Newbie needs advice on polishing 97 Civic

J

jwf2

New member
Hi to all forum members. I've been lurking here for a while and learning a lot. Now it's time for my first before/after thread. I'm looking for advice on how to improve my results.



This is my girlfriend's car. A 1997 Honda Civic EX in Cypress Green Pearl. It's never been garaged, and has been through the worst New England can throw at it (salt, rain, and sun). When it was washed, it was almost always at automatic car washes. As you can imagine, the paint is in absolutely horrid shape.



Before:

DSCF0062.jpg




I bought a 7336, SFX pads and SFX-1,2,3 polish, and this evening I went to work. I wiped the trunk lid down with quick detailer and taped off half of it. I clayed it and then started polishing. I'm sure I can improve my technique, but it was pretty effective.



After:

DSCF0068.jpg




Did I get out all of the scratches? No. Is it still a major improvement? Yes. Can I improve it further? I'm not sure. That's where you come in. I could use some advice. Do I stop here and leave well enough alone? Crank up the PC to 6 (I didn't go above 4, and was usually slower than that)? Wet sand? I may have to do some sanding in spots I touch up elsewhere on the car later anyway. Here's one last picture.



Dividing line:

DSCF0066.jpg




Thanks in advance for the help!
 
All of your questions can be answered by further reading and searches on this forum. You do not need to wet sand that paint. Just use the least aggressive pad and polish and work your way up if needed, and crank that PC to 6 if you want to accomplish anything.
 
DSVWGLI said:
All of your questions can be answered by further reading and searches on this forum. You do not need to wet sand that paint. Just use the least aggressive pad and polish and work your way up if needed, and crank that PC to 6 if you want to accomplish anything.
Click to expand...



That's key with the PC. Multiple passes may also be required to completly remove the defects. One thing to keep in mind when working with a PC is that it will require some patience, and time to do the work.



All the best.
 
that's a great improvement considering you did not go above speed 4...hit it again w/ speed 5 or 6 on a test section and you should see the remaining marks disappear.
 
Looks good so far, its looks like you added a lot of depth to the paint. I would recommend going over it again on speed 6, theres a big difference in correction ability between 4 and 6. I highly doubt any of it needs wet-sanded though.
 
DSVWGLI said:
All of your questions can be answered by further reading and searches on this forum. You do not need to wet sand that paint. Just use the least aggressive pad and polish and work your way up if needed, and crank that PC to 6 if you want to accomplish anything.
Click to expand...





i agree w/ dsv, currently your marring isn't that bad, compared to what you had it, i woudl try using the least agressive pad w/ polish to see if that will take out your marring, you have removed all the oxidation as well w/ your previous pass so your next pass shoudl be able to make it shine.
 
Thanks for the tips. I guess I was being a little too conservative with the speed. At the lower speeds, it took me many passes to get it to what you see above.



I'll try cranking the speed to 6 with the least aggressive pad/polish and see where that gets me.
 
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