Honda Civic - Orange Peel Removal & opticoat-ed

[zckid]

Hello friends

A very good Thursday from Mauritius

This detailing job took over 5 days, from decontamination to coating, loads of defects removal and paint leveling.

Upon arrival:

Wash:
2BM method using mf wash mitt
Local car shampoo and APC mix

To the wheels

Washed already:

close-up of contaminants

Decontamination with Sonax full effect + Clay

in- process

Ready to be coated and protected

To the paintwork

Clay

Assessing the work to be done


Not easy to be noticed. On this color, it’s as if the defects have got “shyness DNA”

From previous respray job, rubber trims damaged! I was very sad for the friend who brought his Honda to me. Little or nothing I could do for that.

NEW paint defect (at least for a newbie like me, doing detailing as a passion)

More familiar

light scratches and RIDS, full of swirls but the metallic flakes just make it difficult to be captured.

The headlights

wait, not yet over

the lower sections

subsurface defect

Look

close-up

same on both sides of the rear bumper


Paint correction:


The paint has sanding marks and scratches beaneath the clear-coat. I had to proceed with extreme caution and to add, Hondas are the champion of soft paints.

Tools: Makita rotary, Flex 3401
Polishes: Menz FG 400, 203S, PO85rd
Pads: Carpro denim pads, LC white, LC HT Crimson, LC white
Glass: DP Glass restorer with glass polishing pads, Opti-sealed
Wipe down : IPA mix
Coating: Opticoat with supplied applicator, wiped with suede mf towels (better than normal mf towel IMO)
Trims & tyres: CG new look trim


After correction

a spot or 2 remain, would have needed more clear coat removal

The roof

close-up

More swirls appearing due to a flatter surface, holograms are there too from the compounding step

My friends

Beading during the polishing stage

Checking and checking

TA DA

Attending to the details

Focussed

menz 203s

rare incidence: Shot by Mrs

extreme close-up

 

[zckid]

The hood

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Amazing work and very detailed write-up with excellent photography work capturing the before and after results.


:dblthumb2: :dblthumb2: :dblthumb2:

 

[zckid]

Amazing work and very detailed write-up with excellent photography work capturing the before and after results.

thanks a lot Mike. You have been an inspiration to me since I got interested in detailing :iagree: Others are included too


Cheers all the way from our small island to u, and the whole AGO team and forumers :dblthumb2::dblthumb2::dblthumb2:


Had to move, so here is the rest of the post


The hood

The task at hand

Many scratches found after compounding, when the blurriness is gone

Inch-by-inch inspection

More inspection

The Sun test

The swipe test

Finishing beads

Feeling blessed

The boot lid

Peek-a-boo wih the sun

Perfection wanted :buffing:

Couldn’t get the sun from the camera, but no swirls left

The doors and vertical panels
To recap

Orange peel and textured paint removed

Almost done

Hello!

I’ve still got an agricultural garage/workshop Im the MAN

A few reflection shots

[B]Some Finishing beads[/B]

 

[zckid]

Coating the mirror

Some opti-beads shots

The Finishing pics

Thanks for reading. Your comments and thoughts are most welcome.

Cheers

Zaid

 

[allenk4]

Great work

Great Write up

Thank you very much


What was your experience with the CarPro Denim pads for OP removal
Any details would be great.

-Speed

-Pressure

-Rotary or PC

-3" and 5"

-FG400

-# Passes

 

[Legacykid]

Awesome work, do you use any special marker, or just a plane old sharpie?

 

[Zelfiris]

Amazing work.

Was the whole car repainted?

 

[zckid]

Awesome work, do you use any special marker, or just a plane old sharpie?

Thanks a lot bro

it's the simple whiteboard markers that I use. (the non permanent ones).

It goes away when you buff or wipe with a mf towel

 

[zckid]

Great work

Great Write up

Thank you very much


What was your experience with the CarPro Denim pads for OP removal
Any details would be great.

-Speed

-Pressure

-Rotary or PC

-3" and 5"

-FG400

-# Passes

Thanks for your kind reply Allen. :dblthumb2:


The denim / velvet pads are made especially for the rotary, not DA.

there's a learning curve with the denim/velvet pads. get yourself a scrap hood or panel and try 1st, until you become used to it.
But it does remove orange peel with the right compound.

but remember denim pads are not forgiving (esp, on edges and curves on the panels, where paint forms sort of a valley at the edge) as far as possible keep your pad flat. Once you do a panel wait until it's cool to rework it. you have to be twice cautious. :dblthumb2:

else you can achieve high correction with it (you can tackle scratches, orange peel or pits and pores etc...) and finish in 1 or 2 more steps

:buffing:

With FG400 and the denim pads, I spread the polish on the panels first rather than on the pad itself (my preference) as I'd do with all the normal buffing.n I work it for one pass at appr. 900-1000 rpm, then increase to appr. 1300 to 1500 with medium but steady pressure, moving my arms slowly to get the best of the cutting action.

I'm not a pro yet, just the enthusiast learning from online forums and videos. I learned one thing from the rotary. "adjust your arm movement to go with the flow of the rotary".

1. You'll get tired less
2. most importantly, you'll avoid damaging the paint with the denim pads, i mean the edge of the pads, a wrong movement (tilted, at an angle, or near the edge) at speed 3 on the makita = high possiblity of flake off.


For the number of passes, it will depend from panel to panel and the extent of texture on the paint. 4 -6 passes in general will do.

You can finish with Menzerna 203s on a polishing pad with a DA since the surface will be flatter after using the denim pads. Or you can have 2 more steps if you wish.

If yours is factory paint, u can use the velvet pads. but do practice on a unused panel and finish in more step. the velvet pads are equal to 3000 grit while denims = 2000 grit

there's a post by Todd Helme on autopia forums on this subject. please have a look at it. it's very detailed

thanks and do bring us the :buffing: pics

 

[zckid]

Amazing work.

Was the whole car repainted?

thanks a lot for ur encouraging words Zelfiris :dblthumb2:

yes whole car was repainted rops: