Well, we like to start by saying, this is a sweeeeeeet ride, as much as we love the styling factor and the performance of the brand new Honda Civic Turbo, it really sucks to see how a dealership can wreck a brand new ride to this extend. The owner of this sweet ride did his homework and consulted many “specialist” on this matter, even his bosses, parents and friends said the same thing, “Its UN-SAVABLE! or NO WAY this can be restored”. Instead, We say BULLSHIT! Read on to find out more.
For this ride, we were given the keys to drive the car back as it would take longer than usual for the entire process to be done and the owner had to go to work. So yeah, we drove the car back at 8.30am in the morning. Cool down the paint and started the insane makeover.
As usual, we did our routine paint diagnosis on every panel of the car. Before this, we had already inspection the car prior to the appointment but now we found more damages.
Deep holograms were also spotted on the door.
More swirls and waterspot stains on the front bonnet.
The line you are looking at is actually a long hologram marks.
We initially thought the marks on the roof were glue marks but turned out to be holograms as well.
Watermark etching on the front hood after a polish? Imagine how good was that FREE polish now?
To give you a picture of how bad the paint is for a 15 day old car, check out this sun shot.
We started the process with a 4 hour wash to clear up all the polish residue left behind by the dealership’s detailer and also to clear off the stains from day to day usage.
After the 4 hour wash, we started to experiment on different polish solutions and different combinations to find out what’s best for this scenario.
Another 4 hours went by as we struggle to find the perfect combination to treat this paint. As from our experience with working on Honda(s), they tend to have very soft and delicate paint quality, which in this case, a lousy detailer would cause these severe damages. Fortunately, we found that finishing that we were after, check out the result.
This is a section on the front bonnet whereby we saw swirls and holograms.
After 1 pass of polish, the paint was not fully clear of the swirls too. In this case, not only did the so called “detailer” at the Honda dealership gave free hologram damage, he also scratched the paint as well.
By now, the owner was already stoked and very happy with this result. But we were not, as it was still lacking a little more shine.
After a little more kung-fu we settled for this final finishing on the hood.
We the night came near, we were unable to continue polishing the car and had to stop for the night. This is the before shot of the door.
This is the after. Cleared of all damages.
We updated the owner on the process and we also stated that we needed more time. He was understanding enough to know that this is not a process to be rushed. We sent the photo of this side mirror to the owner and the feedback was “I’ve never seen my side mirror so glossy ever!”
Happy with the result, we end our Day 1: with this final finishing for now.
Day 2: We started at 10am, the sun was out and we started work at the back of the car. Check out how severe the paint condition is.
After much effort to restore the paint, Check out the difference.
Sun shot reveals the before to be full of swirls and hologram.
And magic happens. The determination to prove the people that deemed this paint un-savable wrong.
After about 15 hours out, we finally finished the polishing process and was ready for the final wash.
We gave the car a final detailed wash to remove all polish oil, polish residue and polish dust. She was ready for Opti-Coat™Pro now.
We took about 18 to 19 hours split into 2 days to complete the process. Check out the final caption-less photos.
PS: The bosses, family, friends were speechless when they saw the comeback from this deemed total lost paint.
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Its not the first time we worked on a car like this, such size yet having such luxurious stance. This Mercedes GLC had only been owned for less than a week. Being a massive upgrade for the owner, he decided that protection is a must, hence we are here to sort him out today!
Upon arrival, it was slightly drizzling, hence the bonnet was a little wet.
We did the routine inspection to check for obvious damages, but there was none.
We checked the areas that is usually filthy, but it was clean.
We expect the paint to be spanking new but again, we were wrong.
The paint had some significant damage on it, although not very visible due to the colour.
Lucky for us, the sky was gloomy and we were able to capture on camera.
Other than that, the paint was smooth and the dealership did some waxing on the paint as well.
Not forgetting the typical road contamination.
We spent quite alot of time washing the car in detail to make sure it squeeky clean.
Further detailing this area to make sure its 100%
After much inspection around the car, we found out that only this area is affected by swirls.
We did some paint correction on the damages.
Zoom in and you’ll notice a deeper yet non visible RIDS (random isolated deep scratch)
And finally to a swirl free surface.
Upon finishing all paint correction, we noticed some polish splatter on the plastics. It was definitely not from us as it was already dried up.
After some magic with a tooth brush, we sorted it out.
The wheels on the other hand were on the dirty side.
Mostly due to brake dust and rain.
After spending too much time on just the wheels alone.
We coated to protect.
Finally, the entire car was coated with Opti-Coat™Pro and check out the captionless finishing.
So, Since our last makeover, the owner was quite please with our with and decided to book us for the wife’s car. This is a 3 year old under utilized Mazda 6 but of course, it was poorly maintained as well. Else there won’t be a post like this for us to write about.
From the walk around we find the car to be rather “shiny” in its natural habitat.
as we investigate closer, we found some watermark issues on the paint.
Reflection wasn’t really reflecting nicely.
There were some tar spot issues on the lower panels as usual.
The common rain stains were visible as well. Not from far but from a nearer view.
Although its not very visible on photo but swirls existed.
The haze reflection from the LED lighting indicated some oxidation forming
Its only extremely visible when shot in a pitch black condition hence this is what we can show at the moment.
Coming to some deep scratches on the hood.
We washed the car as usual and also took the trim cleaning very seriously.
Being a 3 year old car, we expected this area to be heavily stained.
and we were right!
There were also some rust build up.
We did some test spots to brighten up the paint. The small spot on the left is a shrapnel of the polishing pad sponge.
The colour difference is major!
After some paint correction, the clarity is restore and the colour of the car immediately darkens into a wet look.
Pre-Coating shot shows a much reflective and well prepared surface.
As for these 3 years old wheels. It was the usual day to day road grime.
The colour of the tires shows an obvious “never been scrubbed” condition.
The brake dust build up is not extreme.
As usual areas like these are skipped during the normal washing routines.
The scrubbing begins. But unfortunately we forgot the Afters…
The glass was quite heavily stained as the car is usually parked outdoors.
After washing we can obviously see the watermark islands.
On the left, watermark stained the entire glass. On the right, a fully treated glass panel.
A closer look after the glass has fully dried up. No visible watermark.
Finally, after coating, the results were quite pleasing. Wet look achieved.
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