Well I’m happy to report my lighting system is about 80% complete. I finally received majority of my lighting system, got it hooked up in a heart beat as I was very eager to detail and I celebrated with this detail. Not a complete paint correction it was basically a new prep detail. A co-worked just purchased the vehicle and asked me if I could do what the dealership would do, with out the high cost of course. I’m referring to the paint protection package and interior package. I told him that he should save his money and that I would be more then happy to prep his vehicle and I would protect it even better then the dealership. Well on to the detail, the vehicle is a: 2009 Honda Civic As I said the vehicle is brand new, about two weeks old to be exact and I was to get it ready for winter and new prep for the interior. Here is the vehicle upon arrival: The door jams were going to need some attention but nothing too serious. Wheel wells were looking far from new but nothing my steamer can’t handle :thumb: As you can see the vehicle really wasn’t in bad condition, just needed some extra attention that’s all. Well usually I would give the entire vehicle a full wipe down but the vehicle really didn’t require it so I first started off by removing all winter floor mats and regular mats and vacuumed the vehicle: Then I noticed the vinyl looked dry so I dressed all vinyl trims with Zymol Vinyl applied via yellow foam applicator, I find these yellow foam applicators work best but that’s just my opinion: Once I had dressed the entire vinyl trims of the vehicle I went back and wiped all vinyl trims with a yellow micro fiber towel, to give it that fresh, mate look: Well I decided to move along with the exterior of the vehicle, to wash the vehicle I used the ONR system with my two bucket system as well. I used the sea sponge as well: All door jams were treated with my steamer, same was done to the wheel wells, rims and tires. The steamer makes quick work of things, what a time saver :worship2: Once the entire vehicle was washed and clean I went back to the interior and applied a healthy coat of: I let the Fabric Guard duel while I prepared to seal the entire vehicle. The seal of choice is: :nod: DuraGloss 105, this product hasn’t let me down yet. This should be plenty to last through the winter. As I usual, I apply a generous coat of on the surface: All door jams were also treated with DuraGloss: The rims were also sealed :thumb: While the sealant was left to bond to the surface of the vehicle I decided to dress the tires. For this I used Zymol Tire: The sealant was left to duel for over 30min and was buffed off with some Cookie Monsters: All windows were cleaned with a window micro fiber and Stoners Invisible Glass. Here are the end results: Door jams looking the way they should be :thumb: Well the owner of the vehicle was very happy with the end results. By the way the owner stayed to watch me work, he wanted to help at times but I told him I’d rather do all the work my self….I did let him help me buff off the sealant though. He sure noticed how soft the Cookie Monster micro fiber towels were. The owner commented that there is clean and then there was detailing, he was impressed by the end result and the process involved. Best part was that he saved him self a significant amount of money and received a better end result compared to what the dealership would have done. Well hope you enjoy the detail and there are many more to come now that I have the lighting system some what complete in my garage :thumb: I've started to clean the spider webs of all my detailing gear, I'm back in action :canada:
Carlos great detail there buddy, glad to see you posting up details again now that your garage is almost complete. Now where are the pictures of the steamer in action, maybe even a video???? As always I love your detailed write ups because they make it so enjoyable to read.
Glad you enjoyed the detail, boy did it ever feel great detailing again. I was so anccious on receiving the lights, when I got the phone call they were in it only took me 6hrs to get them up and running..well I'm still waiting for the rest of the package but at least 80% are in and operational. As to the steamer, I wanted to do a video on this one but the owner of the vehicle stuck around and I totally forgot about doing the video..too busy chit chatting with my friend (friend/co-worker/owner) :sorry: I've got another vehicle coming up next weekend, I'll definitely do a video on the next one :thumb: Thank you for the feed back eace:
This was a great job to get back into the swing of things with. Looks very "detailed". Nice work , as usual! :worship2: That Honda is now well prepped to do battle with the Canadian winter. Thanks for sharing. Need icture: of your new set up. Dave
glad to see you back in action there carlos... im sure it does feel good to get back into detailing! any word on your purchase here in the states?
Car looks great and I enjoyed the write up as well. Can't wait to see that steamer in action. So what was your process on the fabric guard? I've never used it on an interior, only a convertible top. It wasn't mine the 303 actually belonged to the owner, he just had never used it. So what was the process with it.
That Duragloss is shiny a hell!! I cant believe you didn't actually polish the car. I can't wait to see the steamer in action. Great job.
Hi Nica, It really looked like you had some fun with this car. Sometimes I forget what DG can do. I'm Impressed all over again. That car looks beautiful. Real nice job. Nice write up as well. I really enjoy writes ups. I noticed that you're not ready to show us your new lighting yet. I really hope to see it when it's complete.
