Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

[Shawn T.]

My mom's car is a 2003 Honda Civic that has truly seen better days. It hhas been through 9 long, hard winters, 3 of which were in upstate New York. Waxed only a few times in its life with some wahes every so often. Interior has been used and abused for years with no real shampooing in its life so the stains were pretty set-in.

Anyway, the process.......

EXTERIOR
1) Wash with ONR
1a) Wash wheels, tires and wells with APC+, brushes, leftover ONR solution and a pesticide sprayer

2) Clayed the car with ONR at clay lube ratio

3) Used A12 Cleaner/Wax by hand as the paint is very delicate and all I wanted to do was clean the paint, not remove any. It cleaned very well and I went through 3 applicators as they kept turning brown and black from the dirt I was pulling up.

4) Applied Ultimate Wax Paste by hand

5) Dressed tires with Gold Class Endurance Spray. Tires needed 3 coats as they kept soaking it up.
5a) Dressed wells with Hyper-Dressing at 2:1

INTERIOR
1) Remove floormats and vacuum every inch of the car, drybrushing and revacuuming each section

2) Cleaned all hard surfaces with APC, a toothbrush and a bucket of water to rinse the brush off between sections

3) Shampooed the carpets with APC, a brush, terry towels and a shop vac
3a) Spot treated stains with APC+ before hitting them with APC
3b) Cleaned all seats with APC and terry cloths

4) Protected hard surfaces with Ultimate Protectant Spray

5) Protected carpets and seats with CroftgateUSA Fabric Protector



BEFORE EXTERIOR







AFTER EXTERIOR























And here is the $20 pesticide sprayer













INTERIOR BEFORES




















INTERIOR AFTERS



















Not too bad for '03 that has been abused its whole life.


Thanks for looking!

[wifpd4]

Re: Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

Shawn, I could chastise you for waiting so long to do this, but instead I'll say you did a great job. You can now give your mom some of your business cards!!

[Marc08EX]

Re: Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

Nice work Shawn! Kudos for detailing your mom's car!

[BillE]

Re: Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

In my best 'grandmother voice' as she pinches your cheek, "You're such a good boy."

Lookin' good Shawn!

Bill

[greg0303]

Re: Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

Well done, Shawn.

A12 by hand - that paint must be really super delicate (like being black is not hard enough).

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

Those "after" pictures look pretty amazing for a car that's been neglected for so long and then received really nothing more than a consumer cleaner wax, by hand no less, to clean it up. Nice work, Shawn (and you're a good son!).

[MrCLRider]

Re: Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

20 dollar sprayer! My god what does that thing do for 20 bucks? How many gallons??

I remember the days of doing A12 by hand. I do not miss doing that by hand and my hands thank me every time I use my Griots RO.

[ali pontiac]

Re: Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

good job.

[Shawn T.]

Re: Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

Shawn, I could chastise you for waiting so long to do this, but instead I'll say you did a great job. You can now give your mom some of your business cards!!

No please! I'm already kept in the basement.

Thanks David. I appreciate it!

Nice work Shawn! Kudos for detailing your mom's car!

Thanks Marc!

In my best 'grandmother voice' as she pinches your cheek, "You're such a good boy."

Lookin' good Shawn!

Bill

LOL. Thanks Bill.

Well done, Shawn.

A12 by hand - that paint must be really super delicate (like being black is not hard enough).

Thanks Greg! The clear is failing on the hood and has been for the past 2 years. It has crows feet all over the place and I don't know how far off the rest of the car is. That's why I chose A12 by hand.

Those "after" pictures look pretty amazing for a car that's been neglected for so long and then received really nothing more than a consumer cleaner wax, by hand no less, to clean it up. Nice work, Shawn (and you're a good son!).

Thanks Mike! It is amazing what a few products and some time can do to a finish.

Yeah, this car really has been abused. I was afraid to use anything more than A12 on this because the paint has been abused for so long and is failing so badly on the hood.

20 dollar sprayer! My god what does that thing do for 20 bucks? How many gallons??

I remember the days of doing A12 by hand. I do not miss doing that by hand and my hands thank me every time I use my Griots RO.

It holds 2 gallons and has enough pressure to be useful for rinsing dirt out of the wells and cleaner from the wheels, etc.

I sort of enjoy using my hands every so often. Kind of nice to simply enjoy the weather and take your time with a car instead of trying to finish the car for a client by a certain time.

good job.

Thanks man.




P.S. Don't tell anyone but I am working on an interior/exterior restoration on my families other Civic, a silver metallic '05. Needs a lot of work including some Bondo, fibergalss, repainting in some areas, plenty of sanding, etc. I will post pics eventually when I am finished. Probably take until the end of the summer.

[Sal329]

Re: Some TLC for my mom's car-Seal and Int.

Nice work, looks good