My Dark Shadow Gray FX4 with NXT

B

brannong

New member
Ok I spent six hours Saturday cleaning the monstrous beast. I washed, clayed, put on a coat of Scratch X, one coat NXT Tech, waited an hour, and applied one more coat of NXT. The paint feels as smooth as I have ever felt. I just hope I can keep it that way.



The Sun was setting at my back.

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A reflection of my neighbor's house.

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A reflection of me.

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Sweet,

Glad to see another autopian with a 2004 F-150. The 04 is the nicest truck on the road, bar none. Nice job on the detail..



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Thats the orange peel, nothing he's going to be able to do about that.



Agreed, the 04 F150 has great style but the fit and finish is extremely poor in the ones I've seen, IMHO the previous model was better in this regard. This goes for all Fords, at least the trucks. The Explorer, Expedition, F150, all of them have taken a real drop in paint quality this year, ESPECIALLY the light colors, silvers, golds. I think judging from the ones I've seen in light colors you did an extremely good job at bringing out the shine. Great work!
 
I have to say you did a nice job on your truck. I also like the new F150'S. As for Fords paint quality, I disagree. I went to look at new cars with my Aunt last night. She is looking at a Moutainerr Premium package, a light tannish-gold color. I have to say the paint quality was excellent. Very littlew orange peel and even finish.
 
But thats a Mercury. I don't see the problems on Mercuries or Lincolns, just on Fords, and then just on some colors, mainly silver and gold, and then just on some cars! I had a brand new silver Taurus as a loaner when my Explorer was at the dealer a while back and the finish was without a doubt the worst I had ever seen. No lustre or gloss whatsoever and terrible orange peel. I don't get it, its almost like they need to rework the chemical makeup of the paint on several colors. The paint on my Explorer is very high quality, good gloss low orange peel, its a 97 white.
 
GoodnClean said:
But thats a Mercury. I don't see the problems on Mercuries or Lincolns, just on Fords, and then just on some colors, mainly silver and gold, and then just on some cars! I had a brand new silver Taurus as a loaner when my Explorer was at the dealer a while back and the finish was without a doubt the worst I had ever seen. No lustre or gloss whatsoever and terrible orange peel. I don't get it, its almost like they need to rework the chemical makeup of the paint on several colors. The paint on my Explorer is very high quality, good gloss low orange peel, its a 97 white.
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That thing is still around? :o
 
I agree entirely about Ford's paint inconsistancy. The girlfriend has a '96 Taurus (gold) with awesome paint and very little, if any, orange peel. I'm amazed every time I simply wash it. On the flip side, the white '04 Taurus I have as the work sled has some of the worst paint I can imagine on any new vehicle. Bored on a road trip, I hit it up with Color-X and then NXT over the next three days. This routine did almost nothing to bring the paint to life. Tsk, tsk, Ford.



Great work on your F150--I include your paint in the "great" category. I think the "blurriness" in that self-portrait is just the metallic quality of the paint.



GoodnClean said:
But thats a Mercury. I don't see the problems on Mercuries or Lincolns, just on Fords, and then just on some colors, mainly silver and gold, and then just on some cars! I had a brand new silver Taurus as a loaner when my Explorer was at the dealer a while back and the finish was without a doubt the worst I had ever seen. No lustre or gloss whatsoever and terrible orange peel. I don't get it, its almost like they need to rework the chemical makeup of the paint on several colors. The paint on my Explorer is very high quality, good gloss low orange peel, its a 97 white.
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Thanks for all the positive comments. I know I might catch some slack for this but the tire dressing is Black Magic Tire Foam. I haven't gotten to study what you folks recommend for tires. I am still learning. I particularly like the foams. I just like the way they go on and look afterwards.



As for the reflection, that is not the paint at all. Both my truck and my wife's 03 Black Explorer have excellent paint. I will post pics of the Explorer once I get a chance to use the PC on the dealer installed water spots. The problem with the reflection is totally in the picture. If I would have waited til the morning when sun was on the other side of the house you would see much better reflection. I just couldn't wait that long to show off. The sun just wasn't in the right position at the current time. Also, my camera is not the best, it really struggles with extreme light or low light. Its one of the first digital cameras. I think it was about 600 bucks for 2 megapixels.



