Picking up this little red civic

Rei86 said:
I wish I was there to help you out, looks like so much fun.
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Thanks, it's awesome to see the transformation and what you're capable of. This is by far THE WORST finish I'd dealt with to date. BUT: I knew deep down, I could get it back when I first saw it. Lots of little pits and stuff, but that happens from use. The clarity blew me away! All those swirls and scratches went bye bye!!

Yep, She has 154k on Her and drives BEAUTIFULLY. You'd never know it! Feels like it has 54k on it or less. She'll look MINT once done. :) Thanks!!:props:
 
96Lude said:
Having owned 3 Hondas, (95 Civic Coupe, 2000 Civic Coupe) and my 96 Honda Prelude which I have owned since 2003, I can tell you they are very reliable cars. Excellent purchase and good work on the polishing.
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Thank you VERY much. We have a '99 odyssey in the family(you'll see the reflection of it in one of the pics, BADLY neglected finish lol, it's a work horse) and it's very reliable. I think the transmission was the only item replaced on it next to brakes/wipers. Nothing else major. 'Bout 100k miles or so. No complaints! My blue civic DX hatch was quite good on gas and dependable. Honda's are good cars. No doubt.
 
Honda's V6 with its Auto tranny was notorious for failing. Hear its gotten better but they're now more like Glass instead of fail prone.

And yeah J Z06 if i lived near by I would have loved to help you out. The fun I had in polishing out my car was great. Getting rid of the swirls...than seeing RIDS was fun
 
Yup a friend from high school bought His wife one, Also had a tranny failure('99 too). :) I wouldn't turn down an additional set of arms to either A. wipe or B. buff LOL! Micro-Fiber towels are a God Send! I used to use 100% cotton towels and they'd smear like the dickens with Menz. MF's are like magnets! they remove everything so effortlessly. Thanks!!
 
I've finally started to detail the exterior. It's been interesting and never before have I seen my FLEX barely cut through heavy swirling/abrasions. I used the CCS yellow pad and presta ultra cutting creme(makes SIP feel like hand lotion LOL) and it laughed at it! Even on six. SO: out came the rotary with the meguiars burgundy wool heavy cut pad on a few sections. I followed that with the FLEX as I can't stand holograms and they seem to go hand in hand with rotary buffers. Also, they make a friggin' mess!(rotary buffers). So far, the hood, roof and trunk have all been done with the rotary. The back bumper too. I've had a little experimentation with the meguiars burgundy coarse foam pad using the presta stuff, SIP to really grind the hell out of this neglected paint and make it shine! I just did SIP and the burgundy pad with the FLEX on the whole car. Not sure what's going to follow. It looks so much better it's amazing! The roof is still swirled and has some deep scratches...but it's light years better than before. Some pics!:
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The hood! all bad! again, the FLEX was NOT touching this! There are times when you MUST use a rotary.
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After :)
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I will add a few more as I go...this is a seriously lengthy process! I could never do this full time LOL!
 
A few more:
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Badly oxidized/swirled
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Nice huh? LOL!
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Back bumper looking a LOT better
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Gloss is getting there!
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That's looking alot better. I always loved old civics. I'm really liking this thread. Keep us updated!
 
My arms are going to fall off! :) And boy this single stage paint really clogs up the pads! I used two for the roof. Menzerna SIP-FLEX3401 on a maroon meguiars coarse pad. It SIP really finishes so well! Might go to Intensive polish/orange then finish it with either nano or 205 on white. LOL, I can not wait to finish this thing!! But I am feeling rewarded on restoring the paint.
 
Intensive polish/orange pad....nice combo! VERY short working time! a few passes and it's done. 3/4 of the car is done, I'm wondering what to finish off with, 205, Nano or PO85RD(which is CAKE to work with). White ccs pad for 205 and Nano...black for PO85RD.
 
I'm not sure how soft or hard the paint is. I would use 205 or nano after IP though. Then you could possibly use PO85RD, but I'm not sure if it will be worth it or not :)
 
It's all set for the final step! This car has soft paint, I believe. I'll give 205 a shot on a white pad. Luckily I have many! It's gleaming! I'd love to e-mail some pics to the original owner down in Florida!
 
Yea, that would be neat! I know what you mean though when you talk about single stage paint, it get's all over the pads!
 
It's good to go! Wow what a process! Menzerna stuff works quite well. There are still some RIDS here and there. The roof shows a bunch but it is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was.

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These are the completed shots. I took these last week...but stayed at our summerhouse and didn't get around to loading them in and posting them. It has two coats of Meguiar's gold class wax on top. VERY happy with how it turned out. Hopefully it'll be good to go for winter. I have thoughts on collinite 845(read a LOT about how durable it is) for it just in case before late September the Meg's starts to flatten out.
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It is a MASSIVE improvement in the sun(and overall) compared to what it was!
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I waxed the door and trunk jambs too :). Went a little nuts on this one. It should help with drying time. The leaf blower works wonders.
 
Yea, I like the leaf blower when drying a car.

Looks like you got the H for it as well!

Nice work :)
 
Great job man!

And yeah I wish I still had a leaf blower, remember using it back than was a better option than this Metro Vac Blower.
 
Looks GREAT!!

I miss my Honda Prelude:(
I shouldve never sold it :cry:
 
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