NBP Civic gets Rupes!!

mjlinane

mjlinane

My name is Mike
A coworker kindly volunteered his wife's car, a Nighthawk Black Pearl 2005 Honda Civic, as the first sacrifice to the mechanical deities known as Rupes. As it had recently been taken to a "detailing" salon here in Austin, I knew I had my work cut out for me. (I kind of understand TOGW in the creases but on the middle of panels?)

Arrived dirty and received my usual decontamination cycle (foam with OPC+CG CW, rinseless with Megs D114 and "clay" with Nanoskin Autoscrub pad on GG6 & Nanoskin Glide lube).

The finish needed some serious love:
DCivic_Before_01.JPG

DCivic_Before_02.JPG


Hood has beginning stages of CC failure so went easy on it (Rupes Bigfoot 21 + White LCC CCS + Carpro Fixer). Here is a teaser 50/50 (2 spreading + 8 section passes):
DCivic_5050.JPG


In general, there were way too many uncorrectable defects to chase perfection but will say I put a mean 1 step on it with the Rupes + White LCC CCS + Megs M100 (2 spreading + 6 sections passes).

Here are the post-paintwork afters. Was rapidly losing light so no grief about the tires and glass and scuttle and... please. I did go back and finish the car.
DCivic_After_01.JPG

DCivic_After_02.JPG

DCivic_After_03.JPG

DCivic_After_04.JPG

DCivic_After_05.JPG

DCivic_After_06.JPG

DCivic_After_07.JPG

DCivic_After_08.JPG

DCivic_After_09.JPG

DCivic_After_10.JPG


For completeness sake:
Wheels/tires - Zep Orange (1:1), CG Silk Shine
Polish removal - Megs D120
Post-polish wash - Ultima WW+
Glass - Megs D120, Fast Glass towel (thanks Ben)
LSP - Ultima PGP (2 coats)
Interior wipe down - Megs Quick Interior Detailer
Jambs - CG EcoWash (thanks again Ben)
Total time - 6.5 hours (just me this time).

I'm sure I'll receive lots of questions about the Rupes. Let's just say I had a cunning plan to tape off the trunk lid and do a Rupes v. Flex 3401 v. Metabo rotary (and maybe even GG6) but, after 5 min with the Rupes, I had no desire to pick up a different polisher.
 
mjlinane said:
I'm sure I'll receive lots of questions about the Rupes. Let's just say I had a cunning plan to tape off the trunk lid and do a Rupes v. Flex 3401 v. Metabo rotary (and maybe even GG6) but, after 5 min with the Rupes, I had no desire to pick up a different polisher.
Click to expand...
ahmmm, interesting. i still havent been infected with the rupies. since you used the machine have you broke out in hives? :D nice work btwy!
 
Looks great. Haven't had a chance to pull out the 15. I was concerned about throw on tight areas with the 21.

It did get a nice wrap though.

Did you get yours from Kevin with the washer? And used it here?

Great turnaround!!
 
That is a beautiful job, Mjlinane !!!

I love that Honda paint you worked with; it really comes out nicely when treated right.

Awesome work, attention to Detail, and follow-through ! Finish is stunning !

Awhile back did a similar, older, Civic that had been driven on a farm all its life. :(
It was trashed inside and out when it came in and left a new Civic all over again.

Thanks for sharing this !
Dan F
 
mjlinane said:
I'm sure I'll receive lots of questions about the Rupes. Let's just say I had a cunning plan to tape off the trunk lid and do a Rupes v. Flex 3401 v. Metabo rotary (and maybe even GG6) but, after 5 min with the Rupes, I had no desire to pick up a different polisher.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the report. I was sure the Rupes had plenty of potential over the traditional DA for smoothness which is why I went with the Flex. It is interesting to see some calling the machine "flavor of the month".
 
Thanks Andrew, John, Dan, Roshan, Ben and Al.

AndrewBigA said:
ahmmm, interesting. i still havent been infected with the rupies. since you used the machine have you broke out in hives? :D nice work btwy!
Click to expand...

Giddiness - not hives.

Concours.John said:
Looks great. Haven't had a chance to pull out the 15. I was concerned about throw on tight areas with the 21.

It did get a nice wrap though.

Did you get yours from Kevin with the washer? And used it here?
Click to expand...

Used both the 21 and the 15. The 21 does cover a huge area. Got the 21 everywhere except the rear and A-pillars around the mirrors. Is a pretty flat car, though.

I saw that and would love to do something similar. I used Wolfgang Cockpit Trim Seal.

Got them from Phil so had to machine my own washers. If you start with a 5/16 #10, is about 2 minutes with a Dremel tool. Yes, I did use them.

Bunky said:
I was sure the Rupes had plenty of potential over the traditional DA for smoothness which is why I went with the Flex. It is interesting to see some calling the machine "flavor of the month".
Click to expand...

That is why I bought a Flex, too. Just doesn't fit my style so I feel like I have to "work" to get the results I look for. Great machine - just maybe not for me.
 
I wonder if PBMG is trying to stock these (they should) and it would be great to have these at Detail Fest. If it is as good as most report and they had a 1 hr hands on session with them. I bet they could sell likely sell a bunch.
 
New to polishing so forgive me if this sounds stupid. Did you use Carpro on entire car then follow with Meg's 100? I'm not familiar with Carpro. Would you bring me up to speed on that product?
Thanks
 
great turnaround, i use to own a 4 door Civic Si and it was same generation (8thgen) and those paint jobs are notorious for crows feet and premature CC failure.
Awesome Job on the car!
 
Thanks Pat, Steve and psynx.

bicycle said:
New to polishing so forgive me if this sounds stupid. Did you use Carpro on entire car then follow with Meg's 100? I'm not familiar with Carpro. Would you bring me up to speed on that product?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Sorry if I wasn't clear. The entire car was 1-stepped (only 1 round of polishing) but 2 different products were used.

The hood only was polished with Carpro Fixer. On an aggressiveness scale of 0-10, Fixer is probably around a 7,5 and, combined with a white pad, was probably the equivalent of a good medium polish. This cleaned up most of the haze and light swirls (see the 50/50 pic) but left a lot of the RIDS. Normally, I would have compounded those out, too, but, because the clear coat had started to fail, I wanted to leave as much paint as possible.

The rest of the car got M100. It is probably a 9-9.5 and, combined with the white pad, gave a good bit more cut removing more defects (and paint).
 

Great job Mike. I will admit to being a little surprised that you can 1-step using M100, but I if you can do it with M105 & D300 why not M100. (I admit to doing this with D300 before on really hard paint.)




I will hold off on asking any Rupes questions until you have had time to really use them for a while and get a better feel.
 
TroyScherer said:

Great job Mike. I will admit to being a little surprised that you can 1-step using M100, but I if you can do it with M105 & D300 why not M100. (I admit to doing this with D300 before on really hard paint.)




I will hold off on asking any Rupes questions until you have had time to really use them for a while and get a better feel.
Click to expand...

Thanks Troy,

What was particularly impressive is the NBP is (generally) almost a finicky as BMW Jet Black and was still able to 1-step it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top