1995 Pierce Fire Truck

[Firehouse Mike]

Had the opportunity to do some paint work on a 1995 Pierce / Snorkel Telesqurt ladder truck this week. West Thurston Regional Fire Authority (south of Olympia WA) purchased it used from Central Pierce FD6. The truck, we are assuming, sat behind glass bay doors due to the severe oxidation on the front of the cab. The red paint was now a lovely shade of pink; not flattering for a fire truck, and the front facing light bar lenses were very oxidized. That was the first priority was to restore color to the truck. There was some "ghosting" on the front doors were the old decals were. This occurs when the decal covers and protects the paint, while the rest is exposed to UV light, scratches and general wear. Went you remove the decals the paint is still new underneath and shows. Both front door had this. The back doors on the cab had Medic-One and the Star of Life logos that had to be removed. I forgot to pictures of this .....but came off great with an 3M Eraser Wheel and some Goo Gone Gel. The rest of the paint just had years of wear and tear on it. Lots of scratches and brush marks from years of washing with probably not-so-clean brushes. The paint is a single stage Imron and took a lot of passes with BOSS Fast Correcting Cream with Griot's White pads and Fast MF cutting pads (both seemed to perform about the same) on a G21...about as aggressive as you can get. A polishing step was done with HD Speed on Griot's orange correcting pads. This removed the DA haze i got from the aggressive correcting. When you get right up close to it, there are still visible scratches and marring, but it has great gloss now and is all red! No more pink truck. All the warning / emergency lights also were polished up to improve light emission and to be more effective. With cars being so soundproof now, emergency vehicles are relying more on lighting to get drivers attention. Restored color, clarity and gloss to this 21 year old truck making it look new again!

 

[trippmann]

As a firefighter, I must say you did a freaking awesome job. You did clean the roof under the lightbar right?

If i may ask, what was the price on this job? My company wants me to maintain our trucks and one of them is pretty similar.

 

[Firehouse Mike]

As a firefighter, I must say you did a freaking awesome job. You did clean the roof under the lightbar right?

Thanks! I wanted to do more....did give it a wipe off with some Megs APC. This was just the "visible" paint that was done. Chief didn't want to pay for a complete detail...they still had a LOT of equipment to buy as this is a new addition the the fleet. I'll PM you with price

 

[Sicoupe]

The reflection is unreal! Looks fantastic my friend!

 

[expdetailing]

As a firefighter, I must say you did a freaking awesome job. You did clean the roof under the lightbar right?

If i may ask, what was the price on this job? My company wants me to maintain our trucks and one of them is pretty similar.

I assumed the fire fighters maintained their own trucks and do not get paid for doing so. Could you please fill me in on how that works.

 

[Eldorado2k]

I assumed the fire fighters maintained their own trucks and do not get paid for doing so. Could you please fill me in on how that works.

How about if they maintain, but use dish soap & terry towels? Lol.

@Firehouse Mike. Great job on the fire truck. Looks great!

 

[trippmann]

washing the sides of the truck is one thing but getting into paint correction is a whole nother thing.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Is that fire truck clearcoat or gelcoat?

 

[Firehouse Mike]

washing the sides of the truck is one thing but getting into paint correction is a whole nother thing.

Absolutely....Firefighters do maintain their trucks, typically with great pride. However it's pretty limited to washing and hand waxing. A lot of chiefs don't even want a 10" orbital used on them. Its not so much for fear of paint damage but damaging the lettering and decals that can cost a $1000 or more. When paint needs serious work they call in the pros.

Mike

 

[Paul A.]

The way it used to work some years ago...the shift working had a list of "house duties" and one of them may have been to wash and/or wax the apparatus on the floor. They are on duty anyway and are getting paid. House duties are done along with a lot of other things like in service training, pre fire planning etc. Fire fighters still catch a lot of critical s*** these days for trips to the grocery store in the engines/trucks ("in service" runs), playing pool, ping pong or just plain watching the game on tv in between calls but the public doesn't see everything else they do. Plus the fact i would love to install an alarm bell in every residents home that goes off the same time the station gets a call at 3 am! And statistically speaking, unless your in a major city, that alarm is probably not for a working fire but a car wreck with trauma or overturned tanker on the interstate that is more mentally taxing over time. Maybe it's a simple ambulance run with no transport. It's still going from hopefully a sound sleep to a heart rate of maybe 80. Over your career! And hopefully it is only an ambulance run with no transport but maybe a few times in your career it might have been to a car wreck with a child fatality. The WORST and made so much worse when you return home after your maybe 24 or 48 hour shift and embrace your own child and maybe weep.

Washing and waxing the apparatus was always one of the favorites because of the pride thing mentioned above and you heard some of the best jokes from the guys/gals helping or insights into why the local teams bull pen sux! Plus it goes a lot easier with maybe 4-6 guys/gals doing the work. If the department was lucky they had a Firehouse Mike to insure they weren't using dish soap and dirty towels! The vast majority probably do not and a simple wash and wax done to non AG standards was fine. Plus the fact a lot of municipalities and Chief's can't really justify budget expenditures towards "detailing" with the ever tightening public service dollar being stretched, or worse yet...diverted somewhere else. And even if the dept is lucky enough to hire a pro to refinish the engine's paint, there is nothing we can do to touch up the paint blistered from that working fire with the hydrant too close to the structure! The public doesn't see that or feel it because hopefully the police are keeping them at a "safe distance".

Beautiful work on that quint, Mike. I would enjoy that job every time!

 

[Firehouse Mike]

Is that fire truck clearcoat or gelcoat?

Single stage Imron....hard as steel!!

 

[Eldorado2k]

Single stage Imron....hard as steel!!

Ahh I should've known! The fire truck I polished earlier this week was single stage too.lol.

View attachment 51811

View attachment 51813

 

[Firehouse Mike]

Awesome!! Love it

 

[Firefighter84]

Good job Mike! The truck came out very good and I'm sure you put a lot of work into all that paint real estate.

I've safe guarded our newest engine and won't let anyone wash it, and I've managed to win a few parade trophies for best custom pumper with it. From a detailers perspective, it's a horror story looking at our car washing tools when I first started. Nylon brushes on broom sticks which were used for washing oil stains on the concrete floor to dirty/muddy hoses, ladders,and the trucks sometimes all from the same 1 bucket. All of this next to a towel rack full of terry towels for drying but never put in a washer after being used. A lot of our members even use this equipment for washing their cars. The problem is they don't know any better and as Mike Phillips quotes "They don't know the difference between a swirl and a squirrel". They just need a little education/guidance to point them in the right direction.

Keep up the good work and stay safe!!

 

[Jaretr1]

COOL, thats not something we see on this forum everyday

 

[LEDetailing]

Nice truck. Made in Appleton, WI. Bonus points.

That does look good, try to get them to do a two bucket hand wash every two-three days