Black 2006 Honda Civic - Before & After Pics

[smxcan]

Aside from washing the car (the wrong way and adding swirls for the past 7 years), this was the first time I worked on the exterior.

Results were far from perfect or at least far from what I was expecting.
I think I should have used a compound instead of the swirl remover.


Car:

• 2006 Honda Civic EX (daily driver)
• Original black paint
• Minor scratches, major swirls, keyed along left side

Used:

• PC 7242XP w/ 5" plate @ speed 6
• 2 LC Yellow 6.5" pads
• Wolfgang Swirl Remover 3.0

Time:

• 4 hours

I still have need to apply the Wolfgang paint sealer, but not sure if I should first try compounding and polishing, or try removing swirls again, or simply jump to the paint sealer.

Feed back please

 

[magna_power]

I think it look pretty good! Main question is if you are happy with it... If it was me is apply the sealant, then come back and do it again some other time, maybe after you've done a few more cars...

 

[lokerola]

Hey, nice work! Looks 100% better.

 

[mhphoto]

Pretty darn good turnaround! Just curious, why not go over it again with a white pad and some Wolfgang Finishing Glaze or M205? It'd probably finish out nicer and look better with the sealant.

 

[mhphoto]

Oh, and I love your side-by-side shots! rops:

 

[DeadlySheds]

There are still a few visible RIDS but looks WAY better! I'd keep in mind that even if you achieve perfection, it won't last long on a daily driven black car.

If you are happy then seal it up and be done. If it were mine, I'd try to get work out a few more of those RIDS (if they are not too deep).

 

[rider9195]

Looks good! I know that Honda paint is soft and being black, you won't get it perfect. Your combination of the TSR and the yellow pad is fairly aggressive. So I'm seeing micro marring on your paint in the after pictures. Try a less aggressive combination such as the Finishing Glaze, which is actually a fine polish, with a white or black pad on speed 4-5. That should clear up the paint a lot more. Give that a try and see how it looks!!

 

[TimmyG]

Looks good! I know that Honda paint is soft and being black, you won't get it perfect. Your combination of the TSR and the yellow pad is fairly aggressive. So I'm seeing micro marring on your paint in the after pictures. Try a less aggressive combination such as the Finishing Glaze, which is actually a fine polish, with a white or black pad on speed 4-5. That should clear up the paint a lot more. Give that a try and see how it looks!!

This is fantastic advice. The combo you used looks like it did the job on most of the swirls, you just need a finishing polish to eliminate that micro marring. Looks pretty good for just 1-step though.

 

[KneeDragr]

Thats about how much correction I got out of my DD the first time. I just keep chipping away at it, trying new products, new pads. My car is not 100% swirl free, but you wouldent know by looking at it once I put a coat of wax on. I routinely get told the car looks brand new. Eventually it will get to where I want it and I will put a permanent coating on it. Until then its fun to try new things and practice.

 

[iBizzy]

Aside from washing the car (the wrong way and adding swirls for the past 7 years), this was the first time I worked on the exterior.

Results were far from perfect or at least far from what I was expecting.
I think I should have used a compound instead of the swirl remover.



Feed back please

Hello,
Yes I'm proud to say I'm a Noob
I've been on AG forum about 5 months now. I thought I was a VET cleaning cars. I thought I've been wash'n & wax'n my car right since 1990 when I got my 1st car witch was a this ugly thing.

View attachment 13082

Thanks to Max and Guru Mike Phillips & The whole AG Family.
They have brought me into the Matrix ! I can see now, they open a hole new world for me when it comes to detailing. I think you for got 1 of the most important steps when using a machine. You for got to do a spot check horizontal on your car. That way you know what technique you need to achieve the most maximum correction possible before you do the whole car. I have also forgot that step on the 1st car I did this summer which was my 2003 Suburban. It looked ok ! But I was not satisfied with my results. So I did the whole truck again my 1st available day.
Which turned out very good with the products and my technique I used.
I do believe hands on you can learn quickly . To me I found out my quickest way for me to learn was to read read read and read some more!
Doing a spot check might have save you time and product.
Good luck




Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[iBizzy]

Hello,
Yes I'm proud to say I'm a Noob
I've been on AG forum about 5 months now. I thought I was a VET cleaning cars. I thought I've been wash'n & wax'n my car right since 1990 when I got my 1st car witch was a this ugly thing.

Thanks to Max and Guru Mike Phillips & The whole AG Family.
They have brought me into the Matrix ! I can see now, they open a hole new world for me when it comes to detailing. I think you for got 1 of the most important steps when using a machine. You for got to do a spot check horizontal on your car. That way you know what technique you need to achieve the most maximum correction possible before you do the whole car. I have also forgot that step on the 1st car I did this summer which was my 2003 Suburban. It looked ok ! But I was not satisfied with my results. So I did the whole truck again my 1st available day.
Which turned out very good with the products and my technique I used.
I do believe hands on you can learn quickly . To me I found out my quickest way for me to learn was to read read read and read some more!
Doing a spot check might have save you time and product.
Good luck


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[iBizzy]

Sorry guys for the double post. I have 2 Apps that I use for AG, and 1 of them crash on me and I didn't think it posted.
Told you I'm a Noob.


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[Buckskincolt]

That looks a lot better. I do see some micro maring caused from the yellow pad, or it is also very possible you did not completely work the polish and break down the abrasives. Fact is I'd almost bet the later is more true. The reason for that is you used 6.5" pads on the PC/XP and they are at the max for this machine. If you switch to 5.5" pads you will get your polish to work and break down much better. The maring (milk look) is typical from a diminishing abrasive not completely broken down.

How many section passes did you do with how much downward pressure?

My suggestion would be the get some 5.5" LC Hydro- tech pads. Cyan for cut and Tangerine for polishing. Use the Cyan 5.5" with the TSR then Use some of the WG finishing glaze with the Tangerine and you will be blown away!

You might need a little more aggressive compound to get the deeper RIDS but at this point on a dd I would not worry about them.

Awesome start!rops:rops:rops:

 

[DaveT435]

The car looks great. Great improvement. I know especially with black you want it perfect. I'm sure like these guys said polishing should help. Curious why you decided to use 6.5 inch pads on your PC?

 

[smxcan]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback! This helps.

I think it look pretty good! Main question is if you are happy with it... If it was me is apply the sealant, then come back and do it again some other time, maybe after you've done a few more cars...

That's what I was initially thinking - to seal it for now, try a few other cars, and maybe in a couple years, give it another try. But from all the feedback, I think I'll try polishing before sealing. Thanks!

There are still a few visible RIDS but looks WAY better! I'd keep in mind that even if you achieve perfection, it won't last long on a daily driven black car.

Good point! No point trying to making a daily driver perfect, (aside from the learning experience). If polishing doesn't make a difference, then I'll just seal it.

Looks good! I know that Honda paint is soft and being black, you won't get it perfect. Your combination of the TSR and the yellow pad is fairly aggressive. So I'm seeing micro marring on your paint in the after pictures. Try a less aggressive combination such as the Finishing Glaze, which is actually a fine polish, with a white or black pad on speed 4-5. That should clear up the paint a lot more. Give that a try and see how it looks!!

Great advice. I initially wasn't going to use the finishing glaze since the TSR didn't cause any hazing and finish seemed glossy (at least to me). But if you see micro marring and think it'll help, I'll have to try it. So now I plan on using the WG Finishing Glaze this weekend; something new to try!

I think you for got 1 of the most important steps when using a machine. You for got to do a spot check horizontal on your car. That way you know what technique you need to achieve the most maximum correction possible before you do the whole car. I have also forgot that step on the 1st car I did this summer which was my 2003 Suburban. It looked ok ! But I was not satisfied with my results. So I did the whole truck again my 1st available day.

Thx for the tip! I actually did a spot check initially using the Orange pad with the TSR, which did not remove all swirls/scratches. So I then moved up to the more aggressice Yellow pad with the same TSR, which removed the swirls and most scratches. Unfortunately, I didn't have a more abrasive compound to completely remove the scratches, since I ordered only the WG TSR, WG finishing glaze, and WG paint sealer from AGO. Also I couldn't wait to try out what I just got

That looks a lot better. I do see some micro maring caused from the yellow pad, or it is also very possible you did not completely work the polish and break down the abrasives. Fact is I'd almost bet the later is more true. The reason for that is you used 6.5" pads on the PC/XP and they are at the max for this machine. If you switch to 5.5" pads you will get your polish to work and break down much better. The maring (milk look) is typical from a diminishing abrasive not completely broken down.

How many section passes did you do with how much downward pressure?

My suggestion would be the get some 5.5" LC Hydro- tech pads. Cyan for cut and Tangerine for polishing. Use the Cyan 5.5" with the TSR then Use some of the WG finishing glaze with the Tangerine and you will be blown away!

You might need a little more aggressive compound to get the deeper RIDS but at this point on a dd I would not worry about them.

Awesome start!rops:rops:rops:

Awesome suggestions!!! I was also thinking the 6.5” pads were a little large for the 5” backing plate but that’s what came in the “PC 7424XP – XL Pad Kit.” I'll definitely have to get some 5.5" pads next time. Didn't even consider the "hydro-tech" pads, might have to try that as well.

The number of section passes I did was anywhere from 6 to 10, depending on the results. The downward pressure varied since I applied only as much needed to keep the pad rotating at about 0.5 rotations per second. Maybe varying between 5 - 15 lbs of pressure.

You may be right that I may not have completely worked the polish and broken down the abrasives, since I used at least twice as much of the TSR on the pad than what the instructions were showing in the videos. Using only three blobs was barely covering the 2 sqf section.

The car looks great. Great improvement. I know especially with black you want it perfect. I'm sure like these guys said polishing should help. Curious why you decided to use 6.5 inch pads on your PC?

Thanks! The 6.5" pads were what came in the “PC 7424XP – XL Pad Kit” I just ordered from AGO, so that's all I had to work with.

 

[crxman2010]

You may not run into any problems where you are using DAT style polishes but make sure you are gentle about wiping the polishing off. On our 2004 civic black, I was getting marring just from wiping off Optimum Polish II. At first I was confused and couldn't believe it wasn't finishing down better and then I realized the micro marring was in the direction the towel was used to remove the polish... I do not know if it was some combination of the towel, the soft paint, and polish or if it was completely user failure but I finished the main parts of the car off with Final polish and the micro marring was no longer a problem. Out of curiosity I was able to leave marring with the towel when wiping the final polish off but I had to use a fair amount more pressure.

 

[smxcan]

Three weeks after using the swirl remover, I decided to use the finishing glaze and paint sealant. The finishing glaze step was really necessary in my case (as it was pointed out by many of you - thx), since it removed even more imperfections that were missed by the swirl remover, and before locking in the shine with the paint sealant. Now my 7 year old daily driver looks like a brand new car!

Here are the “Before / After TSR / After FG & PS” pictures.

1. Original Paint (washed).
2. After WG Total Swirl Remover 3.0 with 2 LC Yellow 6.5" pads @ speed 6.
3. After WG Finishing Glaze 3.0 with 1 LC Orange 6.5" pad @ speed 5,
and WG Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 1 LC Blue 6.5" pad @ speed 4.