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Truck detailing

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Detailing the truck today and figure I'll update as I go. I'm no expert but I'll share what I've learned over the years. Todays truck is an 02 F350 service bed. Cab and front end is original paint (base and clear). Bed is 3 years old with single stage paint. Goal for today is to was the whole truck and get the cab polished/waxed. Ill polished/wax the bed tomorrow. Its late in the day for both and the bed takes extra time. What I'm using product wise for wash is Adams car shampoo, washing pad, shammi (spelling?), and a microfiber rag. Polish/wax I'm using Adams detail spray, mothers carnuba cleaner wax, off the shelf claybar, porter cable DA polisher, and microfiber rags. The reason I use carnuba cleaner wax is because its a 1 step process. I've done the 3 steps in the past and they simply just take to long. 3 times as long. If you have a crewcab Ford the roof takes forever since its not flat.
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Footwear. Rubber boots are a must. May look ugly but wet feet sux.
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Soap on the washpad and here I go.
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Washed and almost dried. When washing start at the cleanest area and work towards the dirties. Clean pad as needed. When drying I make a pass around the entire truck to sheet the water off then make a 2nd final pass. I get the vertical surfaces first then the flat surfaces (roof and hood). The wheels are still dirty. I get those last to pass the time for the last bit of water to dry and to keep from shock cooling the brakes. Still more drying to come.
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All dry now. Opened all the doors and wiped the inside of them with a microfiber and clean water. Some things to note in the picture about the cab. The weather stripping is pulled down and resting on the seat. The area on the cab where it goes gets dirty and wet. It will start to rust if not cleaned and gets over looked. The primer on the suicide door. Ford supercab doors move since there is no fixed B pillar. The paint gets rubbed off. I shot some primer to stop rust. The pencil in the door latch. It tricks the door to think its shut eliminating the ding noise when listening to music. To remove it pull the handle and pull the pencil out of the latch like it was the striker.
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Time for claybar. I chose a soft compound due to the history of the truck. I'm 2nd owner. 1st owner lived in 29 Palms. The truck was clean but the paint had etched water spots and fallout from the jets over the years it was in 29 Palms. Years ago I hit it hard and got the paint clean but noticed what looked like pin holes in the clearcoat. I don't know how much clearcoat is left so I play it safe. Another reason is the bed is single stage paint. Clay I believe cuts and dulls the paint. When claying the cab the clay gets dirty. When claying the bed it gets dirty and gets a white tint. The paint on these beds is so so. Kinda fragile so I take it easy. Now with clay start on vertical surfaces and then finish on the flat surfaces. The paint contaminants stick to flat surfaces more than vertical. Break a piece off the clay and start rubbing back and forth lightly on the paint and keep it wet with detail spray. You'll hear noise and thats the contaminants being pulled from the paint. Often fold the clay over itself so the clay surface is clean. If dropped on the floor trash it. Remove weather stripping as needed.
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Cab all clayed. Did back and forth motion with the clay and used detail spray. I used the soft clay on the vertical surfaces. I used the purple clay on the flat surfaces, grill, and bumper. Clay is reusable. Ill reuse the blue since it cleaned a surface that wasnt to dirty. The purple clay to me is throw away since it cleaned a really dirty surface. Couple notes. Clay is like an eraser. Example. You'll find rust dots on the paint. It will take the contaminant out but leave the orange mark. If you scrub harder it will take out the orange. The polishing part will take out the orange as well. You'll spend a lot of time traying to clay scrub the orange marks and other contaminants. The shot of the blue clay is from cleaning a 2'x2' area. So now the next step, wash the cab again since the clay process leaves a mess.
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Washed and dried again. Clean wheels this time. Now to pull it in and start polishing.
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Inside now. 2 different pads here. The orange is more abrasive than the red. Ill use the orange on the cab and red on the bed. Attached the pad to the polisher and apply polish. Shake polish prior to applying. Spray a shot of detail spray on the pad and have at it. I go side to side then up and down motions. Start on vertical surfaces then to flat.
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In the process of making a mess got the polish on my phone. Decided to polish the screen. Its a lot clearer now.
 
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And all done. Cab is polished/waxed and wiped down. Also got the bumper and grill. Wiped with a microfiber. The reason for the detail spray on the polish is to keep it wet. If it starts to dry up just hit the paint with a shot of detail spray. When wiping the polish off if it gets tough, detail spray again. Being 16 years old there still are scratches and pitting in the clear that would take more time to remove. With the detailing today the paint is free from contaminants and smooth to the touch. Tomorrow I'll get the bed and try to clean up the fog lights.
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Back at it again for the bed. I did drive 40 miles since I washed it. Looking it over I can just wipe it with detail spray and a microfiber before I clay. There are some areas with asphalt tack that need to be spot cleaned. WD40 and a paper towel take care of this.
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Bed is clayed and washed again. It was dirtier than I thought. Now to polishing. Using a 3" pad to get between the doors then onto the 6" for the doors. Using an angle drill with a 3" backing pad. Somewhere I have a 3" air polisher but would pass on it since its cold this morning. Using red pads as they are softer and because of the single stage paint.
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where does the line start! o_O My rig is a Maroon red! and would probably look awesome wash & waxed!...Which has only been done maybe 2 time since new! :)
 

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I finished about 45 minutes ago. The 3" pad worked great and kinda made a mess. Had some splatter. It wipes up with detail spray. Hit the rest with the 6" pad. Let it set up and wiped. Went through the whole truck again wiping and know I will for the next couple days as spots I missed will appear. At this point is a good time to get the touch up paint and dab all the rock chips. Getting touch up paint at the dealer is a pain. I go to the local auto paint supply store and have then make up a 4oz. bottle that last a year and is about $12 and it matches pretty well.
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Factory Ford paint after about 96 is tough paint. In most cases it can be cleaned up pretty good except for the red and turquoise. This truck is an 02 with 360K miles. I detail it about once, maybe twice a year. Last time it was detailed the clay bar turned orange from all the grinder sparks embedding in the paint from getting work done on the bed. It was terrible but cleaned up. The crewcab next to it is a 2000 with 320k miles and is washed about 4 times a year and detailed once a year and it still cleans up very nice. If not detailed for a long time, not a big deal. There is clean paint under that dirt. Really, there is.
 
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