2009 GMC Denali

[Too Stroked]

I?d mentioned in an earlier shout that I had an exterior detail on a black Suburban coming up. Well, it turned out to be a black GMC Denali XL  instead. (Still eight miles long with acres of paint.) Then there was this other surprise; it was pretty well hammered. In fact it had never been waxed and I believe it was washed with a rake. Adding insult to injury, I had to do this one at a remote location instead of my house because it was going to the auction. How bad was it? Well, I scared up a well used Halogen spotlight to take some close-ups since I knew JP would never believe me on this one. Here?s some before shots ? and the whole truck looked like this.





Since I only had eight hours to work on this one, I went fairly aggressive on pad and product. In fact, I went right to Menzerna SIP on an orange Lake Country CCS pad on the Flex. Although it did the trick, it was going to be a long haul. So, I upped the ante a bit and went to my rotary with a Purple Foamed Wool pad and the SIP. (Yea I know, pretty aggressive.) Believe it or not, it was still a tough slog taking 2-3 full passes before any significant correction occurred. I finally settled on that for the first cut, followed by Menzerna PO085RD on a LC White CCS pad on the Flex, followed by Poor Boy?s E-XP on a black LC pad on the PC. Here?s an attempt at a 50/50 shot with the finished left front fender on the left side and the untouched door (not showing real well) on the right:



By the way, before anybody jumps on me for the tires, this one is getting driven to the auction, So we didn?t want any sling. I only did the wheel wells and the guys will dress the tires before it goes into line. Here are a few more shots of that process and the final results:







By this time, it was getting pretty late in the day and all I had left was the hood and front bumper cover. As with everything else, the hood was hammered and I was running on battery power as you might guess. So I tried something different. I slapped an orange LC pad on the rotary and put some SIP on it. Man, I should have tried this earlier! In one pass this combination did all of the major correction I needed. I then followed with the same steps I mentioned earlier. I wanted to get some more Halogen shots, but the spotlight blew up when I picked it up. Trust me though, here are the stunning results:







And now for absolutely the cheapest, most shameless reflecto shot I?ve ever taken, feast your eyes on this:

[Blown F-150]

Sure came out nice TS! Too bad it was just for an auction.

[Rollingrock]

Holy caked up PFW pad Batman!   That is freaking amazing Tom!   

Amazing transformation man...and in that amount of time you must have been humping it!   

Dude, you got mad skills.


 

[Too Stroked]

Thanks guys. It really did turn out pretty amazing. When I first turned the Halogen on it after the wash though, I figured I was toast. I had no idea it was that bad. Of course 8 hours later, I was toast. I knew I needed a job to get my mind off of a few things and this certainly did it. I'm going to remember that orange pad on the rotary with SIP for future work too.

Here?s an interesting side story. Want to know how I got the (Denali) job? A couple of weeks ago I got to feeling sorry for the marina service truck. It?s a four year old Chevy ? ton that?s been rode hard and put away wet more often that we like to admit. So one slow Saturday, I brought I brought the red paint back up to standard. The Denali owner saw what I could do ? as did a number of other marina customers ? and a deal was struck.

The kids had washed the truck the day before I did the Denali and parked in the pole barn. (You may have seen it in the background of one of the pictures.) Although they didn?t get the wheel wells, the truck looked pretty darn good, so I snapped a quick shot of it. Something about red paint ?

[Kitzy]

Man, real nice work, Tom!  Very impressive.

[Blown F-150]

That red looks killer, I sure like red

[GreyMichFX4]

Very nice work Tom.

[Too Stroked]

That red looks killer, I sure like red

I had a feeling you had some feelings for red. 

[Truckguy24]

Amazing job Tom!  I just want to know why someone would/could neglect such a nice looking vehicle as those Denali's?!?!

[Too Stroked]

Amazing job Tom!  I just want to know why someone would/could neglect such a nice looking vehicle as those Denali's?!?!

The truth is, many owners don't think they're neglecting vehicles like this.

[Too Stroked]

Well, I got a chance to go back and finish up the Denali XL today. Last weekend it was pouring, so all of my pictures were taken indoors. As most of you know, without a Halogen or Brinkman light, some defects just don?t show up in pictures. And since I blew the marina?s only Halogen up half way through the festivites, some of you (JP?) may have been thinking a sleazed a few of those finished shots.

Well, today was brilliant sunshine and after I got through with some final details (no pun intended), I pulled the black beauty out into the unforgiving sun. Even I was cringing just a bit. I think these will settle and possible debate though.

[BigSur]

Looks awesome.  You are right about sunshine being unforgiving too.  I'm already noticing swirls on the brand new Highlander.  Makes me miss the silver Camry.   

[Tdub]

Nice write up! 

[Too Stroked]

Nice write up! 

Thanks Tyler. I'd say this thing wasn't a boat, but it was.

[Rollingrock]

So, Tom

Did the owner chit a chicken?