2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser Special Edition

[The Guz]

I did not take many photos as I just wanted to get this one done.

The owner is one of my many uncles. For those that are not aware on my mom's side of the family my grandparents (RIP to both of them) had 11 children. 5 boys and 6 girls. So this is one of the 5 boys. This is the same uncle that got me a job in the same aerospace company we both work at. Well he has since accepted an offer at another site and will be moving a few hours away from me. He will be missed as I enjoyed having him near me to guide me in my career.

He has asked me a few times about restoring the paint on his special edition FJ. I kept telling him I am ready when he is. So this is his going away gift.

He told me today that he has never had it detailed. The paint showed it. The white paint had begun to oxidize and appear chalky. He currently lives by the beach so that plays into that as well.

Anyway enough blabbing.

Gave the interior which is mostly rubber and plastic with McKee's 37 Fast Interior Detailer. Cleaned all the interior glass with McKee's 20/20 Cockpit Glass Cleaner with a final wipe of Sprayway Glass Cleaner. He liked how the interior came out. Of course I vacuumed it prior to all this. Unfortunately no photos.

Onto the outside.

Cleaned the wheels with McKee's 37 Foaming Wheel Cleaner Gel and Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner for the tires. Protected the wheels with Hydro2 at 1:6. I cleaned the trim with Meguiar's D103 APC+ at this point as well to save me a step later on.

I used the Mike Phillips Aggressive Wash Method

Started off with Optimum Ferrex. This paint has never been chemically decontaminated. Bled on impact. My uncle freaked out at this point and was wondering what the heck was going on lol. I had to explain what I was doing and he didn't know this sort of thing existed.

Roof

Hood

I rinsed it and washed it at this point with a non Autogeek shampoo. Re-foamed it and mechanically decontaminated the paint with a Griot's fine grade clay mitt.

The test spot I went with was with the Rupes UHS. As seen in the video the paint was oxidized and the UHS polish and pad combination took care of that. I went around the entire paint with the UHS system. Removed all but the heavy swirls which was just what I wanted.

50/50 on the passenger door. Brings me to this The Lesson White Teaches Us

The final images. No more beige looking FJ. It is bright white.

The trim was restored with Solution Finish and topped with Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant.

The paint was prepped with CarPro Eraser and protected with Gyeon Can Coat.

Was losing daylight in these. So the shadows look weird.

Wheels protected with CarPro Hydro2 and the tires were dressed with Gyeon Tire

He then took me out to dinner. Was looking nice in the parking lot.

He then sent me this one as he was filling up.

This detail was a good one. First time working with Toyota paint. My hands (gloved) and tools are covered in white paint. Need to clean that up.

But what was cool was my uncle stuck around to see the entire thing change right before his eyes. All I kept hearing was wow. This was of course good to hear but I could tell it brought back that feeling when he first bought it as he told me the story while I was working. He also admitted he neglected it.

I believe it was about 6 hours with 1 hour for lunch. So 5 hours total for interior and exterior.

I know he will enjoy it at his new job location.

I told him that his FJ is now competition ready lol. His response was Yes! (with a fist pump).

Thank you to my uncle for always being there for me, guiding me, mentoring me and taking care of me at work. You will be missed. I hope you come back one day.

Thanks for reading.


Interior Products

McKee's 37 Fast Interior Detailer
McKee's 20/20 Cockpit Glass Cleaner
Sprayway Glass Cleaner

Exterior product:

Optimum Ferrex
Rupes UHS Polish
Rupes UHS pads in 3", 1.5" and 6"
Gyeon CanCoat
CarPro Eraser
Solution Finish
Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant
McKee's 37 Foaming Wheel Cleaner Gel
Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner
Gyeon Tire Coating
CarPro Hydro2
Optimum Metal Polish
Griot's Fine Grade Clay Mitt
Autogeek Foam Gun

Tools:
Various Wheel & Tire Brushes
Scangrip Sunmatch
Rupes LHR 15 MKII
Rupes LHR75E aka the Mini
Rupes Nano

 

[k20trick]

Night and day, always loved those FJ Cruisers, such an iconic car for Toyota. Gotta try that iron remover, still on the boat if I should go ironx or ferrex route.

 

[Sicoupe]

Outstanding job Guz! Looks brand new my friend!

 

[The Guz]

Night and day, always loved those FJ Cruisers, such an iconic car for Toyota. Gotta try that iron remover, still on the boat if I should go ironx or ferrex route.

Yeah huge difference. I see it in the parking lot Mon-Fri and the lower half started to look beige compared to the top. Now it is all white. Who knew it was all the same color.

You can't go wrong with ironx or ferrex. They both perform very well. Ironx stays wetter a tad bit longer.

Outstanding job Guz! Looks brand new my friend!

Thanks.

 

[Marc08EX]

Greak work Mike! You made a dramatic improvement especially removing the staining of the white paint.

Very nice of you to gift this detail to him for everything he's help you with. Really shows the kind of person you are. :dblthumb2:

 

[The Guz]

Greak work Mike! You made a dramatic improvement especially removing the staining of the white paint.

Very nice of you to gift this detail to him for everything he's help you with. Really shows the kind of person you are. :dblthumb2:

Thanks Marc.

He actually gave me cash for this even though I did not want to take it since he hooked me up with a great job.

 

[wolfpacker92]

Great job! White isn't the easiest to make a customer go wow but you certainly did it!

 

[fly07sti]

You got that FJ looking Wet. Right on for taking care of your Uncle. I'm sure it was a good time hanging out while you worked on it.
What are your thoughts on Can Coat? Been eye ballin it for a while.

 

[lj993]

Quality work. Well done. Phil

 

[Justin at Final Inspection]

Sweet job! Nice glossy white FJ! My old neighbor had a blue one. Pretty sweet ride.

 

[The Guz]

Great job! White isn't the easiest to make a customer go wow but you certainly did it!

Thanks. Yeah the white paint came to life. I will see it this week so I will see if the look has changed once CanCoat has more time to cure.

You got that FJ looking Wet. Right on for taking care of your Uncle. I'm sure it was a good time hanging out while you worked on it.
What are your thoughts on Can Coat? Been eye ballin it for a while.

Thanks. I'm just paying the favor for taking care of me when I needed a job after college.

He dozed off a bit as it was a nice day out. He had his dog keeping him company.

This was the first time I used it. I used it with a microfiber applicator rather than a towel. Seemed to work well. Can Coat did flash rather quickly so I recommend working smaller areas. I was doing this under a tarp outside so I think that made it flash a tad quicker.

I had no issues leveling out any high spots. I do recommend a low nap microfiber towel to level it out. Something between 300-350 gsm. A plushier towel would drag and make it feel like can coat was grabby. Once I switched towels it worked way better. Overall I enjoyed using it. It's like a mini coating. Should last up to a year on the FJ as it doesn't rain that much in during the spring, summer and fall here in Southern California.

I would recommend giving it a try especially during a sale.

Quality work. Well done. Phil

Thank Phil.

Sweet job! Nice glossy white FJ! My old neighbor had a blue one. Pretty sweet ride.

Thanks Justin.

 

[The Guz]

I forgot to post these the other day. This was 2 days after I had one stepped it. I took these as I went for a walk around the facility.

A bit washed out. But gloss looks good. Hopefully can coat lasts long with the paint being single stage.

The two main things he wanted done was:

1. Restore the paint - accomplished.
2. Restore the trim - accomplished.