Eastern Members - Detailing JL WS6's 2009 Dodge Ram 2500

Well finally got some time to work ok JL's Truck. Been asking me for a while so no time like the present.

Let it be said that this truck is very well taken care of for the 50k+ miles on it and JL washes it with leaving minimal marring and swirling but alas it still has them. The car has Dodge's Brilliant Black exterior paint and it looks amazing. Thinking of it like looking into space and seeming a million stars.

I don't have a honest side by side correction comparision. So I got started and simply slipped our minds. With the flake its hard to pick it up but it had swirls so we got them out easily.

We did not want to put the rotary to it but JL Picked up a Porter Cable Xp with the extra length cable which is helpful as hell.

** All pics with tape are taken with my Droid, the afters were with my Nikon so sorry for any not good pics. No sun pics due to weather issues this past sunday.

Process:

Wash- Meguiars Gold Class
Clay- Mother's
Tape- 3M Blue
Compound- Meg's 105 on LC Orange Pad
Polish- Meg's 205 on LC White Pad
Glaze- Meg's Showcar #7
Wax- Meg's Ultimate Paste (2 coats
Booster- Meg's Ultimate Quick Wax (after cure)

I will be expanding out my product selections but this is what I know and I know works. But there is other great stuff out there. No matter what I will be using LC pads, love that stuff!

Using light, consistant pressure, alternating strokes, low setting like between 1 and 2. Not sure the rpm ratio, I will have to research that more. Also plan on getting a PC for myself as I love the rotary and def has it's place with heavy correction and scratch removal. Also considering wetsanding whatever else needed but I want to jewel to a fine finish.

Before: The only good one that showed swirling.

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part19.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part20.jpg

Taped:

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/2012-04-11_14-42-08_293.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/2012-04-11_14-41-13_55.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/2012-04-11_14-40-47_572.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/2012-04-11_14-37-28_382.jpg

Results:

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part11.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part13.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part16.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part18.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part2.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part3.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part5.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500PartEight.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500PartSeven.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part9.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r505/TheBSMachine/JL%20WS6%202009%20Dodge%202500/JLWS62009Dodge2500Part10.jpg

Like I said, not perfect but very pleased with the results. Love the reflections. Took a few man hours bout 1 hr for tape, and 1-1/2 hr for washing/claying, 10 hours total (cutting/polish/glaze/wax). JL did a few sections and look to be doing more projects together.

PM if you have questions. Located in Central Connecticut.

Oh the Broken Driveshaft in the tailgate reflection is Chef's. I love the reflection shots, you can see the factory peel but cleared up a great deal. Bet you could advertise that Quad and using that photo vs a Direct one.

Brought it back to showroom cond,Jl's garage looks killer now the way its setup.

Thanks Dave, I def agree you could probably put this back in a show room and no one would question it. We also polished the chrome with Mother's and heavy duty shop towels.

Hey if you need anything Dave, let me know. I am sure Jason would love the visit up to Hard Hittin New Britain.

I will have more stuff as the summer goes on. The trans am needs it bad as well as the wife's HHR.

Great job! You got a lot of work done in that time frame. So you stuck with a porter cable on this one huh :)? I do like the flake in that paint!

How do you like the finish with the 205 on black? Did you find the paint on the harder side? Soft black paint with 205 can be a challenge.

As far as pictures go it can be a challenge to show defects and good results. It helps to get rid of extra ambient lighting and sometimes use a tripod. I've taken some good pics with a middle of the road point and shoot Sony, but its tough to beat an slr in low light.

Good job again.
Am I reading that right you only used a 1-2 setting on the PC?

Great job! You got a lot of work done in that time frame. So you stuck with a porter cable on this one huh :)? I do like the flake in that paint!

How do you like the finish with the 205 on black? Did you find the paint on the harder side? Soft black paint with 205 can be a challenge.

As far as pictures go it can be a challenge to show defects and good results. It helps to get rid of extra ambient lighting and sometimes use a tripod. I've taken some good pics with a middle of the road point and shoot Sony, but its tough to beat an slr in low light.

Good job again.
Am I reading that right you only used a 1-2 setting on the PC?

Yea, I have been working on my speed but also preserving proper technique. To me its important. There was no interior done as it was not needed so that save 2-3 hours easy. The worst panel was the roof only due to the spot most people never think about getting up there on a regular basis. You can see the cloudiness.

I found on this truck I needed to work a little longer and in some cases did a 2nd pass with the 205 on the White pad. White has cut but not too much. Plus the glazing helped with final finish. I could have left it out but I like the stuff too much.

I see 205 working well, its how much time and/ or pressure and speed. Just gotta inspect before moving on.

