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Going to detail the Honda. Any tips?

H

happyguy155

Member
I usually:
wash
clay bar
wash
wax

Is this a bad method? The car is only about 5 years old and the paint is in good condition, but it hasn't been taken care of since before last winter. I'll be doing all this by hand so it will take a while. Is there a better method?
 
You could add in a step between the final wash and wax and that would be to use a high quality glaze. This is particularly good for dark colored paints. I like Meguiars personally.
 
I'm having a really tough time getting every bit of dirt off the car. I have a turtlewax cleaner/polisher and a bug and tar remover, but neither seem to get the grit off the paint. I'm supposed to make the paint completely dirt free before the wax goes on, correct? Anybody have any ideas?
 
How bad is it and what are you trying to remove?

Clay bar should get the grit off and it doesn't remove the clear coat. Maybe something has etched into the clear coat?
 
Do you regularly park under a tree? Tree sap is probably one of the most difficult substances to remove from the painted surface of an automobile and it will take a lot of time and effort to clean. I would highly recommend a car cover when parking there in the future.
 
Unfortunately, yes. Some of the spots are yellow and red, and they refuse to budge! I had to give it a break until tomorrow. Is water supposed to collect in beads after the clay bar? It's not 🙁
 
happyguy155 said:
Unfortunately, yes. Some of the spots are yellow and red, and they refuse to budge! I had to give it a break until tomorrow. Is water supposed to collect in beads after the clay bar? It's not 🙁
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No, only the presence of oils or certain polymeric compounds will the water bead up. Claying is actually said to remove the stuff that causes water to bead (though in my limited experience I have not seen that myself).
 
Last edited:
Howard said:
No, only the presence of oils or certain polymeric compounds will the water bead up. Claying is actually said to remove the stuff that causes water to bead (though in my limited experience I have not seen that myself).
Click to expand...
That's why you wax it after you clay.
Order of complete detail.
-Wash with dish soap. Notice the great shine already? Well, dish soap is an abrasive, sort of. Don't be worried. It is however a degreaser, which means it will strip wax. Like a reset button. Along with old wax, it's great at road grime and the such. Don't use it after you detail, all that hard work will go away.
-Bring it in the shade and give it a complete clay treatment. It's therapeutic, IMO.
-You can go with Paint Cleaner if you like. Popular amongst the three step systems with labels like Meguire's and Mother's.
-Polish.
-Wax. If using a natural carnabua (sp?), wait until it's hardened. Depends on climate. In Arizona, this takes like 10 minutes. In the South, could take forever. As with any natural wax, always do in the shade.

-There are some nice synthetic stuff out there. Pick your poison. Some of synthetic stuff is great at being at polishing AND protecting, taking a step out of the process. I had a great polish that was the craze several years ago, and it actually encouraged direct sunlight. I forgot the name of that stuff, lol.

The best wax I have seen to date was a spray on thing. Looked too good to be true, but it wasn't. It's mail order only.
 
Thanks for the advice. Also, There are a few rust spots smaller than my fingernail on the corners of a few fenders. Can I go ahead and use some of the paint that came with the car or does it have to be prepped a certain way?
 
I just detailed mine today.

washed with car soap and rinsed w/ my garden hose. Tried to get rid of some bugs, but can't get rid of them all.

Going to wax once the sun starts to go down

interior vacuumed and armor'all'd
 
I am working on one of my cars today. I want to get the wax on right away and only do a panel or two at a time, so I'm claying, then terry cloth, then waxing directly after that. I didn't see the point in washing post-clay because I am sure my wash cloth is dirty anyway 🙂

I'm using turtle wax, the "best selling", but also cheapest in the world. Is the mothers carnuba stuff the real cat's meow? I don't care about shine but rather paint protection (read: limiting attachment of moisture to the paint).
 
Why do you skip the polishing step before the wax? How do you deal with clearcoat scratches?

I have an 05

I use the mother's gold stuff. I have nxt too, though it shines better it doesn't last nearly as long.
 
my biggest problem is water spots...after i wash and rinse, i just can't dry fast enough to avoid water spots, even in the shade. makes my car look terrible.
 
80 degrees. I'm also having trouble cleaning the dashboard and the area under the windshield. There are little white spots that seem embedded into the material. I tried vinyl cleaner, leather cleaner, water, soap...the only thing that works is my finger when it's a little oily. What can I try that won't damage the material? I have an 05 honda accord with leather.
 
happyguy155 said:
Why do you skip the polishing step before the wax? How do you deal with clearcoat scratches?

I have an 05

I use the mother's gold stuff. I have nxt too, though it shines better it doesn't last nearly as long.
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FWIW the turtle wax just said wash and dry, then apply with the damp applicator and terry cloth when it's dried to haze.
 
happyguy155 said:
Thanks for the advice. Also, There are a few rust spots smaller than my fingernail on the corners of a few fenders. Can I go ahead and use some of the paint that came with the car or does it have to be prepped a certain way?
Click to expand...
I typically use a dremel and very carefully grind away the rust with a fine tipped grinding bit, and then just paint over it with some touch up paint. Someone please correct me if I'm not doing this properly. It seems fine to me.

If you want to be really fussy, you can use the dremel to polish the touch up paint once it dries. If you use a buffing bit and some wax, you can get it so that it's perfectly flush with the surface of the car, and you can't even tell that it's not part of the original finish. 😀
 
What type of clay are you using. Some clays are more aggressive than others. The stuff you get at Autozone is gonna be pretty light duty stuff.
 
SickBeast said:
I typically use a dremel and very carefully grind away the rust with a fine tipped grinding bit, and then just paint over it with some touch up paint. Someone please correct me if I'm not doing this properly. It seems fine to me.

If you want to be really fussy, you can use the dremel to polish the touch up paint once it dries. If you use a buffing bit and some wax, you can get it so that it's perfectly flush with the surface of the car, and you can't even tell that it's not part of the original finish. 😀
Click to expand...
No, you can't use the dremel to polish the paint...
 
vshah said:
my biggest problem is water spots...after i wash and rinse, i just can't dry fast enough to avoid water spots, even in the shade. makes my car look terrible.
Click to expand...

I used to have this same problem, but something that really helps out is when you're rinsing your car for the last time, take off the sprayer attachment and just let the water from the hose sheet over the vehicle. This helps sheet most of the water off the vehicle leaving less to dry.
 
One of the things that makes the biggest difference between a good detail job and a poor one is how the car is initially washed. You should stick to one side (or better, panel) at a time and keep the entire car moist in the mean time. I generally start by getting the entire car wet, then scrub the really dirty stuff first (wheels, rocker panels, around the wheel wells, etc.). After that, with a separate sponge, I go on to the roof, then the front, driver's side, passenger's side, and finally the rear. In between each side, I spray all other sides (even ones that were previously washed) with the hose to keep them wet. As soon as water starts air drying, you'll get hard water spots.
 
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