correcting paint on a Ford F150

[novataco]

I am going to help a friend polish his Ford F150, which has a lot of spiderwebs and never had a good polishing. I have a PC dual action and Sonus pads.



Can I get away with a 2-step process like Maguires Mirror Glaze Ultra Cut Compound and Ultra Finishing Polish, instead of my Sonus SFX 3-step polishes to eliminate one stage? I've never used Maguires, just Sonus.



I own a 2006 Tacoma, but I am not familiar with the paint on an F150. Any other recommendations for this truck? Here is what one detailer did on a Ford truck:



Big "A" Detailing Ford F150 Clear Coat Correction 67 pics - New York Mustangs - Forums





Thank you.

 

[mharris2007]

I two stage corrected my dad's light gray 2002 f150 and it was the most frustrating car I've detailed yet. I think it was a combination of the fact that for the last 9 years my dad has only washed with water only!!??!?!. I used M105 with yellow uber/b&S on my PCXP then M205 PCXP with green uber/b&s pad, then collinite 845 as LSP after a IPA wipe down. It looked exponentially better than it did, but at night under the street lights you can still see imperfections. In the daylight it looks nice. It was very frustrating to get those kinds of results after spending 11 hours on the exterior pain polishing. It was weird, it was like every panel on the car had different paint??!?! The tailgate turned out pristine. The rear fenders had scratches/weird RIDS that didn't come out, the hood behaved differently than the rest. Really weird stuff. Like I said, it looked allot better after, but not as nice as I would have liked. I wasn't about to keep chasing it on a big 'ol truck like that either. Next up is my buddies 2003 dark blue GMC Yukon/Suburban. I think I'm going to pick up Meguiar's new microfiber cutting pads and D300 cutting compound and give that a go. I'm going to put my buddy to work on the PCXP and I'm going to man the flex so we can both be polishing at once to try to get it done. We'll see how well it all goes. Hope this helps.



Here's what I started with

After M105 with Yellow uber/b&s PCXP on speed 6

AFter M205 with green uber pcxp on speed 6

Brinkman Pics

The interior of his rig is hammered. Still needs to be detailed. Haven't got around to that yet.



Hope this helps.

 

[novataco]

Thanks. Sounds like this is going to be a lot of work, as I don't think he's ever polished, and paint looks a bit dull. After reading your post I am thinking the Ford paint won't be so easy to work with, and I will readjust expectations for the end results.



I think I will try my Sonus SFX-2 and SFX-3. Since he recently had a pdr shop take some dents out and buff out some scuffs, I am hoping I won't need to use the SFX-1, thanks to that. That should save some time.



If I am not having luck with the Sonus, I will try the Meguier's. Problem with Sonus is it comes in 8 oz. bottles only, and this truck will probably use up all that I have left, and more. An F150 has a lot of large panels.



If its not doing the job I may just get both the Maguires Mirror Glaze Ultra Cut Compound and Ultra Finishing Polish, and give it a whirl.

 

[Merlin]

I have an F150 and I believe you are correct all the sections are different.

The Megs D300 and MF DA cutting discs should do a good job for you.

 

[mharris2007]

Wow that's good to know. I'll let my dad know. He will be happy to hear this so that he expects less. I was thinking of trying some danase wet glaze 2.0 with some BFWD to enhance the shine, but I'm just over it. I'm buying the D300 soon. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I have an F150 and I believe you are correct all the sections are different.

The Megs D300 and MF DA cutting discs should do a good job for you.

No problem. It was allot of work, and as the poster above stated, all the panels are different. I don't know if this was the case on all F150's or only certain years, but his paint was definitely not uniform.



I'm still learning, and probably used too much M105 on it, but using M105 all the way around the car with priming etc, did use allot of polish.



Good luck and have fun!

Thanks. Sounds like this is going to be a lot of work, as I don't think he's ever polished, and paint looks a bit dull. After reading your post I am thinking the Ford paint won't be so easy to work with, and I will readjust expectations for the end results.



I think I will try my Sonus SFX-2 and SFX-3. Since he recently had a pdr shop take some dents out and buff out some scuffs, I am hoping I won't need to use the SFX-1, thanks to that. That should save some time.



If I am not having luck with the Sonus, I will try the Meguier's. Problem with Sonus is it comes in 8 oz. bottles only, and this truck will probably use up all that I have left, and more. An F150 has a lot of large panels.



If its not doing the job I may just get both the Maguires Mirror Glaze Ultra Cut Compound and Ultra Finishing Polish, and give it a whirl.

 

[wfedwar]

I like M105/orange via rotary, M205/green via rotary, Werkstat Prime via Flex (or any other very fine diminishing abrasive). Works for my 99 F150.

 

[5pointadam]

Looks good man. Real good.