imported_Dave KG
New member
Today's detail was a new shape Honda Civic Type R in one of my favourite colours on all cars: Honda Nighthawk Black, with a cracking dark blue flake in the black paint.
The car arrived looking very clean, despite the weather - pouring rain. Bryan set about the wheels and arches with Meguiars APC cut 4:1, and Chemical Guys Premium Blue Wheel Cleaner, while Stu and I washed the car demonstrating the two bucket method to the owner using Meguiars Shampoo Plus.
With the car washed, and the rain pouring down, we rolled it into the garage for the claying session. Using Sonus Ultrafine Green Clay and Meguiars Last Touch as a lube, the car was clayed to remove only a very light contamination from the paintwork.
Now it was time to assess the paintwork, which was showing light swirls and light to moderate hologramming. The bonnet was examined first as the test spot for the paintwork... Before:
For a combination on this paint, Menzerna PO85RD on a finishing pad removed the gologramming but left behind some deeper swirls, PO106FF also left the odd mark but was very nearly the desired correction. Meguiars #80 Speed Glaze on a Meguiars W8006 polishing pad seemed to have just a little extra cut to it on this paint allowing the full removal of defects from the paint, applied at 600rpm to spread, 1200rpm for two passes, 1500 - 1800rpm until it started to dust, and then 1200rpm to refine. This finishes down very well, but I decided that the soft Honda paint would definitely benefit from an independant set to burnish the finish to a deeper gloss. There's a lot more to machine polishing than simply removing the defects, and the process of burnishing the finish with very fine abrasives pays dividends in achieving a deep gloss and sharp reflections. This can be done either at the end of a set, in many cases, of a medium abrasive polish. Or, in this case, using a fine finishing polish to burnish the finish at slower speeds: Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish was chosen, applied using a Meguiars W9006 Finishing Pad, spread at 600rpm, worked at 1200-1500rpm until clear, and then refined at 900rpm. The result of the double-set:
This process was then repeated across the whole car with me on the rotary (Stu on the roof), while Stu worked on the PC with a 4" pad on bumpers and tight areas with Final Finish, or Intensive Polish where some deeper marks existed.
Before machine polishing, the defects:
A 50/50 pic throughout the correction:
And after pics of the paint finish under the 3M Sun Gun and camera flash to assess the quality of the correction and clarity of the finish:
The beauty of burnishing the finish is that a deep gloss can be achieved in the paintwork, a trait that's often sought after and promised by various LSPs on the market - there's only one true way to achieve the best finishes though, and thats through machine polishing: These pics show the finish after machine polishing only:
The owner wanted a wet look finish to the Nighthawk Black, and with winter coming on, durability was also a serious consideration. For a wet look, we decided to go with a pair of products for the LSP stage, products not often mentioned in the forums, but products in my eyes that deliver amongst the best wet look finishes around - certainly in their price range, and also well above their price range too. Clearkote Yellow Cream Wax followed by Clearkote Carnauba Moose Wax added a nice wet-look nuance to the deep finish from the machine polishing:
Bryan cleaned the glass using Clearkote Vanilla Moose Wax Hand Glaze by hand. Wheels were waxed with Smartwax Rim Wax and the tyres dressed with ArmourAll Tyre Gel (we were finding the Meguiars Endurance UK version a bit to "blingy" for our likings). Arches were dressed with Meguiars All Seasons Dressing, plastics also with ASD.
The car was then rolled out into the natural light for pics - no sun unfortunately, but at least the rain had stopped!
Another great day of detailing.
The car arrived looking very clean, despite the weather - pouring rain. Bryan set about the wheels and arches with Meguiars APC cut 4:1, and Chemical Guys Premium Blue Wheel Cleaner, while Stu and I washed the car demonstrating the two bucket method to the owner using Meguiars Shampoo Plus.
With the car washed, and the rain pouring down, we rolled it into the garage for the claying session. Using Sonus Ultrafine Green Clay and Meguiars Last Touch as a lube, the car was clayed to remove only a very light contamination from the paintwork.
Now it was time to assess the paintwork, which was showing light swirls and light to moderate hologramming. The bonnet was examined first as the test spot for the paintwork... Before:
For a combination on this paint, Menzerna PO85RD on a finishing pad removed the gologramming but left behind some deeper swirls, PO106FF also left the odd mark but was very nearly the desired correction. Meguiars #80 Speed Glaze on a Meguiars W8006 polishing pad seemed to have just a little extra cut to it on this paint allowing the full removal of defects from the paint, applied at 600rpm to spread, 1200rpm for two passes, 1500 - 1800rpm until it started to dust, and then 1200rpm to refine. This finishes down very well, but I decided that the soft Honda paint would definitely benefit from an independant set to burnish the finish to a deeper gloss. There's a lot more to machine polishing than simply removing the defects, and the process of burnishing the finish with very fine abrasives pays dividends in achieving a deep gloss and sharp reflections. This can be done either at the end of a set, in many cases, of a medium abrasive polish. Or, in this case, using a fine finishing polish to burnish the finish at slower speeds: Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish was chosen, applied using a Meguiars W9006 Finishing Pad, spread at 600rpm, worked at 1200-1500rpm until clear, and then refined at 900rpm. The result of the double-set:
This process was then repeated across the whole car with me on the rotary (Stu on the roof), while Stu worked on the PC with a 4" pad on bumpers and tight areas with Final Finish, or Intensive Polish where some deeper marks existed.
Before machine polishing, the defects:
A 50/50 pic throughout the correction:
And after pics of the paint finish under the 3M Sun Gun and camera flash to assess the quality of the correction and clarity of the finish:
The beauty of burnishing the finish is that a deep gloss can be achieved in the paintwork, a trait that's often sought after and promised by various LSPs on the market - there's only one true way to achieve the best finishes though, and thats through machine polishing: These pics show the finish after machine polishing only:
The owner wanted a wet look finish to the Nighthawk Black, and with winter coming on, durability was also a serious consideration. For a wet look, we decided to go with a pair of products for the LSP stage, products not often mentioned in the forums, but products in my eyes that deliver amongst the best wet look finishes around - certainly in their price range, and also well above their price range too. Clearkote Yellow Cream Wax followed by Clearkote Carnauba Moose Wax added a nice wet-look nuance to the deep finish from the machine polishing:
Bryan cleaned the glass using Clearkote Vanilla Moose Wax Hand Glaze by hand. Wheels were waxed with Smartwax Rim Wax and the tyres dressed with ArmourAll Tyre Gel (we were finding the Meguiars Endurance UK version a bit to "blingy" for our likings). Arches were dressed with Meguiars All Seasons Dressing, plastics also with ASD.
The car was then rolled out into the natural light for pics - no sun unfortunately, but at least the rain had stopped!
Another great day of detailing.
