Trashed Trailblazer 2: Work in progress

[Hoytman]

For those of you wondering what ever happened to my http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/41661-trashed-trailblazer.html project you may have wondered what happened. I must say that it's been quite the journey. For those that may have missed part one, simply click on the link above to find out the particulars of how this transformation began. You can also click here >>> http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...d-help-black-trashed-trailblazer-project.html to get more of the particulars.


As you read through the above links and the words below, and see the pictures below, please keep in mind that my only goal was to make this SUV shine. No more...no less...make it shine. Period!

I really had no doubts that I could repair the fenders, doors, and back hatch, but the hood and roof concerned me to a degree. I already knew that those areas may be past the point of no return and to a degree they were, but I did make them look somewhat better.

Keep in mind this isn't your typical show car show-n-shine. This is a daily driver...a very neglected daily driver...from garage fire embarrassing to drive...to something that I'm actually proud to drive...even though I know it'll never be as it should be unless its repainted.

Here's proof that anyone can do it...here's proof that you too can learn from Mike Phillips via the internet forums and video's. (Check out the first link for pics at the beginning before starting the transformation.)

All 161 photo's can be found here Trashed Trailblazer - AutogeekOnline Gallery

Before

More to come...

 

[Hoytman]

More before pics...

Check out these stains where the luggage racks had been left in one location all the time.

The original test spot using a G110V2 speed 6 with an orange Lake Country pad and M105...didn't phase it really.

Seemingly a little progress here

Indoors with camera flash on. Now you can really see how bad it is.

More to come...

 

[Hoytman]

Outside

More to come...

 

[kochdalton87]

Wow, great results so far! Looking forward to the rest of the photos. Keep up the good work.

 

[Hoytman]

Two sets of 3-4 section passes (area 10x10) with rotary, wool, and M105. Now we're getting some where...but what you can't see yet is there's much more to do.

Watch the light bulb...original oxidation

This rib is after two sets of section passes with wool and M105 on the rotary

 

[Hoytman]

At this point I was so excited of our progress...

Haze

Haze gone, now swirls...

Nothing left but dust and some defects that won't come out...but the swirls are now gone too. Check out the hair on my arm.

 

[Hoytman]

Oh yeah...I forgot to tell you guys there's something else special about all of this thread.

My first time...
Posting a project with pictures.

My first...
Detail on paint...and black paint no less.

My first...
Using a rotary on paint.

Got the icture:to prove it too. :buffing::buffing::buffing:

 

[Hoytman]

Gotta get into those tight areas too...

Used a 3" yellow Buff-N-Shine pad on the rotary to remove these defects.

Defects gone...

 

[Hoytman]

Light at a little different angle.

More to do for sure, but progress none-the-less.

Let's be smart and work backwards. Huh? Yep. I decided to pull the racks completely off. Might as well do it right...but next time I'll take them off first. Besides, at this point the tape on those racks had been on there for a few days and would hardly come off.

From this...

And this...

To this...

And this...

There are some defects that can't be fixed, and I'll show them on the roof in a bit, but you can just imagine how I felt after roughly 25-30 hours on that roof. Of course that's going slow and taking my time with the rotary.

 

[Hoytman]

Now the hood on this SUV was real questionable from the beginning. I'm still not satisfied with even year after the photo's below. Something's going on with that I haven't quite put my finger on.

Onward in the journey...Ooohhhh that's nasty.

Three (3) test spots. One of those faint test spots was with Duragloss 501 that didn't even come close. Didn't think it would, but with the thought of using the least aggressive method first, we then proceeded to more aggressive approaches.

I think (been over a year now...maybe approaching 1 1/2 years) the picture below was with my G110V2 dual action polisher on high with an orange LC pad with M105.

With the halogen and not satisfied...

Resorted to the rotary, w4000 wool pad, and M105. Left some tracks (holograms). Only needed one set of section passes with wool on each section of the entire hood.

This is after an intermediate step with Dyna-brade DA attachment on my rotary paired with a Meguiar's yellow polishing pad and M105.

More pictures to come...

 

[Hoytman]

I like what I'm seeing at this point...no pun intended.

Hood is not without defects though...
Solvent pop, maybe?

Looks much better though.

At this point I am pleased with the progress on the hood. I'm also concerned that the striations in the earlier photo's will return. Good reflection picture below, but if you look closely at the light bulb reflection you can see some dots...bubble like defects. I think it's solvent pop, but I'm not real sure.

Another look at the reflection and deeper defects. I'm almost certain at this point that the hood has been repainted.

Begging for a sun shot...

Remember what I said earlier about the roof not being perfect either?

More to come...

 

[Hoytman]

Somewhat blurry photo of some perminent defects.

Real sad these defects will remain. Much of the paint has turned out real nice.

Garage fire deformed the third brake light on the hatch.

If I had time (getting ready to take the wife home from work) I would have cropped this picture. It shows something wierd going on with the paint on this hood.

