2005 Suburban

[Twisterspecial]

My friend purchased this 2005 Suburban a few months ago. She lives on a gravel road, so it gets very dusty. She takes it through a local high-pressure car wash (Nothing comes in contact with the paint), but they do have hard water to worry about.

We hand washed the Suburban with NXT car wash, then followed up with the clay bar process to the vehicle. I then applied NXT tech wax using a Porter Cable 7224 PC with a W-9006. I removed the wax with an Ultimate Bonnet over a W-7000 pad.

Thought I would share a few photos after the process. We did not put anything on the trim or the tires. Her concern is that any residue left on the trim or tires will attract dust like a magnet.

One comment I have, you can really see the factory orange peel as seen in the pictures. The owner is very happy with the way the vehicle looks now.

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Your results look phenomenal!

I fixed the code in your images as it was the code to show thumbnails... now the full size images should be appearing above.

[Twisterspecial]

Mike,

Thanks for the comment and for fixing the pictures so they would appear larger.

The owner did not want to drive the vehicle once it was done.

I talked her into getting the Meguiars Versa Angle Body Duster, and told her to use it when she gets to work (parks in a garage) and after she gets home in the evening. I did mention to her to wait about 15- 20 minutes to let the vehicle cool before using the duster.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Twisterspecial
Mike,

The owner did not want to drive the vehicle once it was done.

I talked her into getting the Meguiar's Versa Angle Body Duster, and told her to use it when she gets to work (parks in a garage) and after she gets home in the evening. I did mention to her to wait about 15- 20 minutes to let the vehicle cool before using the duster.

Good advice from a caring and informed friend.

[superswamper]

Results look great. That's a decent amount of orange peel on the tail gate.

Good to see another person in the STL area.

[TKDDAD]

Originally posted by superswamper
Results look great. That's a decent amount of orange peel on the tail gate.

Good to see another person in the STL area.

Being somewhat new to this, what is orange peel ?...is it the look that simulates the covering of an orange ?...and that's a good thing ??..sorry for the ignorant question...just trying to be better educated..thanks....

[gb387]

Originally posted by TKDDAD
Being somewhat new to this, what is orange peel ?...is it the look that simulates the covering of an orange ?...and that's a good thing ??..sorry for the ignorant question...just trying to be better educated..thanks....

This is a good photo that shows "orange peel" posted by Twisterspecial:


Notice the wavy looking paint? Yes, it looks kind of like an orange peel... there is nothing wrong with the paint its just what comes with most factory paint jobs. Most don't even notice it... I am not sure why it occurs, I am sure others may explain that. Hope that helps!

[gb387]

Oh yeah... Twisterspecial the Suburban looks great! That is a big vehicle and there is a lot of paint there!

[Tom Weed]

great reflection shots and very nice work indeed....

Tom

[grover]

My understanding of orange peel is that it can happen when the metal skeleton and panels are dipped into the primer rather than using several light coats. It can vary from car to car on the same assembly line depending on several factors like humidity, temperature, etc.

I may be wrong, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[Twisterspecial]

Thanks for all of the positive comments.

Knowing the vehicle is only a couple of months old I was hoping it would turn out this good. Since the owner deals with hard water spots (Well Water) and drives 2 times a day on a gravel road, my main goal was to remove the water spots and show her how good her vehicle looks.

A picture I could not get to show up was on the passenger side quarter panel; there is a vertical crease about 5 inches long. The paint is that area is fine; it just looks like the quarter panel was damaged prior to any paint being applied to the vehicles. She did not notice this when she picked up the vehicle when it was new. She has decided to leave it alone, since it would require body and paint work to correct.

[karll]

you can really judge the amount of Orange Peel (OP) when you observe a reflection of a straight edge.

in the reflection, the straight edge (lets say a ruler) will be not straight at all, but 'wavy' looking.

in the best paints, the ruler will be straight as a ,, well ruler.

in the custom end of things, wetsanding takes care of it,,, in the factory paint jobs, your suburban is about the standard fare.

my '01 yukon is similar.

also the OP may be in the base coat, or the clear coat.