JLs Detailing: F150 Auto Balm

Well a co-worker of mine just bought this older model F150 (I'm guessing '95 or '96) and asked me to detail it for him. I've done several of his vehicles already. Yeah that's right several as he buys and sells his trucks like you wouldn't believe. I do have to hand it to him though as he is one of those people that can buy something and when he gets ready to sell it folks seem to be standing in line to buy it from him. He just has that knack, me I couldn't sell ice water in Hell. Well he sold a Tahoe, gave his 16 year old daughter his Toyota Tacoma and he bought this. He wanted it to look good for the summer, but no paint correction. There is absolutely no need for paint correction because if he still has this come winter and hunting season it will go all through the woods. Well I decided since it's black and there was going to be no correction that there was only one LSP that would fit and that was Bilt Hamber Auto Balm. Well here's what I did:

Tires/Wheels/Wells: The wheels got Megs Wheel Brightener since they were chrome and a variety of brushes. I used a lug nut brush, green foam finger pocket, and HD brushes for the tires and wheel wells. I didn't need my beloved Raceglaze brush nor my Black Magic brush since I didn't need to clean the barrels. The barrels were painted black and with the wheel design you couldn't really get in there very well so they were just rinsed really well with the pressure washer.

For the tires and wells they got the ol' standby Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff at 2:1 in a Solo Gilmour 2 gallon pressurized sprayer, and some of the brushes I got from Home Depot. The tires were first dressed with Megs Hyper Dressing @ 3:1 with a MSs tire applicator. I then dressed them with the same method with a TW tire applicator and my Tropi-Care tire dressing. The wells were dressed with Adams Undercarriage Spray. I then coated the wheels with MS Enviro Shield and rinsed off.

Engine: I gave the engine a quick rinse, and sprayed it down with MS SGS. There was a lot of dirt and dust in just about every crevice there was so I agitated it and re-rinsed. I dried most of the water with a leaf blower and then sprayed the engine bay down with Megs HD @ 3:1 in a Solo 418 handheld sprayer. I cranked the engine and let it run for about 20 minutes and it looked 1000x better.

Wash: I loaded up the foam cannon with my new strip anything combo of 2 oz. of MS Super Foam and 1 oz. of MS Power Prep. Man this combo foams like crazy and cleans even better. The truck had been pretty well cared for by the previous owner but there didn't appear to be any LSP to speak of left on it, but to be sure I used this combo. Like I said in another post this combo stripped everything but the paint off! I used my CR Spotless and the 2 bucket method. In one bucket I used Tropi Care Premium wash and the other was a rinse bucket, both with grit guards. I used my boars hair brush on this wash. There were no signs of bugs so no need for the CGs Strong Wash today.

The truck was then dried with the good ol' NC sun and heat (it was about 95 that day). Since I was using the CR there was no chance of water spots so might as well let Mother Nature do the drying for me!!

Clay: Well my mainstay for clay has become and always will be the Bilt Hamber and this detail was going to be no different. This is the best clay I have ever used and the only brand I use now. I used the Regular Bilt Hamber Clay on this one. As always water from the CR was used for lube.

Glass: Glass inside and out got Autoglym Fast Glass. I used a MS blue huck window towel to apply and a Walmart WW to buff off. The outside of the glass was treated with MS ES.

Interior: Well the interior was the kind I like...EASY!! First off it was a regular cab so not a lot to do plus it had been pretty well taken care of. Really there was some dirt from years of use and not being "properly" cleaned and I figured it had seen some Armor All too so I just wanted to get it all clean and ready for protectant.

I started by dusting everything down with my Swissvax look alike brushes from Micheals. Then I vacuumed everthing with my Shop Vac. Some of the stains on the carpet were removed with Majestic Solutions Extraction Plus (or as krshultz says "witchcraft in a bottle") and a damp white MF. The floor mats were cleaned with the pressure washer and MS SGS. They were then treated with Duragloss Tire and Mat dressing.

I cleaned all the plastic, rubber and vinyl with Majestic Solutions Leather and Plastic Cleaner. After everything was cleaned I protected all of it with Jeffs Werkstat Satin Prot. I really like the look the JW Satin leaves behind and to be honest I have been impressed by all the JW line that I have used. I must give Ken at Autowerkes credit though as he guided me to the stuff and I have been 100% satisfied with it all.

