Mirror Shined: '97 Honda Civic Ex

stiffdogg06

New member
Hey all,



I planned on doing a 2-3step on my civic but a family emergency came up and I was only able to get a 1-step done which put me at about 85% swirl free. I figured since "mods" are going to happen in the next few months, that it'll get scratched up anyways; so I will just go all out on it before IA '09 again to get it near 98%.



Here is my 1997 Honda Civic that I've owned for about 1.5yrs now. I haven't been able to polish this thing since i've owned it so it was nice to get out there and clean it. Sorry about the contrast/brightness in the pictures, I was in a time crunch and didn't really have time to take a lot of afters.



Items Used:



* Duragloss #902

* Blue Magic Clay

* P21S TAW

* P21S Gel Wheel Cleaner

* Various brushes

* Grout Sponges

* Makita 9227C

* Z16 Tire Gloss

* Z8

* Z6

* Souveran Carnauba Wax

* LC Flat Pads

* M205

* Detailed Image's All Purpose MF's

* Detailed Image's Waffle Weaves

* Meg's Last Touch

* 303 Aerospace Protectant

* 91% IPA

* ONR @ Quick Detailer Strength

* Brinkmann Dual Xenon Light

* TOL's Prep Wash





Civic getting a pre-rinse via foam gun with DG902, APC Diluted, and TOL's Prep Wash:

Before.jpg




Rims/Tires getting soaked/scrubbed with TAW and P21S Gel Cleaner:

Before3.jpg




All clayed & cleaned. Here you can see the lack of any depth, gloss, or anything really.

Before4.jpg




Here is why we stress the importance of a 2 bucket system:

Left = Wash Bucket

Right = Rinse Bucket

Before5.jpg




All taped ready for some action:

Before6.jpg


Before7.jpg




Here are some random befores where you can numerous wash swirls and holograms:

before22.jpg


before21.jpg


Before9.jpg


Before8.jpg


Before20.jpg


Before15.jpg


Before14.jpg


Before13.jpg


Before12.jpg




Here are a few process 50/50's after a 91% IPA wipedown:

Before19.jpg


Before18.jpg


Before17.jpg


Before16.jpg




Sorry for the lack of afters, like I said a family emergency arose and was only able to snap a few...:

Afters3.jpg


Afters4.jpg


Afters9.jpg




Now we have some gloss/depth in that red!

Afters10.jpg


Afters2.jpg


Afters.jpg


Afters6.jpg


Afters5.jpg






Before:

Before4.jpg


After:

Afters2.jpg




Comments always welcomed.



Thanks guys,



- Andy
 
Looks great!



What is your white balance set to? If its on auto, change it to sunlight for bright outdoor shots like that. Iso 200 too.
 
Great looking car. I've never seen the JDM bumpers on a coupe--are they repros or real-deal Honda parts???



Nice work.
 
EisenHulk said:
Very nice improvement!



Thanks Casey. I still wish I was able to do a 2-3 step process on it. Sucks I only got to do a 1 step...



TSC17 said:
Nice work Andy, looks much better now!



Thanks Todd. Wish I had a better camera. White balance and everything wasn't great.



artikxscout said:
haven't seen you post in a while! glad to see you back.



Thank you man :)



Legacy99 said:
Nice job Stiffdogg. Did you use Z6 and Z8 over Souveran? Sealant over fresh nuba? Just curious.



I guess I need to make a better write-up. Sorry about that. I used Z8 on the windows and Z6 on the paint after Souvy to clean up any possible smears.



kaval said:
Looks great Andrew! I know how hard red is to capture on camera. I bet it looked super glossy!



Thank you! I will admit the camera doesn't do it justice. Souvy really made it shine, especially a day later...





BigAl3 said:
nice looking vic andrew, looks clean in both regards... :)



Thanks Al. ;)





gamby said:
Great looking car. I've never seen the JDM bumpers on a coupe--are they repros or real-deal Honda parts???



Nice work.



They are siR bumpers. $300 a piece from JDM Honda Parts, JDM Honda Engines / JDM Nissan Motor Swaps, Used JDM Parts | Password JDM
 
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