This black 2017 Ford F150 Raptor came to our Minnesota location looking for paint protection and ease of washing. We decided for maximum repellency and durabilty: Gtechniq Crystal Serum topped with C0 Aerocoat will provide the most dirt repellent action.
The truck was booked for the full weekend, as we learned on the last Raptor (see video) the soft black paint takes time to properly finish down for maximum gloss.
We started with a thorough wash to strip off the best that Minnesota has left on this truck. An iron dissolving spray removed embedded iron particles from the time the truck spent on shipping lots and sintered iron left behind from snow plows.
Besides wash marks all over the soft paint, there were quite a few hazy spots from sanding marks. They were initially well concealed but after stripping out any lingering polishing oils they became easy to spot.
More sanding marks:
Haze gone:
Ford uses a matte/satin finish on the fender flares. We can’t polish these as that will ruin the satin finish The soft black however was begging to be glossed up!
Another sanding spot.
What the before and after pictures don’t show is the intermediate step. We start with a more aggressive compounding step. This step removed the major defects but does leave behind a hazy layer. See second picture.
The haziness is easily concealed with polishing oils. Which is why we spend a lot of time removing oils and checking to make sure all of the haze is removed.
Once properly finished, you can see the subtle blue metallic flake this paint was hiding.
There was significant marring on the vinyl decals as well. We were a little more careful correcting these and removed most defects, though some of the deeper scratches remained.
Speaking of haze, the gloss black B pillar colors are even softer and notoriously difficult to finish down. They scratch very easily.
The glossy pillars, along with the rest of the Raptor got coated with Gtechniq’s Crystal Serum. To boost repellency we actually then over coated the Crystal Serum with C0 Aerocoat. In our real life testing we have found this particular combo to provide the highest level of repellency in Minnesota’s winters.
(The middle lower square is Gtechniq Crystal Serum, topped with C0 Aerocoat) as compared to the tapelines (unprotected) you can see a clear difference.
Maximum Gloss – Maximum Protection
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