# My deep bronze Civic Type S GT - gets some love...



## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

After a tough winter it was about time to give the daily driver a bit of love. :thumb:

My civic has been with me since new, and i do try to keep on top of its maintenance, but it hasn't been clayed and machined for over 12months. Family and work always get in the way of dedicating any serious amount of time to detailing it.

Its covered 66.5k miles and has a splattering of stone chips to so for it.

I haven't washed it for two weeks, approximately 700miles, so it was looking proper minging! It was bloody chilly outside today (5degC) at 9am this morning, but i manned up and cracked on, with two jumpers on! :thumb:

The process was as follows:

*Wheels:*
Billberry 1:1
APC

*Pre-wash:*
Valet Pro Snow foam via super spray thing

*Wash:*
Valet Pro Shampoo

*Clay:*
Bilt Hamber with water as lube

*Drying:*
Demo shine and turtle wax ice drying towel

*Machined via:*
G220, 3M yellow pad and Zaino Z-PC and some 3M Ultrafina here and there

*Protection in this order:*
Z2 & ZFX
Z6
Z2 & ZFX
Z6
Z8

*Odds and sods:*
Megs high endurance tyre gel,
Autosol for pipes
AG Fast glass for the erm...glass 
Megs ASD on the rubber surrounds

On with the photos. So thanks to the road grime and salt left over from the winter it looks like its do a cross country jaunt across europe.


















































































































































I hand to warm the clay bar up in some water as it was like a brick!










It revealed the true state of the paintwork, it was covered in winter contaminents.










Before measuring any paint i check the calibration on my PTG as i couldn't remember the last time i used it.










Bang on tolerance










Paint measurements showed between 130ish to 190ish across all panels, shame the panel with the lowest paint thickness is the bonnet, explains the level of stone chips...thanks Honda! :wave:


















Claying had marred the surface of the paint a little so inspecting the paint left me with this to sort out


































There were a few deeper scratches so i was looking just to improve those as much as i could in a day.


















So cracking out the Z-PC (a new product for me) and a 3M Yellow pad after a few passes on the wing it went from:










To this










Soft paint does have its advantages i guess....

Moving around the rest of the panel here are some random reflection shots:


























Following the Z-PC i grabbed my Z2 and ZFX - only looking to add two layers i added an once of Z2 and a few drops of ZFX.


















Really impressed with how this stuff cured quickly. I buffed this off with my freebie Zaino towel courtesy of Elite :thumb:

Layers of Z6 added inbetween and following the final layer of Z2 & the ZFX.










Then as a finale Z8 was laid down










After all the odds and sods where completed the civic was left looking glamourous once more.


























































Showing off a bit of bronze


















:thumb:

Total detail time was 6hours. Which considering what was achieved i was happy with the results.

Interior and engine bay need a little bit of love, but i'll save those for when my hands have regained some feeling! lol

So to recap - from this










To this










R's
Dan


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## Pole Position (Aug 6, 2008)

Great turn around mate!! Real wet looking finish


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## Zetec-al (Feb 28, 2011)

Nice work, and nice car.:thumb:


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## 888-Dave (Jul 30, 2010)

Nice 1 Dan, time well spent by the look of things :thumb:


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## fizzle86 (Apr 1, 2010)

Lovely job especially with only 6 hours work fair play!


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## samm (May 19, 2006)

Looks great.


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

fizzle86 said:


> Lovely job especially with only 6 hours work fair play!


Cheers. 

Yeah in the time i spent i'm happy with the finish. I'm not going to sit here and say its 100%, with some RDS and the level of stone chips it has, it was never going to be unless i spent a few days on it.

But what i wanted is to return the luster to the pearl bronze paint. :thumb:


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## dooka (Aug 1, 2006)

Looks good to me :thumb:, also looks black and not Bronze, but the names manufacturers give colours these days..


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

qstix said:


> Looks good to me :thumb:, also looks black and not Bronze, but the names manufacturers give colours these days..


In the sun its bronze 

It totally changes colour. Nice in the shade that it looks black though


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

very very nice


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## Osarkon (Feb 20, 2011)

I love that colour Civic. I've got a 'champagne silver' one which hides the dirt fantastically but is hard to get a shine on!


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## John-Cupra_TDI (Apr 13, 2009)

Great turnaround, nice work!!


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## woodybeefcake (Oct 12, 2008)

Very nice mate, I love the colour!


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## plr06 (Oct 2, 2010)

great turn around matey


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## HC1001 (May 27, 2007)

Great work Dan, lovely finish dude............:thumb:


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Thanks for all the comments guys 

I'll try and grab a picture in the sunshine (if we have any tomorrow) to show off that Bronze.


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## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

very nice good work

how did the snow foam work with the super sprayer?


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## ashk (Aug 11, 2008)

Looking good mate done my civic the other day however just a proper wash for me need to find a day where i can de tar clay and polish out those swirls. as you were saying soft paint sp correcting doesnt take long.


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

sean20 said:


> very nice good work
> 
> how did the snow foam work with the super sprayer?


It works quite well - it just doesn't give a real thick coat though so only takes off the really loose surface grime and grit which accumulates on the rear arche trims.

Still need to get myself a lance for my PW.


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

ashk said:


> Looking good mate done my civic the other day however just a proper wash for me need to find a day where i can de tar clay and polish out those swirls. as you were saying soft paint sp correcting doesnt take long.


Yeah the paint is so soft it corrects nicely with little pressure and cut. :thumb:


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Nice work in 6 hours:thumb:


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## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thanks iv been thinking of trying the super sprayer as i havnt got a lance


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

Superb work and I bet the 6 hours seamed more like 1.5...:lol:


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

james_death said:


> Superb work and I bet the 6 hours seamed more like 1.5...:lol:


Yeah it went really fast. Always does when you get stuck in. 

I didn't stop for a drink or something to eat....now i feel like i've got a hangover. All dehydrated... 

Well at least i've got monday and tuesday off on annual leave. :thumb:


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Ahh yeah! I do like that! Nice colour that one!


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## AlexTsinos (Oct 10, 2010)

Great Job. :thumb:


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## gally (May 25, 2008)

Fantastic work mate, really brought that back to life and nice to see someone using ZPC. 

Oh what I would say is stone chips are actually worse on thicker paint, the thinner the paint the better.

If you've ever seen a front bumper or bonnet that's been re-painted wait to see how easy it chips. More paint is a bad thing.

When we respray them at work we take the basecoat back to bare metal/plastic, all the bumper and the front half of the bonnet. You really do see the benefits.


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## GSD (Feb 6, 2011)

I remember the first time i saw one of these it was a wow moment a few years on i still love the way they look.Great job there.


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## toomanycitroens (Jan 14, 2011)

Great job, well done.
Nice shiny Civic........


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

gally said:


> Fantastic work mate, really brought that back to life and nice to see someone using ZPC.
> 
> Oh what I would say is stone chips are actually worse on thicker paint, the thinner the paint the better.
> 
> ...


Cheers 

Thanks for that - was considering having it done but if thats the case i'll probably have to live with it. Plus i bet deep bronze is a bugger to match properly.

Edit: Oh - I was very impressed with the Z-PC. As all Zaino products very easy to use and spread about, left little residual oils, but did chalk a little. All in all a great product.


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Couple of extra shots from this morning - showing the bronze in the sun.










































Doesn't look like the same car in the sun.

Noticed a few bits that need sorting now the suns hit it, mainly a bit of hologramming on the rear quarter a lower sill. Still looks sweet though 

Dan


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