Paint: I went with my ol' standby DG 501 to clean the paint. I used my Makita @ 600 rpms with a black 3M pad. I buffed it all off with Yellow and black MFs from Justing at Obssessive Details. The truck looked really great after this step but now it was time to make it really really really black!

LSP: As I said I wanted this truck to be just super black and hide some of the imperfections as well so I went with Bilt Hamber Auto Balm. I put it on super thin and removed each 2x2 area immediately. I buffed it off with the Danase Phat MFs and with each section I did you could just see the black getting darker and darker. About an hour after finishing and before I took it back to him I did a wipe down with DG Aquawax and a plush MF from Ben at Rubbish Boys.

I took the truck back to him and when he came out he said "Damn you sure do know how to make a black truck look black!!" I just smiled and went home and toasted my tin of Auto Balm with a beer! Here are the before and afters:




























Some random and reflection shots:

 

Great job JL, I had three Ford trucks in that body style but they were F-350's to pull my race car trailer and of course they were all black. That is my favorite body style in Ford trucks.

 

I have to admit, that truck looks mighty fine. Well done, vehicle looks great :thumb:

 

another excellent turn around on a truck! I love your truck posts!

those work horses really bring back memories for me tell the owner to scrub that frame with a wire brush, give it a coat of paint, and keep it on the road for another 10-15 years.

 

Good Job!

 

Wow that looks great!

I rarely see a truck that era that is clean up here.... I want an F350 in that body style...

 

Looks great as always! The wheels in particular on this one I think you did especially well. That's the photo that grabbed me the most.

Perfect product selection too. It's incredible how well Auto Balm conceals stuff - perfect for a client like this.

 

Thanks Asphalt! I too love this body style and was excited to get to work on it.

Thanks Nica, much appreciated.

Thanks Hostage, trucks around here are like exotics in Cali I guess! I agree with keeping this style on the road as you just don't get to see enough of them in good shape any longer.

Thanks bro!

The F350s in that style are some great trucks.

Thanks Karl I was really pleased with both the wheels and paint on this one.

 

That one shined up really nice, JL!

 

Wow does that stuff fill! I gotta get my hands on some of it soon. Nice job.

 

Looks great, That Auto-Balm really doe a great job at making the black look amazing. Great job!

 

+1, We used to have a '93 F-250 4x4 w/ the extended cab and 8ft bed. Had the 2-tone maroon-ish metallic and the charcoal metallic in the middle. What a gas guzzler, but what a tank it was in it's own right.

 

JL..the truck looks great! What a combo that 501/AB is! Like Karl said..the photo that seems to jump off teh page is hte one of the wheels..looks great!

 

Damn JL, you are outdoing yourself! The "before" pics looked awesome, but the "afters" just blew me away. Super work as usual on the tires and wheels, we all know how hard those Michelins are to dress...

 

Excellent work, JL!DG #501 really cleaned the paint, and AB made it look really black!!!:applause:
and hey, you are right about Bilt Hamber, that clay is SOOOOFT!!!!

 

Thanks Ken and a few more details and I'll probably be ready for another order.

Just ring up Ken at Autowerkes and he'll gladly hook you up. Of course you can't buy just one thing from Ken which I think he knows, LOL! Seriously though the AB is some really good stuff not only looks wise but durability went 6 months on my Jeep.

Thanks bud. A little bit of a learning curve getting application down but after that its pure money!

Yeah Rich its hard to beat DG501 and anything but man it combined with AB just knocks it out of the park. Next time I use AB I'm going to try JW Prime Acrylic under it to see how that does.

I know Piet the truck looked very well for its age and I was thrilled with the finished results. You are so right on the Michelins not being as receptive to dressings as other tires are.

Thanks supercharged. I told you that you were going to love the Bilt Hamber clay. Damn you again for having me tied up in a pm and missing that one, LOL!

 

yet another great post from JL..is looks awesome!!

 

Looks brand new, great work and yet another product your making me really wanna try even more lol

 

I haven't even tried it yet, I just opened a box to see it. Do you really want it? We can work something out, see a PM.

 

Great work JL! The AB really makes the black stand out and glow.