Finally a vehicle worthy enough to challenge my new steamer. I’ve been so anxious to get an interior detail, but not just any interior detail. I’ve been waiting for an interior that would challenge the steamer I purchased and thanks to a co-worker I got my wish :thumb: A co-worked contacted me inquiring if I would be able to deal with some wine stains, as soon as I heard wine stains I have to admit I got a little exited :druling: Well on with the detail, the vehicle is a: 2003 Honda Civic Here is the vehicle as it was delivered to me: This picture is deceiving, looks good doesn’t it. Lets take a closer look. Now for some fun stuff: For the main event :cheerl: Like all details, first things first, I need to protect my delicate typing hands :giggle: (Blue, my favorite :thumb First all personal belonging were removed and stored in a plastic bag, floor mats were removed and the first step is to give the entire vehicle a good vacuum: I took my time with the vacuum, there was quite a bit to remove. Wile I was passing the vacuum I filled up the steamer with RO water and let it warm up: (When the red light turns off, the steamer is good to go) Once I was done with the vacuum it was time to steam in up and here is how I tackled the interior. First, the steam: Then with a yellow micro fiber towel I wipe it all down: So this is the process for all vinyl trim, now here is how the first micro fiber towel finished off, keep in mind this towel only managed to cover the following trims passenger doors, half the dash and the lower vinyl trims: Now some of you have been wondering about electronic areas and how safe is the steam on such areas, well here is my process. First I thoroughly steam the area, but on such delicate areas I don’t over steam: Then with the second yellow micro fiber towel I give the steamed area a good wipe down: Here is what the micro fiber picked up on just the door handle: Now I’m not quite done just yet, next I use air compressed air and blow the areas I just steamed: In this picture if you look close you will see small amount of water beads flying out of the crevices, this will of course in sure that all delicate electronic peaces will be completely dry. The final step is to give wipe down the area. Here is how the second micro fiber towel finished off and this microfiber covered the other half of the dash, driver door and what was left of the passenger side: Well this concludes the plastic trims but the steaming has just begun. Now it’s time to steam the rest of the vehicle. For this I had to change the attachment to the steamer and out come yet another micro fiber towel: This helped out to steam the seats like so: Here is what the micro fiber towel and steam picked up: Most importantly this is how the seat finished off: I finished off the rest of the back seat with the same micro fiber towel, then I figured I might as well tackle the floor carpet the same way, so I started off with the driver side, here is how it looked after I had vacummed it: Here is how the towel finished off with the help of the steam of course: The driver side was the worse, so far. So for this area I did have to use my extractor: Once I had extracted the area I steamed it again and here is how the next towel finished of: I got a little over exited with the steaming this time around and I ended up burning a hole through the towel: (oh well, it’s only a yellow micro fiber towel, I got many, many more :shrug Now remember those lovely wine stains on the passenger seat, before: After: Before: After: Well as you can see the steamer did a reasonable job on this wine stain, but I don’t want to miss lead any one. The pictures may not show it but if you look close it’s not a 100% clean but I would say more like 80% To better illustrate what I mean here is the other wine stains I found and did my best with the steamer and the extractor: Looks like wine spilled off the passenger seat and on to the floor. Like I said I did my best with both the steamer and the extractor but the stained wouldn’t budge…oh I should mention I didn’t use any chemicals, I wanted to see what the steamer could do. Here is a closer look of the stains: Well now that the entire vehicle was clean, as best as possible, it was time to protect it. All vinyl trims received Optimum Protection Plus, all the carpet including the seats were protected with: A nice even, thin coat was sprayed on. I had to restrain my self from trying to drench the areas: Next all the glass was given a thorough cleanse with: With a glass micro fiber towel. Well this concludes day one, it was a some what satisfying day. Day two: The second day started by me taking a drive over to a coin operated wash to pressure wash all the floor mats, oh and sorry I forgot the camera :wall: When I got home the floor mats were drenched, so I used my extractor to remove all the excess water. Here are the floor mats before: After: Before: After: Well that about takes care of the interior, I figured I would give the vehicle a quick ONR, the owner was kind enough to take the vehicle to a carwash prior to delivering the vehicle to me, but the snow is melting here in town so it got a little dirty so I figured why not give it a quick wash. This of course was done with the two bucket method with grit guard, the sea sponge and a waffle weaved drying towel: Oh and I also used the steamer, can’t get enough of this steamer: Well that about does it for this vehicle, now for the end results: Well this concludes this detail, as you can see I enjoyed this detail. I’m happy with how the steamer performed and stood it’s ground against this interior, but I was a bit disappointed with the wine stain on the floor (underneath the passenger seat) but perhaps if I use a chemical in combination with the steamer and the extractor I could obtain better results. Well my co-worker was pleased with the end results, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to detail this vehicle, I had a good time with it. Oh when I was all done I couldn’t help but admire the imperfections/defects on the paint of the vehicle, I snapped the following pictures and I didn’t even need to use the Sun Gun for them, the lighting in my garage was plenty to show the defects: (This is the hood) Don’t they look lovely, hopefully if all goes well I’ll get an opportunity to do a major paint correction on this vehicle soon, I look forward to the paint correction :cheerl:
Looks like I may have to get a steamer as well, this year. Damn you, Carlos!! Oh yeah, where'd you get the thicksters, I've been looking for them locally and can't find them. I know you've got more than 1 box. Call it an educated guess.
