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What did you do to your Avalanche today?

Took the power washer to the Mule today. To get the ash off let over from the thunderstorm we had the other day.
 
Removed the center console lid to recover it. Found I need a special staple gun for my compressor and hard to find small 5/32 staples. Would have been cheaper to buy the entire lid.
 
Looking for new rear shocks on internet.
 
Looking for new rear shocks on internet.

When I recently bought rear shocks for my EXT, I found the best prices for me at Rockauto.com
 
Rock auto is the easy one...

I am digging deep to save a dollar or 2 as these NIVOMAT Z66 shocks are $$$$$
 
Spent the day installing the color matched carpeting on my Mid-Deck Mod in the Z-66.
 
Have had some problems with the hazard lights for a year,and ordered a new relay on amazon a week ago.The problem with the relay,was that the hazard lights would come on when i wanted to use the blinker lights,so a very annoying problem is gone.Now i want to order a ned steering gear from redtop.I have new new ball joints,and a brand new rear bumper that should get monted when i get time.
 
Spent the day clay barring and applying ceramic coating to the Z-66.

I am very impressed with the results.

:) (y)
 
After 2 weeks of abuse the AV is working well, it is so quiet now I have to check the guages to tell if it's still running. I guess I should drive it more often.
 
The door latch cable for the drivers front interior handle broke... I guess I'll be rolling my window down and using the exterior door handle to exit the vehicle until that's fixed... Of course GM doesn't sell just the cable, but instead the whole latch/actuator assembly. Dorman has a cable that works on 2007-2009, from the pictures I can't figure out why it wouldn't work on the 2010 so I'm about to find out!
 
Spent the day clay barring and ceramic coating the EXT.

That truck took way longer since it has a lot more paint than the cladded Avalanche.

All of the vehicles in our fleet are done now and my hands are paying the price.

But, I think the end results are worth it.

:) (y)
 
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Spent the day clay barring and ceramic coating the EXT.

That truck took way longer since it has a lot more paint than the cladded Avalanche.

All of the vehicles in our fleet are done now and my hands are paying the price.

But, I think the end results are worth it.

:) (y)
Man, I get tired just reading everything you do. :ROFLMAO:
 
Man, I get tired just reading everything you do. :ROFLMAO:

Imagine the trouble I would be getting into.

Idle hands and all that.

:ROFLMAO:
 
Spent Saturday using my avy for its intended purpose and filled it up with yard debris and an acre of junk my rommate left behind in the backyard. Darn packrats.

Pulled the lower dash out to discover two blown fuses. Non-functioning blinkers fixed. So glad I wasted money on a new blinker unit! Ugh.

Sunday I removed the wheel spacers the previous owner installed for that "bro stance" look. Picked up a set of 295/70/17 Toyo Open Country MT's soon to be mounted on a set of black Hardrock wheels. Plan to sipe the inner tread blocks for better snow traction this winter up in Tahoe.
 
I spent the day paint correcting the Z-66.

After having used my new DA polisher on the mother's Tahoe to remove most of the water spots on that vehicle, I decided to see if I could make some improvements to the Avalanche.

I used my Ginour Polisher, 900W 6-inch Variable Speed Dual-Action Random Orbit Car Buffer Polisher with a Buff and Shine URO-Fiber Pad for Compounding and Polishing- 6 inch and Turtle Wax 53412 Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Polish and Wax.

I set the buffer speed to 4.5 and buffed in a slow, straight back and forth crosshatch pattern with just the weight of the polisher being applied.

I applied the same pressure on all of the vertical surfaces, which were obviously less marked up than the horizontal surfaces.

I made two full passes in each direction in each section.

After polishing a single section, I would stop, wipe the polishing pad clean with a microfiber towel and wipe the polish off of the panel I had just completed.

I started with the hood and I went back over the hood one more time as I finished.

The hood of the Z-66 still had while a bit of water spotting and swirl marks even after my previous session using a clay bar.

The clay bar cleaned up a lot and made the paint surface very smooth before I applied the Turtle Wax 53409 Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating.

But, some of the water spotting persisted.

Not any more.

I would say that better than 98% of all of the water spot defects are now gone along with the same for any swirl marks.

The paint still has defects in the way of tiny dents and touch up paint marks, but otherwise the paint looks outstanding.

After I finished polishing with the DA buffer and allowing the ceramic in the polish to set in for a couple of hours, I applied a good layer of the ceramic spray coating.

That deepened and richened the paint even more.

I plan to apply a second layer of the spray ceramic coating today and hopefully that will get me through the winter weather.

Normally, my vehicles stay in the garage, but with the EXT taking it's extended hibernation in there for a while, the Avalanche has to sit out on the driveway and the damned trees around our yard seem to shed debris on anything outside, even if the vehicle is not directly under the tree.

Something needed to be done or that paint was going to be in really bad shape by spring.

All of the products in the Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions line have SiO2 polymers in them.

So, every time one of their products is used, a fresh coat of ceramic is going to be applied.

I plan to use their Turtle Wax 53413 Hybrid Solutions Ceramic 3-in-1 Detailer and Turtle Wax 53411 Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Wash and Wax products to clean the Avalanche.

I can't get over how well this turned out and I wish I had done this much sooner.

:) (y)
 
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EXT, we need pictures man!!!! :nopics:

Excited that it turned out so well for you.

Silly me.

I am really bad about not remembering to take any before pictures.

I'll try to remember to grab a couple of snaps today.

:)
 
I grabbed a few pics.

I hope they do it justice.

Things usually look better in person, but here we go.

IMG_4728.JPG

IMG_4729.JPG

IMG_4730.JPG

IMG_4731.JPG

IMG_4736.JPGIMG_4740.JPG

I have more, but I won't bore you with them.

I am most pleased with the hood.

If you can imagine the paint being covered in years of water spots and car wash swirls.

The difference is incredible.

I did a waterless ceramic detail wash to get the morning dew off then applied the final coat of the ceramic spray.

I don't think it turned out too bad for a 18 year old truck with a quarter million miles on it.

If nothing else, all of the paint is now slicker than .... well, it's slick.

Now, to see how this holds up with the Avalanche sitting out in whatever Mother Nature has to throw at it.
 
That looks great man. Thank you for sharing and giving details about which products were used. I keep meaning to pick up a decent polisher...
 
Rear shocks (Arnott) and compressor (Dorman). Relatively easy job, looks like the original stuff had not been working for a long time.
 
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