Edd China attacks a Civic with t-cut and a mop

This Civic is in decent shape, but the paint is rubbish after years of New England winters and automatic car washes. The new owner (a bloke called gamby) wanted to spruce up the old gal a bit.

You can see the swirl marks that have destroyed the shine of this motor:

...and the headlights are knackered as well:

however, after treating them to some 1500 grit paper followed by a mop and some t-cut, they looked like this: Cracking!

Here is a 50-50 shot of the bonnet after a few passes with the mop (getting this shot right is a bit fiddly):

Here is the door before polishing (look at those nasty swirls):

...and after: I was quite chuffed with this one.

Here are some glamour shots of it after the process:

This process took 7 hours but the results were well-worth the effort. I just hope this one doesn't get stolen like its predecessor (may those lovely people all die of testicular cancer).

Cheers...

Looks great! I love a good detail.

Thanks.

Very nice, I'm also in amasment at no wheel well rust.

They had it figured out by the 99-00 years.

I pulled the rubber moldings out of the wheelarches anyway. There is a TINY bit of rust forming in one of them--I'll have to get on that ASAP. Otherwise yeah--the car is rust free.

I need some help doing this. Can you polish rust?

with a wire brush--sure

That post seriously made me LOL so hard. I love wheeler dealers. Car turned out great by the way, good job.

Don't stop now ,throw a wing and a fart can at it .

seriously, what did you use for compound. I think T-cut is a british only thing.

Nice work, fella!

Nice looking car—it looks like it hasn't seen the wrong side of a hedge.

I love how far inside an inside joke can go. I'm sure that there are just a handful of people in the country who would get this, and most of them are right here!

haha I keep reading the thread in the VW forum about the GTI getting a DIY dry sump installed and its all europeans...they are tossing euroslang all over and I litterally cant help but giggle all the time cuz theyre talking like that on purpose! soooo funny

Yavuz wrote: That post seriously made me LOL so hard. I love wheeler dealers. Car turned out great by the way, good job.

Woody wrote: I love how far inside an inside joke can go. I'm sure that there are just a handful of people in the country who would get this, and most of them are right here!

First rule of humor is to know your audience

ignorant wrote: seriously, what did you use for compound. I think T-cut is a british only thing.

Seriously--

I used a Griot's Garage orbital polisher,

Clay Magic claybar, 2 passes of Menzerna Super Intensive Polish (with a Lake Country Yellow pad), 1 pass of Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover 2.0 (with a Griot's orange pad), Nu Finish (applied with a Lake Country green pad), and a coat of Eagle One quick detailer

That looks fantastic! Great work. You could flip that thing in a heartbeat now.

Wheeler Dealers is an entertaining show, but I've yet to see them make enough profit on a car to even come close to paying for Ed's time. If he wasn't getting paid by the BBC, they'd have gone broke long ago.

will you wash my wife's Minivan?

I'd love to do the same with my car, but the roof needs a respray, and I have a 1" rust hole on the rocker

Yeah, it's a fun show, I only watched one episode all the way through. They buy a Ford Capri 2.0 Laser for something like 800 quid and after applying about 300 quid in parts and a pile of free labor they sell it for 900.

Good work team.

Wheeler Dealers is awesome. Nice work there, too. I like to see those headlight kits do their thing.

gamby wrote: I used a Griot's Garage orbital polisher

I've been eyeballing this in their catalog for a WHILE, perhaps it's time I pony up the loot.

The car looks great! Sadly the before pics look just like my 192k mile MA highway victim Impreza.

You should show it to the PO, so he can see what a properly cared for automobile looks like.

gamby wrote: Seriously-- I used a Griot's Garage orbital polisher, Clay Magic claybar, 2 passes of Menzerna Super Intensive Polish (with a Lake Country Yellow pad), 1 pass of Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover 2.0 (with a Griot's orange pad), Nu Finish (applied with a Lake Country green pad), and a coat of Eagle One quick detailer

ha.. Yeah.. I barely wash my cars. I mean why should I do something the sky does for free. That is some serious dedication.

ignorant wrote:

gamby wrote: Seriously-- I used a Griot's Garage orbital polisher, Clay Magic claybar, 2 passes of Menzerna Super Intensive Polish (with a Lake Country Yellow pad), 1 pass of Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover 2.0 (with a Griot's orange pad), Nu Finish (applied with a Lake Country green pad), and a coat of Eagle One quick detailer

ha.. Yeah.. I barely wash my cars. I mean why should I do something the sky does for free. That is some serious dedication.

Pull in to car wash. Spray entire van with tire cleaner. Blast off. Done in 3 minutes for $2.00.

Needless to say I don't treat the RX-7 or the Abomination that way. Though it is tempting some times.