This Civic needs your help

B

BlindFusion

New member
As a gift to my girlfriend, I am currently planning on doing a complete makeover on her car. It's been neglected for many years, and I'd like to at least stretch a few more years out of it by making it look better. Here's what it looks like now:



front.jpg


badge.jpg


ccf.jpg


scratch.jpg




I unfortunately will be doing this project by hand :scared: , but I've got spring break coming up so I can spread it over a few days. I know the clear coat is gone and the scratch probably isn't going away, but I'd at least like to hide them as best I can.



Here's what I've got so far:



Wash with Meguiar's Deep Crystal

Clay (brand of clay to be determined)

ColorX with Terry Cloth

Glaze (TBD, possibly 3M IHG, VM or RMG, #3 or #81)

Wax with IW 845





My questions are as follows:



1) I don't know which glaze to use, I've been searching, and VM comes up a lot, but in some threads it seems to be the same as ColorX. I just need a pure heavy glaze that will cover of the defects in the paint.



2) Her badges have fallen off and I don't know what to use to remove the residue that's left. I may look into buying some new ones to replace what was there, but I need to remove the old residue.



3) There's some marks from the washer nozzles, will ColorX take care of that?



I know I'm not going to make this car great by hand, but I can't afford a PC. I'll probably look into buying the Lake Country Polishing Pal. I'm going try to do this the best I can with what I've got, but if there are better products out there feel free to suggest them to help me out.



Thanks,

Satch
 
IMO the sctraches won't be completely taken out by hand....BUT a good product like KLASSE All In One can do some good hiding after some moderate hand buffing with colorx.
 
on the 3rd picture, i dont think you can do anything about it except respraying. The scratch in the 4th pic need more than scracth x. I would say you need a polishing or even rubbing compound on that.

Thats only my 2cents...
 
Egads. I really wouldn't waste too much time on that car. However, if you do ANYthing please polish those headlamps! They are so fogged over it hurts.
 
Tasty said:
Egads. I really wouldn't waste too much time on that car. However, if you do ANYthing please polish those headlamps! They are so fogged over it hurts.
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I most definately will be polishing the headlights, I think that will probably make a bigger improvement than anything else. But as much as it probably will easier to not work so hard on this car, I'm looking forward to the learning experience as much as my girlfriend's happiness.



krsjuan said:
That thrid pic is clearcoat failure right?
Click to expand...



That is most definately clearcoat failure. I know that there's nothing to be done short of a repaint, but that is for sure out of the question. I'm just trying to clean the rest of it up as best I can.
 
I'm sure no matter what you do it will come out better.



I don't use or recommend this product on anything accept when the clear has failed.

I've used it on a red grand prix for a friend that had cc failure and it hid it better than other things i've tried.



Downside = it only lasts a couple of washes before requiring reapllicaiton to mask problems below.

It won't make a high gloss but it will turn the area black again to hide the white cc failure.



good luck. and post some after pics!

rodi_1886_1511786
 
the good thing about this detail is that your g/f's expectations may not be that high since it is in bad shape.



Along with the other advice you received I can add that Goof-Off is a great solution to remove adhesive materials such as where the CIVIC emblem was. It can be found at Kmart and such.



Good luck.
 
I had good results clearing up clear coat failure similar to the 3rd picture using megs #2 then #9 with an orbital.

It took a few hours and still wasn't quite up to autopia's standards but it avoided a respray.



Not sure how you would go by hand though :cooleek: .



Hmmm my 2nd post, back to lurking!
 
Those headlights look like you're gogni to need to sand them. ScratchX isn't going to cut all that oxidation thats for sure.



Looks like a good little practice car for you. Just remember that using Scratch X by hand will be pretty time consuming and will probably take multiple tries. I think I'd start on a fender and work it really thoroughly, then move on to the hood. Break it out into small chunks, and don't move on until the spot you are working on is done.



It would be great if you could lay down some coin on a PC or a rotary. That car really needs it. Remember, tools are an investment. A PC or Rotary will last you many years and many projects.
 
adept said:
Where are you located BlindFusion?
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I'm going to school at Texas A&M right now, but the car's in Sugar Land, right outside of Houston.



chpsk8, I'd love to buy a PC, and I'm working up on saving the money for that right now, but I've got other expenses. I will be buying a PC one of these days, hopefully over the summer and I'm sure that it will see a lot of use on my own car and for friends and family.



Should I ScratchX the entire car? I know there are a couple of trouble spots that I might ScratchX, but right now, I'd rather just hide everything with a glaze until I can get a PC.



Thanks for the help, and I'd still like some suggestions on a good glaze.
 
dneedsmuscles said:
IMO the sctraches won't be completely taken out by hand....BUT a good product like KLASSE All In One can do some good hiding after some moderate hand buffing with colorx.
Click to expand...

I thoughts Klasse AIO was acrylic and therefore accentuated swirls instead of hid them??
 
Well, I just got the pictures today, but I finished the detail this weekend! :clap:



Unfortunately, it was quite depressing getting up close and personal with her paint. The paint was in much worse condition than I orginally had thought. The clearcoat failure was all over the car, plus neglect (and what I'm assuming is crappy wax) left chips of missing paint over various places on the car. I did the whole detail by hand, which is making me seriously consider the PC, if I can ever afford it. But I'm proud of the work that I did do. The swirls are still all over the car, but it looks a million times better.



Here's my process:



Wash with Meguiars Deep Crystal

Clay with Clay Magic Magic

Wash again, rinse, dry



ColorX by hand

RMG by hand

845 by hand



Trim with Poorboys Trim Restore



Headlights wet sanded with 2000 grit, polished with ScratchX and 3M Rubbing Compound



Before:

P1010157.jpg


P1010169.jpg






After:

P1010184.jpg


P1010176.jpg


P1010186.jpg


P1010187.jpg


P1010174.jpg




I can't wait to put this combo on my Integra!
 
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