2015 tahoe help

jimim

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New here. Hello everyone!

So picking up our new tahoe this weekend. I have no time to get it home and redo what the dealer didn't do right most likely so it will have to wIt till next week.

My plan was:

Wash the truck with my typical soap (mothers) cause I can get it locally. I usually dry with a microfiber waffle guzzler. I was going to clay with black fire clay. I like it better than the pinnacle I'm using now so I'm switching back. I was going to the use Wolfgang deep gloss sealant 3.0. I never used it before so this is new to me. I was going to then wax with fuzion from Wolfgang. This is new for me also. I have been using pinnacle for years but wanted to try something new so figured since using the sealant from Wolfgang I would match the wax. I'll apply the sealant by hand with microfiber pads and wipe off with my purple microfiber towels like usual.

How does that all sound? I wasn't going to polish cause I figure the paint should be in great shape since new. Is that ok? Is it also ok if I apply the sealant and wax with microfiber pads vs foam? I have been reading this on these boards. I have just always used microfiber thinking it was safer.

For my rims which are polished chrome I'm going o just wash em with soap and then seal them with dp wheel wax. Should I polish them you think? I didn't think so and if I should I need something local so would mothers chrome metal Pol be ok?

I did consider trying to coat the truck with the new black label pinnacle coating but I was kinda afraid to go there? What about the rims can they be coated? These are summer rims cause I'm sick of spending weeks getting them back to normal after our winters here in nepa. So I got the factory 20's for winter duty and the chevy 22's will be for summer now.

Thanks so much for the help. Sorry if this isn't the best plan but I'm learning and have been experimenting for 5 yeArs on my murano which I think I did pretty well with for 5 years now and our 3 year old tahoe which has very very little swirling from over the years I think.

Thanks again!

Oh the truck is the diamond white. I lost the silver battle this time.

Jim
 
Congrats on the new vehicle! You said you are "going to fix what the dealer didn't do right"? I guess I don't understand why you wouldn't polish then. Or maybe you are just going to wait and see if you need to polish or not? You might test a panel or two with IronX also, since it's white. Look forward to future updates! :xyxthumbs:
 
Congrats on the new vehicle! You said you are "going to fix what the dealer didn't do right"? I guess I don't understand why you wouldn't polish then. Or maybe you are just going to wait and see if you need to polish or not? You might test a panel or two with IronX also, since it's white. Look forward to future updates! :xyxthumbs:

Thanks for the reply. I'm just assuming when the dealer has their guys wash, clay, and wax the truck I will have to strip it and redo it. My last tahoe that we got from them deff needed to be clawed day one cause the paint deff was rough.

I should only have to polish if I mar the paint while claying, which I hope I wouldn't, or if I notice any swirls, which it assume I shouldn't? Is there anything else I should be looking for to know if I should polish? This is the step that I still don't fully understand. I do know that sometimes with the old trucks I can't get everything off with clay so then I go to polish and I'm usually good. I use pinnacle paint lotion right now since it is pretty gentle compared to other polishes out there.

Am I on the right track?

What is ironx?

So many thing I have never heard of.
 
I use WG 3.0 and Fuzion as a combo all the time, it's an awesome combo.
 
Thanks for the reply. I'm just assuming when the dealer has their guys wash, clay, and wax the truck I will have to strip it and redo it. My last tahoe that we got from them deff needed to be clawed day one cause the paint deff was rough.

I should only have to polish if I mar the paint while claying, which I hope I wouldn't, or if I notice any swirls, which it assume I shouldn't? Is there anything else I should be looking for to know if I should polish? This is the step that I still don't fully understand. I do know that sometimes with the old trucks I can't get everything off with clay so then I go to polish and I'm usually good. I use pinnacle paint lotion right now since it is pretty gentle compared to other polishes out there.

Am I on the right track?

What is ironx?

So many thing I have never heard of.

What I would do, especially since it is white, is wash it real good when you get it home using a 2 bucket method and maybe a good citrus wash (to remove the "final body shine" product they put on the vehicle to hide minor swirls and buffer trails to make it look awesome at delivery). Then that night, park it under a street light and walk around it. If there are any swirls, that is one of the best ways I have been able to see them on white paint. Dark garage with a worklight works too. This will help you determine whether you should polish or not.

IronX helps remove embedded metal contaminants like rail dust or brake dust. I'd test a panel or two and see if you get reaction (it will turn purple). If so, the do the whole truck. If not, then rinse the couple panels and go straight to claying. See Mike Phillips' post from today "detailing a daily driver" and you will see some serious IronX reaction on a white truck.
 
I should only have to polish if I mar the paint while claying, which I hope I wouldn't, or if I notice any swirls, which it assume I shouldn't?

Umm, not necessarily. In fact, if your new truck DOESN'T have swirls, it would be in the minority. Although granted they are harder to see on a white car. I personally would polish.

Look at the paint under lights as suggested above, but also in direct sunlight. Look at it from several angles. You should be able to spot some swirls that way... :props:
 
Call the Dealer Immediately and tell them NOT to fully "prep it" for you.

Ask them not to buff, wax it or apply tire shine.

If it was my truck...I would ask them not to Wash it either.

They will do nothing but damage your vehicle
 
Thanks for the reply. I'm just assuming when the dealer has their guys wash, clay, and wax the truck I will have to strip it and redo it.