Thank you DLR, glad you enjoyed it and yes this was a perfect vehicle to start off with. My entire detailing process has been altered now and I'm trying to get used to the steamer and the ONR system, so far getting the hang of things but it's different then what I'm used to. As for the garage, it's not done yet...I still have lots of work I'm about 30% done...goal is to have it done by next summer :thumb: When it's all done I'll post pictures of it...but as I detail you guys will get glimps of the finished product :nod: it felt great detailing again, didn't realize how much I missed it. Regarding the purchase in the US, still debating it but I'll keep you in mind when I finalize the deal eace: Thanks Phil eace: Well this was my first time using the fabric gard as well, normally I would have gone with Scotch guard on the interior but I did a bit of reading on this Fabric Guard and from what I read it's supposed to work just as good (if not better) then Scotch guard. As to the process I used, well it was quite simple..but keep in mind this was the first time I used it so I'm still learning. I vacumed the entire interior (seats, carpets..ect..ect) making sure everything was clean and then I simply sprayed the product through out the entire interior. Now I normally would put a large amount of product but seeing as it was my fist time and from what I read, I did my best to not completely drench the carpet/seats. Just enough to make sure everything was covered. Again first time I used it so I'm not even sure what I did is correct or not but the instructions were simple, just spray the product on. I'll be using this on a few other details coming up as well so I'll keep playing with it. Yea I know, I wanted to polish the vehicle. It had some scratches, holograms...you know the regular dealership stuff but winter is coming it's best to leave it till spring. The car will be sitting outside 24/7. If anything I'm quite curious how DG will look like come spring, I'm expecting it to hold up but I'm still curious to see it next spring. Thank you pirex, glad you enjoyed it buddy. Thank you for the feed back :chest: Glad you enjoyed it Buddy eace: As to the garage, no it's not ready to be shown to you guys just yet...hopefully soon it will be. I still have a lot of work to put in to it, so far it's looking good but the end result is going to be impresive...I hope arania: Thank you Carn, glad you enjoyed the detail. Always appreciate the feed back eace: Oh by the way the owner of the vehicle told me that I made a mistake, the vehicle is an 09 not an 08....my bad :sorry: I'll fix that.
The results look great Carlos! I really miss your writeups, LoL. I was having withdrawals, haha! How do you like using the steamer for wheel wells? Do you find it's a better method of cleaning the wells rather than our traditional methods of degreasing and agitation? I currently only have the SteamFast SF-275 which doesn't quite have the cleaning power of your steamer. Can't wait for your steamer video! Although I'm not Carlos, hehe, I thought I'd chime in since I'm a 303 FG user. You pretty much just coat the entire interior fairly lightly and ensure even coverage, well carpets and floor mats, with the 303 FG. That's all to it. It's pretty nice stuff and really does the job and isn't just some sort of marketing.
Denzil, glad you enjoyed the detail eace: As to the steamer, it's incredible what you can do with the steamer. The steamer will literally make quick work of anything, from wheel wells, rims, tires even the surface of the vehicle. I mean my Lexus had a tiny spot of tree sap, I put the steamer on high and it dissolved the tiny spot of tree sap :what: I was impressed, one thing it doesn't work well on though, well not that it doesn't work it's just the nature of the contamination. What I'm referring to is tar, again a small spot of tar on the Lexus and again set the steamer on high and steamed the small spot of tar and what happened was due to the heat the tar spot expanded. So what it did was it thinned out the tar and then with the clay bar it was is to remove....found it interesting to say the least. Any who as far as using the traditional chemicals, to be honest the steamer has removed the use of certain chemicals. Heck just steam along normally does the job, I can do the wheel wells with out even applying a drop of P21S Total Auto Wash, depending on how bad the wheel wells are I'll use TAW but on my vehicles I don't need TAW. As to rims, I've done rims both ways, one by simply using pure steam to clean the rims and the other steaming then applying a coat of P21S Gel on the rims, both work great but seems to be that steam alone can make quick work of brake dust....like I said this steamer is very impressive. I'm glad I got it and it's like the CR System, you don't realize what you have till you have it and put it to good use. That's the best comparison I can give about the steamer. It truly does save allot of time not to mention chemicals, I find I tend to use less chemicals then before, this should save some coin in the long run. it's not a cheap steamer at all but well worth the price if you ask me. As for the 303 Fabric Guard, I've read that you simply spray it on and coat the surface area, not drench it...like I normally do with products :crasy: but just give it an even coat, exactly what you said Denzil. Good to see I'm doing it right.
That's some great news to hear Carlos! While I know my SF-275 may not have the cleaning power to get some really bad stuff, I'll be sure to try it out anyways. The only application in which I've used the SF-275 for has only been the interior so far. I do agree that the upfront costs are costly for a quality steamer but in the long run it will pay for itself and minimize costs/usage of cleaning chemicals. Also, glad to hear you're enjoying the 303 FG and you're not drenching it like you normally do with your products, LoL.
