I haven't been on here too long but i've been admiring the quality of some of your trucks on here. I've been browsing and noticing 4runners such as SKNKWRK's and 89shiftless's which seem to have paint that is in immaculate condition. I have an 86 with what used to be white paint that is quite faded. I was wondering how you've kept yours so clean, or anything that can help restore mine. have you just kept yours clean for 20 years, got a new paint job, or have you gone through a wet sanded and waxed and buffed over and over and over again. thanks for any help

Well, I generally use a pressure washer to wash the vehicle after I soap it by hand and scrub a bit.

Then I use WD40 to clean off tar/bugs, use the pressure washer to wash it all off. Then I get out the mild rubbing compound and buff over a bit every year or so, this removes scratches in the finish that you cant buff out with wax.

Then I wax, wait for it to dry and wax again. It comes out sparkling..but its ALOT of work.

Well thanks...It doesnt really look so immacualte up close but for an 89' thats never been painted its not bad. I used a clay bar and a 3 step process, deep cleaner then polish then wax to bring the life back into the paint. I am very anal when it comes to car detailing. Also not wheeling the truck much or beating the poop out of it doesnt hurt. My runner came from texas and has never really seen winter until this year and hopefully never again. Some might say I should offroad it more but there isnt opportunity to do so in the Chicago area alot and I have a busy schedule. The runner is mainly a sweet looking summer toy. It is supposed to be 80 today I should put the soft top on yesterday!

right now i just wake up early, drive down to the DIY carwash, put in two bucks and soak here down, then fill up a bucket, and put my own soap in, then i hand wash the truck there, put two more bucks in, wash her off...then take her home and wax her real good...but none of that will be happening until i get rid of some of this rust on my doors.

I wash mine with warm soapy water and a big sponge. I use car wash soap, not dish soap. Rinse. Dry with a leather shamee. Check it over for tar spots, remove as needed with tar remover. I put TireWet on the tires. Every few months I seal it with Dura-Glo. Goes on and off like liquid wax. I hear JCWhitney doesn't sell it anymore, but they do have a teflon based product which may be similar. Occassionally like once or twice a year I'll apply Armour-All on the interior plastic and vinyl which really brings out the color. Every spring, I'll jack up the car one end at a time and spray the hell out of the undercarriage with a hose, then hit everything I see with Fluid Film.

http://www.eurekafluidfilm.com/

What was the price on that Fluid Film?

white paint is an easy one to restore. Turtle wax used to make a product called COLOR BACK. If you can find it... it will make things easier. Meguiar's (sp?) makes a 3 step series that works well also. 1st step cleans the paint. 2nd is a polish. 3rd is a wax. If your truck doesn't respond to this then take it to a detail or body shop and have them buff it with a 1000 grit / polish mix. This will cut the first layer and polish at the same time. It shouldn't cost more than 50 bucks

Clean?

I wash mine but doing any sort of detailing work is a waste since it's a trail rig.
Post some pictures of your truck, sometimes a paint job is too far gone to save so you'll have to do a total repaint.

yea, i use a sponge and dish soap. lol. it works fine for me. ive got some fancy walmart wax too. like 14 bucks a bottle. mine was re-painted a few years ago though, and its retained it well. minus all the chunks missing out of my drivers side. too be fixed soon though. i do get my tires with tire black stuff i think. works wonders. it actually makes me like my tiny tires. for a short period of time.

dish soap will take the wax off of your paint.

oh well, cant be perfect

not trying to be a jerk... i spent hours buffing a black truck for a friend... he took it home and washed it with joy... 40 bucks of my materials down the drain. If you use the car wash soap you can go a lot longer between wax jobs.

check out corey's site (owner/admin here), he has some write-ups on how to keep your rig looking good for a long time.

lee

Actually, I just found out about it, and I got a small can for free. Everybody that has tried it, swears by it. It's apparently 10x better than anything else available. If you ask a salesman or a free sample, they will probably send you one, free shipping too. I guess the normal sized aerasol can is around $11 and a one gallon tin is around $25 and a five gallon bucket is around $120. Plus shipping, I presume.

I just got my free can today.

It is lanolin based, and it stays wet, it never dries. It's non conductive. You can spray it in electrical connectors, as long as those connectors are connected when you spray. It will protect battery terminals too.

I'll probably buy it by the gallon if I can figure out a good way to apply it.