I’ve mentioned many times that light colored paint such as Ford Oxford White is great for hiding defects. It’s also notoriously hard to take pictures of because it’s so reflective, everything gets washed out. So it’s a good thing, and a bad thing.

I always like to buy white trucks because as picky as I am, I’m not perfect. (I know, shocking.) Worse yet, my truck gets used as a truck, so the last time the paint was perfect was the day it rolled out of the factory paint booth. But today I had some time on my hands and a burr up my butt, so I experimented with several pads, products and techniques to see if I could bring my paint back to as close to perfect condition as possible, maybe even a bit better. .

Although I flat out ran out of gas after doing the driver side and hood today, I did learn a few things and tomorrow will see me doing the passenger side, roof and tailgate. What I experimented with was Lake Country CCS Orange, Green and White pads on my Flex. With them, I tried Optimum Polish II, Menzerna P085RD and 106 FF.

I started with the Optimum polish and the Green pad and got pretty decent results with 2 passes. I actually liked the results better with the Optimum polish and the Orange pad though. I then followed with a White pad and the other Menzerna polishes. In the end, they seemed to be pretty close in performance. Tomorrow, I’m going to try Menzerna SIP on the Green, then maybe Orange pad, then the same second step.

For the LSP I used Menzerna Power Lock with Collonite 845 as a topper. I really like the Power Lock because it goes on and comes off very easily. It does seem to leave a bit of an oily residue that just kind of smeared around no matter what I did though. Once I went to the Collonite topper, life was good.

So how good does Oxford White look after all that messing around? See what you think:

 

Looks great!

i agree, white is so hard to show all the work you did.

 

Looks good, Tom.....

I also agree that it's hard to beat Oxford White -- especially for a work truck that you can't always maintain to the level of a collector car!

 

Nice work... as usual.

 

Student bows to master. Thanks RP. Remember who taught me how to do this stuff!

 

Man 2 stroked…it's aggravating to me every time I see pics like this. Not directed to you at all, but towards Ford; the (lack of) clarity, overall dullness, and orange peel in these pant jobs these days is down right aggravating. I've been behind brand new trucks that were soo bad, the paint almost doesn't even cast a reflection.

Your very top pic with the sun reveals a very nicely done job…no swirls or defects to be seen.

 

Wow she looks beautiful.. Great job!.. Guess ive got a couple more products to try... Still loving the PB's you recommended to me a while back .

 

Galaxy,

Thanks for the compliments, but my truck does have its share of orange peel. It's just not as bad as some of the trucks you and I have seen. Trust me, if mine had come in with too much, I would have refused it and ordered another one.

There's an interesting detailing problem that one runs into with orange peel. Believe it or not, polishing / correcting / clarifying the surface actually makes OP more visible. Oxidation and micro marring actually seem to hide OP to a certain extent. Generally speaking though, the positive effects of a good detail more than overcome making OP more visible.

 

Looks real good! I wish I had the patience for exterior detailing as I absolutely love when my truck is perfectly clean. I love white trucks, yours is certainly no exception.