HondaMan
2004 Civic EX magnesium
Doing my spring detailing on my 2004 Honda Civic. I last detailed the car in mid-November, when I washed, clayed (?), and then AIO/SG (3 layers). I think I washed winter gunk off twice when it got noticeable after a few snowstorms.
Well, during the claying today, I noticed a few tiny nicks. First I thought they were tar bits and kept rubbing the clay but then it became clear they were tiny nicks. 2 towards the back of the hood, 1 or 2 on the lower front grill -- all about or smaller than 1/2 a rice kernel.
I realize theres an element of "luck" in avoiding scratches -- get a 3" rock hitting you at 50 MPH and nothing will protect you against that (I think) -- but I'm wondering if I did a good job detailing last November. Hey, it's a Honda Civic, I'm not gonna go berserk -- but if I had a really nice car, I'd hate to be adding 5-10 nicks every 6 months or ever winter.
I did have a Corvette years ago and used Liquid Glass all the time on it....I'm wondering if maybe I should have added more layers of sealant during the winter, though I thought 3 layers of sealant for a garaged car should last me 4-5 months. The Vette was a low-to-the-ground car and I recall very few nicks -- but again, considering I drove it about 10,000 miles/year (the Civic is on par for about 15,000 per) and less during winter months, maybe I was lucky?
I do know this: when I went the last few year not detailing or even basic waxing of my Saturn SC2 coupe, the front hood looked like the face of the Moon with all the little bb-sized nicks on the lower half of the pointed-downward hood. I'd say there were 100-200 of the nicks and scratches all over the hood -- close to 1/2 the area.
Thoughts ?
Well, during the claying today, I noticed a few tiny nicks. First I thought they were tar bits and kept rubbing the clay but then it became clear they were tiny nicks. 2 towards the back of the hood, 1 or 2 on the lower front grill -- all about or smaller than 1/2 a rice kernel.
I realize theres an element of "luck" in avoiding scratches -- get a 3" rock hitting you at 50 MPH and nothing will protect you against that (I think) -- but I'm wondering if I did a good job detailing last November. Hey, it's a Honda Civic, I'm not gonna go berserk -- but if I had a really nice car, I'd hate to be adding 5-10 nicks every 6 months or ever winter.
I did have a Corvette years ago and used Liquid Glass all the time on it....I'm wondering if maybe I should have added more layers of sealant during the winter, though I thought 3 layers of sealant for a garaged car should last me 4-5 months. The Vette was a low-to-the-ground car and I recall very few nicks -- but again, considering I drove it about 10,000 miles/year (the Civic is on par for about 15,000 per) and less during winter months, maybe I was lucky?
I do know this: when I went the last few year not detailing or even basic waxing of my Saturn SC2 coupe, the front hood looked like the face of the Moon with all the little bb-sized nicks on the lower half of the pointed-downward hood. I'd say there were 100-200 of the nicks and scratches all over the hood -- close to 1/2 the area.
Thoughts ?