LOL!!! Come on, do you really assume they are going to clay the vehicle? Youd be lucky to get any wax below the moulding at most dealerships Ive ever seen.
You know what happens when you assume???
 
I use WG 3.0 and Fuzion as a combo all the time, it's an awesome combo.

thanks. it was a shot in the dark at trying something new. only way to see about other stuff out there! i just hope its easy to use. i don't have time for drama anymore with 2 young kids. :)
 
What I would do, especially since it is white, is wash it real good when you get it home using a 2 bucket method and maybe a good citrus wash (to remove the "final body shine" product they put on the vehicle to hide minor swirls and buffer trails to make it look awesome at delivery). Then that night, park it under a street light and walk around it. If there are any swirls, that is one of the best ways I have been able to see them on white paint. Dark garage with a worklight works too. This will help you determine whether you should polish or not.

IronX helps remove embedded metal contaminants like rail dust or brake dust. I'd test a panel or two and see if you get reaction (it will turn purple). If so, the do the whole truck. If not, then rinse the couple panels and go straight to claying. See Mike Phillips' post from today "detailing a daily driver" and you will see some serious IronX reaction on a white truck.

ok so citrus wash. . . i have A&A auto in my area, pepboys, and autozone. will i be able to find something there for tomorrow? they carry the usual stuff.

also, if not then what? what does the citrus bath do. does it completely strip off the wax they put on or just dull it enough?

i'll check that thread out. i was reading about ironx last night and then got scared cause it said not to get it on brakes/calipers and such. i assume i can use it safely on chrome rims?

jimi
 
Umm, not necessarily. In fact, if your new truck DOESN'T have swirls, it would be in the minority. Although granted they are harder to see on a white car. I personally would polish.

Look at the paint under lights as suggested above, but also in direct sunlight. Look at it from several angles. You should be able to spot some swirls that way... :props:

thanks! So what i'm learning here is swirls and extra crap that clay doesn't take off are my main reasons for polishing vs just going from clay to seal/wax?

jim
 
LOL!!! Come on, do you really assume they are going to clay the vehicle? Youd be lucky to get any wax below the moulding at most dealerships Ive ever seen.
You know what happens when you assume???

I said the same thing. . . but yesterday i ran over to the detail shop cause there was a nice bmw x5 in there and i talked to the manager there.

he said. . . now just his words. . .they hand wash with mitts. . . clay. . . then wax the truck by hand. . .

guess where i'm stopping this morning. . . it should be over there by 11 cause they should have the rims on it now along wit h the tow hooks installed. they had to take the whole front bumper apart to add them cause of that new look they gave the front end.

we will see how much truth there is to it. i did see a finshed x5 that was white and it was very very smooth and looked prety darn good.
 
Call the Dealer Immediately and tell them NOT to fully "prep it" for you.

Ask them not to buff, wax it or apply tire shine.

If it was my truck...I would ask them not to Wash it either.

They will do nothing but damage your vehicle

this did cross my mind, but my wife will have a cow. it's her daily driver and she wants it detailed from them so she can most likely "show it off" tomorrow. figure better to make her happy and then deal with it this week.

jim
 
this did cross my mind, but my wife will have a cow. it's her daily driver and she wants it detailed from them so she can most likely "show it off" tomorrow. figure better to make her happy and then deal with it this week.

jim

All you'll be doing is making more work for yourself letting them touch it. Have fun fixing their mess. :dblthumb2:
 
So we got the truck. Deff a big change for the Tahoe line. I'm really likng the 22 inch rims also. Deff worth the money.

Anyway last night I washed and clayed with blackfire clay. I them polished it with pinnicle cleansing lotion. It was deff stripped I feel. Before I polished I washed it again to get all the lube off from claying.

Right now I'm wait for the Wolfgang paint sealant 3.0 to dry and I'll wipe tha off and do the windows and call it a day till late tonight. I'll throw a layer of fusion wax ontop of the sealant and I should be done.

All in all the didn't reAlly mess up the paint. I had to clay off what they didn't get off and just waxed over it.

I will say this new Tahoe is a nook and cranny nightmare compared to my 2011. So much random different materials to work around too. Deff took longer than my old one.
 
The dealer will probably trash the paint with a rotary on the contaminated paint. Thats what happened with my wife's Volt. I saw it in the lot and with the exception of being dirty, I saw no swirls. However I felt the paint and it needed clay badly.
When we got the car, it was swirled up pretty bad, and I could still feel the contamination in the paint. So they just washed it and ran a rotary over it with some sort of all in one product leaving me with a ton of work to do.
 
Congrats, good luck keeping that beast CLEAN!!

IMO, can't go wrong with white or silver, just not black LMAO...

Being that you truck is fresh out the box, I'd opti coat it and be DONE. One time, same time.
 
The dealer will probably trash the paint with a rotary on the contaminated paint. Thats what happened with my wife's Volt. I saw it in the lot and with the exception of being dirty, I saw no swirls. However I felt the paint and it needed clay badly.
When we got the car, it was swirled up pretty bad, and I could still feel the contamination in the paint. So they just washed it and ran a rotary over it with some sort of all in one product leaving me with a ton of work to do.

All new cars at the dealer are done by hand. They are also a BMW dealer. Same guys do each company. I actually went over and talked with them before we picked up the truck. The manager and the guy who would be doing my truck told me exactly what they were doing. They didn't do a bad job really. No swirls. No scratches that I was able to see. Just some spots they missed when they flayed and waxed over it. I got all of them out.
 
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