Divine Detail - F 350 & F 550

[CalgaryDetail]

We were in for a treat, one of the vehicles was booked for a full detail with paint correction and the other just arrived to Calgary from the US and needed some pampering. The vehicles:
2008 Ford F-550 XLT Super Duty
2004 Ford F-350 XLT Super Duty
When we arrived the F-550 had not arrived to Calgary just yet so we got started with the F-350, this is what awaited us:

We got started with the interior, all floor mats were removed along with all personal belongings and were set inside a zip loc bag and aside wile we worked in side.
First up was to give the entire interior a wipe down, for the wipe down Meg’s APC diluted with hot water was used along with a yellow micro fiber towel:

With the help of our interior Swissvax brush all vents were detailed:

This is how the wipe down water finished off:

 

[CalgaryDetail]

The interior received a good vacuum, once the interior had been vacuumed it was time to use our Mytee extractor:

Now it was time to dress the interior, for this we used Meg’s #40 and applied with the help of a yellow micro fiber towel:

This took care off the interior, it was now time to concentrate on the floor mats, with the help of our Mytee extractor we were able to work on the floor mats:

Here is how the floor mats finished off:

Now for the rims, first all tools were gathered:

Now first up were the wheel wells, for the wheel wells P21S Total Auto Wash was applied:

For the face of the rims P21S Gel was applied:

For the tires, ARO was used:

Now it was time to agitate the wheel wells, with the help of our Meg’s long handle brush we scrubbed the wheel wells:

Once the wheel wells were agitated to satisfaction it was time to agitate the face of the rims, this was done with the help of our Swissvax brush:

Once the face of the rims were agitated to satisfaction it was time to move on to the tires, for the tires we used our new tire brush:

This was the process to all the rims, tires and wheel wells on this truck.
Moving along it was now time for the rest of the exterior of the truck, first we connected our CR System to obtain pure De-ionized water:

We then got out two buckets with grit guard ready:

The shampoo of choice is Meg’s Gold Class Shampoo.
The entire truck was washed and rinsed off with De-ionized water, once it had been completely washed and rinsed it was time to clay the vehicle. The clay of choice was Ricardo, here is the clay before the truck was clayed:

 

[CalgaryDetail]

Here is the same peace when we were done claying the truck:

Once the entire truck had been clayed the truck was given a final rinse and dried of with our waffle weaved micro fiber towels:

Once the entire truck had been dried off all delicate areas were taped off and it was now time to take reading off the paint with our PosiTector 6000.
Here are the paint gauge readings from out PosiTector 6000:

This particular truck had plenty of clear coat the average being in the 200micron range, plenty of paint/clear coat for the paint correction process.
Now to see what we were up against:

This was the worst part and this was on the roof of the canapy of the truck, now we knew that the scratch was too deep and no way we would be able to remove it but we knew we could improve on the appearance of the scratch.
Well a section was taped off to see which combo would be best to go with and here is the section:

As you can see we had plenty of paint correction to do:

Now we always start from less aggrieve and work our way from there, so we decided to try 85RD3.02 with a 3M (UK version) pad at 1500 RPM and this combo turned out to be quite weak for this clear coat, we then bumped up the pad to a Meg’s cutting pad (maroon colour) with 85RD3.02 at 1500 RPM and this combo also turned out to be quite weak.
Well we then bumped up the polish to Menzerna Power Gloss with the Meg’s cutting pad (maroon colour) with Makita at 1500 RPM, followed up with Menzerna 85RD with a blue 3M (UK Version) Polishing pad, here is Mike working with this combo:

Here are the end results of the test section:

Here is a 50/50 of the test section:

Well these results were quite satisfactory and this is the combo we marched on for the rest of the vehicle.
Here are some pictures during the polishing process:
Before of the roof:

After:

Now before we continue, seeing as we were using Menzerna Power Gloss and multiple stage correction we decided to use our System 2000 to clean our foam pads on a regular basis:

The System 2000 came in really handy for this truck as the truck is quite large and it’ panels are quite long, that and by cleaning the pads on a regular basis we were able to maintain the dusting to a minimum.
Driver side tail lights before:

 

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After:

Rear tail gate (left side) before:

After:

Pasenger tail light before:

After:

Passenger rear quarter panel before:

After:

Rear Passenger door before:

After:

Passenger door before:

After:

Passenger red light before:

After:

Passenger head light before:

After:

Well this completes the paint correction and by now time got the best of us and it was well over 3:00 AM, we removed all the tape from the truck and gave the truck a final wipe down to remove the famous white polish residue left over from the tape and also gave the truck a final paint inspection as well.
This concludes day one.
Day two:
After a good night sleep it was time to finish of this truck as we still had the other F-550 to complete.
First, all the windows were given a thorough clean with the help of Stoners Invisible Glass and a glass towel:

Then it was time to protect all the paint correction we had done the previous day to the vehicle, for this the customer wanted a sealant and we went with the following:

Fist up the entire vehicle along with all windows, mirrors, head lights, tail lights and rims received a healthy coat of Duragloss Polish Bonding Agent 601 applied with a red applicator:

Wile DG#601 was still on the surface of the vehicle Duragloss Total Performance Polish 105 was applied with a second red foam applicator:

Rims also received a healthy coat of DG#105 on top of DG#601:

The sealant was left to bond on the surface for several minutes, wile the sealant was bonding it was time to treat all the exterior plastic trims with Black WOW. The tires received a coat of Optimum Tire Gel and wheel wells received a coat of Optimum Protection Pluss.
Now it was time to remove DG#105, now to remove we used DG AW to give it that extra gloss:

With the help of our favorite micro fiber towel, The Cookie Monster, DG#105 was removed:

This concludes the first truck and here are some pictures to show the end results:

Very satisfied with the rims, tires and wheel wells.

Well this concludes one truck now on to the next truck, now keep in mind that this truck is brand new and just arrived from the US, here is what we were up against:

As you can see the back is hardly dirty.

The driver side on the other hand required some attention.

Well as usual we begging in the interior, normally we would remove all personal belonging but since this truck is brand new there were no personal belongings, well on with the wipe down, for all vents and hard to reach areas we used our Swissvax brush:

Once the interior had received a full wipe down it was time to give the interior a full vacuum.
The interior was dressed with Meg’s #40 and a yellow micro fiber:

This takes care of the interior, glass is usually left for last.
Now on to the rims, tires and wheel wells. First up we used P21S Total Auto Wash on the wheel wells:

Next we used P21S Gel on the face of the rims:

 

[CalgaryDetail]

Then ARO was applied to the tires:

Now it was time to agitate the wheel wells, for this we used our Meg’s long handle brush:

With one of our Swissvax brush we agitated the face of the rim:

The tires were scrubbed with our new tire brush:

This process was carried out for all the tires, rims and wheel wells.
Then it was time to wash the rest of the truck and we once again connected the CR System. As usual we used the two bucket method with grit guard and once again the shampoo of choice is Meg’s Gold Class Shampoo.
Once the entire truck had been washed it was dried with the help of an air compressor and all assess water was removed with our waffle weaved micro fiber towels.
Now I was time to apply Duragloss sealant on the truck, like the previous truck first up Duragloss Polishing Bonding Agent 601 was applied to the entire vehicle along with all windows, mirrors, head lights, tail lights, rims and all chrome peaces received a healthy coat of Duragloss Polish Bonding Agent 601 applied with a red applicator:

Followed up with Duragloss Total Performance Polish 105 applied with a second red foam applicator.
DG#105 was left to bond for several minutes, mean wile all exterior plastic trims received a coat of Black WOW. Tires were dressed with Optimum Tire Gel and wheel wells were dressed with Optimum Protection Plus. Windows received Stoners Invisible Glass wiped off with our glass micro fiber towel.
Now it was time to remove DG#105, for this once again we used a Cookie Monster micro fiber towel along with DG AW and we were left with the following results:

Quite the reflection.

Ah yes, now this is how the interior of a brand new vehicle should look.

Well this concludes the second truck and the second day.
As usual comments are always welcomed hope you enjoyed.

 

[Stephan]

Excellent review....as always...I wanted to ask you about that system 2000, I have seen the video of it at work, but I never knew anyone who had one, do you like it, does it clean like it says?

 

[CalgaryDetail]

Excellent review....as always...I wanted to ask you about that system 2000, I have seen the video of it at work, but I never knew anyone who had one, do you like it, does it clean like it says?

thanks,a nd the system 2000 is awsome, it cleans a pad in like 20 seconds... It works really well at cleaning each pad between pannels so you have a fresh pad each time... I have only used it a few times but it was great

 

[Stephan]

thanks,a nd the system 2000 is awsome, it cleans a pad in like 20 seconds... It works really well at cleaning each pad between pannels so you have a fresh pad each time... I have only used it a few times but it was great

how dry are the pads after each cleaning???

