First detail on new pickup - Hmmm :/

[arc]

I recently detailed my new Silverado for the first time using Autopian ideas. I clayed the hood and roof (waterspots), AIO and two coats of NXT (about a week apart).

The color of the truck is Dark Gray Metallic. It has very prominent metal flake, which you can kinda see along the hood line (this was several days later, so forgive the dirt):

The paint is very reflective but I feel something is lacking. As a wise man once said, "Reflection is nothing without depth". Is there something else that would work better with the dark color and the metallic that would give me a little more depth?



Durability is important, too, because I just don't have the time or place to do this very often.



Thanks.

 

[gav'spurplez]

looks good. there are plenty of products out there for you to get that look :xyxthumbs

 

[whitestang00]

You didn't like it how it looked in person or in these pictures? It might be just the pictures. Hell, with the right camera,angle and light you can make even the dirtiest car show depth.



AIO + NXT has always worked for me. Here are couple pics of basically the same thing that you did (clay, aio + nxt):



http://premium1.uploadit.org/sycorax/Detailing/mb.jpg

http://premium1.uploadit.org/sycorax/Detailing/mb2.jpg



And here is a black car after clay, some polishing, aio and nxt:



http://premium1.uploadit.org/sycorax/Detailing/finished.jpg



And this was on a very light color, so yours should look even better.

 

[arc]

Thanks. Not sure why this was moved to "Click & Brag" as I'm not braggin'



I've heard good things about UPP and was all set to go that way but recently saw something about Zaino being good for dark metallics (and durable), so now I'm all confuzzed again.

 

[holland_patrick]

I do know your pain with the dark silver and know what your going though. I really think you need to polish your truck. AIO Good for cleaning and Your truck looks clean but that depth your looking for is in the polish and the prep work.



here is my hood

 

[arc]

You didn't like it how it looked in person or in these pictures? It might be just the pictures.

Well, the top picture sucks, since I didn't realize that my camera wasn't set up properly (the dial had moved off of "Auto"). But I wasn't thrilled in person either. Like I said - very reflective, but not much depth.



I really liked NXT on the red Nissan pickup that I just sold. After the second coat, my wife came home and said "Wow, what did you do to the truck?". For her to notice really says a lot.



On the Silv, though, I'm underwhelmed. It actually kind of brought out a greenish tone to the paint, which you can see in the hood shot.



A couple of other shots:



http://homepage.plix.com/barj/miller/miller.htm

 

[stilez]

Lookin good...You are right on with the flake comment.





Try using a dedicated polish to achieve more depth. Also, polishing by machine is better 99% of the time.

 

[holland_patrick]

:har:

Sean Knows what he means I was just going to say he did a great job on a Dodge..



Sean's work







:buffing:

 

[arc]

Lookin good...You are right on with the flake comment.





Try using a dedicated polish to achieve more depth. Also, polishing by machine is better 99% of the time.

I probably should have mentioned that this was by hand. I don't have a PC (and, after just buying molded splash guards, a bug guard and a Retrax retractable tonneau, I probably won't be getting one for awhile ).



As for the polish, the truck is brand new and swirl free, so I guess I didn't think that was necessary. Any recommendations?



Oh, and one other thing - the paint has a lot of orange peel. Is that going to affect the depth of anything I do? I'll live with it for now. It would kill me to wetsand my new truck.

 

[holland_patrick]

Well i'm not sure how old your truck is but I know the Baja was bought in late Oct. So i would say that's pretty new and yes you do need to polish it because when you clay you may get maring and plus you didn't clay the sides. if your think your paint is dirty enough to be clayed I really thing polishing is a need. Mayde if your not into buying a machine I would look at getting one of the members in your area to do it for ya some beer and a few bucks is better then the 200 your laying out for a PC pads polish and so forth...



PS what kind of MF are you using

 

[arc]

Well i'm not sure how old your truck is but I know the Baja was bought in late Oct. So i would say that's pretty new and yes you do need to polish it because when you clay you may get maring and plus you didn't clay the sides.



PS what kind of MF are you using

I bought the pickup new about a month before these pic were taken. The paint is swirl free and the only reason I had to clay the hood and roof is because I got hard water spots on them the first time I washed it.



I've since bought a hose filter that softens the water as well as doing a better job of drying in time. My drying towel and MFs are all Sonus (WW and Der Wunder Buffing).