First ever detail - Honda Ridgeline

valleyrider

New member
First detail ever and I started with my dad's truck as a Christmas gift for him. He bought the truck used a few years ago and did not know the previous history of it. Ever since he had purchased it I told him it most likely had been repainted in a few areas since it didn't perfectly match and it wasn't a nice glossy paint job. His truck had a near matte finish on it it was so bad, almost no reflections could be seen at all.

Started out with the wheels using some 1Z colourtec and he had never seen the wheels so clean, ever! Now he had also never cleaned the wheels so anything was cleaner than he had seen on them, but the wheel cleaner still does work great. Next was a wash with some Megs wash and wax, the stuff you can buy at any store almost. I the wash process I had dad help out so he could learn proper washing techniques to try to keep his truck looking nice for a long time.

I decided to include dad in the claying process as well since he seemed very interested in it once I showed him the baggy test.

Then came the test spots to determine what would be needed for the correction. BF SRC Compound, Menzerna SI 1500, and M105 were tested with an orange pad and an optimum mf pad all with the GG6" . the M105 with the mf pad proved to be the best combo as the other compounds needed 2 applications each to reach the level the M105 would reach in 5 passes. Once compounded I finished off with BF Finishing Polish. Also cleaned up the headlights

PBL cleansing polish to prep followed by PBL surface coating on all glass and paint.

As I was polishing the car I noticed that some areas of the paint were single stage paint and turned my pads grey while other areas were the expected 2 stage paint. The repaint on the truck was such a poorly done cheap job and it showed throughout the paint in every panel of the truck. I found some nice overspray to show dad just to prove that it was in fact repainted.

I managed to get a decent shine out of the paint on this truck, not as much as I was anticipating but with the poor quality paint I got out as much of a gloss as I am capable of bringing out with the tools I had. 10 hours of detailing later and I completed the truck. Dad was thrilled that his truck looked better than the day he bought it, he could actually see himself in the paint now, something he could not do before.

I cant find the before photos right now but when I do I will post them up so you can see how bad the paint was.

After Shots
nqvt.jpg


2f6c.jpg


fksu.jpg
 
Fresno -
Beautiful job !!! It looks really clear and glossy !
Thanks for all the hard work you did and the awesome write up..
Dan F
 
sounds like you had your hands full on your first detail and it turned out very nice. good thing to do for dear old dad. :bigups
 
I found myself on a ladder to reach some parts of the truck, how do you guys get to some of the hard to reach places on vehicles? Is there an "easy" way I haven't figured out yet?
 
I found myself on a ladder to reach some parts of the truck, how do you guys get to some of the hard to reach places on vehicles? Is there an "easy" way I haven't figured out yet?

Well, with any truck, if you can stand in the bed against the back window, you can work on a little over 1/3 + of the roof most of the time...

I have a variety of 2-3 step wooden and aluminum ladder types that you can find at H/Depot, etc., as well as a longer aluminum platform also sold there..

There really is no other way, unless you are way over 6 feet tall...

Just try to use the bed, then something to stand on to finish on each side -- be sure that if you are using something on the sides, that you either put a towel or something thick on the side that is closest to the paintwork, so that you dont accidentally rub up against it and scratch/damage it with that ladder or your feet...

You did great !!!!
Dan F
 
Back
Top