by "yitznewton" (yitznewton)
Published 05/02/2017 at 17:04
by "yitznewton" (yitznewton)
Published 05/02/2017 at 17:04
Tags: detailing
STARS: 4
2016 was my first full year of ownership of my S2000, and I clay barred it midway through the year. I was really impressed with how much it cleared up the paint. This year, my goal was to apply polish and try to clear up the damaged clear coat on the trunk and hood as much as possible. After a lot of hemming and hawing, I finally pulled the trigger on the purchase, and started the work today.
My plan is to do the car in sections. Today was the tail section, including deck lid, rear quarter panels, and rear bumper. I polished the exhaust tips last week as well.
First-world suburban problems: I don’t have an indoor place to do this work, and although today’s medium-warm overcast weather was ideal for the job, the wind was up, and every thirty seconds or so deposited a bushel full of tree debris off the roof onto the surface I was working on. That resulted in a lot of cursing, blowing, and swishing with one towel after the next.
I used a Porter Cable 7424XP dual-action polisher with Chemical Guys pads of varying duty. First up after wash and clay was Megiuar’s M105 compound. (I tried the M205 first, but it was not nearly enough for the state of my paint.) It was really impressive how clear the reflections are in the paint now! I followed that up with M7 glaze and M21 sealant.
Now that the ambient noise is gone, it’s quite obvious where the worst of the clear coat damage is, but at least the rest looks nice now. Damn but it takes a long time to do all this; aside from cleanup, I must have spent at least two and a half hours on the tail. It would go faster with more experience, and without the constant tree craps.
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"arl" (arl1968)
05/02/2017 at 17:12, STARS: 1
Looking good! I don’t have a garage either. But I can recommend those portable shade structures. When I do my yearly polish I drag out the pop-up shelter. It makes a big difference. You can get them at WalMart or Costco for like $100.00. It is money well spent.
The m105/205 combo is fantastic! Did you tape off your windshield/top? I found that M105/205 splatters pretty easily and is a bear to get off. Obviously, I’m no pro, but man - that stuff goes everywhere. I love it when the paint has been clayed and polished; smooth as a baby’s butt!
"Noah - Now with more boost." (antriebverliebt)
05/02/2017 at 17:13, STARS: 0
the wind was up, and every thirty seconds or so deposited a bushel full of tree debris
Once the pollen gets bad, I pretty much give up on detailing until Summer. Looks good though! Beware of the yellow dust...
"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
05/02/2017 at 17:17, STARS: 0
Couple of n00b mistakes I forgot to describe: one was ending a section specifically at a seam rather than go to the edge of the whole trunk surface. Another was running the polisher over the Honda badge, which of course was loose and so jiggled around, marring the paint underneath. I anyway needed to go in manually with polish to neaten up all the shmutz on, under, and around the badge.
"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
05/02/2017 at 17:18, STARS: 1
I followed the Autogeek video about only running the polisher when it’s on the surface. Of course I forgot once, and did get a bit of spray. I have to do the 303 treatment on the soft top later anyway, so I wasn’t too concerned about that.
"vicali" (vicali)
05/02/2017 at 18:26, STARS: 1
Nice work, looking good
I’m still using up M80 and M83 DAT polishes -’Diminishing abrasives which become duller and offer less cut as they are worked.’ instead of the fancy new SMAT polishes -’Super Micro Abrasive Technology, meaning the abrasive particles are all incredibly small and sharp, but do not break down in the traditional sense.’
Brrrrr...
Now I’ve got a garage so it’s less weather dependant..
I don’t keep track of time while I detail, usually I end up going pretty late with the door closed, lights on, music going, and pc running.. It’s usually 4-6 hours depending on how many correction steps I take; Wash, CB, M83/M80, Step2 polish, then wax..