Pics of my 2002 Yukon Denali XL

Ziggs · December 11, 2006

I've only been a member here for about two weeks now but I figured I'd throw out some pictures of my 2002 Denali XL.

The Denali is my third GM truck, the others being a 1992 short bed 2WD C1500 and most recently a 1998 extended cab, short bed Z71. About three weeks ago, I traded off my Z71, sold my 2003 Ford Mustang Mach 1, and replaced them both with the Denali.

Having one teen and two pre-teen kids made it pretty impractical to haul everyone around in either the Z71 or the Mustang, and my wife's Nissan Xterra was starting to get pretty cramped too. The Denali has been a life-saver for us and I'm really enjoying driving it.

Anyway, here are some pictures. Scroll down past them for more info on the truck if you're interested...

The wheels are American Racing "Chrome Crush" in 17x8 and the tires are Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo in 265/70R17. I had both the wheels and tires put on the truck this past weekend as I didn't care much for the OEM chrome wheels and the Michelin tires on it had less than 0.50cm of tread left.

I added the EGR bug deflector last week to help keep the truck's pristine hood from getting dinged up by rocks and bugs. The University of Kentucky license plate is a bit of homage to my alma mater and helps offset the sea of orange "T" license plates that I see here in Tennessee.

A few days after taking possession of the truck, I gave it a good once over with the Porter Cable polisher, some Meguiar's #83 DACP compound, and followed it up with two coats of Meguiar's #21 synthetic sealant. When I first got the truck, the paint was really badly swirled from having been brush washed or run through coin-op washes. Now the paint looks better than new.

As far as future mods go... I really don't have any in mind. There are a few minor things that I want to fix on the truck as time permits, but nothing of any real significance.

Thanks for looking!

pwall · December 11, 2006

Your truck looks really good!

Ziggs · December 11, 2006

Your truck looks really good!

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Thank you. Pretty good for 130,000 miles huh?

Dana_15 · December 11, 2006

Looks incredible ......I hear ya on the kids, mine "made" me get my 06 CC Silverado....one of the best things they have ever done LOL

Elwood 2000 · December 12, 2006

That is a very sweet looking ride!

The more I see white, the more I like it.

cerbomark · December 12, 2006

Nice! But I m partial to white

greenbuck50 · December 12, 2006

Nice! But I m partial to white

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I love my white Sierra

Ziggs · December 12, 2006

Thanks for the kind words, folks.

Nice! But I m partial to white

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I'm partial to snow! Send some of that stuff our way down here!

boostequipped · December 12, 2006

very nice denali. looks good with the wheels.

Sierrawolf · December 13, 2006

I half to say very clean looking truck and the wheels fit it very well. I want to know how long it took to wax your truck to get ride of the all the swilr marks and scratchs? I need to do that to my 03 need to be detailed badly.

CHevyHD4x4 · December 14, 2006

Clean Denali, nice job.

Ziggs · December 14, 2006

I half to say very clean looking truck and the wheels fit it very well. I want to know how long it took to wax your truck to get ride of the all the swilr marks and scratchs? I need to do that to my 03 need to be detailed badly.

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Thanks for the compliment. The bad news is that I have not fully gotten the swirls out of the paint. I plan on hitting it again this weekend with the Porter Cable polisher and some more Meguiars #83. I think another session with that combination will pretty much do the trick.

It took me about 2 hours of working on the hood alone to get most of the swirls gone from there. GMC uses very hard clear coat on their trucks, which means it takes a lot longer to polish blemishes out of it with a random orbital polisher like the Porter Cable.

A pro with a true rotary buffer could have made quick work of the hood, since a rotary operates at a much higher RPM and will put more heat behind the polishing compound. Unfortunately a rotary is best left to a pro, since it's also incredibly easy to burn the paint with one. I've seen novices burn straight through the paint all the way down to metal before by running a rotary at too high of an RPM and leaving it in the same spot for too long.

All told I guess I have about 8 hours of washing, claying, polishing and waxing invested in the Denali so far. I'd guess that another 4 hours will have it looking better than new.

If detailing interests you, I'd really recommend the Meguiars Online Forums. There is a ton of information there on how to make your truck look the absolute best with the least amount of work.