As for Mercury and Ford, they are usually made in the same factory and therefore use the same paint. I can't see where there would be a difference. Correct me if I am wrong here. I do think Ford had some problems in the past with paint on the Taurus. My mama had one it it peeled after no time. I think that has since been corrected.
 
I forgot to mention that as soon as I pulled the truck out of the garage it was immediately covered with pollen. Its really bad here in the South. I cut my grass yesterday and the black wind paints and sweatshirt I was wearing were completely yellow when I finished.
 
Corey Bit Spank said:
That thing is still around? :o
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Yep! Still hanging in there :D At this point its pretty much a new car as everything's been replaced.



As for Mercury and Ford, they are usually made in the same factory and therefore use the same paint. I can't see where there would be a difference.
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Its like thinksnow said, its really an inconsistency. Some are fine, and some are really bad and it always seems to be the light colors like silver and gold. The 04 Taurus I rented was EXTREMELY bad and I honestly dont think that any kind of detailing could have made it better. The paint had almost no gloss, the car only had like 150miles on it too and it was nice and clean. Walking through a Ford lot I can notice it also, mainly on the silvers and golds. I notice some orange peel in your finish but thats nothing like the finishes Thinksnow and I are talking about, they almost look like they're missing a coat or something.



Thats why I think the problem more has to do with the chemical makeup of the paint than the painting process.
 
Gee, I spend over 30K on a new pickup. Then spend 6 hours trying to make it look as good as humanly possible. Now the experts tell me that my paint sucks and there is nothing I can do about it. Well talk about a real buzz killer. Not mad just frustrated.
 
The truck looks great and is definately the best looking truck out there. However one question, why did you apply a coat of Scratch X? I thought Scratch X was a trouble spot type product, am I wrong? :)
 
Thumper said:
The truck looks great and is definately the best looking truck out there. However one question, why did you apply a coat of Scratch X? I thought Scratch X was a trouble spot type product, am I wrong? :)
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Actually the Scratch X idea come from David Bynon. I asked him for advice and he recommended using NXT 4 to 5 times a year. He also said to use Scratch X as my annual polish and to Quik Clay 2-3 times a year.



Scratch X is actually a polish with a very mild abrasive in it. If you read on the instructions is says it can be used for spot treatment or for the entire vehicle.
 
Truck looks great! I'd hate to be responsible for keeping that much vehicle clean and detailed. :D





GoodnClean said:


Thats why I think the problem more has to do with the chemical makeup of the paint than the painting process.
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I believe all North American automotive paints are water/latex based. Latex paint with a clearcoat. Solvent paints are older technology, not environmentally friendly, but work well.



The clearcoat is a very expensive product and is subject to strict QC and production restraints (dedicated equipment, heavy documentation, etc...).

Clearcoats are extremely sensitive to contamination and formulation problems. Superior paint formulations mean nothing if Bubba the operator does not follow them correctly. Dirty totes + dirty process vessels + improper raws = bad paint.



Clearcoats also have a short shelf life (the clear coat begins to gel). You are basically covering up mediocre latex paint with a high end clear coat. If the clear coat fails, the paint/finish is toast. If the clear coat works, it looks great, has a nice shine, deep color.



The problem lies in Quality Control. Tossing a bad batch of $1000/gallon product does not help cost/profits. In the end a few consumers pay with a bad finish on their vehicle.



PPG makes domestic OEM paint for GM, Honda, Chrysler, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
 
brannong said:
Actually the Scratch X idea come from David Bynon. I asked him for advice and he recommended using NXT 4 to 5 times a year. He also said to use Scratch X as my annual polish and to Quik Clay 2-3 times a year.



Scratch X is actually a polish with a very mild abrasive in it. If you read on the instructions is says it can be used for spot treatment or for the entire vehicle.
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I see. I just picked some up yesterday but didn't read the tube yet. I thought it was strictly for spot scratch removal. Thanks for the info.:)
 
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