1999 Ford F-250 First Real Wash

[RayS]

I had a 1999 Ford F-250 delivered to me yesterday in need of a cleanup and I believe first real wash in preparation to be sold.  The truck has been outside for a long time and there is plenty of etching on the hood and roof, but overall it wasn't in bad shape.  There are places that the clear coat is dead, but not completely failed yet.  The wheels are rust stained to the point that after two rounds of Wheel Cleaner they are as good as they'll ever be.  Should I mention it was a beautiful day in South Carolina at 61 when I started and it only get to 84 by the time I was done - don't ask how early I started this morning...

 

I knew this one needed to have some time for the Strip wash to dwell and get through the road grime.  Using the foam gun, I sprayed the truck and then took a 5 minute break.  After the break I sprayed the truck again with the Strip wash using the foam gun and then started washing it using a red microfiber wash mitt.  The rinse bucket got a real workout and I had to change to the water once.   After the wash and follow up on some areas with APC and few spots that required some Lube and a Plastic Razor Blade, it was finally ready for an old clay mitt to be used.  There was still too many nicks and burs to allow me to use a newer one, which is the reason why I keep some old ones around.

 

 

 

After the Clay it was on to the Orange Pad with with Correction Polish and I hit a few test spots by hand and decided that was as aggressive as I was willing to go, so I grabbed the Swirl Killer 15mm and got at it.  After going over the truck with correction polish, it was on to finishing polish and it started to look like a real vehicle.  I purposely skipped the places where the clear coat was bad to reduce the risk of additional damage.  The truck was looking good, but I knew it could be a little better, so I grabbed the Revive Hand Polish and got the clarity and depth I was looking for.

 

Then it was on to giving it a coat of wax and that took a little pondering to decide what to use.  Given that is a vehicle being sold, I immediately ruled out Ceramic Paste Wax and Patriots. That left me with Americana, Spray Wax and Buttery.  I did a test spot of each on the box and the Buttery looked the best, so that is what I went with.   

 

 

The owner is pleased with the results and that is what really matters and more importantly, the owner now has a Red truck and will be bringing it to me to get protected.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2019 by RayS

[falcaineer]

At first I had to double-check the author...it's a green truck, so no way it's @RayS' car so how could it be his post? Did someone back his account??? I'm a mod now so I can help. 🤔 Well, I was partially right... 😆😆

 

Nice work, Ray! They're gonna make more in the sale for sure!! 

[RayS]

14 minutes ago, falcaineer said:

At first I had to double-check the author...it's a green truck, so no way it's @RayS' car so how could it be his post? Did someone back his account??? I'm a mod now so I can help. 🤔 Well, I was partially right... 😆😆

 

Nice work, Ray! They're gonna make more in the sale for sure!! 

Thanks Chris.  If you read the entire thread, especially the last sentence, you'd would have caught the point that is was worth losing the battle to win the war.   One-Time Green truck to get do the Red truck many times.  Absolutely a time where losing the battle resulted in the ultimate victory.

[Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin]

Ray that looks great! Great pics and great job with the restoration

 

Also, how good does it feel to make the owner happy enough to trust you with their new vehicle??

[mc2hill]

Nice work Ray! 

I have a few like this, mostly just to get the experience.  I washed one SUV that was similar to this, and, like you had to change the rinse water half way thru, as it had turned green from the paint coming off!  I did a older Mercedes SL that I stepped down to a cleaner wax product on the hood, because the paint was so thin.

[Rich]

They can ask a higher price now! Great rescue!

[RayS]

It was fun and I did get to learn more about the Swirl Killer which is good since this was only the 3rd time I have been able to use it.  I can't believe the difference that ~20 years in equipment makes for how smooth it works.  If you are old enough to remember Ames department stores, that is where my original equipment came from and they went bankrupt and closed in 2002 according to Wikipedia, but I know it was much older than that since I had it before the '98 Mustang.   

 

I also know that the old would stop rotating almost immediately when I'd like go of the trigger, the new keeps going for a long time.  You really get the understanding when the daughters dog walks up behind you and barks.  I'm pretty confident that my shirt, grill, trucks windshield and various other things needed to be speckled with compound and detail spray.  Given that wasn't good enough, it also has this newfangled thing called a trigger lock and lets just I'm glad I hadn't cleaned off the grill, windshield and various other things when I discover that handy feature.

 

The old one had three speeds, barely moving which was less than 1 on the SK, moving about the same as 3 on the SK and going like a bat out of hades, which I always avoided.   Trying to learn the speeds and going from single action to dual action is a big relearning task and the SK weights multiple pounds less.   If there is anyone out there with older equipment, I can tell you the upgrade is well worth it, just be prepared to relearn.

[Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin]

Good stuff Ray. That's a big change / upgrade. Did you note anywhere how long this project took you from start to finish? and/or how long just the polishing stage took you?

 

[RayS]

9 hours ago, Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin said:

Good stuff Ray. That's a big change / upgrade. Did you note anywhere how long this project took you from start to finish? and/or how long just the polishing stage took you?

 

I do tend to keep notes on what I do and this was no exception. 

The wheels and tires took about 45 minutes.  The first one took longer since I was trying to get them shiny.  Once I realized they were stained, I just cleaned the wheels and did the tires properly.  

The body took about just over an hour to wash, plus 3 plastic razor blades

The correcting polish took 4 hours, including breaks and 4 Orange pads

Round 3 of polishing was 2 hours and 2 white pads

Revive took 1 hour

Buttery Wax 1 hour

 

It was close to 10 hours from start to finish with getting everything out and cleaning up afterwards with regular breaks.  I did start at just about 6:00 AM, that is nothing unusual since I generally am in the office by 6:30 AM on weekdays.