Whoo Hooo

[jrrod2004]

I am taking possession of a 2007 Escalade EXT (Diamond White) for the next week (Buddy is flying to Iraq as a contractor and his wife has not moved in to their new house yet) and I just got the truck and keys today on my lunch break. Took it out for a spin and I have gotta say that this is way better than what I am currently driving. Dropped the hammer and actually expected the long delay that everyone keeps talking about on the VMAX and Denali lineup....none here (at least I dont feel it but I dont know if it has been tuned or not). That thing broke loose FAST so now I truly know what the Denali must feel like (or at least when it is tuned). One question, does anybody know what makes the paint 'bling' as it does? I looked it up and all it says is that it is a tricoat paint (paint process) but it does not say what paint or how the look is achieved.........it makes all my worries (tonneau cover repair) go right out the window.

[Darkanion]

I'm not sure what the exactly process is, but it's a pearlescent paint. My dad's DTS Performance Edition has it. It's a nice paint job. If I could've special ordered my Denali with "any" GM color (which I asked about), I probably would've gotten that color. But, alas, they only do the Sierra Denalis in Black, White, and Silver Birch.

 

EDIT : I think the color was called White Lightning the year my dad got his Cat. I think it was 2007 or 2008 when they started calling it Diamond White.

[Bostonsfavson]

I drove the EXT and it has the same delay as the Denalis. The amount of the delay you get depends on several factors and sometimes it's hardly noticeable. I love the white paint that Cadillac uses. Very classy looking.

[jrrod2004]

I will say that the ride is harsher than my silverado but I guess that has to do with the factory 22"s.

[Darkanion]

I will say that the ride is harsher than my silverado but I guess that has to do with the factory 22"s.

 

I have been having similar concerns with going from the factory 18's on my Denali to aftermark 20's. I've been told that ride quality shouldn't be impacted much and that she should handle a little better. I'm going to hanging onto the stock tires & wheels, though, just in case I don't like how she changes!

 

As for the Diamond White / White Lightning color on the Cats... It sure is pretty, in person. I have had a heck of a time getting it to show up good in pictures, though. I have several pictures of the two DTS's he's had, but none of the pictures seem to really capture the color very well. I'll keep tryin', though!

[BigJayDogg3]

I prefer the caddy black. It looks deeper than most I've seen.

[jrrod2004]

now that is a tossup, white vs black.........especially on the slade....

[Darkanion]

Growing up, my parents usually had white Cadillacs. I'm not sure why, they just did. When they were clean, they sure were pretty, though. I've always tended to lean more toward darker colored cars.

 

But, I think this is a pretty white car (with the tri-coat paint M. Cueva was talking about earlier) :

 

 

You can sorta make-out the Acura TSX I had, at the time, parked behind the Cat. We had gone out to Texas Motor Speedway for a Laps for Charity event. It was kinda cool, getting out there and running a few laps (albeit SLOW laps, as far as I was concerned), and raise a few bucks for charity.

[jrrod2004]

see that 'tint' on the hood that white mixed with a creamy white....cool (at least for me)

[Darkanion]

see that 'tint' on the hood that white mixed with a creamy white....cool (at least for me)

 

Yeah, I like it. It's just hard to get the shades and tints to show up right on camera. I'd like to take it out some day and see if I can get some pictures of it while the sun is setting behind it. If it's a good sunset, maybe that'll set off the pearlescent qualities of the paint enough to show-up for the camera.

[jrrod2004]

something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

problem is it has to be in bright sunlight or the effect cannot be seen as clearly...

[Darkanion]

Yeah, I have an uncle who has an EXT like that. He seems to really like it. When I was shopping around, he and my dad both said I should go look at them. I decided to get the Denali instead, though. For me, I think I made the right choice AND I saved some bucks in the process!

 

So, how long did you say you'll have use of the EXT? I hope it doesn't spoil you too much! That could get expensive!

[Sniper]

One question, does anybody know what makes the paint 'bling' as it does? I looked it up and all it says is that it is a tricoat paint (paint process) but it does not say what paint or how the look is achieved.

 

Mike, the "pearl" flake in the midcoat is typically ground mica. The 3-stage/tri-stage process is usually a solid basecoat color followed by a pearlescent midcoat and finished off with a clearcoat. The "bling" effect is caused by light refraction through the translucent mica flakes. They are beautiful colors, I agree, but they are more difficult to match when refinishing. If you don't have the right color or factory color variation mixed and/or a paint technician that knows what he's doing, you will end up with mismatched panels (in the case of a panel-to-panel match, which is lunacy with any 3-stage color) or a visible blend edge (in the case of an improperly blended basecoat, midcoat or both). Personally, unless it's a show vehicle, I tend to recommend against anything complicated for this very reason. These types of colors are a headache down the road when you get them scratched or get into an accident and have to refinish them.

[Darkanion]

Mike, the "pearl" flake in the midcoat is typically ground mica. The 3-stage/tri-stage process is usually a solid basecoat color followed by a pearlescent midcoat and finished off with a clearcoat. The "bling" effect is caused by light refraction through the translucent mica flakes. They are beautiful colors, I agree, but they are more difficult to match when refinishing. If you don't have the right color or factory color variation mixed and/or a paint technician that knows what he's doing, you will end up with mismatched panels (in the case of a panel-to-panel match, which is lunacy with any 3-stage color) or a visible blend edge (in the case of an improperly blended basecoat, midcoat or both). Personally, unless it's a show vehicle, I tend to recommend against anything complicated for this very reason. These types of colors are a headache down the road when you get them scratched or get into an accident and have to refinish them.

 

Thank you, Sniper! I couldn't remember the details.

 

All that stuff you mentioned is one reason I paid-off my TSX with the insurance money and traded it (and took a beating on it), rather than let the insurance company do what they wanted to do. They claimed they could replace the roof and trunk, "color-match" the Nighthawk Black Pearl paint, and do PDR on everything else.

 

While it wasn't as fancy as the White Lightning on my dad's Cat, the metallic in that NBP paint did reflect differently from different angles. I had a strong strong feeling they would never get that right and they were pretty adamant that they weren't going to repaint the whole car "for just some hail."

 

When they gave me a bigger check than the pay-off was, I decided to go pay 'er off and start looking. Could they have 'eventually' made it right? Possibly. But, I just couldn't shake the feeling that she'd never be right, after they did all the cuttin' & slicin' & puttin' back together...

 

It still irritates me some that my car took such a beating and the Suburban setting maybe 30 yds away had NO damage, what-so-ever! That was one thing I kept in mind, when I started looking at new vehicles. I've heard complaints about the metal not being as thick as it used to be and all of that. Well, it's a heck of a lot thicker than some of the other metal on the road!

 

Ok - I'll get off my soap box now... I still get a little worked-up about that whole hail storm / insurance / "it's gonna cost whaaaat to fix my car!?!?" thing....

[jrrod2004]

I just refueled the EXT last night and put it in the garage (I think I wasted 1/4 tank when I went joy riding - and I didn't realize Onstar was that stupid.....) but I should be giving it back by the 1st of the year, the house is going to be closed on the 31st and I promised that I would help her move in and the EXT cant handle any real loads (time to pull out the 2500HD )