Burninating the Countryside [2006 SR5 Build Thread]

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First things first: if you don't understand thread title, you probably had a tortured childhood. The following remedy will cure all ailments: http://youtu.be/7gz1DIIxmEE

This will probably be a pretty mild build since it's my wife's car and we have a Z71 for leaving the pavement, but selfishly I want one place to keep track of all the changes. Way easier than having to flip through photos on my phone.

2006 SR5 with the 4.0 V6. Came with 145K. Completely stock when we got it. I'm always curious what other people pay for their cars, so in full disclosure we got this for $7650.

Everything seems to be working, so no major projects in the way before the fun begins. The front driver rotor is warped, so I'll swap that. Read somewhere else this might be common on 4Runners.

You didn't come here for words. On to the goods.

Happy girl. She's been wanting a 4Runner for a long time. This vehicle also passed a feline inspection.

Bought from the second owner. He put 100K on it. Said he didn't have to do much of anything besides oil changes.

Outside was detailed before we bought it, but guess they skimped on the engine. I hate working on a dirty motor. Covered the essentials with plastic and hooked the hose up to some simple green spray for a nice bath. Also did the charcoal filter delete at this time.

Now that's more like it.

 

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Next step was to make it more our own. My wife's a personal trainer, so she wanted something "cool and tough."
"Then get an old Jeep, I said."
"But also pretty."
So we got a 4Runner.

I convinced her black wheels would be a fun way to offset the outward appearance, so off to Advance Auto Parts it was. I've learned you can save a lot by using their website coupons to order and select in-store pickup. My paint was $2 cheaper per can online, plus another 20% off the whole order.

So:
1 jug Simple Green
1 jug denatured alcohol
1 package ScotchBrite scrub sponges
2 cans Duplicolor self etching primer
2 cans Duplicolor black sandable primer
2 cans Duplicolor flat black wheel paint
1 can Duplicolor satin clear coat

Then I went to HD and bought two wire wheel to use with my cordless drill. This was way faster and easier than sanding. Just be careful not to press too hard; the wheel aluminum really is soft.

Jacked truck, removed tires, sprayed with SG, then went inside and had lunch. Came out and scrubbed both sides. 145K of grime came off like butter. Air dried with my leaf blower. Put the wire wheel on the drill and scuffed up the wheel surface. I decided if I was going to spend all this time, I might as well do it right, so I prepped the inside of the wheel just as much as the outside.

After another blow of air, I wiped each wheel down with denatured alcohol.

Index cards weren't working for me, so I used playing cards. Once I discovered the trick, it was a cakewalk: there are tiny little nubs of rubber about a pencil lead's diameter and a quarter-inch long right where the wheel meets the tire. If you wedge the card in between the nub and the wheel, you're locked in. Do it any other way and a slight breeze with have you shuffling the deck.

Another thing I learned by trial and error: instead of fighting falling cards by picking up the tire in between coats to spray the inside , just do the entire inside first, and then the entire outside. Duh.

So, 2 or 3 coats of SE primer, 2 or 3 of sandable primer, 2 or 3 of flat black, then 1 or 2 of clear. I waited at least 10 mins in between coats, but was doing other things too.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like the clear coat effect, but honestly I'd be disappointed if I hadn't. It really helped even out the appearance.

Rolled the tires into the garage for the night to dry. They'll go on the truck today.

Trying to decide what to do with the center caps. I think I like them like this, but I will have to see what the boss says.

Here's the original for comparison.

And here we are. They turned out even better than I expected.

Only thing I'd so differently next time is to be more careful with the wire wheel brush. I hit the wheel too hard in some places, and even with all the paint it still shows a little. But it's the kind of thing only I will notice.

Happy, happy , happy.

 

[burninator]

I need to tackle the issue of this rotor. Like I said, it's the driver front. The brake pads were replaced with right before I bought the car, so maybe this is just evidence of a nasty old brake pad scraping the rotor. I'm going to start with a little bit of research, and then probably one new rotor upfront here to see if that helps.

Passenger front for comparison:

 

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[Jeffrey_VB]

Nice Runner!!! Looks like you are off to a good start!

 

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[message]

Thatched-roof cottages!

 

[burninator]

Thatched-roof cottages!

All day long!