Weekend fun with a black civic si

P

Picus

New member
My sister was in town so I decided to work on her car a little. Rotated the tires and cleaned the underside of the car, insides of the rims, wheel wells, etc. They all got 303. After that I put it down and got to work on the paint. The before pics were from her camera phone so they aren't the best but anyway she had some reasonable rotary swirls from dealer prep on the top half the car, pretty heavy swirling on the hood and trunk and quite a bit of bird poop etching on the roof. I learned a couple things doing her car. First, I love optimum compound, it works really well, has a ridiculously long working time but doesn't need a rotary to achieve good results, and doesn't dust. Only "issue" I had with it is if you don't work it long enough it can be a little tricky to completly remove. Second, I need new pads, and lastly, hondas seem to have really soft paint. OK, on to the pics.

You can see the rotary holograms here.
civicsib3.jpg

swirly
civicsib4.jpg

civicsib1.jpg

civicsib6.jpg



Process:

Wash wtih Z7
Clay
Optimum Compound via PC/LC orange pad on hood, roof, trunk, pillars and tops of doors. Hood took a couple passes.
Optimum Polish via PC/LC polishing pad entire car
RMG via PC finishing pad
EX w/canauba via PC finishing pad
Natty's Blue via hand
Windows got stoners, tires and trim got Zaino tire dressing. Put some wheel sealant on her rims too, they were a mess.

Afters (it was almost dark at this point so sorry for no full sun shots):

civicsi2.jpg


No more holograms or swirls, yay.
civicsi6.jpg

civicsi1.jpg

civicsi4.jpg


Happy owner in reflection. :)
civicsi5.jpg
 
wow, she owns that?? any mods on it? your sister must be very happy :)
I must say those pics have just become my fave on black :cheers:
 
milky said:
wow, she owns that?? any mods on it? your sister must be very happy :)
I must say those pics have just become my fave on black :cheers:
Click to expand...

:D thanks!

Ya, she owns it. She bought it about 2 months ago used, 71,000 km. She mostly has visual mods, like her rims, clear lights, emblems, new rear view mirrors etc... The dealer "detailed" it before she picked it up, which is why it was covered in rotary holograms. I found out that there was some repaint done on her roof too, because I got a bunch of overspray off on my pads. Oh well.

Only performance mods are new springs, AEM intake, and a thermal 2.5" exhaust.

She's 20, so it's a great little car for her. Good gettin' around power, reliable, and good mileage. She learned standard in it so I think maybe we will need to replace the clutch soon but we'll see. It's starting to slip a little in second.
 
Picus said:
:D thanks!

Ya, she owns it. She bought it about 2 months ago used, 71,000 km. She mostly has visual mods, like her rims, clear lights, emblems, new rear view mirrors etc... The dealer "detailed" it before she picked it up, which is why it was covered in rotary holograms. I found out that there was some repaint done on her roof too, because I got a bunch of overspray off on my pads. Oh well.

Only performance mods are new springs, AEM intake, and a thermal 2.5" exhaust.

She's 20, so it's a great little car for her. Good gettin' around power, reliable, and good mileage. She learned standard in it so I think maybe we will need to replace the clutch soon but we'll see. It's starting to slip a little in second.
Click to expand...

same as my age :) that's a fun car to drive :)
 
The paint on the afters is glowing like Darth Vader’s helmet J



Did you do this one by PC or rotary? I absolutely LOVE the compound via a DA polisher. You still need to spend time on the scratches, but it removes swirls almost effortlessly.



Nice job on the wheels/tires too. They look very clean.
 
mgm2003 said:
The paint on the afters is glowing like Darth Vader’s helmet J



Did you do this one by PC or rotary? I absolutely LOVE the compound via a DA polisher. You still need to spend time on the scratches, but it removes swirls almost effortlessly.

Nice job on the wheels/tires too. They look very clean.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I did this via PC with LC pads (orange with the compound, white with the polish). I totally agree - opt compound via pc is pretty awesome, it just works and works forever, really makes short work of swirls. It took out those rotary holograms like nobody's business. I got a little hazing on the hood where I was really bearing down on the PC, but the polish took that right out.
 
Great... thank you very much buddy- Your making me want to try Optimum- the polish, compound, wax... just what I need...more products!!
Very Very good results!! It really shows what a PC and the right product/user can do! Good job.
 
Thanks!

And I know. I just re-filled my SSR2.5 and 1, and still haven't finished my Menzerna IP/FPII and I had to go try Optimum too. I'm glad I did - the others still have their merits but these are quickly becoming my favorites.
 
budman3 said:
Great... thank you very much buddy- Your making me want to try Optimum- the polish, compound, wax... just what I need...more products!!
Very Very good results!! It really shows what a PC and the right product/user can do! Good job.
Click to expand...
You won't be unhappy with the Optimum stuff. Autogeek's got a kit with all that stuff in it along with an orange LC pad and some MFs. It's worth checking out.
 
Heh ya, I always get confused when I see SIR on the back of a non-hatch, then I look at the American plates. :)
 
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