On the 12th of August, Marc's 2004 Honda S2000 (built in December 2003) reached the 70,000 mile mark. He's heard many comments that it seems to having very few miles (for my primary car for 75% of the year), but take into account he purchased the vehicle in the spring of 2005 (after coming back from Iraq and a couple months of research), didn't drive it during a 15 month deployment to Afghanistan, and it was stored this past Winter from November-March. Having owned it since about 4,650 miles, this means Marc's put about over 60k miles on it in about 3 years of driving
With this milestone reached, and the upcoming Woodward Dream Cruise, it was time to give her a proper cleaning. Luckily, Marc and Jacob (Jlb85 BKA Gasolina) have been doing a lot of work together, and he came over to give a much needed hand. Together we were determined to have it refreshed, renewed, and ready to show off.
We started with the interior
Having taken very good care overall of his baby, there's no way to avoid the normal things that happen with over 70k miles traveled. We began by pulling out the seats, careful to not scrape any interior pieces with the sharp metal edges of the seat brackets.
Seats were glossy from dirt and oil trapped on the surface. Leather should be sheen, not shiny and smooth.
Once this was done, we could fully see the nastiness that's been hiding for far too long...
Marc gave the carpeting a good thorough dry vacuuming, while Jacob starting cleaning the seats, then hit the roll hoops + speakers set inside them.
Once vacuumed over, they were looking much better, but could still use a little more loving. Folex carpet cleaner was sprayed then brushed the nap to get all the extra stuff loose, then revacuumed. Turned out perfect. Same process was used for the floor mats. Forgot pics of this - but trust it's perfect!
While finishing the carpeting/mats, Jacob applied Leatherique by hand to the seats as the first major step in a true deep-cleaning. The seats set for about an hour, then get a second helping of Leatherique to ensure proper even coverage/cleaning. While the seats continued to soak, degreaser was sprayed on/in all the tracks, agitated to loosen the nasty grime, then rinsed out with diluted Optimum No Rinse.
Finally the Leatherique was wiped clean with diluted Woolite
Once finished, the shine from build-up on the seats was completely gone, leaving a beautiful, smooth, clean, matte finish that felt better than the day the car was purchased
Attention was then turned to a couple other areas that could use some attention. Inside the door jams was cleaned using FK Body Prep Solvent to strip off any nasty grease, dirt, or gunk around the door hinges. Jacob had just done this a day earlier to his beautiful M3 and it came out beautifully. The S was no different.
During
After
Earlier in the year Marc removed the factory tape around the windshield. Until recently, all s2000's (expect Berlina Black) came with black tape around the windshield for a reason not officially named. While it gives a better look with the top up, Marc's more concerned with how the car looks top-down. The bad side of removing the tape is the serious residue that can be left behind. Jacob took to the problem areas with 3M addhesive remover and the trusty autoLavish business credit card to carefully remove the dried tough adhesive.
Marc took the time to give some overdue attention to his plastic
headlight housings that were beginning to look a little hazy.
Meguiar's M205 on an orange 3 inch pad did the trick. While he could have wet-sanded with 2500 grit first, it wasn't worth the extra time as it wasn't to become a rarely driven show-car, but rather needed a good clean-up.
Taped and ready....
Before
After
The clarity gained was quite impressive, especially at night. With these cleaned up, the car looked years younger. The Mutt then used the same process on the third brake light housing and taillight housings to clear them all up.
Lucy was not happy. The car still needed quite a bit of work.
APC 10:1 and a junk microfiber were used to quicky clean-up the exhaust tips which then recieved a coat of Blackfire Metal Sealant after paint correction later. Marc's been really loving this stuff and has said to see a huge increase in how long my tips stay clean. Additionally, light APC was used for the license plate area
Jacob went over the interior surfaces with 1Z Cockpit Premium, then put Leatherique on the steering wheel. The finished beautiful matte look was both clean and beautiful.
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