Does anyone else detail in pieces?

Lightman said:
I have a quad cab hd ram, and do the exact same thing. I will fully do a whole panel or two, rather than doing the whole truck with just a few steps. I figure if it takes me a week or so to get back to the truck, I don't want to have clayed/polished the whole thing and then leave it exposed/unprotected while it waits for me to do the rest...I just do a whole panel like others have mentioned above, wash/clay/polish/seal at a time. Works fine, but typically by the time I get to the last set of panels, the first set needs it again...busy schedule :)
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With the proper washing technique you wont have to start over.

By spring my truck wont need more than a light polishing.
 
Every year when the construction season ends I take a full week to detail my Black truck's paint. I do a panel or two each day. When completed with each panel I know that I have done the best that I can do.



I look forward to this process. Unfortunately my son usually was with me while I was doing this reelatively early in the morning. He started kindergarden this year and will miss all but the QD sessions and the weekend work now. I am not even there and I am missing the fun that we once had working on the 'Black truck.
 
Coupe said:
With the proper washing technique you wont have to start over.

By spring my truck wont need more than a light polishing.
Click to expand...



Ahh if it were only as simple as you suggest...However parking my truck outside 24/7 through the cleveland winter, having it covered with road salt/chemicals, acid rain from time to time, constant towing/hauling and getting mud all over it from offroad driving/camping, and various other assailants, it's not possible to go that long, like get through the winter here without having to detail again in the spring...there are too many contaminants on the paint, even if I go into the winter with a full coat of 4x SG or whatever...it will need a claying in the spring. It's not a wash/swirl issue. Come springtime it will need to be clayed, and then something like AIO/SG or fp2/aio/sg.
 
I do my Winter Prep and Spring Cleaning in pieces. I'll start with a good wash/dry. Start on one side at the fender with Clay then clean the paint again.



Then it's polishing time. I can usually get everything down with a two step process because of the meticulous way I take care of the paint over the previous months. Once I get that panel poilished out (cleaning the paint as I go) it's a out into the sun for a final inspection. Once it looks good then I'll seal then wax that panel and move on to the next.



I can usually get one side done in a saturday that way and hit the other side on Sunday the same way. Next weekend I'll do the hood, trunk and roof on Saturday and the interior on Sunday.



I'll usually leave the car garaged for the week while I'm doing this and drive the beater.



This car has Black Paint and I want to make sure that once I'm done, I'm done, no halograms or buffer swirls coming back later to haunt me. Besides it's not a race and I'm unconcerned about how long it takes. As long as the process get's me to end's I desire.



MorBiD
 
Damn!

Last night i finaly got to the last of the panels, front fenders and the hood.

I had JUST finished polishing them with DACP and it started raining.

So now my front fenders and hood are hazed BAD.

No biggie.

Hopefully this weekend i get a break in the weather and i can finish it up with #80 and seal them and im DONE!

Kinda embarrasing, my hood and fenders are hazed making them look dull yet the rest of the truck looks like it just rolled out the factory.

Good thing this IS my DD/beater/work horse, if it where my car i would be in tears.
 
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