POLISHING DIAMOND PLATE

Making a tough job easy using carpet scraps

The next time you are cutting your truck’s carpet save the scraps. Chuck Simmons of Denver-based Outlaw Customs says such carpet scraps make the world’s best polishing pad for diamond plate.

Carpet, especially the shorter nap shag, doesn’t leave threads behind or come apart as it is pushed across the rough diamond plate. It’s mildly abrasive texture quickly removes tarnish and when used with a good chrome polish, allows you to cover a lot of area quickly.

Simmons recommends pushing the pad hard in the direction of one set of diamonds, then following the angle of the other pattern. This gets the carpet fibers tight against the plate’s raised portions giving a superb cleaning. Finish off the job with a microfiber cloth.

If you don’t have scrap carpet, poke around in the trash bins of the local carpet dealer. One stop and you should find enough carpet scraps to last for several years. — CR

By Bruce W. Smith

Ten years and a million miles do a wear-and-tear number on just about anything in a working rig. Just look down by your feet. The floor covering, which was once pristine, probably looks as if half those miles were driven over it.

Even if you’re diligent keeping the cab floor clean, years of exposure to extreme temperatures and climate conditions take their toll, as does moisture from wet boots, spilled drinks, dropped burgers and other hazards of everyday use. A less-than-spotless-looking floor is perfectly acceptable in a regular working rig. But in a working-class show truck, never.

One solution for a cab floor for both work and show is diamond-plate aluminum. Diamond-plate withstands the rigors of hard use, wears well, is relatively easy to install and requires very little work to maintain. Also, installing a new floor cover is usually the first of many interior upgrades to follow.

We put a new covering in a ’98 379 Pete, replacing a once-beautiful laminate wood floor that had succumbed to the working elements. The truck was being given a second life, so a little more show and less go was the order of the day. A pre-cut, two-piece diamond-pate aluminum floor kit ($575) from the Chrome Shop Mafia was the perfect place to begin the truck’s refurbishing process.

Replacing a floor cover with diamond-plate is easy. But beware: It’s an all-day project. Everything north of the original factory metal cab floor has to be removed and the floor itself cleaned.

The good news is that the time spent is rewarding in the long run. The photos below show the step-by-step involved. (Click on an image to see it full-size.) – CR

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