I wonder how many steamers will be bought thanks to this thread alone:giggle: Seriously though that is one mighty comeback and very impressive work on the steamers part. Great work Carlos. Quick question too, those cirular bulbs on you ceilings...metal halides?
911 the steamer works extremely well, I'm loving it and I'm very glad I pulled the trigger. As for the gloves, I pick them up locally, there is a body shop store that caries a bunch of 3M products along with other things and that's where I get these gloves...now if I remember the name correctly it's Carlson Body Shop Supply (I think, I would have to look at one of there bags to confirm the company name) oh by the way if I remember correctly you should be able to pick them up at a NAPA store as well...but I could be wrong. Oh and you know me and purchases, bulk is the key word with me :woo:
Great job Nica! :applause: No chemicals for cleaning...WOW, that's impressive! :thumb: I can understand you being a little disappointed in the carpet staining, can't get'em all out. I get alot of kids juice box stains that the owners try to clean unsuccessfully at the time of the spill and then forget about it until a year later when they bring the vehicle to me. :yikes: Perhaps the owner tried to clean it and actually set the stain into the carpet? :shead: Thanks for sharing your "steamed interior" with us. :applause2:
lol..yea tell me about it, unintentional I just promoted the steamer....but you know what they say, if a product/item is worth it's value and performs as well as it's advertised it will sell it's self. As for the circular bulbs, no they are not metal halides they sure do look alike though. I can't remember there exact name but they are supposed to be close to the specs of the 3M Sun Gun...close but not an exact match. When my friend designed my lighting system I told him I wanted the lighting system in my garage to match the specs of the 3M Sun Gun...my friend just got me the items, he told me what I was getting but I couldn't be bothered with the name, I'm sure it's on the invoice though :shrug:
Impressive result! I'd like to see the steamer on some neglected leather; it appears to work very well. Behold the power of steam !!! - Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online
Those are some great results Carlos! Like I've said before, my little steamer just can't keep up with something like this, LoL.
Great turn around on the interior! Probably not a good idea for your friend to have open wine bottles/glasses in his car
Wow that looks so good! It is not easy to make light colored interiors look good, but that steamer(and you) really got all the tough scuffs and whatnot off. One question. Do you pre-soak the areas to be steamed with a cleaner? or just steam and then wipe? All I can say is that the level of clean the streamer achieves is un-achievable with the bucket of apc, brush, towel, and an air compressor.
I didn't want to use chemicals as I wanted to put the steamer to the test, see what can do by it's self. With the results I got, I would have to say it held it's ground quite nicely. I agree with you, some stains no matter what you use you just wont be able to remove, not unless you use bleach but then there is a risk of causing damage...the biggest challenge for me is adjusting the steamer, I mean I previously had a system to taking care of interiors. Now with the steamer it's a hole new ball game, but in a good way. I've used this steamer on leather, but not neglected leather. so far it has delivered great results on leather....but I'm hoping that come summer I'll get some neglected leather..oooh light colour leather would be ideal to put the steamer to the test...but so far the steamer has delivered :thumb: Well I'm sure the size, pressure..ect..ect..helps but to be honest I'm sure your steamer will get the job done, it may just take a little longer but it's the same principle. Thank you for the feed back, glad you enjoyed it. As for the wine :shrug: who knows how it got there, but I do enjoy a challenge :gidiup: Glad you enjoyed it Berscht eace: As for the pre-soak, no, no pre-soak, no chemicals either just steam and then wipe a way. I agree with you, the steamer makes interior much easier. I used to do all interior with a bucket of hot water with diluted Meg's APC, a brush, a yellow micro fiber towel and the air compressor and I prefer the steamer over the diluted APC :thumb: Oh by the way depending when I get this vehicle back for the paint correction process, we may be able to tag team on this vehicle, I'll keep you posted so you can come over my garage and we can detail a vehicle together eace:
Thats really good for no chemicals, not only is that more friendly to the environment, it is more friendly on the lungs:thumb: As for the detail im super excited! that looks like a great car to do a tag team paint correction on. Let me know! I'm going to have to figure out how to tell the girlfriend that i'm busy... for the whole weekend:help:
:nod: I'm looking forward to this Honda, should be loads of fun doing some paint correction to it...mind you it is a Honda, so I'm expecting the clear coat to be soft and some what thin...as for the girl friend, she's more then welcome to come but she might get really bore :shrug:
