# Honda Civic; House of Horrors!! (Pic Heavy)



## ad172 (Oct 14, 2009)

OK so been looking forward to this one for quite a while. Picked up this Honda Civic from a Main Dealer a few months back and I've been waiting for the opportunity to give it a good correction. I knew the paint finish was bad, but this really did surprise me!!

Started off with a good rinse










Then on to the wheels with following procedure:

Tyre soaked with Megs APC [1:5] and agitated with brush
Alloy sprayed with Bilberry [1:5] and agitated with Envy brush for outer face and EZ Detail brush for inner areas
Alloy sprayed with Iron X and left to dwell
Rinse







































Next the car was snow-foamed and shut lines, grills etc. agitated with various brushes while it dwelled.









Car was then rinsed and onto the wash stage.

Dodo Juice[DJ] Born to be Mild was used in conjunction with the Two Bucket Method. Car was washed with Waschpudel for main panels and DJ mitt for lower levels, cills and door shuts.










Car was then rinsed with Clay stage to follow. The car was not dried in between these stages. Zaino clay in conjunction with DJ Born Slippy as lube.










Car was then snow-foamed once again to remove any remaining lube and dried using Aeolus.










This is what was presented at following these stages:



















So on the face of it the car presents itself reasonably well, but on closer inspection some alarming defects were inherent.

Significant Holograms to all panels

















Swirl Marks & Holograms
















Moving into the garage gave an opportunity to inspect the paint in more detail under controlled lighting.

















































And incredibly this was how a smart repair had been left by the Dealer!!










Whilst I appreciated Honda have a reputation for soft paint, the amount of defect was simply shocking. Realising the scale of the task ahead it was time to get on with the correction.

I've adopted the 3M polish system which I find extremely user-friendly and very logical. I was mindful of the reputation for soft paint so commenced with a set of Extra Fine polish on a Yellow pad however this was way off the mark and no where near sufficient. I followed with a second set of Extra Fine but it was evident I would need to opt for a set of Fast-Cut compound followed by Extra Fine to refine in order to achieve satisfactory results.

Here are some of the results (Hopefully you can see the .Gifs. They are generally cycled as follows Original/set of Fast Cut/set of Extra Fine):

*Rear Door* Worked as two areas
















































*Roof*


























*Rear Quarter*


























*Front Door*


























And now a couple of 50/50s














































Remember the Smart Repair?


The car was then given a thorough rinse and snow foam to remove the dust










And finally given a coat of Dodo Juice Hybrid. Not too many completed shots but hopefully you get the idea.





































Overall an enjoyable detail. Considering the time available and a correction of about 90-95%, the results were really pleasing. A particular highlight was finding out it was actually metallic paint!!!

Thanks for reading and any comments welcome

Adam


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Nice work,I like the animated whatsits! Bit shocked at the half arsed spot repair,although not surprised.My car had a scratch on the bonnet and the dealer wanged it full of paint.It looked really crap,I just wetsanded it with some 2k paper and polished it up.Got it 85% out.


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## Jav_R (Apr 2, 2011)

nice photo effects and work!


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## badman1972 (Jun 24, 2010)

Very nice mate, some great correction and lovely reflections at the end. I bet the missus was chuffed


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## nothelle (Apr 28, 2010)

Whoa...really nice, and that 50/50 animation is a first for me, great illustration


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Very nice pics!!! Great write up, and the GIFs are awesome too!


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Great job done...


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## Demetrios72 (Jun 27, 2011)

Hi guys 

Great work with the Civic :thumb:
It's amazing what you saw once the car was in the garage under the lights!!!.
When it was outside it didn't look that bad.


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## tansel (Sep 26, 2010)

Very very nice indeed :thumb:

I have a few combats with Honda paints too 
But in every single time, after "polish dust removal wash" I always marr the paint while drying the car. 
And have to make another pass with PB BH to conceal them and that shortens the durability of the wax or sealant. Because they are being applied on to a glaze layer.
How did you solve this issue? Is that maybe because of the cloth i am using? 
But i am using a clean uber blue for drying.


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## ad172 (Oct 14, 2009)

Cheers for all the comments. Glad you like the .Gifs as I found them a really useful way to see the correction.



a_tansel said:


> Very very nice indeed :thumb:
> 
> I have a few combats with Honda paints too
> But in every single time, after "polish dust removal wash" I always marr the paint while drying the car.
> ...


I now use an Aeolus for drying. It's basically a Black Baron with a different name and cheaper price tag! I did take some video footage of it so will load it up at some point.


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## tansel (Sep 26, 2010)

ad172 said:


> Cheers for all the comments. Glad you like the .Gifs as I found a really useful way to see the correction.
> I now use an Aeolus for drying. It's basically a Black Baron with a different name and cheaper price tag! I did take some video footage of it so will load it up at some point.


Thank you very much for the feedback :thumb:
I have an air compressor maybe i should find an aparatus to use with it.
Touchless drying


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## fishbonezken (Apr 17, 2010)

Nice photos man!!


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## 500tie (Oct 15, 2009)

Love the animations and boy that was in a terrible state good work mate


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Fantastic work buddy.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Great write up! The moving shots are great! Well done on the work too, great job!


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## stargazer (Aug 9, 2006)

For an 10 Plate car, that paintwork is shocking. I've seen better paintwork on a cars 20 years older than that.

Good correction though.


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## ad172 (Oct 14, 2009)

stargazer said:


> For an 10 Plate car, that paintwork is shocking. I've seen better paintwork on a cars 20 years older than that.


Totally agree. We visited a number of Honda garages and on the whole the paint finishes were terrible. We put a deposit down on this one without seeing it as it was located about 400 miles away. When we went to collect it we managed to get a further £250 off an already good price as I raised a number of concerns with the finish. They must have used a polish with fillers as the finish was not as bad when we saw it.

Adam


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## stargazer (Aug 9, 2006)

ad172 said:


> Totally agree. We visited a number of Honda garages and on the whole the paint finishes were terrible. We put a deposit down on this one without seeing it as it was located about 400 miles away. When we went to collect it we managed to get a further £250 off an already good price as I raised a number of concerns with the finish. They must have used a polish with fillers as the finish was not as bad when we saw it.
> 
> Adam


Is the paintwork soft on Honda cars? My MINI is terrible for this.


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## dann2707 (Mar 25, 2011)

Actually thought you had been cloned on that shot with 4 of you.

Great work.


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## ad172 (Oct 14, 2009)

stargazer said:


> Is the paintwork soft on Honda cars? My MINI is terrible for this.


I don't like to stereotype paints but from what I've read Honda is generally soft. This was confirmed when doing some sample sets looking for a good combination. It was amazing how effective Fast Cut+ was!!



dann2707 said:


> Actually thought you had been cloned on that shot with 4 of you.


I should really credit the idea to Miglior Detailing! Saw it on his website. Have to say I do really enjoy the write-up element of the detail:thumb:


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## Keith_sir (Jun 27, 2011)

Great photo's.


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## 0507448n (Feb 3, 2010)

Stunning job mate.

Yep, Honda paint is crap


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## Mr Face (Jan 22, 2009)

Very impressive, some great paint correction and stunning afters. 

Love the animation too :thumb:


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## cotter (Aug 31, 2008)

That paint was shocking, job well done :thumb:


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## Grizzle (Jul 12, 2006)

Photo's are great thats the way forward i think with the gif images.


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## ad172 (Oct 14, 2009)

Grizzle said:


> Photo's are great thats the way forward i think with the gif images.


It does really help show the progression through the stages!:thumb:


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