The fire department I serve on as a volunteer just invested in a brand new engine from Pierce Mfg. I was able to visit the Pierce factory in Appleton, WI and see how these remarkable pieces of equipment are built from scratch to each individual customer’s exacting specifications. Naturally, with anything new and shiny, we want to protect it and keep it looking its best, so eM Detailing donated a polish and coating to keep this truck looking its best, while testing our methods on a large scale!
Paint Condition
Depending on the composition of the paint/clearcoat, some coats are rather hard and resistant to scuffing, this truck’s paint unfortunately was quite soft. Despite Pierce’s best efforts in protecting the paint at the factory, the soft fire engine red paint scuffed with remarkable ease. Factor in the nearly 300 mile drive back, and this truck was not the pristine shape desired prior to coating.
Thankfully, this truck, wasn’t quite ready to enter active fire service yet, so I had time to give a good once over with the polisher. Here are a few panels with polished and untouched sections. (click to enlarge)
After polishing about a zip code worth of firetruck paint. The truck got its surface prep, and was Opti-Coated. The truck cured and we will follow up with this after we get the truck good and dirty.
The Grass Truck
Despite all the surfaces covered, we still had some Opti-Coat left, so I took our Grass Fire Truck in for a swirl (removal) as well. This truck’s job is to get into fields and chase fire up close. As a results there are many many deep scratches from driving through less than properly trimmed fields. Before starting polish, a thorough cleaning was required to get rid of the many hard water spots. (Fire hydrant water isn’t exactly softened)
Here are some before pictures showing the extent of hard water spots and swirls:
Not wanting to remove too much clear coat, we only did a polishing step to get rid of most the lighter scratches prior to Opti-Coat. Here are some after shots and 50/50 comparisons. You can tell some of the deeper scratches are still present, but overall there is a greater lustre and dept to the paint.
We will follow up with this truck as well once we get to grass and field fire season this spring.