Detailing - Forty?

Yo, Forty... I was just looking through your gallery... damn. How'd you get that thing so friggen shinny? Any tips/tricks/products you want to share?

Sure man! And THANKS!!! Its soooo good to know the hours I dump into working on that car don't go un-noticed. And its even cooler that you guys pick up on it, cause well, we tuners just have a higher standard of appearance.. but anywho...

Heres what you'll need

Meguire's Gold Class Car Shampoo (or something like it, doesnt have to be anything too fancy)
Big Sponge
Big Microfiber Drying Cloth (picked up mine for 6 bucks at Autozone)
2 CLEAN regular sized Microfiber rags/towels (you can usually get these in like 5-10 packs for a few bucks)
Bottle of "Royal Blue" (Now, this stuff is sort of hard to find. I have their phone number at home and will post that later. I'm pretty sure thats the only way you can get it is to call and order it. Or find some type of trade show which is how i got mine)
1 Bucket
and 1-4 hours of time depending on just how shiney you want it;) Usually takes me 2-3 hours, or before track night or a meet, 4+.

Fill the bucket with water and shampoo


First, i start out by spraying the entire car with water, then grab the sponge and start scrubbing the car in sections. I like to do the top first, and just kinda work my way down. Hood and front fenders, then trunk and rear quarters, you get the idea. After you have wet, scrubbed, and rinsed a section, dry it with the big microfiber cloth. Dont worry about getting water spots on the parts you've already cleaned and dried, as we will deal with those in a little while. Ok, once you have washed, scrubbed, rinsed, and dried the entire car, you're ready for the tedious part.

Royal Blue Defined - Have you ever seen those infomercials where they scratch the **** out of a hood with a key or whatever, then spray on the magic substance and it takes the scratches away? Well this is one of those products. I was very skeptical, untill the guy doing the demo took a Penny that i had in my pocket, and after applying a little dab of royal blue, and minimal effort, the took off 60 years of oxidation. I was sold. Ok, now you have the background on royal blue.

Now, DO NOT DO THIS ON REALLY HOT SUNNY DAYS, if you have to, try to find a garage or something, this stuff dries pretty quick and is a pain to work with once it does. Anyway, take your two regular sized microfiber clothes, and use one to apply the royal blue, and one to take it off. I call this the "wax on, wax off" technique.;) Apply the royal blue to the rag first, do not apply directly to the car, it will leave visible lines. Put some Royal Blue on the rag, and spread in a circular motion over sections of the car. It will make your paint look really, REALLY dull as you put this stuff on. Try to work it in a little, so that it gets into all the lil cracks, chips, and scratches. Then, once you have the whole section covered, take the other rag and whipe the stuff off, also in a circular motion. The Royal Blue will fill in scratches, make those nasty circles in your paint virtually dissappear, and add a very deep look to your paint. Basically, this is my secret, Royal Blue. After you've gone over the entire car, section by section, making sure you clean up the extra left behind in door cracks, or under the spoiler, etc, you will be left with a shine like no other.

For Glass i use "Inivisible Glass."
Trim - Back to Black (not that good, trying to find something better)
Wheels - Standard Armor All Wheel Cleaner
Tires - "Tire Wet" I believe Black Magic makes it Its the Aerosol can with three settings (High, Med., & Low profile)
Interior - Armor All Protectant Wipes


And thats it! Good luck, and if you have any questions let me know!

Also, i will add the Royal Blue phone number as soon as possible.

thats why i voted for him in ROTM

forty...you should PM a DIY on this to Amanda

Yeah, after reading that, I'm thinking of the doing the same thing.

ORIGINAL: Nail I3unny

thats why i voted for him in ROTM

forty...you should PM a DIY on this to Amanda


Ya know, the thought crossed my mind, but i know there are a lot of different techniques that people use. Different strokes different folks ya know? But, i think if i generalize it, instead of using specific product names it might work. I'll pm Amanda and let her take a look and see what she thinks.


And thanks for the nomination bro!

Cool, thanks for the write-up.:)


Forty is the forum shiny guru!

No problem ;)




DIY Is now up! (http://www.hondacivicforum.com/m_110429/tm.htm)

really well written. im gena try and get my hands on that Royal blue. is there a website or something for it?

thanks

ORIGINAL: civicexracer

really well written. im gena try and get my hands on that Royal blue. is there a website or something for it?

thanks


unfortunately no, at least not last time i checked. It said they had one on the bottle but every time i tried it, it was not found. I will post the phone number tomorrow tho. Better yet, would anyone be interested in a group buy? We can probly save a crap load of money that way. I'll give them a call and see if its even an option, and if it is, i'll let you all know tomorrow. In the meantime, think it over

I'm in for a group buy. What do you do about wax? Strip it off, do that then re apply?

Yeah, it looks amazing. What is that "Back to Black" stuff? I keep getting wax on the trim and it's a pain to scrub it off.

ya wax on trim is a real pain for me, never can get it off.

You should check out that synthetic wax, comes right off the trim.:)

i use armor all on the trim. I wonder how good tire wet would work.

ORIGINAL: pcupo12

i use armor all on the trim. I wonder how good tire wet would work.


on the trim? I never thought about it!! Thats friggin genious!

Oh, and mxs, don't mess around with Back to Black, it sucks and isnt worth the money IMO. Its basically just "Black Trim Treatment", but it doesnt do ****.

i just used that Armor All stuff that ur supposed to use on the dash of the interior of you car and damn it did the trick! i sugest u try it out. just dont get it on ur paint or windows cuz then u'll have to wipe it off with a damp towel. it used to be so ugly and white from the wax and now its nice and shiny:D.

for the black trim i use 303 aerospace. it protects from the sun and makes grey plastic look black again. i dont really have much black on the honda but i use it on the truck.

but forty, your car really does look amazing. i always wondered how you did it. yesterday i washed and waxed mine and spent like two and a half hours doing it hoping it would look as good as yours but not even close. please post that royal blue number so i can get some of that. but i park mine in the garage and the next day it already has a layer of dust and dirt on it. i dont know if the garage is really that dirty or if thats just what happens without wind.

yeah i detailed cars for 8 years, thats why i vote for forty every time :D:D

:DThanks guys, knowing my fellow car nuts think this way about my ride is so ****ing awesome!!



oh, I called the people who make Royal Blue about the group buy, and they have yet to call me back. I will call them again today. I didn't post the phone number yet because i was waiting on to see whether or not they'd let us do a group buy and get a good deal on the stuff. But I will post it later today when i get home.

Forty - Did you ever get any information on this? Could you post the number? I couldn't find Royal Blue ANYWHERE!

i'm having a REALLY hard time getting ahold of them. I'm starting to fear that they may not make it anymore:( I'll keep ya'll posted

What do you do about wax? Does this stuff substute for wax or do you put it on after?

I've never waxed this car, no need to with Royal Blue. I just hope to hell I can still get the stuff

Forty...any luck? I'm holding out on my first good detailing until I can get my hands on Royal Blue, or something comparable.

Not yet, but this weekend is the annual "Huge Sale" here in Grand Rapids. They sell all kinds of electronics, clothes and crap at extremely low prices. Last year when I went, is when i was introduced to Royal Blue, they had a booth at the sale. SO, I'm hoping to pick up about 10 bottles for myself, AND get some solid contact info for these douches since they never seem to want to answer their phones.

I'll be going to the sale tonight, hopefully i'll have info for you guys tomorrow. (Saturday)

Thanks dude!!

no luck man, they didnt have a booth this year. I'm really getting nervous now, considering i can never get ahold of these people. If ya'll want to try your luck, the number is 541-538-0031


I've left countless messages, and have yet to speak to a real person, just the automated bull****. The fact that no one has called me back yet, even after i left a message saying i'd be willing to buy 20+ bottles, leads me to believe that they probably don't make it anymore.

my search to find somethiNow begins ng that'll maintain my shine...

ALRIGHT! Good news people! I finally got ahold of them. The woman I spoke to is going to talk to her supervisor as I'm typing this message, then shes supposed to call me back. Heres what its looking like..

Usually the only discounts they give are if you buy it by the case. But, I told her about all the good people here at HCF that would be interested in a group buy. She said that she would talk to her boss, and see if she could set up something where when you guys want to order it, you can just call in, give them a code or the name of our club, and they will give you the product at the discounted price.

Talk about a huge sigh of relief, i thought i was going to have to hunt forever to find something as good as that stuff was.


I will keep ya'll updated when she calls back, and will probably just post in the Member/Group Buy section so everyone knows whats up. More to come soon!!!

i def wanna try it. What does it cost regularly?

Group Buy (http://www.hondacivicforum.com/m_120260/tm.htm)



Unfortunately, i was stupid and forgot to ask. But I seem to remember them being like $16 a bottle at that sale I went to last year, and chances are that was a discount price. I could be wrong so don't quote me on that. The rest of the details are in the link above. :D

i noticed that the last post was in november of last year, but i saw that Forty was looking for a new trim cleaner... my brother showed me this stuff he uses on his interior called Wizards... its basically like sunscreen for your car as it has UV protection. It also doesnt attract the dust that AmorAll tends to. The stuff works awesome and lasts a long time too. Just thought i would give you a heads up, but maybe you already found something you like.

ORIGINAL: mcmichael13

i noticed that the last post was in november of last year, but i saw that Forty was looking for a new trim cleaner... my brother showed me this stuff he uses on his interior called Wizards... its basically like sunscreen for your car as it has UV protection. It also doesnt attract the dust that AmorAll tends to. The stuff works awesome and lasts a long time too. Just thought i would give you a heads up, but maybe you already found something you like.


Hey awesome man, thanks for the heads up!! I'll definitely check them out!

keep us posted dude, i cant find that stuff on the web anywhere!

Wizards Auto Products (http://www.aawsales.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=94) they have a bunch of stuff there...