Well....I'm in need of some expert advice here guys. As some of you know, I live in Minot, ND and we've been experiencing record flooding. With all this flooding comes a bunch of other problems. One of which being water mains breaking throughout the entire city. We've been on a water conservation policy for about 2 weeks now and I have not been able to wash my truck at all. A little over 2 weeks ago I had gotten it extremely dirty and caked with mud/flood water after helping some friends move their belongings out of their rural house before it flooded to their roof.
So I've had this "junk" that came from the river/sewer/mud/environment sitting on my black truck now for a little over 2 weeks with NO way to remove it until today. We finally were able to use water as we normally would. So I immediately busted out the Hotsy today and blasted the truck with 200 degree water at a pretty high pressure. I sat out there for almost 2 hours making sure every little element of that crap was gone and off my truck and out of the nooks and crannies.
I was relieved at this point because I had felt like the toxins were finally removed from my truck, but it was apparent the damage had been done. I did a two bucket wash one panel at a time to make sure nothing would dry on the truck (it was about 90 degrees outside today in the sun). I dried with detail spray and a great white drying towel. I repeated the process just to make sure what I was seeing wasn't from my previous wash. It wasn't.......
The water spots and etching from the flood seem to be on there pretty darn good. Over 75% of the truck is covered in water spots/hazing/etching that make it difficult to even get a reflection from the paint after a wash. The hood and tailgate seem to be in the best condition. Sides are the worst.
I tried to get some pics today, but the sun wasn't cooperating very well at sunset.
What are my next steps here guys? Any ideas for a more aggressive wash? At this point the swirls aren't my main concern. They were there before all of this happened and a full detail was on its way before this flood came barreling in and wrecked our city. I bought the truck used about 6 months ago and I don't think the finish had any sort of wax/polish on it when I bought it last winter. I was going to hit this thing hard for a week once it got warm this spring and never really got the chance.
I know a definite hardcore clay session is in order here and I have 2 Adam's bars waiting to be demolished. I'm hoping claying puts a dent into the water spots (not my truck obviously...haha). SSHR with the Flex? I suppose if all fails I could go the wet sanding route, but I'd like to try all I can before I get that invasive. I've wet sanded before when I used to paint vehicles to get fisheye/runs out of newly sprayed clear. Not the most fun time in the world and definitely takes skill. Its been a while since I've worked in that area of wet sanding/color sanding and I'd like it to remain that way if at all possible. Sorry this got so long, I'll try to get better pics tomorrow. Just imagine a black finish with some of the worst possible water you could imagine have sitting and baking mixed in with mud for about 2 weeks with NO way to wash it off.
Question
green6767
Well....I'm in need of some expert advice here guys. As some of you know, I live in Minot, ND and we've been experiencing record flooding. With all this flooding comes a bunch of other problems. One of which being water mains breaking throughout the entire city. We've been on a water conservation policy for about 2 weeks now and I have not been able to wash my truck at all. A little over 2 weeks ago I had gotten it extremely dirty and caked with mud/flood water after helping some friends move their belongings out of their rural house before it flooded to their roof.
So I've had this "junk" that came from the river/sewer/mud/environment sitting on my black truck now for a little over 2 weeks with NO way to remove it until today. We finally were able to use water as we normally would. So I immediately busted out the Hotsy today and blasted the truck with 200 degree water at a pretty high pressure. I sat out there for almost 2 hours making sure every little element of that crap was gone and off my truck and out of the nooks and crannies.
I was relieved at this point because I had felt like the toxins were finally removed from my truck, but it was apparent the damage had been done. I did a two bucket wash one panel at a time to make sure nothing would dry on the truck (it was about 90 degrees outside today in the sun). I dried with detail spray and a great white drying towel. I repeated the process just to make sure what I was seeing wasn't from my previous wash. It wasn't.......
The water spots and etching from the flood seem to be on there pretty darn good. Over 75% of the truck is covered in water spots/hazing/etching that make it difficult to even get a reflection from the paint after a wash. The hood and tailgate seem to be in the best condition. Sides are the worst.
I tried to get some pics today, but the sun wasn't cooperating very well at sunset.
What are my next steps here guys? Any ideas for a more aggressive wash? At this point the swirls aren't my main concern. They were there before all of this happened and a full detail was on its way before this flood came barreling in and wrecked our city. I bought the truck used about 6 months ago and I don't think the finish had any sort of wax/polish on it when I bought it last winter. I was going to hit this thing hard for a week once it got warm this spring and never really got the chance.
I know a definite hardcore clay session is in order here and I have 2 Adam's bars waiting to be demolished. I'm hoping claying puts a dent into the water spots (not my truck obviously...haha). SSHR with the Flex? I suppose if all fails I could go the wet sanding route, but I'd like to try all I can before I get that invasive. I've wet sanded before when I used to paint vehicles to get fisheye/runs out of newly sprayed clear. Not the most fun time in the world and definitely takes skill. Its been a while since I've worked in that area of wet sanding/color sanding and I'd like it to remain that way if at all possible. Sorry this got so long, I'll try to get better pics tomorrow. Just imagine a black finish with some of the worst possible water you could imagine have sitting and baking mixed in with mud for about 2 weeks with NO way to wash it off.
HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!
EDIT: Pics added!!
Edited by green6767Link to comment
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