Sierra...Farm Truck Detail

[Iron400]

Living in the midwest, I have access to some great opportunities for test vehicles. Here in the midwest, farmers use their trucks for what their meant for....work! These trucks get trashed, and they don't care as long as they run!

One of my clients brought me his farm truck, and wanted it cleaned up before harvest this fall. Him and his wife are good friends of mine, so I told him I wanted to try some new product/techniques out on his truck, since it was so bad. He gave the truck to me for a week, and said it's gonna look just as bad after harvest, so have fun testing and no worries!

All my testing was on the interior, which involved using my new steamer, and trying out CG Lighting and Folex on the stains and grease in the carpet. The exterior, I hit with Menz 2500, and then sealed with Menz PL. Farm trucks usually have horrible clear coat "pitting" from the chemicals they spray on the fields, since they park their trucks on the field edge when spraying. This one was actually really good considering it's a '97, but the paint is still scratched and dinged like crazy, so I didn't take any close ups on the paint.

Overall, it turned out awesome, and the client loved it!

Before:

After:

 

[bigbadbp7]

Great turn around! To bad its going to just get all dirty again. Did you apply some sort of scotch guard? Maybe next time it will be easier to clean for you.

 

[Meghan]

Good practice truck for new products, no matter what you do the customer will be happy since it wont be as trashed as he delivered it to you.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Now that's an extreme makeover!

Nice before and after pictures and excellent work.



:dblthumb2:

 

[Hoytman]

Now that's an extreme makeover!

Nice before and after pictures and excellent work.



:dblthumb2:

That's exactly what I was thinking.

You don't see a write-up like this everyday.

 

[TheCougarGuy]

That's awesome! I love show-n-shines like that.

 

[JDGolden]

For a 16 year old farm truck that thing is mint!

Excellent work on that. Edit: After a second look I caught the results on the headlights and marker lights. Very nice!

 

[rmagnus]

I agree w/ JDGolden. Sweet work the client must have been thrilled to get a new truck back!

 

[Iron400]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback! I wish I could have gotten better pics, but I'm working on my photography skills.

Great turn around! To bad its going to just get all dirty again. Did you apply some sort of scotch guard? Maybe next time it will be easier to clean for you.

No I didn't, but I'll have to keep that in mind when I see it next. This client has already said I'm going to be seeing this truck twice a year, after planting and harvest, so I'll get it next time around!

For a 16 year old farm truck that thing is mint!

Excellent work on that. Edit: After a second look I caught the results on the headlights and marker lights. Very nice!

Thanks! The headlights/taillights were the only thing the client asked if I could correct. Farmers work alot at night during season, and he about fell over when he seen they looked like new! He was ready to go buy new ones before I told him to let me try first. rops:

 

[Iron400]

Here's another pic I missed in my upload. I did get the gas pedal cleaned better after this pic, I had to get a stiffer brush and pick, because the dirt was like concrete on it.

 

[JDGolden]

He should cover the inside with old sheets, towels, etc to keep all of the dust/dirt/grime from getting to the fabric and carpet.

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work! Looks good.

 

[Ipsdrew]

Did you use anything else on the carpets and the seats besides the folex? Steamer or extractor?

 

[MikeN]

Wow great work! Nothing like a clean pick-up

Sent from my SCH-I535 using AG Online

 

[KillaCam]

Wow that is an amazing turnaround! I would like to know your process for the seats and carpet stain removal. Which steamer do you have?

 

[Iron400]

Did you use anything else on the carpets and the seats besides the folex? Steamer or extractor?

Wow that is an amazing turnaround! I would like to know your process for the seats and carpet stain removal. Which steamer do you have?

Nothing else besides the steamer, folex, and CG lightning, no extractor was used.
I just bought a McCulloch MC-1275 steamer to try out, since steamers are new to me. My process for the carpets/seats were:

1. Vacuum first with shop vac
2. Steam entire carpet and seats, and wipe with a MF towel as I went. This removed most of the stains, I was shocked! Now I know why everyone is such a proponent of steam! Definitely worth the money!
3. On the transmission hump and passenger side floor, there were grease stains that steam didn't remove. I sprayed them with CG Lightning, agitated with a brush, wiped with a MF towel...gone.
4. The seats I used folex on a few stains, especially the arm rests. The seats were impacted with so much dirt, that I didn't want to get them too wet. A very light spray of folex, agitate, then MF towel wipe, all good.

All said and done, Folex and CG lightning are both very good products for stains, giving a slight edge to Folex for grease stains.

 

[BillE]

YUP! That is (WAS) a farm truck!

Great work my friend.

You have a lot more 'stones' than I for working on 'farm trucks', it just kills me to see my work go kaput in a week or so.

Again...good job!

Bill

 

[Coyote33]

Nice work! I'm from Iowa and I would rather work on a farm truck than a minivan full of kids any day!

 

[vet]

Great job!

 

[Chevota Guy]

Wow, beautiful job! Especially on that color (I had one similar and it shows EVERYTHING). Carpets looked amazing also.