Honda Civic Metallic Blue

This is an intermediate detail on a metallic blue Honda Civic. Firstly the interior is cleaned with Meguiar’s All Purpose Cleaner (10:1), leather is scrubbed with a soft brush, and door shuts wiped down with APC.

This is the bucket of rinse water after cleaning the interior

Coil mats were scrubbed and pressure rinsed.

Then wheel wells and tires cleaned with Meguiar’s Super Degreaser(4:1). Wheels cleaned with Meguiar’s Wheel Brightener and tar and sticky residue removed with Osren Tar Remover

The car’s body is washed with Meguiar’s Hyper Wash.

The owner wanted the car to be debadged, so I started by heating up the badge with a hair dryer, then ran a fishing line across the badge.

Tape residue removed with Osren Tar Remover using a plastic scraper wrapped with a terry cloth. Took about an hour plus to remove the badge ‘Civic’ and ‘2.0 i-vtec’.

Then hand polished the debadged areas with Meguiar’s #85 Diamond Cut Compound 2.0 and Optimum Polish.

After debadging, Osren Tar Remover is sprayed on the lower half panels and bumpers. Wiped off with a cheap Tesco microfibre cloth (RM3.50 for two piece).

Car is clayed using Perma Glass No.2 Clay and weak solution of diluted Meguiar’s Shampoo Plus as lubricant. The paint was the roughest I’ve ever felt, the roughness could be heard when moving palm across the surface. Here’s a short claying video cum tutorial.

Polish and wax of choice was the owner’s own products.

SmartPolish on a Lake Country Black Finishing pad via rotary followed by SmartWax on a Meguiar’s W-9006 Finishing Pad via random orbital.

The SmartPolish stayed quite wet during buffing although not as long as Menzerna 106FF or Optimum Polish. Shows easily when it breaks down, and smells like bubblegum! =D

While waiting for the wax to pass the swipe test, interior leather is conditioned with Meguiar’s Rich Leather Cleaner/Conditioner. And plastic/vinyl, dressed with Mothers protectant and buffed off with a damp towel.

Then the following was done:

• Dress wheel wells with Meguiar’s Hyperdressing (4:1)
• Dress tires with Meguiar’s Hyperdressing (1:1)
• Dress exterior trim with Autoglym Bumper Care
• Interior glass cleaned with Meguiar’s Glass Cleaner Concentrate
• Door shuts and wheels waxed with Meguiar’s #21 Synthetic Sealant
• Tailpipes polished with Meguiar’s NXT All Metal Polysh

From a distance the paint looks great but close up, the scratches can be seen as SmartPolish’s cutting ability is only very light.

Some may know in old Chinese kung-fu movies of a move called the shadowless kick, the kick is so fast that it leaves no shadow behind. Well here is the shadowless microfiber wipe.

=P

As always thanks for looking and feel free to comment or ask any questions.

Happy Detailing to all!