Dodge Ram specific questions

[bob-e]

Well I start tomorrow on the black 2002 ram quad cab. I've already purchased some icy hot to put on my arm when I'm done. I have a G100 and I'm gonna do a 83 pass and then gold class. I already clay barred last week in preparation.

My Dodge questions are:

What do you guys use for the faux Chrome grill? Mine has swirls and has lost its luster. ScratchX by hand and then wax?

What do you guys do for the wheels? They are in the same shape as the grill. My wheels are the 20" chrome with clear coat, not the plastic faux chrome cover ones. Again ScratchX by hand and then wax?

Thanks in advance. I'm gonna take pics chronicling the event. Look for them soon.

[Lydia]

Re: Dodge Ram specific questions

I would suggest NXT Generation All Metal Polysh for anything chrome, even chrome-plated. It's the best polish I've found. I don't think you will be able to remove the scratches in the chrome (after all, it is metal...) but All Metal Polysh will almost certainly make it look way better. Throw a coat of wax on after you're done, and you'll be good to go. Good luck!

[Whelan]

Re: Dodge Ram specific questions

I would suggest using 80 after the 83 before waxing. the 83 can leave some slight haze due to its abrasiveness and the 80 clears it up nicely.

[gorin002]

Re: Dodge Ram specific questions

looking forward to the pictuers

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Dodge Ram specific questions

My Dodge questions are:

What do you guys use for the faux Chrome grill? Mine has swirls and has lost its luster. ScratchX by hand and then wax?

The safe bet is just to apply whatever wax you're using on the paint, the wax together the applicator material moving over it as you apply it will have a gentle cleaning effect and leave some protection behind.

As for actually removing scratches out of this type of material, read this from the Hot Topics forum.


What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...


In order to remove a scratch out of anything, metal, plastic glass, paint, etc. You must remove material around the scratch until the surface is level or equal to the lowest depths of the scratch or scratches.

The below diagram if for paint, the the same thing applies to just about an surface material or coating.



In essences, you don't really remove a scratch, you remove material around a scratch.

Then the big question is, is the material or coating workable, as in can you abrade small particles of it and leave behind an original looking surface. For example, some things you can abrade, (remove the scratch), but you can never completely remove all of your abrading marks, thus you can't really fix the problem, all you can do is exchange one set of scratches of a different set of scratches.

The next questions is, how thick is the surface material you're working on or the coating. You are limited to what you can do by the thickness of these to things, (surface coating or surface material), and whether or not this surface is workable.

Sometimes you don't know what you can so until you try. It's always a good idea to test your choice of products, applicator materials and application process, (By hand or by machine), to an inconspicuous area. If you cannot make a small area look good with your product, applicator and process, you will not be able to make the entire surface look good. It's always a good idea to test first and error on the side of caution, versus make a mistake you cannot undo.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Dodge Ram specific questions

I would suggest using 80 after the 83 before waxing. the 83 can leave some slight haze due to its abrasiveness and the 80 clears it up nicely.

On some paint types you may need to follow M83 with a lighter cleaner/polish, but not all paints, basically you won't know until you inspect the results after the M83.

[Whelan]

Re: Dodge Ram specific questions

True, I know I have soft paint on my toyota so it was definitely a necessity.

[bmgamble]

Re: Dodge Ram specific questions

I've also got a black ram qc and did this process this past weekend. Take a peek at my thread here to see what I did: click here

As for the chrome, unless you have aftermarket wheels, all dodge chrome is pastic. I usually just spray some glass cleaner on them and they clean right up. However, I have tried the All Metal Polysh on the chrome grille and found it to be smoothe to the touch.

I basically hit the truck with #80 one time....could have gone over it another time, but I didn't have all that much time. Wax was easy and quick. Good luck and just take your time....taping off any pastic trim will save you a ton of time as well! Good luck and looking forward to pics!

[tguil]

Re: Dodge Ram specific questions

I had a black 2003 Ram. All of my vehicles from 1977 -- now were black. Finally got smart and bought a 2007 white Ram.

All of the 20 inch OEM wheels on the 2002's were clear coated polished aluminum. The best you can hope for is for #83 to polish them up a bit. You might want to invest in a small Mother's polishing ball. It makes the job really easy. After you have polished them apply a couple of coats of NXT tech wax.

As far as the rest of the truck (including the grill), just start with #83. No sense wasting time. Follow up with #80 of you want, but to be honest I rarely used #80 after #83. I never seemed to have problems with #83 hazing.

Enjoy the Ram. I put 95,000 trouble-free miles on my 2003. I hope to do the same with my 2007.

Tom

[JimS_999]

Re: Dodge Ram specific questions

Good luck with the grill. I also own a 2002 Black Dodge Ram Quad Cab. The front grill is made out of plastic with some kinda chrome on it. It seems to dull with time and the elements, and the chrome starts to come off and loose it's shine. My Ram is perfect with the exception of the front grill, which looks like ****. No matter what I used on it it's impossible to get it shiny anymore. Soon as the 2007 Totota Tundra is available I'm trading the Ram in.