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Of course, he had a big date upcoming and wanted the car in tip-top shape. As we knew absolutely nothing about this import from
Here's the vehicle as delivered...
As you can see it's a semi-dark slate gray color. It had very light swirling that was virtually impossible to capture with a camera and had to be viewed at extreme angles in sunlight. What was in abundance were the classic examples of a poor dealer "detailing" session prior to delivery as well as some RIDS which would require attention.
Wax remnants in the badge...
And on the rubber hood seal...
Dealer attempt to employ the ubiquitous "touch-up pen"...
And again...
More wax residue...
Sure, let's polish only the first 1/8" of the tips...no one will see the rest right?
Or just not polish it at all...
And don't forget to add a ridiculously conspicuous dealer decal...
Some water etching for good measure…
After the initial inspection was complete I decided on a course of action. I knew I only had one full day (approximately 9 hours) to work with so I decided on a basic wash/clay/wax with spot corrections via the Flex for certain RIDS as well as a quick interior wipedown.
Wash Regimen:
- Pure Oceans Citrus Boat Soap pre-soak to remove all wax, grease, tar, oil residues, dressings, treatments, etc that may be on the paint surface.
- Rinse vehicle clean.
- Wash vehicle with Meguiar’s NXT Car Shampoo via 1-bucket/foam gun method with Home Depot grout sponge as wash media.
- Pre-soak rims/tires with DP Gel Wheel Cleaner and allow to dwell.
- Without drying, pull vehicle into carport.
- Clayed paint surface, glass, and metal trim with DP Detailer’s Clay with Meg’s Last Touch diluted 1:1 as clay lube.
- After claying is complete, pull vehicle back out and clean rims/tires with a Meg’s Gold Class Car Shampoo solution and assorted brushes.
- Remove any potential clay or quick detailer residue with final Gold Class wash again using 1-bucket/foam gun method.
Pure Oceans Citrus pre-soak…
Extent of surface contamination (this was typical all over the vehicle)…
Since this was only going to be a spot correction job, I prepped an ADS-spec CCS Green pad with Meguiar’s M205 and proceeded to begin narrowing down an exact process. No narrowing required….this combo completely removed the defects as this particular Honda paint proved to be soft as butter. Since one pass was removing both RIDS and the very light swirling I decided to use up an hour of my rapidly dwindling time an quickly polish the horizontal surfaces (hood, decklid, portion of quarter panels).
Spot defects and RIDS before…
And after M205…
Pulled the vehicle back out after polishing and performed a final soak/rinse with Meguiar’s Gold Class Car Shampoo and Gilmour foam gun to remove any polish residue, dusting, etc. Once out in the full sunlight the polished areas looked simply stunning…as close to 100% correction as I’ve seen in a looooong time.
After final soak/rinse…
Dried the vehicle and began work on the interior. As it came directly from the dealer it was well vacuumed and generally clean. Vinyl/leather surfaces were untreated however and the vehicle had horribly dirty door jambs and harder to reach seam areas.
Interior Regimen:
- Vacuumed all carpeted surfaces with RIGID shop vac.
- Cleaned all vinyl surfaces and rubber seams/seals with Meguiar’s M39 Rubber & Vinyl Cleaner.
- Dressed all interior vinyl surfaces with Meg’s Supreme Shine Protectant.
- Cleaned leather surfaces with Meg’s 2-Step Aloe-Based Leather Cleaner and Leather Conditioner.
- Wiped down steering wheel, pedals, and all interior plastic surfaces with Meg’s Quik Interior Detailer.
- Cleaned interior glass with Meg’s NXT Glass cleaner.
- Since the vehicle still had a fair amount of “new car scent” I did not use any Meg’s Odor Eliminator.
All cleaned up and ready for visitors…
Final Prep:
- Clean all exterior rubber trim with Meg’s M39 and dress with M40.
- Dress tires with Meg’s Gold Class Endurance Tire Gel.
- Clean exterior glass with Meg’s NXT Glass Cleaner.
- Cleaned all exterior metal, chrome trim, badges, and exhaust tips with Meg’s Hot Rims Chrome Polish liquid.
- Wiped down rims with microfiber and Meg’s Last Touch diluted at a 1:1 ratio.
- Treated convertible top with 303 Fabric/Vinyl Top Cleaner.
- Apply one coat of NXT 2.0 Tech Wax (liquid)
- Wait approximately 45 minutes or so while area is cleaned and organized
- Apply one coat of Pinnacle Signature Series II Carnauba Wax (paste)
And of course the final results…
Remember these?
Close up’s of the finish…
Some decent reflection shots…
My personal favorite (really demonstrates the depth and liquidity of SSII)…
Got a PM about what I used to remove the dealer decal. I used a household hair dryer to warm the decal until it was mildly hot to the touch. Used a plastic razor from ADS to peel it off carefully! Then used Goo Gone to remove the glue. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about here's a pic...
As always, thanks for looking...
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