Honda Civic Full Detail

Todays detail was a 2001 Honda Civic in solid dark blue that Stu's girlfriend recently bought, and it was in need of a bit of a detail... You see, the dealer machine polished the bonnet as a good will jesture:







The rest of the car was looking pretty good for six years old though - not many swilrsm but quite a few RDS that would require a medium polish to remove despite Honda paint being soft...





While I was sitting in roadwork induced traffic in Dundee town centre, Bryan and Stu kicked off by washing the car, and claying the car ready for machine polishing. The car was masked up and rolled into the garage just in time for me arriving... The majority of the rest of this detail was then carried out by me and Stu as Bry had to nake the best of the dry weather window we're currently having to paint his balcony.

First off, time to test the paint to see what products were required... The bonnet before, under the sun gun and you can cleary see the swilrs and the holograms, classic marring from polish not properly worked by a rotary polisher:



First of all, Menzerna PO106FF Final Finish was tried on a Meguiars W8006 polishing pad. Spread at 600rpm (1), then two passes at 900rpm (2), two passes at 1200rpm (2.5), ten or so passes at 1500rpm (3) until residue goes clear, and then two passes at 900rpm (2) to refine the finish. The results:



Good. Most of the swilrs removed, but RDS remain and with plenty of paint to play with, I seeked out perfection. Step up to Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish, applied as above on a Meguiars W8006 polishing pad and we get:



Much better, the finish now free of all marks and marring bar the very deep RDS, and by thoroughly working the Menzerna polishes in ideal conditions it was finishing down LSP ready even on soft Honda paint: Menzerna Heaven!...

Here ended day 1 on this car (actually only two or three hours really to prep the car ready for the following day...)

Now, into day two, Bryan PC'd the boot area as there were lots of little nooks and crannies and badges and the lightweight PC and a 4" pad was ideal for getting into these areas.

Onto the rotary with me and the Menzerna, and in the morning everything was great, the PO85RD3.02 finishing down very well and easily, removing all the marks with an LSP ready finish... 50/50 shot:



Then it began: Menzerna Hell! As the temperature in the garage climbed, the PO85RD3.02 stopped spreading cleanly and working down. Rather, it spread and flashed white, caked a little and clumped and after only a few passes at slow speeds, the pad would squeal. Shut down, spritz with Last Touch and that got a few more passes - I found personally it best to regularly spritz the 3.02 to keep it alive and the pad quiet to complete the set... Without it, the Menz refused to break down and left light hologramming. Using Last Touch to spritz, and perserveering I got what seemed like an LSP ready finish from the 3.02 but I wasn't 110% convinced and thought there was the faintest of holograms (see either side of the light):



As I was not completely happy with the sets with 3.02, and not 110% convionced the finish was totally hologram free, I went back over it with Menzerna PO106FF Final Finish on a Meguiars W9006 Finishing pad. This was back to Menzerna Heaven again, the polish spreading easily and breaking down happily and very well to give a very sharp and clear finish:



As well ad being more of a paint to break down, when the Menz starts to misbehave, the once easy to remove product residue is also a nightmare to shift as its not being broken down properly... The residue after wiping with a microfibre....



A little Meguiars Last Touch soon sorts that though so you can see your finish properly...



Then, outside it clouded over and the ambient temperature dropped and as soon as Menzerna Hell arrived, it was gone and the 3.02 was working a real treat again! Very finnicky product, and if it wasn't for the fact that when its on song, its just so damn good, I wouldn't use it so regularly... Especially since #83 is a joy to use in all weathers and conditions and delivers nearly the same results. The 3.02 was followed with 106FF on the whole car to give as crisp a finish as possible to the solid blue... when the 3.02 was on song the 106FF wasn't really adding anything but as the 3.02 was being a little finnicky I felt better that the whole car received Final Finsih as well just to ensure the best possible finish.

With the polishing work done, under the lights:







And remember the hologrammed bonnet? Well, here it is now, using our artificial sun as the real sun decided it had had enough for the summer.... Still, the 3M gun is superb for showing the quality of your finishes:



Now, some reflection shots in the garage from just the polishing stage, this is where the majority of the quality of your finish will come from and the reason we, and the rest of the detailers on DW, spend as much time as required to get it right. Clarity of the shine will come from quality of the machine finish:







As this was Stu's girlfriend's car, we decided to put Optimum Opti-Seal to the test on this car as a stand alone LSP. This way we could see the quality of the finish looks wise and assess the durability as a stand alone LSP.

First off, the paitn was cleansed using Victoria Lite Cleanse to remove any polishing oils that may have remained... This cleanser is so easy to use, apply by hand using a foam pad in circular motions or straight lines, work it in for a few passes with light pressure and then rmeove the residue... A real breeze, easier to use for me than Swissvax CF and leaps and bounds easier than ***** HD-Cleanse which, while looks excellent and isn't a total pest to use, is rather finnicky at times in comparison to the CF and Lite Cleanse.

The Opti-Seal was applied using a foam applicator pad. Spritz a very small amount on the pad, and wipe on with light pressure in little circles... The product flashes and then within about ten seconds, it vanishes and thats the car sealed... easy as. Any small bits that dont vanish, just go over with the pad again. Tiny spritzes are all thats needed as a little goes a very long way and aas its very oily and slick, it feels safe to use on the paint.

The results in the garage after the sealent applied:











And, now rolled out of the garage into a bright summer's day (well, a typical 2007 summer's day: cloudy and threatening rain):











The sealent leaves a nice wettness to the paint, and a very clear and crisp shine with very well defined reflections. The wettness helps stop the finish from looking artificial, a problem I find with the majority of sealents I have tried and the reason I always top with a wax. This sealent I would also personally say would benefit from being topped with a wax to add a little gloss to the finish, but on its own it still looks very impressive and thats coming from a wax-man! If you like the crisp, reflective, clear shine of a sealent, this product is superb and layering it will enhance the finish further as evidenced on my Volvo. By working as a stand alone LSP, or a wax top coat, this is a hugely durable product which I will be keeping as part of my own collection owing to the flexibility and quality of the product, not to mention its ease of use.