CDTi Detail

[Paulie102003]

So, always looked after my cars, kept them clean and maintained them - or so I thought until I did my first proper detail using a DA polisher.

So, a good hose down started everything off, followed by the two bucket method to give it a wash. No pics of this as we all know what a wet car looks like and my car has never been caked in dirt (or so I thought, wrongly I found out quickly enough, as it gets washed weekly) so no real benefits of showing any before pics either.

Cracked open the Iron X, read the instructions and I have to be honest, thought to myself - yeah sure, spraying this stuff on is going to make any difference at all. Understatement of the day that was. Sprayed it on, in fact, ended up using the entire 500ml bottle on the car and after a few minutes, couldnt see any of the Iron X changing to pink/red on the paintwork. I guess the black paint was hiding it. Still upholding my cynicism, I thought, sod it and hosed it all off. Amazed to suddenly just see this flood of red water pouring off the body work. Foot in mouth time for sure there.

Anyway, clay bar came out, thought it looked huge and split it in half - here is just the boot, rear bumper and rear side panels, this was also after remoulding it a few times: I was shocked



Second half of the clay bar then came out:



I had started learning an important lesson by now - black cars really do hide the dirt well. I thought I had been good at keeping it clean, but I guess I was wrong.

Anyway, so car was dried, and I cracked open the yet, still in its box, DA Polisher and started off using the finishing pad and #80 Speed Glaze Meguiars to try to rid some of those horrible swirls on the boot:



This didnt work too well, and I felt slightly confused cause all of my research showed that Hondas have really soft paint.

Anyways, opened up the #83, put onto the polishing pad and went over it again:



Went over it again -


Getting better...

Then it just all kinda fell into place...





So, after a number of hours buffing, I applied some Poorboys Black Hole as recommended, which incidentally, I really liked the smell of, made me hungry, followed by Autoglym High Def Wax and then she ended up looking like this:

Roof:



Bonnet:

 

[Paulie102003]

Offside front door:









Then came the interior, starting with seats taken out and floors cleaned:



(I didnt notice the red on the accelerator pedal when I cleaned the interior of the car until I put the pictures on my PC to upload them. I think it must be the Iron X which was on the bottom of my shoes and somehow the camera has picked it up because it is not visible to the naked eye on the pedal.)





Seats back in and everything just tidied up in general:




After all this was done, I decided to install the new dome and puddle lights which I had custom built from scratch out of SMD's. ( I am a bit of a geek by nature - modify computers as a hobby)



(Looks fantastic at night - illuminates the entire car)

Then the puddle lights:

Before:



Bulb holder is removed, wires stripped and new SMD lights soldiered up:



After:



She is looking lovely again - the new lights really do give her a bit more class and doesnt look boy racy or anything at all, which was a concern initially when I was making them.

 

[shab_the_man]

Paul very nice job indeed. I actually love the fact that you took the seats out. The finish reflects this and I'm impressed with your first da run. Top marks fella. Its jobs and write-ups like this that make me enjoy running this Forum.
Now when you free next as I need mine doing

 

[J4JAV]

Excellent work!

 

[Paulie102003]

Thanks

TypeR - I dont think I could be that much further from you if I tried . It was fun, hard work, but I enjoyed the results. Of course, first thing the kids do is spill their drinks on the back seat and the cat walked over it during that night with muddy paws. Other than that however....

 

[OB1]

Good results there. I knew there was a reason I don't like cats...

 

[Egap08]

Awesome work there!! Pint well earned