I had met the owner of this car when we swaped wheels a month or so back, and he had said he wanted a detail. Within a month he called ready to schedule! I knew the condition of the paint from looking at it before hand, and it was bad to say the least. In its short 2 year span it's never seen a polish--or wax for that matter! So to start things off a mini pre-inspection to show the condition of the paint (except swirls because when I started washing it was foggy and utterly useless to try and capture swirls on the paint in foggy ambient light). The car was fairly dirty as it lives on the Northern California Coast (Half Moon Bay for those who know the area) so the fogging it receives every morning means consistent dirt/grime behind all the wheels and on the rear bumper "shelf". That's my pre-inspection! Well--that's all that came out on the camera. Now on to the wheels. I rand out of my AG CWC :hmph: so back to my old staple P21S Wheel Gel. The tires were cleaned with Eimann Fabrik, and wheel arches with APC 3:1. Since these were my old wheels--even after about 11k miles, they still looked decent . Before: During: Afters at the end..! Next I moved to the engine bay and jambs. They were first misted down, sprayed with Eimann Fabrik Hi-Intensity Cleaner, and then agitated with various brushes. After the engine/jambs cleaning I moved on to the body of the car. It was first pressure rinsed do get rid of any loose sediment on the paint, and then foamed with CWC, and again 2 bucket washed with CWC as well. After everything was rinsed I sprayed 303 on the engine bay. And the trunk, engine, door, and fuel filler jambs were sprayed with DG Aquawax and wiped clean. I then pulled the car in the garge while wet for claying. I used Riccardo Yellow, and the paint had a LOT of surface contamination with the worst spots on the rear bumper "shelf" and the trunk. For those areas, I stepped up to Megs Red, then back down to riccardo yellow. After claying I began inspecting the paint. Bare with me for trying to catch the defects as best as possible.. (Notice: I was taking all of my pictured near panel gaps for the autofocus to have something to focus on, because if you focus on just the light from whatever source you are inspecting with, it won't show swirls). I figured Honda soft paint.. should be a no brainer especially on white! So I went with my Flex 3401/Black pad with M205. Didn't even make a dent. After trying a few different polish/pad combo stepping up in aggressiveness I landed on a very good two step that cut down on the deep rids, as well as finishing down hologram free: SIP with PFW on the Makita, and following up with M205 with Black flat pad on the 3401. Here's the results in 50/50 on the hood: Passenger rear quarter before: After: Here's the trunk lid after PFW/Sip. Notice no deep rids, but the hologramming is still left over to be refined: After: I then pulled the car outside to rewash and attempted to take sun shots.. but none came out. Once I finsihed rinsing and drying, took the car back inside the garage for the interior. Vac'd, leather cleand and conditioned with Leather Masters, and the dash/door panels cleaned with 1Z Cockpit Premium. The glass was polished with Prime, and sealed with Acrylic. The wheels were wiped down with Acrylic Jet. Tires and wheel wells were dressed with Megs HD 3:1. After the interior was complete I moved on to the LSP. I first prepped the paint with Werkstat Prime with the 3401. Then I applied 3 layers of Werkstat Acrylic, followed by a wipe down with Acrylic Glos. After pics: Garage shot for Dana : : Thanks for looking! As always C/C welcome! eace: Aaron
I think that's hysterical that your old wheels were, by far, the most well kept thing on that car. :lol: Great work man. Love the LSP choice - one of my favorites on white for sure. And great tip on pointing the auto focus at a panel gap to give it something to "look" at! I've tried switching to manual focus, and doing it myself. That always ends up in tears for me - my picture taking skills really are awful.
Nice work there, Aaron. AJT is something I want to try on my white DD, I had a bottle for a while, but never bothered trying it...
is that the infratech from phil you are using? i've been looking to buy one, but i am trying really hard not to spend on detailing for the time being haha nice job on the S200. I recently got some M205 too. it's impressive to say the least!
Definitely give it a shot. It looks especially good on white, but I think it looks good on everything. And I can't think of an easier to use LSP. If you don't like it, I'll buy yours off you. :lol:
Oh, Aaron, I just tried something with my S2000 that you should check out next time you work on one. Before you polish, take the windshield washer nozzles off! It's super easy. They just clip into the hood. Pull the hoses off them, then to remove, use a flat blade screwdriver (or similar) to release the clips on either side of the nozzle. It comes out as one piece, with a gasket topside. This is also a nice time to clean any old residue out from under the nozzle, which can be difficult if it gets in between the nozzle and the gasket. Of course, you probably already knew this...
Looks very nice sir! I'm sure the customer will have nothing but great things to say about your work to all of his friends.
Thanks JL! Thanks Karl! I chose AJT based on your experiences with it . Funny think about the wheels, there was only ONE 1" long curb on the pass.rear wheel.. and he comes back 3 weeks later at the same wheel has a curb now along HALF the rim :yikes: I am fairly good with the manual focus, but I'm way too lazy/busy to set up the tripod so doing manual focus/shutter speed while holding the camera and the brinkman means I'm left one hand short.. so AF and auto shutter speed it has to be. Thanks a lot. Definitely give it a go. Thanks! I love them too.. I'm on my second Thanks Ben. No it's a Brinkman . I use it more now than my 90lumen LED light. Thanks! Great tip! Don't know if I'd do it on customer cars; but on mine it sure would help! Thanks a lot! I'm really not that good at taking pictures haha. $$ shift knob too! Thanks a lot. Thanks!
Great job there Aaron! It looks like you got better at taking pictures! I just picked up a nifty fifty from Heath, hehe.
