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Author Topic: 2018 Cadillac Escalade  (Read 2762 times)

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Offline Too Stroked

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2018 Cadillac Escalade
« on: April 09, 2020, 08:22:56 AM »
Believe it or not, social distancing has some advantages. (And I should add that social distancing is much easier for introverts like me.) For one thing, being temporarily furloughed has opened up some time for detailing. Case in point, this beautiful 2018 Cadillac Escalade in crystal white tricoat paint. The truck has been sitting for over a month, so there was no fear of things that could kill me. Here's what it looked like when I rolled it into my driveway first thing in the morning:









Although the truck only has 29,000 miles on it, it had something I've never seen before; the world's worst case of iron contamination. I tried to get a decent picture of it, but my iPhone hadn't had it's coffee yet. Everything rearward of the front tires was covered - especially the tailgate. (And no, the brakes looked just fine.) Just about any other color of paint probably would have hidden this condition, but the crystal white showed every single spec - hundreds and hundreds  of them. My Nanoskin mitt got the workout of its life removing all of the iron. It was honestly so bad that even through the mitt, it felt like 80 grit sand paper when I started. It took almost an hour to get everything off!

The basic process was as follows:

1) Wash with Poorboy's Super Slick & Suds
2) Remove stubborn bugs with Poorboy's Bug Squash, then re-wash
3) Iron decontamination using a fine Nanoskin mitt with Mequiar's Detail Spray as a lubricant
4) Clean tires & wheel wells with APC
5) Clean wheels with Poorboy's Spray & Rinse Wheel Cleaner
6) Mask with Blue Painters tape
7) 1st step polish with the Flex 3401 using Mequair's M205 on a White Lake Country pad
8) 2nd step polish with the Flex using Menzerna Polish on a Green LC pad
9) 50/50 water/alcohol wipe
10) Menzerna / Jescar Power Lock synthetic sealant
11) Vacuum interior with 3 different vacuums
12) Remove floor mats & clean with APC
13) Clean all surfaces with APC or Lexol Leather Cleaner as appropriate
14) Poorboy's Natural Look Dressing on all vinyl & rubber surfaces
15) Lexol Leather Conditioner on all leather surfaces
16) Clean all windows with Stoner's Invisible Glass
17) Polish chrome wheels with Mother's Chrome Polish
18) Dress tires & wheel wells with Mequiar's Hot Shine tire dressing
19) Miller Lite

Here's what it looked like the next day. (Yes, this one spilled into a second day where I tackled the interior.) I wish my phone could have captured the shimmer from the paint. In direct sunlight, it actually blinded you to look straight into it. My hat's off to Cadillac for one hell of a beautiful paint job!














« Last Edit: April 09, 2020, 02:35:17 PM by Too Stroked »

Offline gesfour

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Re: 2018 Cadillac Escalade
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2020, 08:48:18 AM »
Looks great!  GM really does put an impressive paint job on these cars.  Also, I think that No. 19 in your list is what made the project so successful! 

As a side note, I've used Lexol products for 25+ years with great success.  Recently, I had to buy new cleaner (the orange bottle) and it had a terrible chemical smell which lingered well after using it.  It was most notable in my car which has a strong leather smell normally.  Googling it brought up lots of posts by people with the same opinion.  I know that there was a change in manufacturing location and wonder if that had something to do with it.  At any rate, I've switched to Griot's odor neutralizing cleaner, which smells faintly like oranges when applying it but leaves no residual odor - just the dead cow as is intended.  Still using Lexol conditioner, however.  Doesn't seem to have been a change to that. 

Offline sscully

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Re: 2018 Cadillac Escalade
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2020, 09:32:22 AM »
Looks great Tom. 

I have to say I thought I was the only one with LC Green pads
- Mine are the antique Coarse Green heavy polishing pad, step between orange and yellow.  :redneck:

I have been working my way around the Mrs' car to get it ready for the McKees coating and found the PB Flex pads in the box.   :wow:
Steve

Offline Too Stroked

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Re: 2018 Cadillac Escalade
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2020, 10:17:04 AM »
Looks great Tom. 

I have to say I thought I was the only one with LC Green pads
- Mine are the antique Coarse Green heavy polishing pad, step between orange and yellow.  :redneck:

I have been working my way around the Mrs' car to get it ready for the McKees coating and found the PB Flex pads in the box.   :wow:

Thanks Steve! The Green LC pads I have are very soft - about 2 steps below White in fact. I think Black was the only one softer.

Offline Too Stroked

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Re: 2018 Cadillac Escalade
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2020, 11:07:56 AM »
Looks great!  GM really does put an impressive paint job on these cars.  Also, I think that No. 19 in your list is what made the project so successful! 

As a side note, I've used Lexol products for 25+ years with great success.  Recently, I had to buy new cleaner (the orange bottle) and it had a terrible chemical smell which lingered well after using it.  It was most notable in my car which has a strong leather smell normally.  Googling it brought up lots of posts by people with the same opinion.  I know that there was a change in manufacturing location and wonder if that had something to do with it.  At any rate, I've switched to Griot's odor neutralizing cleaner, which smells faintly like oranges when applying it but leaves no residual odor - just the dead cow as is intended.  Still using Lexol conditioner, however.  Doesn't seem to have been a change to that.

