Hello everyone!
I had the pleasure of detailing one of my favourite cars right now - a Civic Si Sedan and thought I would share! This particular car belongs to a client who loves his cars and is a true enthusiast at heart. This made the detail that much more enjoyable!
On to the car!
The paintwork was fairly clean, but needed a very strong wash to remove whatever chemicals were bonded to the paint in the time it sat at the dealer. To achieve proper cleaning, the usual Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Gloss @ Paint Cleanser dilution was used following the two-bucket method.
After washing, the entire vehicle was decontaminated with Riccardo Yellow Clay & ONR Clay Lubricant. After claying, the vehicle received an IPA wipedown to remove the polymers in ONR that could pose problems while correcting the paintwork. I have started doing this recently and find that my results are much more consistent.
This car was made in September, after which time the dealer received it on their lot. From this time to about 3 weeks ago (when the car was purchased), it endured a rough Canadian winter, along with some snow-brush assaults, and poor washing & drying techniques. All of this transpired into the picture below:
As you can see, a fair amount of damage was present, and was quite disappointing for a new car!
The defects were very deep, which likely indicates that heavily contaminated media was used against the paintwork. Given that Honda paint is generally quite soft and is usually more swirled than anything, I normally would have used SIP on an Orange LC pad via rotary. However, as these defects were very deep it warranted a harsher first-step - that being
M105 of PFW. This combo was also used because the car deserved to be perfect, and had the necessary paint thickness for that to be achieved. Here is a 50/50 shot after 3 passes @ 1800rpm.
This combination left the paint quite hazy, so I followed up with SIP on a white
CCS pad at 1600rpm, gradually bringing the speed down to 1000rpm. This step was done before moving on to the rest of the compounding to ensure that no compounding marks would be left behind.
After SIP:
With the defects removed, the combination for the rest of the car was:
-
M105 on PFW @ 1800-2000rpm (3-4 steps)
- SIP on White
LC pads @ 1600rpm
-
PO106ff on Black
LC pads @ 1200rpm
The following before and after pictures are ONLY after compounding! I did not take befores and afters of every panel as I was pressed for time. The entire vehicle was in the same condition throughout.
Roof after compounding:
Fender:
Front Passenger Door:
Before showing the final afters, here are some pre-wash pictures after the final jewelling process was completed. The flakes look like they are floating in the paint! Very cool!
After the vehicle received the above-mentioned steps of correction, the car was ready for a foam wash to remove the heavy polishing oils contained in
Menzerna’s Super
Intensive Polish, and
PO106ff Nano Polish. Following the foam gun wash (CWG & paint cleanser dilution), the vehicle was sheet-dried and blot dried with waffle weave microfibers to ensure zero defects would be instilled into the paintwork.
The owner wanted a product that was long lasting, and gave a nice shine to this black colour, so I pulled out the trusty Collinite 476S.
After a grueling yet enjoyable 17 hours, the car was finished. Unfortunately it was 3AM and the sun was nowhere to be found, so we had to take indoor shots. I will be seeing this car in a few weeks to do the interior and engine bay wipedown, so I will be sure to take some pictures in day light when that day comes.
If you are still with me, thank you! Here are the afters:
Here are my two favourite shots, because this is exactly how the paint looked, and I was happy to be able to capture it in a couple of pictures:
As always, thank you for looking. I sincerely thank my client for the opportunity, and it was a pleasure to meet you!
Kaval
Make It Shine: 2009 Civic Si (17 hour correction)
went you said you used PFW with 105. LoL
Linear Mode