 

[Beemerboy]

Totally great review and pics you guys do some real high end work


Just a question why do you tape so much of the cars off?

I don't do one third that much if at all

 

[CalgaryDetail]

how dry are the pads after each cleaning???

you run the buffer to dry the pad, so if you run it at speed 6 for a few seconds it is only slighly damp.

Totally great review and pics you guys do some real high end work


Just a question why do you tape so much of the cars off?

I don't do one third that much if at all

thanks very much
as for taking it off, we tape off anything that will get polish in it like the emblims and lights so we dont have that white polish residue everyone hates.. aslo this one had taped on reflective strips to make it look like a fire engine, we had to tape them off so we woould not pull them off with the polisher... so really we just tape where we feel its needed

 

[Redwings97]

Great job as always - wouldn't expect anything less...

Keep rubbing the Ricardo clayin.... In July I will be north of Toronto and will definetly be bringing some home with me.

 

[Clean Dean]

Great write up and pics !!!

I have a couple of questions?

How long does it take to tape off each vehicle like this ?
Do you tape off every vehicle you detail like this?
Every vehicle panel gets guaged?
How long did these details take? And average vehicle?

Seems like a lot of prep work !!!

Regardless you do beautiful work, and I am sure that your prep and guaging gets built into the price.

 

[CalgaryDetail]

Great job as always - wouldn't expect anything less...

Keep rubbing the Ricardo clayin.... In July I will be north of Toronto and will definetly be bringing some home with me.

thanks, and riccardo clay is awsome, you will love it.... its great being canadian :yay

Great write up and pics !!!

I have a couple of questions?

How long does it take to tape off each vehicle like this ?
Do you tape off every vehicle you detail like this?
Every vehicle panel gets guaged?
How long did these details take? And average vehicle?

Seems like a lot of prep work !!!

Regardless you do beautiful work, and I am sure that your prep and guaging gets built into the price.

thanks,
1. It takes 20-30 min to tape off a car.. less if there are two people doing it
2. Whenever we do a polish we take it, we have found it prevents tha white chalky buildup on the seams and trim...
3. the detail on the 350 took 2 guys 12 or 13 hours so 25ish man hours...so a long time

and we figure all this into the price, although we dont charge that much, something like this would be aboue 550 bucks.....but we factor in the cost of the tape as well as it takes to tape everything off

 

[teck]

Those are some good looking trucks!

 

[Clean Dean]

25 hours labor at $550, not including overhead (supplies, chemicals, rent, electric, wages) seems like way too low.

I would think a job like this should be priced out over $1k.

Regardless, you guys do real nice work, but I hope that your overhead does not kill you.

How do like the Metabo? I have the older version with the side handle and used it for about a month. It is sooo light !!! I am sure the newer version you have is a better machine. The older version did not have quite enough torque for heavy cutting.

Any info on that paint guage? Where did you find it?

Thanks.

 

[CalgaryDetail]

25 hours labor at $550, not including overhead (supplies, chemicals, rent, electric, wages) seems like way too low.

I would think a job like this should be priced out over $1k.

Regardless, you guys do real nice work, but I hope that your overhead does not kill you.

How do like the Metabo? I have the older version with the side handle and used it for about a month. It is sooo light !!! I am sure the newer version you have is a better machine. The older version did not have quite enough torque for heavy cutting.

Any info on that paint guage? Where did you find it?

Thanks.

This job was under quoted.... :wall...but right now we cannot charge much more, we get enough of those thats to high... there are alot of hacks in this city that do the 30buck detail:yikes:.. plus being a new compnay (started in late jan) we are working on building up a client base... educating them in detailing, so prices will go up for sure when we have a client base... and all our customers know that :bigups but yeah i agree once we got started I was like next time its going to be way more

and our overhead is not to bad, we use a few brands so we have accoutns set up to get the retailer rate, which helps. esp on products like zymol.

as for the metabo, I dont use it. Im not a fan. I have a makita that I use and love, my business partners have metabos.. they like them except they often overheat ondetails like this... but the new ones can handle heavy cutting which is good


the paint gagues came from chris at eshine. He ordered them in for us, im not sure who he got them from.... I also know phil at detailes domain can get them in

 

[Reddwarf]

What a stunning turnaround on that huge beast of a truck!

Great job!

 

[Way2SSlow]

Nice work! I really enjoy your writeups.

 

[CBlakeNS]

Nice work looks good both of them!