polisher, which is best for the neophyte, as it's pretty hard to wear through the paint with it. I found that it is also a bit hard to hang onto, as it's similar to a big palm sander that you grip with one hand. Especially once your hand gets tired!

I had been watching some videos on cutting and buffing new paint. One video claimed that they turned a 500 dollar Maaco paint job into a 3,500 (value) paint job. The finish was clay barred, wet sanded with 1,500 and 2,200 grit wet/dry paper then polished and waxed with a buffer.  It took the guy two and a half days to do the job. That's why a good paint job is expensive. There's a lot of labor involved beyond just spraying the paint. A 500.00 dollar paint job, that was pretty much what I put on my old Mustang.

I was happy to find replacement bonnets available at my local store.

At O'Reilly's I found some 6 inch polishing bonnets which I knew would come in handy, this way I could switch to a clean one as needed. I had been a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to easily source compatible bonnets. The originals are the tie on type. I didn't have much faith in those. I found some that are held on with an elastic band around the edge.  It was pretty cheap of Ryobi  to only include one of each bonnet with the machine. I went back to the store later and bought a couple more packages of bonnets. I don't know how long the machine will last, but it would be worthless without these.

I thought I'd try the Mothers product because it looked like it would be easier to hold onto!

I used  Meguiar's car wash with the microfiber mitt and it did a good job, even considering that it hadn't been washed in at least a couple of months. I did notice that paint was losing it's shine. I had planned on using a clay bar but forgot to buy it at this time. I picked one up on the subsequent trip.

I've watched a couple of videos where plumber's putty was used instead of a clay bar. I will probably try that out also. It is much cheaper at three to four dollars a container. Why not save a few bucks if it does the job?

Meguiar's cleaning wax is pretty good one step process. However if you want real results
 you'll have to invest a bit more money and time. Again note how dull the roof looks.

I decided to go with my favorite wax. Meguiar's cleaner wax. I could have used a mild compound, then used something like Meguiar's Carnuba Wax.  I figured that the cleaner wax would be abrasive enough to bring the shine back and I was right. Since trucks are pretty big, by the time I finished doing the entire truck I was kind of tired! Carnuba wax will have to wait for the next time.

The cleaning wax cut through the dull film and the paint started to gleam again. I noticed that there was a lot of hard water droplet deposits on the right side of the truck. That's the side that's next to the curb and gets sprayed by the sprinklers. The cleaner wax removed and smoothed out some of the deposits, but it will need to be clay barred to make a big improvement.

This shot of the hood displays the improvement.
Much better!

It was a satisfactory result for the first effort. Repeated attention will improve it's appearance even more. The whole idea is periodic maintenance and upkeep. It's not a one time deal.

Polishing machines of this type are low powered and operate at slower speeds than professional type, dual action sanders/polishers. Many professionals choose direct action machines because in skilled hands they can reduce the time spent polishing, and time is money. In inexperienced hands damage can be done to the panels where the cutting agents burn through the paint, especially at the edges, sometimes all the way to the primer.

Instead of bonnets, better machines use velcro attaching systems to hold different foam pads and buffers. These are easier and quicker to use, and it makes it much easier to switch back and forth as you complete one area at a time.

I tried this originally but became concerned that the bonnets weren't going to hold up to being repeatedly removed and mounted. The tie on units got pretty marginal, one tore at the edges. I decided to do both sides and the tailgate at one time. I applied wax to these areas then went back and buffed out the dried polish. It worked, but made the job more difficult as it had become much warmer, drying out the wax residue.  I used a microfiber towel to remove the dried wax in the hard to reach spots.

There are many different polishing machine systems available to the hobbyist. The big companies have a line of professional grade equipment. Eastwood offers one, Harbor Freight has a moderately priced system that would probably hold up for home use. Even little polishers like the Ryobi can be satisfactory for occasional home use. It will take longer to do the job, but it's still faster and easier than doing it by hand, Karate Kid style;  wax on, wax off!

I'm leaning towards the HF system as they carry a good assortment off buffing pads and there are stores everywhere.

There aren't a lot of whitewalls around but it does a good job on blackwalls too.

I had cleaned the tires with Bleche-White which removes the brownish "bloom" from the tires. Then I applied some protectant. I also applied it to the plastic grille, mirrors and door handles. Then I carefully cleaned all the windows inside and out with SprayWay. That the best window cleaner I've found. Your car always looks better with clean windows.

Overall I'm very satisfied with the results of an afternoon's work. I've only got five more cars to go!

I was so fired up that I decided to wash and wax the Explorer a week later.  I had all the stuff I needed, so I finished it in an afternoon.

The paint has quite a bit of "crackling" on the hood. The cracks can't be removed by polishing or even compounding. The hood would have to be sanded down then repainted. I'm not about to do that, yet.  After polishing with the cleaner wax it looks much better, Even the hood looks shiny. The paint on the remainder of the vehicle is in pretty good shape and responded well to my efforts.

Over a year ago I had repainted the C pillars at the rear hatch. I should have done a better job masking as I got some over spray on the rear windows. It was a bit sloppy looking. I used liquid rubbing compound to remove the over spray. It was a worthwhile improvement. I also decided to wash all the door jambs and step plates. Since this was becoming a detailing session I decided to add the "V8" emblems that were missing from the front fenders. V8 powered early Explorers are a bit rare. I had located these along with the missing Ford oval on the hatch during a trip to my local Pick and Pull yard. It dawned on me that I was the only person in my cul de sac that owned any V8 powered vehicles.

Now the Explorer was looking pretty nice for a twenty five year old vehicle that has had to work for it's living. I know that my Wife thinks that it's kind of silly that I would spend so much time detailing out what most would consider a throw away vehicle. But I find it satisfying to make it look as best as it can.

The old girl's starting to look like someone cares about her.

It's funny but after the Explorer was stolen and recovered, and I fixed it up, I've gotten to really like the thing. Maybe love don't just make Subarus, Subarus. Maybe it works for Fords too!