2001 Ford Exporer Sport - Finally Done!

[P1et]

Fellow AGers,

I bet you've all seen pics of the Explorer before in various stages of completion, but it's done now!

My wife bought it new her sophomore year UT and I don't think it got washed very much... if at all! You can tell by the extremely harsh water spots that the paint was in poor condition. Those damn sprinklers at the sorority house! Look at the swirl marks and marring on the fenders! I always hated washing it because it never came out looking good.

1) Washed with Megs Gold Class
2) Claying with Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay
3) Poorboys SSR2.5 on 5.5 inch orange pad
4) Poorboys SSR1 on 6.5 inch white pad
5) Zaino Z1 by hand
6) Zaino Z2 Pro by hand

Next step will be to top it with Natty's Blue! I still haven't tried that stuff...

BEFORE
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[P1et]

AFTER
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My favorite!!!

Comments always appreciated...

 

[Whitethunder46]

Amazing! Great reflection. Did the waterspots come out at all with claying?

 

[P1et]

Thanks!

And no, the waterspots absolutely did not come out after claying. The third and fourth picture shows what it looked like afterwards. See those lines? Looked awful and I got very nervous thinking I had completely ruined the finish. Thanks goodness for a few hard passes of SSR2.5 on the 5.5 inch pad!!!

 

[justin_murphy]

Man o' Man!
Looks unbelievable dude! How much time did you put into it? Not a single flaw in it.

 

[P1et]

Thanks Justin!!! Means a lot coming from you. How much time did I spend on it? All added up (since I didn't do the whole thing at once) probably at least a good 12 hours.

 

[wytstang]

 

[Whitethunder46]

I forgot to mention... I've been looking for a new car... and after seeing how pretty that looked, I went straight to Autotrader and started searching for black Explorers, haha!

 

[Surfer]

I forgot to mention... I've been looking for a new car... and after seeing how pretty that looked, I went straight to Autotrader and started searching for black Explorers, haha!

Pick up a 5.0 4dr, the 5.0 in the Explorers is a combo GT/Cobra motor w/a less agressive cam. Lot's of mods to wake this puppy up, we have a guy down here whose Explorer is being redone for more power but was putting down over 600rwhp, one fast fricken suv lol.

Looks great P1et, that was some serious swirlage!!!

 

[P1et]

It's been a great car, it really has been. It's got just over 51,000 miles on it and it still has to let us down. Good luck finding one! They are pretty rare as not many people got the 2-door Explorer Sports...

 

[Whitethunder46]

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.j...ced=y&model=EXPLOR&color=BLACK&ref=srl#vdptop

2003 Black Explorer Sport. 33,500 miles. $9,900. Good buy? lol

I'm selling my 01 Mustang GT, so I was looking for something with better fuel economy. I've always wanted an SUV though, so if I found one for a good price where I could make a profit between selling my car and buying a new one, I don't care too much about gas mileage.

 

[Surfer]

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?&default_sort=priceDESC&dealer_id=54729157&end_year=2007&address=45434&make2=&start_year=2001&fuel=&keywordsrep=&certified=&car_id=204519861&color2=&search_type=both&max_mileage=75000&body_code=0&drive=&min_price=0&engine=&distance=200&transmission=&make=FORD&keywordsfyc=&sort_type=priceDESC&num_records=100&ref=srl&car_year=2003&doors=&style_flag=1&cardist=200&max_price=14000&advanced=y&model=EXPLOR&color=BLACK&ref=srl#vdptop

2003 Black Explorer Sport. 33,500 miles. $9,900. Good buy? lol

I'm selling my 01 Mustang GT, so I was looking for something with better fuel economy. I've always wanted an SUV though, so if I found one for a good price where I could make a profit between selling my car and buying a new one, I don't care too much about gas mileage.

Trust me, and PTe1 will pry back it up, go for a 4dr with the 5.0, smooth and wide torque band. And comming from a Stang your gonna still want that ripping V8 exhaust note. I sold my 03' 4.6 Mountaineer that had some nice mods and was pretty damn quick, but still have my 00' 5.0 Mountaineer. Was bought new and now have 93K miles on it, besides regular maintence no issues, had a coolent hose leak on day that was it in all these miles. Great truck. And the 5.0 and 3.73 gears is agreat match.

 

[supercharged]

WOW! What an amazing job! Two thumbs up!

 

[Russecu]

Nice turnaround there P1et. Getting that black paint down pat huh? If you can do black paint then I think you are well on the way to success on may vehicles.

 

[The Shining]

:applause: Super job,send some beading pics when it gets rained on.

 

[AL417]

Your SUV looks great. You rocked by getting those waterspots out and the reflections are really nice. Gotta love a clean black vehicle.

 

[ryandamartini]

VERY nice job!

 

[Truls]

Nice work, amazing turnaround, love the reflection

 

[sparkie]

WOW! What a turn a round! Awesome just awesome! Black is sweet!

 

[RTexasF]

I wouldn't have thought that one could be saved! Great, no, incredible work.