Interesting. The Lexol I used is from my stash and is probably 2-3 years old. No nasty chemical odor from this batch. When it's time to re-stock, I mat have to try something else though. Thanks for the heads up!

Offline Kitzy

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Re: 2018 Cadillac Escalade
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2020, 08:05:20 PM »
It looks great! 

Explain the three vacuum system, though. 

Also, I really had to look at that one picture because I thought, holy crap, look at the rest legroom.  I believe that's the third row with the second row folded up and forward? 

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Offline Blown F-150

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Re: 2018 Cadillac Escalade
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2020, 09:23:34 PM »
Very nice job! It’s really nice to see someone detailing!!!


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Offline Rollingrock

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Re: 2018 Cadillac Escalade
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2020, 09:48:22 PM »
Man, finally a proper detail and post.  Great work Tom.  Still kind of kills me you reach for the 205.  I guess I dno't have the confidence in it yet to bust it out and I have 2 versions of it I think.

As for the green lake pads...the softest depending on the series "was" always red.   But now that Lake and others have decided to overhaul all their pads, who really knows anymore which pads are which.  So many options now I wish they would come out with a new chart like the ones we used while over at F150OL.   That was a great tool and other makers followed similar colors for similar cuts etc. 

So did you use the nano skin mit in lieu of clay?    I have several nano skin pads for the DA and while I like them, I still think that megs blue clay is my go to for prepping the surface.   I have it in my head that clay pulls more out than the pads do so your feedback on the mit is welcomed.   

The wheels look great, and I see that you used Mothers polish on those...have you ever tried the Optimum chrome polish?  I will never use another product for chrome.  Its amazing.   

Anywho, thanks for the great write up and great detail.  I will hang up and listen.





« Last Edit: April 09, 2020, 09:50:02 PM by Rollingrock »
Thanks for visiting the Cafe, come back often.  There's always something new!

Offline Too Stroked

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Re: 2018 Cadillac Escalade
« Reply #8 on: April 10, 2020, 05:44:29 AM »
Man, finally a proper detail and post.  Great work Tom.  Still kind of kills me you reach for the 205.  I guess I dno't have the confidence in it yet to bust it out and I have 2 versions of it I think.

As for the green lake pads...the softest depending on the series "was" always red.   But now that Lake and others have decided to overhaul all their pads, who really knows anymore which pads are which.  So many options now I wish they would come out with a new chart like the ones we used while over at F150OL.   That was a great tool and other makers followed similar colors for similar cuts etc. 

So did you use the nano skin mit in lieu of clay?    I have several nano skin pads for the DA and while I like them, I still think that megs blue clay is my go to for prepping the surface.   I have it in my head that clay pulls more out than the pads do so your feedback on the mit is welcomed.   

The wheels look great, and I see that you used Mothers polish on those...have you ever tried the Optimum chrome polish?  I will never use another product for chrome.  Its amazing.   

Anywho, thanks for the great write up and great detail.  I will hang up and listen.

JP,

Thanks for the kind words!

As for the Nanoskin mitt vs clay, I much prefer the mitt for one big reason: I've never dropped a mitt. And although I probably could have used a more aggressive mitt - if I had one - the "Fine" mitt worked quite well and didn't marr.

You mentioned the M205. Remember, M205 is the less aggressive polish in that series. When I really have to wail on something, M101 is still my go to polish. And don't let it scare you. It's really quite forgiving. M105 on the other hand is just as aggressive, but generates a ton more dust. I tossed all of my M105 after discovering M101.

Optimum Chrome Polish huh? Hmmm, haven't tried that. Sounds like yet another product I need to order.  :dope:

Offline sscully

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Re: 2018 Cadillac Escalade
« Reply #9 on: April 12, 2020, 12:14:45 PM »
As for the green lake pads...the softest depending on the series "was" always red.   But now that Lake and others have decided to overhaul all their pads, who really knows anymore which pads are which.  So many options now I wish they would come out with a new chart like the ones we used while over at F150OL.   That was a great tool and other makers followed similar colors for similar cuts etc.

Way back when Green was 1st a heavy polishing pad, step between orange and yellow then someone @ LC made a green below white & above black.
Back then it was Yellow - Coarse Green - Orange - White - Green - black - Blue - Red - Gold ( most to least ).

There are charts today, but you need to know which pad line you are using.

The lines I can think of right now :
Foam - Hydro - SDO - HDO - MF and Wool ( EG: PFW )

I stay away from the Hydro line, those are backwards to the LC Foam color codes.
You grab a Blue Hydro to use with PB PP to finish off before LSP and you are going to going to be starting over.  A Blue Hydro is ORG + in LC Foam.
- I think LC plays the game of it is cornflower not blue or some stupidity...

Then you have to watch if it is an old school Foam or newer Foam ( CCS ? ) because Blue & Black reverse. 
There are some odd ball rankings in HDO & SDO, EG: Blue SDO is like a Blue Hydro but visually looks like a Blue foam with a centering hole..
:dope:

Long story made more boring... Just pick a line, get the chart and stick with that line.  Don't go experimenting unless you are changing out or have bins for each line with a chart on the outside of the bin..
Steve

 


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