I also have a halogen light stand, I gotta bring it over and we did the before pics with no light and just the flash but thanks for the tips, those I need greatly!!

For what its worth I run at 5 on the initial pass, and usually 5 again on the 2nd pass. Don't worry about cranking it up a bit. I don't slow it down till it comes to very mild compounds or lsp's. If I find it takes a good bit of pressure or extra time to correct on the 1st pass that's when I bust out the bigger tools on those areas.

Meguires compound is non-diminishing though so I could see slowing down the 205 if its your final pass.

Yea, I may end up doing that. I have a scale for the rotary, what is the scale for a D/A on settings??

The total cut is not near what a rotary can do but you can do damage if you try. JL's truck had wanted not to go crazy on the speed. The #2 setting did look similar the #2 setting on the Makhita which was in the 1000-1100 range.

I think next time I will crank up the speed but also depending on how bad it is, it may get the rotary for the 1st pass.

Yea, I may end up doing that. I have a scale for the rotary, what is the scale for a D/A on settings??

The total cut is not near what a rotary can do but you can do damage if you try. JL's truck had wanted not to go crazy on the speed. The #2 setting did look similar the #2 setting on the Makhita which was in the 1000-1100 range.

I think next time I will crank up the speed but also depending on how bad it is, it may get the rotary for the 1st pass.

Yeah a DA is nothing like a rotary. You really need to try and screw up paint with a porter cable.

A DA you need to run atleast twice as fast. At the 5 setting you are over 5k rpm. The machine will do work and impress you after you get used to it. At its slowest speed you are still over 2k, thats is why its tough to jewel paint with a DA, but you can get close with the right compound and technique (A finish pass and jeweling is different).

Here is a basic approach
http://www.autogeek.net/edge-da-polishing-how-to.html

don't worry about cranking the thing up on the inital pass. Some of what you have learned with a rotary is thrown out the window with these things :)

At the end of the day if I only had one machine the PC would be it.

Thanks, I have that, Just cant look at it at work. Very annoying. I like the DA a lot so I plan on finding a car or just a junk panel to practice wet sanding. I need a paint depth checker to see how much meterial is taken.

I next car will crank her up too!

Here you go, note the difference in RPM's going to the rotary
http://www.detailedimage.com/Buffer-Comparison/

I also have the flex and its basically a PC on steriods, great 1st pass tool. You could basically stand on the thing and the motor won't slow down. But its heavier and not as versatile as the pc.

Because the head "wobbles" you can spin real fast and not worry about burning the paint, but it also needs the extra speed to increase contact time in order to get the job done.

Yea, that one I could check out. I see what you mean. Meg's has a good faq on different products and speeds.

This was the first black car/truck I have ever attempted, so I was pretty happy with the results. That was 3 years worth of surface beatings that we got off it, granted I'm pretty careful with it but with black paint, I don't know if you can ever really be careful enough... overall it wasn't really that bad.

I didn't want to get crazy cranking the machine up, being the first attempt at black, and a new toy, no need to go crazy right off the bat and take a chance goofing something up. The paint on this truck, I don't think I would call it soft.. as you can see the orange peel that's in it (always pretty heavy on dodge trucks, being this is the 5th one I have owned sice 1995 and they all have been similar) wasn't something that was easily being cut down that's for sure. Couple of the deeper scratches the truck had, we hit the area pretty good a couple times to try to work them out, and they came out pretty well, but the peel was still visable. So, I'd call the paint, pretty tough.


I have to do my wife's car next when I get the time. Maybe this Sunday if nothing else is going on. But don't expect any fancy pictures from me LOL. You may get a before and after pic from the iphone but that's a best case scenario LOL.

do my g8

Good job again.
Am I reading that right you only used a 1-2 setting on the PC?

This caught my eye too..Ive always used at least a 5 during polishing, your not breaking down the polish enough at much slower speeds. Dont worry about messing anything up, you can stand on a PC and it'll bog the motor before you do any damage.
I typically use a 1 or 2 on a rotary when im buffing and cutting new paint though...

I dunno, it came out pretty good. I did go over everything a couple times, may have only had to do it once if I had used more speed.

Regardless, it came out pretty good :)

Chef bring the G8 up and I'd be happy to do it, as long as I know you're on buying the tranny when I get done with the motor :nod: :drive:

Yea, the speed thing was Jason's call. I get it as I understand the total cut concept and speed is a factor and since DA's generate very little heat, it probably would not have been an issue.

His car may not have even needed the M105 on account how well take care of it was.

looks good, nice job.

ok JL feel free to do the G8 but i dontr know about buying as tranny for that car...lol

Figures LOL