LIGHTNING BLUE Ranger Club Thread

LightingBlue

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I've Had mine for a couple of weeks now, put the Ford Powersports Fox 2.0 kit on it this last week so the wife and I had to go give it a roll on some rough 2 track up in the hills. It's night and day from the stock F4X stuff, it does not rock back and forth anymore like it was way underdamped on each hit. ( which it was ). Now you get just one movement from a bump/drop. It's very nice. About the only other things I'll change is some rock rails and some 33s. That'll get me pretty much anywhere I want to take this. If I want to bash metal into rocks because it makes a neat sound I have a 73 CJ that doesn't GAF.

Quick stop for lunch,

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Whoa, there's a rare sighting!!!! Yours is one of three FX4 SCAB's i've seen on here, the other had the magnetic wheel arches, and ours is the only one without any factory appearance options and Lariat trim (black pack for yours, or the painted arches/bumpers).

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LightingBlue

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Ceramic coating makes it a lot easier to wash. Water beads up and it repels dust pretty well too. Plus you only need to wash it, never need to wax or anything extravagant. Honestly you could just take it through a touch less car wash and dry it off well and it looks like it’s been detailed.
To be factually correct, it would look like it (your truck, post wash with a ceramic coating established) had been detailed well enough for most people who don't actually invest in detailing their vehicle.

Ceramic coatings have a number of visual drawbacks if you're wanting to compare a high-quality detailing with quality waxes to a high quality ceramic coating professionally applied. Instead of just whatever wax somebody has lying around, and whatever prep work the "average" person puts into their automotive "detailing".

Many people consider a 3-hour wash and "wax" to be a "detail" and at that level of investment you're approximately correct, the ceramic coating will look "better" (avoiding the debate about artificial gloss not actually looking better due to the expense of depth and warmth).

However, since your ceramic coating will be at least a $300-600 investment (with the $300 range being DIY, plus a few bucks for your labor/equipment), you could get a drastically better output from an actual professional detail. In 3 years time that ceramic will still look as good as that 3-hour job you saved yourself from in year 2. Years down the line you'll have saved a few bucks with the ceramic (professionally applied for both), but will have been cost-neutral if you have the proper tools/chemicals/equipment at home for detailing. Comparing a professionally applied ceramic to a DIY proper detail, the DIY detail will be a cost advantage and with superior appearance the entire time.

Water beading is not a metric for a quality detail or coating. It's the byproduct of hydrophobic properties of chemicals used. Which are easily established with spray-on dressings and impacted greatly by surface contaminates.
 

LightingBlue

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Not sure if I’ve posted in here, but some love for my lightning blue
Have a head-on shot with your color-matched Raptor grill? The "D" look suuuuuuuper stretched out from that side shot :)
 

BDoc

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NedKelly

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2019 Lariat Black Appearance Package. She's coming along slowly...
 

Doctorfong

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I'm beginning to think I have the only Ranger like mine. I ordered it with the running boards, rear window defrost, tow package and spray in bedliner. I have over 16,000 miles on it now and I got it April last year.
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