imported_Dave KG
New member
A smart little Honda S2000 to detail today. 
The car arrived already looking pretty clean, the car obviiously has been well cared for. While Bryan set to the wheels and arches, Stu and I set about washing the car to remove the light coating of dirt on the paintwork. With the paintwork clean, iot was time for claying.
The car had been garaged pretty much its whole life and this showed at the claying stage - Sonus Ultrafine Green Clay was all that was required, and very little dirt was removed to yield a smooth finish. The owner also had a shot of claying.
With the paintwork prepped for machining, it was time to roll the car into the garage to see what we were up against. Again, the car being well cared for was pretty obvious, loight to medium swirling and some light holograms were all that were robbing the paintwork of its true beauty. Thickness readings ranged from 98um to 140um, plenty of paint to play with. The machine polishing was carried out by myself and Stu, Stu on the PC and me on the rotary.
The bonnet was chosen as the panel to tes for combination... the paintwork before:
Knowing Honda paint is traditionally very soft, although the swilrs looked medium, only a very light abrasive was going to be required to remove them.. Indeed, the lightest combo I have was successful: Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish on a Meguiars W9006 tan finishing pad by rotary. Spread at 600rpm, four or five passes at 1200rpm, seven to ten passes at 1500rpm till the residue went clear, then two or three passes at 900rpm to refine the finish. Light pressure used throughout. The results:
Stu was finding the additional cut of the PO106FF Final Finsih was required on the gentler PC to yield an excellent level of correction. For some sections of deeper scratches, I too switched up to 106FF but only where required.
Some before shots of the paintwork:
While Honda paint is soft and easy to correct, it also presents a different challenge when machine polishing, and thats in the finishing. There's more to machine polishing than defect correction, the clarity of the finish plays a big part and is another consideration in the choice of pad and polish as it seems some paints repsond better the certain types of polish. The 85RD and 106FF were breaking down very well and later passes in the set allowed the finish to be burnished to a high gloss, a process I find equally as rewarding as the defect correction stages.
A 50/50 during shot:
And some completed shots under the Sun Gun:
And a picture of the gloss achieved on the red paintwork from machine polishing alone:
The owner of the car wanted a wet look shine tothe red paint. For this, we chose Swissvax Best Of Show as the LSP for a wet lok on red, as for me the Swissvax waxes see to add a little in the way of wettness, more so than any other waxes I've tried, so it was the obvious choice in my eyes for fulfilling the wet look.
Cleaner Fluid was applied by hand, worked in in straight lines with a foam pad and removed with a microfibre. Bryan then applied the Best Of Show by foam aplicator pad, while I followed round buffing off the residue after a delay of a few moments.
The end results in the garage:
Plastic trim was then treated to Meguiars All Seasons Dressing, as were the arches. Tyres with Meguiars Endurance Gel. Wheels sealed with Smartwax Rim Wax. Glass cleaned with Swissvasx Cleaner Fluid. The car was then rolled out for some after shots in the daylight... No sun shots I'm afraid, Scottish weather not playing ball again...
Oh yeah, and Bryan did the tail pipes... :lol: :lol:
And Stu and I had one of the best lunches ever!
:lol: :lol:
A great day of detailing this on a well cared for car. :thumb:
The car arrived already looking pretty clean, the car obviiously has been well cared for. While Bryan set to the wheels and arches, Stu and I set about washing the car to remove the light coating of dirt on the paintwork. With the paintwork clean, iot was time for claying.
The car had been garaged pretty much its whole life and this showed at the claying stage - Sonus Ultrafine Green Clay was all that was required, and very little dirt was removed to yield a smooth finish. The owner also had a shot of claying.
With the paintwork prepped for machining, it was time to roll the car into the garage to see what we were up against. Again, the car being well cared for was pretty obvious, loight to medium swirling and some light holograms were all that were robbing the paintwork of its true beauty. Thickness readings ranged from 98um to 140um, plenty of paint to play with. The machine polishing was carried out by myself and Stu, Stu on the PC and me on the rotary.
The bonnet was chosen as the panel to tes for combination... the paintwork before:
Knowing Honda paint is traditionally very soft, although the swilrs looked medium, only a very light abrasive was going to be required to remove them.. Indeed, the lightest combo I have was successful: Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish on a Meguiars W9006 tan finishing pad by rotary. Spread at 600rpm, four or five passes at 1200rpm, seven to ten passes at 1500rpm till the residue went clear, then two or three passes at 900rpm to refine the finish. Light pressure used throughout. The results:
Stu was finding the additional cut of the PO106FF Final Finsih was required on the gentler PC to yield an excellent level of correction. For some sections of deeper scratches, I too switched up to 106FF but only where required.
Some before shots of the paintwork:
While Honda paint is soft and easy to correct, it also presents a different challenge when machine polishing, and thats in the finishing. There's more to machine polishing than defect correction, the clarity of the finish plays a big part and is another consideration in the choice of pad and polish as it seems some paints repsond better the certain types of polish. The 85RD and 106FF were breaking down very well and later passes in the set allowed the finish to be burnished to a high gloss, a process I find equally as rewarding as the defect correction stages.
A 50/50 during shot:
And some completed shots under the Sun Gun:
And a picture of the gloss achieved on the red paintwork from machine polishing alone:
The owner of the car wanted a wet look shine tothe red paint. For this, we chose Swissvax Best Of Show as the LSP for a wet lok on red, as for me the Swissvax waxes see to add a little in the way of wettness, more so than any other waxes I've tried, so it was the obvious choice in my eyes for fulfilling the wet look.
Cleaner Fluid was applied by hand, worked in in straight lines with a foam pad and removed with a microfibre. Bryan then applied the Best Of Show by foam aplicator pad, while I followed round buffing off the residue after a delay of a few moments.
The end results in the garage:
Plastic trim was then treated to Meguiars All Seasons Dressing, as were the arches. Tyres with Meguiars Endurance Gel. Wheels sealed with Smartwax Rim Wax. Glass cleaned with Swissvasx Cleaner Fluid. The car was then rolled out for some after shots in the daylight... No sun shots I'm afraid, Scottish weather not playing ball again...
Oh yeah, and Bryan did the tail pipes... :lol: :lol:
And Stu and I had one of the best lunches ever!
:lol: :lol: A great day of detailing this on a well cared for car. :thumb:
