Honda: From rags to riches (how to: wheels, prewash tips, and more)

[HFX Detailing]

Hey Folks!

 

Since people seemed to like my last write-up I am doing another! This time I learned from my shots last time and tried to get a bit more creative this time to help people follow the timeline. As before, I will give a brief description, list the products, explain the process in detail with pictures, then post the money shots. 

 

 

Description

 

I was tasked to detail this Honda car which has very deceptive paint. The paint color you will see in the photos hides dirt very well. Sometimes, when you wash the vehicle you will barely notice. However, I made this puppy shine. I did a exterior wash, clay, and wax followed by an interior vacuum, and detail of the dash. 

 

The Products

 

The following products were used. Note: Last time I posted the canadian site, this time I will use the American as it seems the forums is mostly American.

 

Green-Wheel Cleaner: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-436-adams-green-wheel-cleaner.aspx

All Purpose Cleaner: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-121-adams-all-purpose-cleaner.aspx

*Fender Brush: http://www.adamspolishes.ca/p-411-adams-20-fender-brush.aspx

Wheel Woolie: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-1091-adams-new-wheel-woolie.aspx

Lug and Nut Brush: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-885-adams-trim-lug-nut-brush.aspx

Car Wash Shampoo: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-31-adams-car-wash-shampoo.aspx

2 Grit Guards: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-56-adams-grit-guard-insert.aspx

Adams Tire Brush: Could not find on either .com or .ca site

Clay Bar: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-1004-new-adams-made-in-the-usa-detailing-clay-bar.aspx

Detail Spray: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-870-adams-detail-spray.aspx

Waterless Wash: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-440-adams-waterless-car-wash.aspx

Drying Towel: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-106-adams-great-white-microfiber-drying-towel.aspx

Buttery Wax: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-992-adams-buttery-wax-new-formula.aspx

Carpet and Upholstry Cleaner: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-35-adams-carpet-upholstery-cleaner.aspx

Interior Detailer: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-924-adams-total-interior-detailer.aspx

Leather and Interior Cleaner: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-131-adams-leather-interior-cleaner.aspx

Utility Towel: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-579-adams-edgeless-microfiber-utility-towels.aspx

2 wash pads (9x9 and 11x11): http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-83-adams-professional-car-wash-pad.aspx

Glass Cleaner: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-54-adams-glass-cleaner.aspx

Glass Cleaning Towels: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-422-adams-microfiber-glass-cleaning-towels-2.aspx

Double Soft Towel: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-494-adams-double-soft-microfiber-towel.aspx

 

*Note: Items marked with a *, I could not find one .com so used .ca

 

 

Timeline and How-tos

 

The first thing I like to do is go around the whole car and take pictures. This way I know what I am dealing with and I know the trouble areas. Here are a few shots of the vehicle.

 

The car does not look too bad. Lets get a bit closer.

 

The front was bad, had plenty of caked on bugs. No good. This will take some time to get rid of. You can pre treat the bugs with a shot of detail spray or APC, but wait until a few minutes before your wash.

 

That is a lot of bird poop! Luckily it looks like most if not all of it can be rinsed off. You do not want to drag bird poop across paint as it can easily damage it. Bird poop has lots of contaminants in it.

 

Oh my! Look at that lovely salt. We have some work to do here for sure. 

 

Some interior stains, but not too bad.

 

Thankfully, I am allergic to dust. Wait, no....that is a bad thing!

 

Now that we have taken a look at what we must do, I like to start with the wheels. This way, when you wash the car no gunk from the wheels goes on the paint. It also guarantees you will not mix the wheel water with the paint water. 

 

The wheel:

 

I started with spraying some green wheel cleaner and used the tire brush to hit the wheels. Unfortunately, I was not happy with the results. Some dirt was lifting up, but I knew there was more to get. I knew I needed to use something stronger.

 

 

Since Green Wheel Cleaner did not cut it, I used All Purpose cleaner then agitated the wheel with my wheel brush. See the difference?

 

It is so satisfying seeing that dirt come off.

 

I used Green Wheel cleaner again and now the wheel is all clean (notice all the white suds).

 

After rinsing away all of the cleaner I used my lug brush. I sprayed some Green Wheel Cleaner and stuck the brush over the bolts and twisted them.

 

You can see from the picture the bottom bolt is clean while the bolt on the left is visibly dirty.

 

To get inbehind the rims I used the amazing Wheel Woolie. Spray some Green Wheel Cleaner on it and rub-a-dub-dub. You can see the dirty melt off.

 

For the rest of the rim I just sprayed it with the Green Wheel Cleaner and then agitated it with a microfiber, and the lug brush. I would have used my turbo stick, if my drill did not decide to die (always have a backup method!).

 

The finished Tire:

 

And this is why you do not mix tire water, with water for your paint. All that extra dirt, raises the chance of harming your precious paint.

 

Now to rinse the car (pre-wash). I like to use the jet setting if you have it. I work away in a continuous line until I hit the whole car. I start from top and work my way to the bottom. Then I go around again with a wider spray to make sure I got everything. Tough areas I like to spray for longer to loosen up that dirt. Make sure you spray crevices to release hidden treasures (nasty dirt you don't want during the final rinse).

 

Here, you will see I am spraying the bird poop away. Always pick a spray that works. A wide spray was useless, but a jet spray worked well.

This would take all day with this spray:

 

With this spray, we are zooming along! (Find the spray that works for you and the vehicle)

 

Remember to always spray crevices! Look at this dirt. If you forgot to do the crevice, this would have came out after your wash during your dry.

 

Here is how I do my top down spray (I move left, to right, slowly moving downwards):

 

After, I do a final pre-wash soak by using a wider spray. The prep work is the most important step! Now to wash, I have 2 buckets. One is labeled wash, and the other is rinse. You do not want to mix these up, and both have grit guards you can rub your wash pad with each time you use it. 

 

 

I do not have many pictures from here on as I really wanted to focus the pictures on the above tire process. I took my wash pad and washed the top half of the vehicle. Since this vehicle was pretty dirty I took advantage of the grit guard often (rinsing twice for one panel if I felt I had too). I would check my pad often to make sure no dirt was on it. On the lower half, I used my smaller pad. Having two pads saves you from cross-contaminating them. The bottom half usually is where most of the gritty dirt hides and you do not want to transfer that to the top half.

 

Pro-tip: Always check the side skirts on the bottom for tar/oils. I have pretty much ruined a pad after getting tar stuck in it. After that I usually check with my hand or a microfibre used for my wheels. If you get tar stuck in your pad early on, you can't use it during your wash. It will not wash out easily or fully from my experience. This car, had tar. It embedded itself well within my check-microfibre I used.

 

After everything was rinsed, I clayed the vehicle. It was not that bad. The worst was the front with all the caked in bugs. For the clay, I simply spray an area with some detail spray (I did this while the vehicle was still wet to save on detail spray) and then rub the clay until satisfied. Since this vehicle had a lot of dirt that lifted from the clay, I simply washed the car again after with fresh water.

 

Once I washed it, I sprayed a bit of detail spray and dried it with the Great White towel. The detail spray helps absorb water and gives a nice shine.

 

Now I moved onto my buttery wax. I applied it one panel at a time and did a finger swipe test to see if it was done. If you swipe a spot and it smudges, it is not ready to come off. If you see clear paint underneath, it is time to take the wax off. I find buttery goes on nicely and comes off easy. The wicked smell is to die for.

 

Now the exterior was done, I moved onto the interior.

Always remember to roll down the windows a bit to get the top piece of dirt that is always forgotten. After, roll them back up and finish cleaning them. I like to spray Glass Cleaner on a glass cleaning towel and rub side-to-side then up-and-down. Then I buff away with a clean utility towel.

 

The windshield can be a pain sometimes. I wrap my hand in the towel and use my backhand to clean the hard to reach spots.

 

Since the car was bad, I pulled out the rugs and mats. I vacuumed them all and the carpet. I hit the salt on the carpet mats with the Carpet and Upholstry Cleaner and used the Upholstry brush to agitate. I used a clean towel to absorb the extra cleaner and dirt. 

 

The mats where bad (plastic ones) so I used a stream of water and a clean towel to clean them. I don't like using much on these as you don't want peoples feet slipping. They were not coming clean so a bit of car shampoo worked wonders. After a super good rinse, I dried them a little with another towel. The sun did the rest.

 

Once I had the interior fully vacuumed I worked on cleaning and dressing the interior. I used the Leather and Interior cleaner first. I sprayed a little bit on a Utility towel and got rid of the dirt. I finished with another towel which I had sprayed with interior detailer. I used the detailing swabs to get the tight spots and the vents. 

 

After putting everything back into the vehicle, it was time to take some final photos and call it a day. This is what you have all been waiting for, right?

 

 

Money-Shots!

 

50/50 of tire (used photoshop to put together the before and after)

 

That console!

 

From old, to new. The front end (look at that bug deflector!)

 

I love this shot. 

 

You can see some of my adams gear in the back here

 

The whole interior got this clean

 

That is all for now! Questions, comments, love, hate?

[GXPaycheck]

Nice work!

Pick up some DWC for those wheels

[Sizzle Chest]

Excellent write up!  Great work!  Thanks for taking the time to post this up!

[TheWolf]

Very nice results! I like the before/after pics.

[HFX Detailing]

Thanks guys

 

@GXPaycheck, I have deep wheel cleaner but the APC and GWC combo worked well so I skipped on the DWC.

[gapwedge]

Just curious why you didn't use liquid paint sealant and/or glaze before waxing? Great job.

Edited August 24, 2014 by gapwedge

[HFX Detailing]

Great question gapwedge. I have machine super sealant which takes twelve hours to cure. The customer also did not care for even wax. Glaze would have been a waste, especially for the color and because it adds no protection.

Edited August 24, 2014 by neverhaveiever

[gapwedge]

Still, a job well done!

[HFX Detailing]

Still, a job well done!

Thank you

[Michael@Adams]

Great write up! Looks brand new 

[HFX Detailing]

Great write up! Looks brand new 

Thanks!

 

The customer drives A LOT. He is due for a maintenance wash already

[Michael@Adams]

Thanks!

 

The customer drives A LOT. He is due for a maintenance wash already

 

He needs to hire you for a weekly maintenance wash