Older Truck Needs to Shine - Need Advice

[phburks]

Bought this truck in June after it had set in the Nebraska weather for about 3 years. I want to see how well it will shine again. I read Pb's post on detailing and it answered most of my questions.

I've never polished/waxed a car because I've never owned anything I cared that much about. What I'd still like to know is how much time can I expect to spend getting this thing to shine, and is it even reasonable to try to do this without a power tool buffer like Pb talked about? I figure using a buffer is ideal, but I'd really rather not buy one right now. I don't mind doing it by hand, I just have no idea how long it will take.

After reading Pb's instructions, my understanding is that I basically need to thoroughly clean and dry the vehicle, polish it, then wax it. Right?

Thanks for any advice. And, I'll definitely post pics of my efforts.

[Pb]

That truck is small. Polishing it by hand is do-able. Polish it until the paint is shiny. Then wax.

I'd set aside at least half of a day to do it right. Spending a whole day on it would not be unreasonable.

Even with a buffer it takes me about 8 hours to detail most cars. Polishing is the most time consuming part, but polishing is what really brings the paint to life.

[phburks]

great! Thanks Pb. Hopefully I'll have time to do it before the weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

[eyeball96]

Be sure to Post pics when u get it done!

[phburks]

Originally Posted by eyeball96

Be sure to Post pics when u get it done!

most assuredly! i was gonna polish 'er up today, but my fiancee has been really sick the last couple of days so i've been playing nurse, cleaning, running errands, cooking, etc.

but she's pretty much better now, so i think i can do it tomorrow.

[phburks]

well i finally got around to it. my fiancee even helped me too! i'm pretty sure next time i decide to polish i'm gonna buy an orbital buffer, though. my arms are killing me today. i think we did an okay job, even though it's not perfect.

anyway, enough of my jabbering, here's some pics. wish the lighting had been better, but it was really cloudy out:


here's a before shot:


and an after shot (we hadn't cleaned out the grooves yet):


comparing polished and unpolished:


and the finished polished and waxed pickup:



thanks for the tips. could it have been done better? i'm sure. but man i'm really happy with the way it turned out!

[eyeball96]

Looks good...now do what u just did, a few more times this month and she'll really shine! Ur arms will not hurt as much next time!

Apply Mothers "Back to Black" to the bumpers. It'll make them look much better.

[eddie926]

Looks great! Always amazes me what can be accomplished with some polish and a little time and effort. Yeah, I bet your arms do hurt some.

I highly recommend getting the Porter Cable 7424. However good you have it looking now it's a sure bet you could make it look even better with the PC. It's not that much more expensive than the cheapies, and well worth the cost IMO.

Great job.

[Tideland Prius]

wow!! Great job!! A very noticeable difference. Now to make the mirrors blacker =P

[eddie926]

^^Yeah, dressing out your bumper, trim and tires would really set off the new shine

[phburks]

hey, thanks for the feedback, and for the suggestions on the mirrors and bumpers. I've been trying to decide just how much I want to do to the truck. There is enough cosmetically wrong with the truck (dents/dings/scratches) that it would take a lot of time to fix it right, especially for me since I'd be wingin' it. Still, the truck looks okay and painting the bumpers and mirrors would probably help. probably should do the grill too.

well, thanks again! i'll post pics when i get around to painting anything.