Honda Civic - Orange Peel Removal & opticoat-ed

[zckid]

Hello friends

A very good Thursday from Mauritius

This detailing job took over 5 days, from decontamination to coating, loads of defects removal and paint leveling.


Upon arrival:




Wash:

2BM method using mf wash mitt
Local car shampoo and APC mix






To the wheels

Washed already



close-up of contaminants



Decontamination with Sonax full effect + Clay



in- process





[COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]Ready to be coated and protected[/COLOR]





To the paintwork

Clay




Assessing the work to be done


Not easy to be noticed. On this color, it’s as if the defects have got “shyness DNA”



From previous respray job, rubber trims damaged! I was very sad for the friend who brought his Honda to me. Little or nothing I could do for that.





NEW paint defect (at least for a newbie like me, doing detailing as a passion)




More familiar





light scratches and RIDS, full of swirls but the metallic flakes just make it difficult to be captured.








The headlights



wait, not yet over



the lower sections






subsurface defect




Look




close-up



same on both sides of the rear bumper



Paint correction:

The paint has sanding marks and scratches beaneath the clear-coat. I had to proceed with extreme caution and to add, Hondas are the champion of soft paints.

Tools: Makita rotary, Flex 3401
Polishes: Menz FG 400, 203S, PO85rd
Pads: Carpro denim pads, LC white, LC HT Crimson, LC white
Glass: DP Glass restorer with glass polishing pads, Opti-sealed
Wipe down : IPA mix
Coating: Opticoat with supplied applicator, wiped with suede mf towels (better than normal mf towel IMO)
Trims & tyres: CG new look trim


After correction




a spot or 2 remain, would have needed more clear coat removal

[zckid]

The roof




close-up



More swirls appearing due to a flatter surface, holograms are there too from the compounding step





My friends



Beading during the polishing stage





Checking and checking







TA DA




Attending to the details



Focussed









rare incidence: Shot by Mrs







extreme close-up





The hood




The task at hand





Many scratches found after compounding, when the blurriness is gone

[zckid]

Inch-by-inch inspection





More inspection




The Sun test



The swipe test



Finishing beads




Feeling blessed








The hood




Peek-a-boo wih the sun



Perfection wanted



Couldn’t get the sun from the camera, but no swirls left




The doors and vertical panels
To recap




Orange peel and textured paint removed




Almost done






Hello!



I’ve still got an agricultural garage/workshop



A few reflection shots












Some Finshing beads

[zckid]

Coating the mirror






















Some opti-beads shots













The Finishing pics












Thanks for reading. Your comments and thoughts are most welcome.

Cheers

Zaid

[mnehls86]

Great write up, great work!

[Pats300zx]

Great job !!!

[Orinda Auto Detail]

KILLED IT!!! OMG! Amazing work and write up! Really awesome!

[RaysWay]

Amazing work! Loved the pictures and the writeup!

[adama31]

Did you measure the paint thickness reduction with the denim pads? I have a honda but I`ve always thought the paint was far too thin to attempt fixing the orange peel. Is paint outside of the US different?

[Klock]

Allot of Outstanding work sir! Great job!

[psynx]

Did you measure the paint thickness reduction with the denim pads? I have a honda but I`ve always thought the paint was far too thin to attempt fixing the orange peel. Is paint outside of the US different?

great question

[The Gloss Boss]

Awesome work! I enjoyed how in-depth your documentation was.

[zckid]

Great write up, great work!

Great job !!!

KILLED IT!!! OMG! Amazing work and write up! Really awesome!

Amazing work! Loved the pictures and the writeup!

Thanks a lot guys

your kind and encouraging words most appreciated

[zckid]

Did you measure the paint thickness reduction with the denim pads? I have a honda but I`ve always thought the paint was far too thin to attempt fixing the orange peel. Is paint outside of the US different?

great question

Thanks buddies, unfortunately i don`t have a PTG at the moment. Would have liked to add this gem to my small set of detailing tools.


The car had been resprayed, so it had a thicker clear. The safety margin was greater. I didn`t wetsand because Hondas have the softest of paints. i went for the denim route

If you have factory clear, then it`s thin. but I did an orange peel removal on a brand new nissan almera with denim/velvet pads. I`ve read from Mike Philips that if you wetsand factory clear, you run the risk of never being able to remove the wetsanding marks.


just remember the aim is to bring an improvement. How large this improvement will be, is up to the paint condition and how it reacts.

it`s a case of paint protection vs perfection

I`m no pro. Todd Helme has a thread on the denim pads. please check. it will help a lot.

Cheers

Zaid

[zckid]

Allot of Outstanding work sir! Great job!

Awesome work! I enjoyed how in-depth your documentation was.

Thank you so much friends. stil learning this art here.

take care & happy Friday from sunny Mauritius