# Possibly The Dirtiest Honda S2000 Ever Receives Full Make Over!



## Prestige Detail (Aug 27, 2012)

Hope everyone had a great Christmas - thought I'd put this up for those people who aren't working over the Christmas / New Year period - so you have something to read!

I really do like the Honda S2000s, they're great cars - so I was pleased when this one came in for a detail. It had been well-loved and driven a lot. As you can see from the photos it was in a real state - something to really get my teeth into.

The paintwork was very tired, scratched and swirled. The diamond cut wheels needed refurbishing, the wheel nuts all needed a good polish as they were covered with surface rust. All the shuts were filthy, under the bonnet the engine bay didn't look as though it had ever been touched. It was, as they say, a project!





































I started with an Ultimate Snow Foam treatment and washed the roof with it as well. Then I used Tardis to remove the adhesive components such as tree sap and tar, then I removed the ferrous contamination using Bilt-Hamber Korrosol. The boot, bonnet and door shuts were tackled with Meguiar's All Purpose Cleaner as was the engine bay. I used a detail brush to get into all the tight corners to make sure they were really clean, otherwise during rinsing any remaining dirt would just run straight down the bodywork.



















A final treatment with Ultimate Snow Foam and a Flexipad Clay Sponge and the contamination was gone.

I washed the S2000 using the Two Bucket Method and Swissvax Car Bath, dried it and brought it back into the studio. Next I took the wheels off and sent them for refurbishing. Whilst they were off I repainted the brake callipers.










The wheel nuts all had surface rust so I used a polishing sponge soaked in cleaning agents to polish them them. The sponge moulds around the shape of the nut so it makes it easier to grip them and get the shine up.



















I used the same polishing sponges with the exhaust tips too:



















Looking at the paint under high intensity lighting the damage was obvious: swirls, scratches and general weathering:



















So, using the FLEX PE14-2-150 with an Orange HexLogic Pad and SCHOLL Concepts S3 Gold High Performance Cutting Compound I set to work to restore the paint.



















I did a final finish with a HexLogic Blue Polishing Pad and Menzerna SF4000. Then I cleansed the bodywork using panel wipe and protected it using CQuartz FINEST. The wheels came back so I protected those with CQuartz FINEST too, plus the exhaust tips and the wheel nuts. It was definitely starting to come together!










The fabric hood was protected with Gtechniq I1 SmartFabric Coat, the glass with G1 ClearVision Smart Glass and the tyres were dressed with Swissvax Pneu. The interior was actually not too bad (considering the condition on the exterior) so I gave that a vacuum, then cleaned the dash with Swissvax Quick Finish Interior and the leather seats were cleaned with Swissvax Leather Cleaner Forte.

So, number plates replaced the car was good to go. The customer was so chuffed, simply could not believe it was the same car he'd dropped off a week ago. Have to say it was a great project to work on and the before and after results really were impressive (even if I do say so myself! )



















Thanks for looking.

There's a full write up with more pictures on the blog on my website.

If you want more pictures, including before and after shots have a look here.

If you would like to see pictures of more cars I've detailed they're all in my portfolio.


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## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

Certainly in dire need of some TLC, cracking transformation. What were the cleaning agents used with the sponge? Was it a regular bit of foam or something like a hand polishing pad?


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## m500dpp (Feb 17, 2006)

Now thats a proper detail on a car that needed it! I'm afraid I find the detailing of one week old cars to be a bit boring!

Thanks for posting.


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## spursfan (Aug 4, 2009)

Great finish. paintwork looks deep as a pool, car now looks mint:wave:

Kev


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## Petrol-head (May 26, 2008)

Stunning work and love how the engine bay cleaned up. S2000 is on my bucket list of cars to drive!


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## OILRS (Oct 26, 2008)

Spot on mate what a turn around


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## vek (May 3, 2011)

very impressed with the end product :thumb: im another fan of these hondas


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## meraredgti (Mar 13, 2011)

Lush car, sweet detail


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## Blueberry (Aug 10, 2007)

Great work in a gorgeous car


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## Tuddie (Aug 14, 2010)

Superb work, can I ask what silver paint you used for the callers please?


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## waxtrucker (Mar 21, 2014)

Really excellent job, well done proper detailing


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## 6stw (Aug 23, 2014)

Great job, whoever did the refurb of the wheels has done a great job too by the looks of it!:thumb:


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## cleancar (Sep 21, 2006)

Tuddie said:


> Superb work, can I ask what silver paint you used for the callers please?


you wont go wrong with silver smooth hammerite


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## TonyH38 (Apr 7, 2013)

Superb, great turn around


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## ardenvxr (May 22, 2013)

Great work


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## CTR247 (Aug 11, 2013)

Nice work s2k turned out very well , big fan of these motors


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## Yellow Dave (Apr 5, 2011)

Prestige Detail said:


> .


Looking at the damage here and the almost flat spots, was this visible previous to the claying? As I've experienced this after using a fine clay mit

A cracking car once you'd finished with it!


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## Prestige Detail (Aug 27, 2012)

ocdetailer said:


> Certainly in dire need of some TLC, cracking transformation. What were the cleaning agents used with the sponge? Was it a regular bit of foam or something like a hand polishing pad?


Cheers OCD thanks for the comments, the pads I use are the type used for fine sanding of bannister rails and balustrades, I use these instead of wire wool the use a metal polish after refine the finish.


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## Prestige Detail (Aug 27, 2012)

Dave, these marks are directly caused by the clay mitt, not a problem if you're machining the paint after but def a downside of using the mitts.


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## Prestige Detail (Aug 27, 2012)

Tuddie said:


> Superb work, can I ask what silver paint you used for the callers please?


Silver smooth hammerite for these as I wanted to try keep the car as close to original as possible so I didn't want a high gloss finish!


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## ALLR_155528 (May 20, 2014)

Nice turn around


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## Summit Detailing (Oct 9, 2006)

You have to love these type of cars/details - something to get properly stuck in too.

Good job


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## 20vKarlos (Aug 8, 2009)

A lot better than it was :thumb:


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## Demetrios72 (Jun 27, 2011)

Great work :thumb: looks awsome!


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