Be back in a little while with more pictures.

 

[Vegas Transplant]

Hate to interrupt but

:goodjob2: .

Excellent icture:.
The last time I saw it I was like...:coolgleam:

Stay warm...holla atcha!​

 

[detailer25]

WOW! Lookin' Good!

 

[Hoytman]

First stage of oxidation and water spot removal on the drivers door. Notice the 4" Lake Country CCS pad and my extension on the rotary.

Here's one reason why this is still a work in progress. I still need to fill these nicks with some touch-up paint, though I've thought about leaving these defects alone. You'll see why in a minute...

...and here's why I thought about leaving the defects alone in the above picture. Look below and you'll see that someone sprayed a clear coat of paint over rock chips. I couldn't believe when I first saw it, but here's the evidence of just what you might come across on any given detail.

Different view of the same cleared over defects.

Far from perfect, but lots better. Take a look at this orange peel.

More pics to come...

 

[VP Mark]

Super impressive sir!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using AG Online

 

[Hoytman]

Watch the tape line...

Not perfect, but it is only the first stage of compounding.

Removing some of the silicone caulking where an attempt was made at a repair area caused by the fire.

Taped up and ready to go. Used the rotary here as well, but since I had run out of M105 I switched to some 3M Perfect-It II Cutting Compound using the same 4"CSS Lake Country pad.

Only thing left to do on the hatch at this point is polish and seal.

That's all I have for now, except a video or two that I'm going to try and work on uploading to youtube.

As you can see by the dates on these photo's that this work was done before last winter. I got tied up with some things last year and couldn't really work on posting these pictures like I had hoped. Finally, I have been able to get them up for those that were waiting to see this project near completion.

I kept having issues uploading photo's and Mike Phillips and I shared several emails about the problem. The only conclusion we came to was that the problem was my computer. I literally had to upload all of these photo's one-by-one. Computer wouldn't let me upload two or more at a time for some reason. Oh well...

I've had some concerns about the hood that TuscaroraDave and I discussed before I started this project. We were both concerned that some of the cloudiness shown in some of the earlier photo's of the hood might rear their ugly head again after compounding and polishing. A year after compounding/polishing those spots have indeed come back. I'll post some more pics of them when the weather clears in the spring time.

A big thank you to TuscaroraDave for the many phone conversations before and during his project.

I'd like to say thanks to Richy for his M105 and rotary technique and video. After the wool stage your M105 technique worked great.

I'd like to thank Garry Dean and Laura for their inspiration they gave me from their posts, videos, and pictures on the forum.

I'd also like to say thanks to Mike Phillips for his teaching skill and mentorship both in person and via the forum. You certainly have made an impact on me and my ability. I owe it all to you. None of this would have been possible had it not been for your many articles, posts, and video clips and the confidence to ...just do it.

Though this Trailblazer will never look like a show car, Mike helped me take this paint to its maximum potential. It looks a lot better now, for sure.

Hope you guys enjoyed all those pics. At first I didn't want to post that many, but couldn't resist the urge to show exactly how bad this Trailblazer really was. I'm going to polish it again this spring, perhaps even tackle those door dings, and then post a few final parting shots for this thread. Until then...carry on.

 

[Hoytman]

By the way,

Let there be no doubt that the UV protection in the paint is almost gone on both the hood and roof of this Trailblazer. I think almost to the point of failure.

The plan is to repolish then opti-guard the entire SUV. Repaint isn't an option for us. Luckily I didn't break through the clear layer of paint, but there simply can't be much left. I wasn't really worried about breaking through either because it was so bad to start with.

Had this been someone else's vehicle I'd have passed the blessing on to someone else. No way would I take on another project like this because it simply took way too long...even after getting the hang of it.

I'm surprised it turned out as good as it did. I really felt that something would happen on the hood and roof. The hood is still goingto be an issue and opti-guard is the only solution without repainting it...and that's not going to happen. I'll let someone else repaint it.

 

[Hoytman]

Wow, great results so far! Looking forward to the rest of the photos. Keep up the good work.

Hate to interrupt but

:goodjob2: .​

Excellent icture:.
The last time I saw it I was like...:coolgleam:​

Stay warm...holla atcha!​

WOW! Lookin' Good!

Super impressive sir!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using AG Online

Thank you all for your kind words.

Gosh Mike...I really have to hand it to you. The first time viewing all those pictures in a thread sure does do a project like this justice.

Mike, Vegas, and Bob...they all were probably wondering if I'd ever get this project going much less take photo's. There's a story behing that as well.

After seeing Mike Phillips post so many, many, times saying how important it is to take good before and after pictures and the power that they have. As much as it made sense then, it makes even more sense now. I waited to begin this project until I could get myself a good camera to take quality photo's. I'm really glad I took Mike's words to heart and took good before and aftericture::dblthumb2:

 

[Znig22]

This is a great write up and outstanding work. I look forward to seeing more of your work. Thank you for sharing with us!