The wife and I tackled one our local volunteer Fire Department's firetruck (one of their 5) last Saturday. Basically, $400 + the cost of materials (about $200).

Process:

1) Treat all diamondplate with some Busch Aluminum Wash (more less an acid)

2) Polish all diamond plate and polish-able metal with Meguiar's All Metal Polish and a Mother's Powerball.

3) Pressure Washed the truck

4) Handwashed the entire truck

5) Dry

6) Clean interior top to bottom with Simple Green, various brushes, protectant, etc....

7) M105 Ultra Cut Compound on a Lake Country Hydro-Tech 5.5" Cyan cutting pad paired with a Meguiar's G110V1 Dual Action Polisher--settig 5-6

8) M205 Ultra Finishing Polish on a 5.5" Lake Country Hydro-Tech Tangerine Polishing Pad paired with a Meguiar's G110V1 Dual Action Polisher--setting 3-4

9) Collinite 845 Wax on a 5.5" Lake Country Hydro-Tech Crimson Finishing Pad paired with a Meguiar's G110V1 Dual Action Polisher--settig 1-2

10) Meguiar's Tire Shine on the tires

11) Cleaned Glass

Inside the bay



This door had bad waterspots all over it before this:



4 hours of polishing diamond plate:



Sara cleaned the entire interior, she done awsome!



The shine that M105, M205, Collinite 845 provides

 

Looks good! How long did it take total?

 

9 hours with Sara's help. would have been twice as long without

 

The baby didn't help? WTF? He is a couple months old now he needs to pull his weight.

 

I still have to go back this week and hit the front bumper, ran out of polish and Aluminum acid

bwahahaha, i know right! He turns 1 month friday

 

Fire Engine*. That isn't a "fire truck". And looks really good, we use the aluminum acid up here too and you can make the stuff look brand new. Although we have tons of issues due to winter salts/being near the ocean. I used to clean an engine about twice a day for 6 months, lol

 

meh, moot point, but yeah the aluminum acid was the shat. turned it white, and then the polisher took care of the rest. I actually ran out of it :( ordering a gallon for the other trucks im taking care of for them

 

Thats what i was saying while reading it.
don't they have a small child? he would be great for getting those hard to reach areas!

Fire Engine looks good man.
I'd hate to have to clean the salty ones you guys have Aaron. Do they get real rusty? or do you do preventative to make it last?

 

I bet that bitch hauls a lot of 5in and duece and 1/2 hose.

 

We clean them after every call. We use the ultra concentrated Zep with water. IF it's extra bad, we apply ZEP directly and let it soak in a minute or two. Wax em once every other week. They're pretty nice otherwise. Especially since almost every engine here has been driven into a ditch a few times during winter.

 

What do you guys do when that happens? Call another one?

I'll bet you an baby seal club you can pull one out with your truck.

 

That is alot of work. Good job! Do you have a detail company, work for the F,D, or just a side job?

 

Nice work! How'd you get lined up to get the job?

 

I'd only detail Engine 4

 

got that from me

 

sending a picture doesn't classify as making a statement and that picture had nothing to do with detailing

 

we use a product called chiefs choice. you can get it by the gallon. its a acid like you used. we use it in a small pump sprayer and let it sit. brush it in then hose it off. takes all the old yellow water build up crap off, Chief's Choice » Diamond Plate Aluminum & Metal Trim Cleaner Brightener. we have a parade coming up this weekend so i will be detailing the quint. ill try and post some pics up.
heres the truck, it takes so long to clean

 

We just used soap an water on ours before parades and then after each use in the winter.

 

Nice job!

 

Trying to start one, Im mostly doing it right now as the wife is out of work on maternity leave and Im not teaching this summer (I teach community college part time during the school year)



I am good friends with the fire chief as he goes to my church, and we take attend bible study together. He was in need of them being detailed, so i told him id do it, gave him a price and wallah!

Hmmm may have to give it a try. I actually used an aluminum wash called Busch Aluminum Wash. It's made by the same people that make Busch Super Shine alumnium polish (some of the best on the market). It turns the aluminum white though because it is an acid and you just polish it out. It works super awesome.

http://www.buschshineproducts.com/cl...c-4_11_22.html

They usually keep the truck clean, so that's why it wasnt so bad to wash, but he the chief wanted it fully detailed with buffer and diamond plate washed