2020 Jeep Gladiator Overland
To help with the rocky roads and potential stone chips we decided to go with paint protection film for all the high-impact areas on this truck. That’s the hood, both fenders, fender flares, the grill, and the A-Pillar.
As far as the ease of maintenance nothing comes close to a professional-grade ceramic coating, so once the film was installed we coated the entire vehicle and the film!
The Work
Paint Decontamination
Foamed the vehicle with a decontamination soap from Obsessed Garage and allowed it to dwell on the paint long enough to break down any previous forms of protection that may have been applied to the paint.
Used an iron remover from Gtechniq on the paint, wheels, and glass to remove any brake dust or rail dust, iron, or ferrous materials that may be embedded in the clear coat.
Clay barred the entire vehicle with a synthetic clay from Nanoskin called Autoscrub to remove any contaminants that may still be embedded in the clear coat before starting any aggressive compounding or polishing.
Paint Decontamination
Compounded all of the painted surfaces with a diminishing abrasive compound from SONAX called “The Ultimate Cut” on a coarse wool pad from Rupes with a dual action long throw polisher from Rupes to remove all of the swirl marks, minor scratches, and defects in the paint.
Polished the entire vehicle with a water based solvent free polish from SONAX USA called “Perfect Finish” with an orange HDO foam pad from Lake Country on a dual action long throw polisher also from Rupes to remove any marring leftover from our wool pad and of course to add gloss and bring back that mirror finish we all love so much!
Paint Protection
Now that we had achieved the finish we were looking for it was time to lock it in with protection.
Cleaned the entire vehicle with an alcohol based panel wipe from Meguiar’s to remove any oil or residue left over from our compound and polishing stages, and then went back over all of the painted surfaces with Gtechniq “Panel Wipe” to help promote the bonding of our ceramic coating and paint protection film with the clear coat.
Applied STEK USA Dynoshield paint protection film to the front clip. That’s a partial strip on the hood, both fenders, fender flares, the grill, and the A-pillar! Leaving all of our “high impact” areas protected from stone chips and scratches.
Then I applied a layer of G-Techniq Halo to all of our film (the ease of maintenance part we talked about earlier) adding a layer of protection to our protection! Halo is a ceramic coating designed to be flexible for vinyl and paint protection film.
Applied a layer of Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light to all of the painted surfaces, headlights, and taillights, and all of the trim.
Applied a layer of G-Techniq C5 “Wheel Amour” to all 4 wheels.
Finally, we applied a glass ceramic coating to the windshield, cleaned the engine bay, and fully detailed and dressed the interior as well.
