As detailing season starts back up again, I've been looking for a real challenge, something that will give me a real turn around to be proud of. And I think I've found one, in the form of my good friend's 2002 Honda Civic. She's never been one to clean her car...ever. Based on the level of filth on the car when she got it over a year ago, neither did the previous owner. I won't say much more, other than the picture I'm posting is of the passenger floorboard, or as we call it, the Black Hole. It's gotten considerably worse since I took this photo. Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on her car soon and get it cleaned up for her. At this point it's going to be a charity job...for her own health. If people are interested I'll get some good befores and afters as well.
The owner of the car visited me over the weekend, so I got a chance to look over the car. I told her that as long as she gets most of the trash and stuff out, I'll clean her car. Understandably, she felt bad for having me clean her car but I really do want a challenge and...well I spend a lot of time in this car as well, and it is starting to bother me a bit. Also the owner is totally cool with me posting these pictures, I told her the one condition for me to clean her car was that I get to take before and after photos Though I love working on higher-end cars, for some reason I really love the ones that need a lot of TLC, because the turnaround is generally tremendous. I'm hoping to get to the car sometime next month. Here's what I'll be up against: Wish me luck.
I'm hoping that the layer of trash on everything has helped protect the carpets to an extent. I don't actually remember what the carpets look like, 'cos I've only seen them once. I'm probably just going to attack the whole interior with Zep Citrus...it's been a smoker's car for its whole life so there's plenty of residue that will need cleaning up.
Well at least you can charge for taking all the crap out, then hope all the dirt is on the items so less work is needed.
In addition to a detail, it also looks like I'll be doing a tune-up on this car as well...it's long overdue. I'm debating whether or not to spend much time on the exterior of the vehicle...the paint is in poor shape, with heavy marring and clear coat failures, as well as some spray paint over keyscratch damage. There's dents and scuffs, and the front bumper is falling off. There is no back bumper at all, and all of the wheels don't match. It hasn't been washed in years. With some help from the owner I think all of this can be accomplished in one day, but we will just have to see.
People are fucking disgusting, no sense of pride, it's an embarassment to have you as a friend riding in her car when you have no place to sit or put your feet. "Let me just throw shit everywhere and never use a proper trash bin"
I think it's great that you're rising to this challenge. I go into college apartments, and see something similar with their carpets...and the sense of accomplishment that comes when you make a crappy carpet look like new is really something. Forget about all the folks that are being awfully negative...just get it looking good. A steamer would be a HUGE help on this car.
In her defense, she just went through a pretty tough time with some stuff that happened in her life, but her car has always been messy as long as I've known her. Her room and everything are clean but the car...not so much. But currently the car is out of commission, another warning light popped up on the dashboard and the car is driving funny so we gotta get that checked out. If I didn't live an hour away things would be much easier. Stay tuned for more updates on poor little Sgt. Pepper (it has a name of course).
Well, I did it. I'll just post one picture for now, but check out Show and Shine later today for the full story! This is just some of what I was up against:
