HondaMan
2004 Civic EX magnesium
Well, I survived! lol
I detailed 2 cars this weekend...my 2004 Honda Civic EX and my mom's 1994 black Camry. I just did the exterior, though I did my mom's interior with some spritz. Wheels on both, too. I took some BEFORE and will take some AFTER shots but I have to get a pic card to download everything. So it might be a few days/week or two before I can upload them.
Major observations, feel free to comment:
(1) Adjusting for all the breaks and going to the PC to read, I figure it took about 5 hours to do each car. So figure 6 hours even if you throw in the claying of the windows which I will do later this week.
(2) I used nearly a WHOLE bottle of Clay lube between the 2 cars -- did I use too much? Yeah, I dropped each of the 50 gram balls on the ground, fortunately, I had finished claying when the 2nd ball hit the ground.
(3) On my 6-week old car, I noticed that outside of the front with bugs/tar, I didn't really pick up that much dirt/grime in the clay bar. On later steps, I also noticed I kept picking up a bit of dirt/black on the applicator and/or towel -- I guess that means I didn't do the previous step 100%, huh? Now, when I got to my mom's car....
(4) This car is 10 years old. Rarely cleaned, waxed about every few years, if that. This car kept turning everything I went to black. I used the PC with the Orange Pad and SSR 2 (speed about 3) just to experiment; I can't say I got out too many swirls or scratches. After a few panels, the orange pad was black -- I mean, it was blacker and greyer than the gray pad!!! I was sure it was ruined and was wondering where the hell all that black/dirt was coming from! I mean, I washed it and clayed it before I went to the PC & SSR2. Well, I'm soaking that pad as I type and it looks like it's coming out. But I have no idea where all that black came from and I wonder if I should have kept using it as it was almost 100% black by the time I finished about 1/2 the car.
(5) Outside of really doing a good job on the bugs/tar on my front and the bottom-most panel, should I be surprised the clay on my 2004 6-week old car got very little stuff out?
(6) My car is really slick now, it's like glass -- smoother. Here's what I did
washed car with UPP shampoo
clayed entire car
Klasse AIO with MF applicator, took off with MF towel
UPP with MF applicator, took off with finer MF towel.
2nd UPP 24 hours later (kept car in garage, didn't drive it, so I kinda cheated by not re-washing and I didn't have any S&W. Seemed pretty clean sitting in garage for 22 hours so I think I didn't screw it up).
(7) Mom's car got this
washed car with UPP
clayed entire car (car was getting the bar filthy 2 or 3 times on each panel)
PC with SSR2 and Orange Pad (totally black after 2 or 3 panels. Car was blacker and shinier, my dad said it looked waxed already, but I can't say I got out many swirls).
Klasse AOI with MF applicator, used MF towel to take off.
UPP with MF applicator and took off using fine MF towel
TOMORROW: Will apply 2nd UPP coat, hopefully mom doesn't drive car too much! lol
Both cars now have protection, are nice and slick, and my mom's friend saw here face in the rear trunk when I finished. Looked almost mirror-like...when my dad cleaned the car a few weeks ago, it came back filthy w/dirt/dust because there wasn't any wax or gloss on the car. I want to see how it looks in a few weeks.
I got a bunch of little questions that I will post probably tomorrow, little things that came to my mind when I was doing 14 hours of detailing this weekend. I wrote a bunch down, hopefully I can put them in YES or NO format to make it easy on you guys.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased. I don't think I'm anywhere near you guys in terms of doing a professional job. I just think all the stuff I bought allowed me to do a much better protecting and appearance job than if I had just washed and then waxed the car as I did for years before I came here (when I washed and waxed, that is!).
Having all the supplies helped; the biggest thing was the MF towels which made everything alot easier. They really cleaned off the applications. Taking off the SSR2 was a bit tougher....many times, the MF towel "bunched up" and my hand almost overslid the towel. That didn't happen at all on my car when I did all the steps...only on my mom's with the SSR applicaton. I will assume that is because SSR2 is tougher to get off.
I used the PC for the 1st time...didn't have to masking tape off anything since the vinyl strips were so beat up, it didn't matter. Also, I just pretty much got the big parts SSR'd. Didn't worry about every nook and cranny. I really need to see a video or a local demonstration by the PB folks next time to see how to use the PC and a SSR. Let alone the finer polishes: I think for both my car and others, I will stick to applying stuff by hand. It wasn't too hard, and in the future, I should have someone with me so the work should be cut in 1/2.
Again, I hope to have pics later this week. Need to buy a card for the cheapo digital camera I borrowed and then upload the shots. Patience!!
Thanks to all who helped me, offered hints, helped me order supplies, etc. It was tough work but fun. I think I'll enjoy the maintenance on my car in a few weeks since it will be alot easier with S&W or NXT wax.
Thanks again, guys!
I detailed 2 cars this weekend...my 2004 Honda Civic EX and my mom's 1994 black Camry. I just did the exterior, though I did my mom's interior with some spritz. Wheels on both, too. I took some BEFORE and will take some AFTER shots but I have to get a pic card to download everything. So it might be a few days/week or two before I can upload them.
Major observations, feel free to comment:
(1) Adjusting for all the breaks and going to the PC to read, I figure it took about 5 hours to do each car. So figure 6 hours even if you throw in the claying of the windows which I will do later this week.
(2) I used nearly a WHOLE bottle of Clay lube between the 2 cars -- did I use too much? Yeah, I dropped each of the 50 gram balls on the ground, fortunately, I had finished claying when the 2nd ball hit the ground.
(3) On my 6-week old car, I noticed that outside of the front with bugs/tar, I didn't really pick up that much dirt/grime in the clay bar. On later steps, I also noticed I kept picking up a bit of dirt/black on the applicator and/or towel -- I guess that means I didn't do the previous step 100%, huh? Now, when I got to my mom's car....
(4) This car is 10 years old. Rarely cleaned, waxed about every few years, if that. This car kept turning everything I went to black. I used the PC with the Orange Pad and SSR 2 (speed about 3) just to experiment; I can't say I got out too many swirls or scratches. After a few panels, the orange pad was black -- I mean, it was blacker and greyer than the gray pad!!! I was sure it was ruined and was wondering where the hell all that black/dirt was coming from! I mean, I washed it and clayed it before I went to the PC & SSR2. Well, I'm soaking that pad as I type and it looks like it's coming out. But I have no idea where all that black came from and I wonder if I should have kept using it as it was almost 100% black by the time I finished about 1/2 the car.
(5) Outside of really doing a good job on the bugs/tar on my front and the bottom-most panel, should I be surprised the clay on my 2004 6-week old car got very little stuff out?
(6) My car is really slick now, it's like glass -- smoother. Here's what I did
washed car with UPP shampoo
clayed entire car
Klasse AIO with MF applicator, took off with MF towel
UPP with MF applicator, took off with finer MF towel.
2nd UPP 24 hours later (kept car in garage, didn't drive it, so I kinda cheated by not re-washing and I didn't have any S&W. Seemed pretty clean sitting in garage for 22 hours so I think I didn't screw it up).
(7) Mom's car got this
washed car with UPP
clayed entire car (car was getting the bar filthy 2 or 3 times on each panel)
PC with SSR2 and Orange Pad (totally black after 2 or 3 panels. Car was blacker and shinier, my dad said it looked waxed already, but I can't say I got out many swirls).
Klasse AOI with MF applicator, used MF towel to take off.
UPP with MF applicator and took off using fine MF towel
TOMORROW: Will apply 2nd UPP coat, hopefully mom doesn't drive car too much! lol
Both cars now have protection, are nice and slick, and my mom's friend saw here face in the rear trunk when I finished. Looked almost mirror-like...when my dad cleaned the car a few weeks ago, it came back filthy w/dirt/dust because there wasn't any wax or gloss on the car. I want to see how it looks in a few weeks.
I got a bunch of little questions that I will post probably tomorrow, little things that came to my mind when I was doing 14 hours of detailing this weekend. I wrote a bunch down, hopefully I can put them in YES or NO format to make it easy on you guys.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased. I don't think I'm anywhere near you guys in terms of doing a professional job. I just think all the stuff I bought allowed me to do a much better protecting and appearance job than if I had just washed and then waxed the car as I did for years before I came here (when I washed and waxed, that is!).
Having all the supplies helped; the biggest thing was the MF towels which made everything alot easier. They really cleaned off the applications. Taking off the SSR2 was a bit tougher....many times, the MF towel "bunched up" and my hand almost overslid the towel. That didn't happen at all on my car when I did all the steps...only on my mom's with the SSR applicaton. I will assume that is because SSR2 is tougher to get off.
I used the PC for the 1st time...didn't have to masking tape off anything since the vinyl strips were so beat up, it didn't matter. Also, I just pretty much got the big parts SSR'd. Didn't worry about every nook and cranny. I really need to see a video or a local demonstration by the PB folks next time to see how to use the PC and a SSR. Let alone the finer polishes: I think for both my car and others, I will stick to applying stuff by hand. It wasn't too hard, and in the future, I should have someone with me so the work should be cut in 1/2.
Again, I hope to have pics later this week. Need to buy a card for the cheapo digital camera I borrowed and then upload the shots. Patience!!
Thanks to all who helped me, offered hints, helped me order supplies, etc. It was tough work but fun. I think I'll enjoy the maintenance on my car in a few weeks since it will be alot easier with S&W or NXT wax.
Thanks again, guys!
