Honda Civic - Pre-Sale Prep

[Branter33]

This is a detail I done a week or so ago. Just getting time to write it up just now.

The car in question is my girlfriends Black Honda Civic. It has been owned from brand new, so still has pretty low mileage as it's only really used for short journeys. It's shared with her mum also, although they have other cars. Namely a Z4 that I'm trying to wangle a detail on

The car hasn't had the easiest wash history, with the local car wash being its usual detailer! That is up until a week or so ago, when I gave it it's first proper clean. Spent about an hour and a half on the wheels alone first time round! So it's fair to say that this is a first for the car.

They're selling it due to not needing such a big car along with the A3 and the Z4, so they are looking to get something smaller.

So onto the detail... Conditionwise the car was a bit mucky, but not half as bad as it has been in the past.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1660.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1664.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1661.jpg http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1663.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1662.jpg http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1666.jpg

All that was wanted from the detail was to make the car look visually in a much better condition, as mechanically the car is still perfect. They're was quite bad swirling on the paint and a couple scuffs that needed to be tackled. But general condition of the rest of the car was pretty good.

So first up was to tackle the wheels. I used a pretty strong mix of AS Smart Wheels to tackle them as I knew how much of a pain it was last time round. Agitated with a variety of brushes.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1667.jpg http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1668.jpg

To give me this

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1669.jpg

Next up was to spray some APC onto the front end of the car to help shift some of the bug splatters. This was left to dwell for a couple minutes then pressure washed off.

The I foamed the car using AS Snow Foam through the pressure washer. This was left to dwell for 5-6 minutes while I got my buckets filled up. It was then rinsed from Bottom to Top at full pressure to get most of the muck off.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1670.jpg

After this I washed the car using the 2BM and two mitts. One lambswool one for the upper panels, and a MF one for the lower panels and wheels.

Then it was time to de-tar the lower panels and wheels. For this I used AS Tardis.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1672.jpg

Once I quickly rinsed the car down again, I then went on to claying the car. For this I used yellow Superfine Polyclay and plain water as the lubricant.

This was after the front end of the car...

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1673.jpg

The Right side of the car...

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1674.jpg

The Back End...

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1675.jpg

And the Left side of the car...

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1676.jpg

The car had a fair amount of bonded contaminents on the paint. This left it smooth as glass and ready for polishing. The car was given a Spritz of AS Tango and then dried using Waffle weave towel. This already left the car looking pretty good.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1677.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1679.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1678.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1681.jpg

The buckets after washing. You can see how effective it is to use the 2BM with the rinse bucket being pretty manky. Excuse my shitty buckets. Had to use the ones in work.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1682.jpg

So the car was brought in, I made sure all the door, boot shuts were dry and clean. Then proceeded to tape up the car.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1686.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1687.jpg

It was at this moment that my camera decided it was going to die. My fault really for not charging it up the night before. Which is a bit of a shame as I had planned to get a good few pictures to show the poishing process a bit better!
I did manage to get a couple photos on the old camera phone, which as you would expect came out shit. But give you an idea of the correction achieved.

Upon inspection the paint had some pretty bad wash swirls, but not really any RDS. Which was good. Also as I only had one day to do this, I decided that I would only be polishing the upper panels. This is to give it the best look to the untrained eye.
Hopefully help sell it quicker

I decided to go with a Sonus Polishing pad and Menz Final Finish 106FA. This was because with the car being Japanese, the paint is usually fairly soft and in using a Final Finish I would get the best gloss out of the paint.

I worked the polish for roughly;
* 2 Passes at speed 2 to spread it
* 5-6 Passes at speed 3.5 - 4 till the polish began to break down
* Stepping up to 5-6 passes at speed 5 - 5.5 to till the polish was barely visible
* Then 2-3 passes at speed 3 again to try burnish the finish to a nice gloss.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_4618.jpg http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_4621.jpg

I was achieving between 80-95% correction all round. It just goes to show what working the polish in properly can do.

Also the camera battery got a bit of charge in it, so I was able to get some photo's again. Sod's law it starts working once I finish polishing!

After this I then applied Clearkote Red Moose Glaze using a Sonus Finishing Pad on the G220. This has fillers in, so would help mask up any defects left. Also, this product works wonders on dark cars (as well as silver i found).

Then the tape was removed to reveal the paints true gloss.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1692.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1694.jpg

After this I then applied Poorboys Natty Blue wax to the car and left it to cure. I chose this as it's easy to apply and buff off and I was running short on time. The wheels were given a coat of Poorboys Wheel Sealant. Whilst this was curing I set about the other jobs;
* Hoovered the inside out
* Gave the plastics a wipe down with a damp MF. APC on stubborn bits.
* Glass cleaned inside then Polished inside and out with AG Glass Polish.

I then buffed off the wax and wheel sealant. Made sure all the polishing dust, etc was out of all door shuts, cracks, etc. And gave the car a final wipe down with AS Tango, to give these results.

Total work time 8 and 1/2 hours.

Enjoy

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1698EDIT.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1699.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1700EDIT.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1703EDIT.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1704EDIT.jpg

A wee reflection shot

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1705.jpg

The wheels also came up very well.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1707.jpg

The Interior...

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1711.jpg

Few more Reflection shots, shows how well the paint came up :y:

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1709.jpg http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1710.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1708.jpg

And one Final shot

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/branter33/IMG_1713.jpg

Thanks for looking. Feel free to comment.

Max

[James]

Looks good dude, detailed one of these a while back in the goldy colour. Lovelly cars and they drive great, assuming it's the diesal turbo? You find it was also full of orange peel? might just have been the colour on the one I did but it was everywhere.

[Branter33]

Looks good dude, detailed one of these a while back in the goldy colour. Lovelly cars and they drive great, assuming it's the diesal turbo? You find it was also full of orange peel? might just have been the colour on the one I did but it was everywhere.

Cheers bud :y:

Nah its not the diesel... Wait for it... Its a 1.4!!! Its seriously proper slow. Way too heavy for it, thats another reason why they want it sold.

The orange peel was the same on this. Was even noticeable in a couple early pics I took of it. Seems strange that. The VXR I done a month or so back was the same!

[pike0]

WOW amazing job mate, love black paint when it comes up all glossy an reflective like that!

[skye00]

wow that is one good finish!!

[James]

Aye most weird, must be a honda thing lol

I've noticed allot of new cars have it to be honest, I suppose it's a batch thing nowdays. The quicker there out the factorys the better.

[Predator_R32]

great turn around mate :y:

[Branter33]

Aye most weird, must be a honda thing lol

I've noticed allot of new cars have it to be honest, I suppose it's a batch thing nowdays. The quicker there out the factorys the better.

Ano, it is pretty unfortunate but. As you can never really get cars looking their best, when they're coming out the factory substandard.

I know it won't annoy most people, but anyone with an eye for detail would just be constantly annoyed by it.


Also cheers everyone for the comments :y:

[Krys_23]

Good write up mate without a doubt you're one of the very few people who know what they're talking about :P lol

[danzman1991]

Looking good dude. 8 and a half hours is a bloody long time Lol, looks like it was worth the effort though :) Very nice.

[James]

Ano, it is pretty unfortunate but. As you can never really get cars looking their best, when they're coming out the factory substandard.

I know it won't annoy most people, but anyone with an eye for detail would just be constantly annoyed by it.


Also cheers everyone for the comments :y:

Aye could not agree more with you. After my car had a full re-spray it had slight orange peel on the doors etc, I took the car back and had the whole thing wet sanded back so I could machine it to a standard I was happy with lol

Nothing worse than orange peel stopping the perfect shine.

[Branter33]

Good write up mate without a doubt you're one of the very few people who know what they're talking about :P lol

Thanks a lot mate :y: Much appreciated.

Looking good dude. 8 and a half hours is a bloody long time Lol, looks like it was worth the effort though :) Very nice.

Cheers :y:

8 and a half hours is just scraping the surface. :panic: I could easily have spent the rest of the weekend getting it up to a standard that I was happy with. But I only had the day as said. I can easily spend around 24 hours, Plus, on a full detail... But as you say, the results more than warrant the hard work that goes into it.

Aye could not agree more with you. After my car had a full re-spray it had slight orange peel on the doors etc, I took the car back and had the whole thing wet sanded back so I could machine it to a standard I was happy with lol

Nothing worse than orange peel stopping the perfect shine.

Dam right! The state that some cars come out of these bodyshops is outrageous! Saxo180's car for example, that you had the job to sort out. They shouldn't be allowed to go back to the customer till they are in a decent standard.

I would do the same on my own car if I had substandard work done on it... Cause it would really drive me mad :oops:

[Hopcraft]

quality work, quality write up, nice one.

[bullit]

as said good turnaround

honda paint is so easy to work with

[Wayne]

Excellent work on the honda buddy:y: paintwork looks loads better:)

[Mitchell]

good job, looks great

now do mine.

[Emma_ZS]

very nice job! :y:

[Ferg]

Really enjoyed the write up and pics...

You've done a great job on it!

[Branter33]

good job, looks great

now do mine.

Cheers mate... I'll do yours no bother, but I'm afraid I cant offer the same deal my girlfriend recieves. :p
If you are interested drop me a pm.


And once again.. Thanks to all for the positive comments :y::y:

[Elliott]

look imaculate!

[Mrk1]

Wow alot of work has gone into that! Really improves the bodywork finish.
Wish i had the time & kit to do this! Good luck with the sale! :y:

[Peejous]

Quality job mate, actually looks nice now :y:

[Dan]

Good work matey, can I ask how much you charged for that? Just out of interest, can pm me if needed.

[Branter33]

As I said at the start of the thread, it was for my girlfriend :y: So would have been done totally for free if her mum hadn't insisted that I at least take something!

But I'll PM you details of usual prices :y: