jlb85

After the Mr. gets his car detailed out, the Mrs. decides her ride should look equally lavished. She requests a full interior with leather treatment, and "whatever it needs to look great" exterior package. So I devise a plan to use a 2-step polish, then seal, then wax. This is my first time with a Honda Pilot, and I found the paint to be quite harder than typical Hondas, but not very hard at all. Sort of like a white Honda. Swirls are easy to correct, but deeper stuff is not. So I end up going beyond and cutting hard, then cleaning up the cutting marks. The result was stunning! I love the metallic in this grey. It suits the SUV nicely!

befores:










Product Overview:
Interior products:
Meguiar's Interior Quick Detailer
Meguiar's Interior Protectant (natural shine)
Meguiar's APC 10:1
Woolite 10:1
Meguiar's Glass Cleaner from concentrate
Orange MF towels

Exterior Correction:
Meguiar's Ultimate Compound + Meguiar's Solo2 yellow 6" (?) pad
3M Ultrafina + Blue 3M Ultrafina 7" pad
Meguiar's Last Touch QD
Flex Lightweight Rotary

LSP:
Obsessive Detail Hyper Shine Sealant
Collinite 825 Insulator Wax
Meguiar's Synthetic QD (Ultimate QD in gallon size)

Exterior other:
Griot's garage clay
DP Clay Lube
Meguiar's Trim Detailer
Meguiar's Endurance Tire Dressing
Meguiar's Hyper Dressing
Meguiar's APC
Meguiar's Super Degreaser
HF Paint Thickness Gauge
Poorboy's Super Slick and Suds wash
Stoner's Tarminator Tar and Bug remover

jlb85

Step one was to thoroughly wash and prep the vehicle. First was the dose the wheels in APC at 4:1 (high strength), and the fenders with SD at high strength, as well as the engine bay and under hood. While the APC was working in, I did the whole bottom half of the car in Tarminator. This Stoner's product, like their glass cleaner, is much better than its OTC competition. It works quicker, better, and just easier than Turtle Wax and other tar removers. I ended up using the whole can on the body and wheels. This is time and effort well spent; I find it is easier to wipe off tar this way than via claying. Bugs wash off easily so you don't end up kneading them into your clay. I use a general use MF towel (orange in my case) and lightly wipe off all big bugs and tar, then use the high-pressure hose to blast off any remaining road kill. After, back to the wheels, fenders, engine with lots of brushes... and a high-pressure rinse.

engine:








no engine afters, doh!


Then I loaded the Foam Gun with PB SS&S at 1:1 RO water, and foamed the Pilot. Washed using the 1-bucket method (one bucket with clean water only, using foam gun to soap up the wash mitts and as part of the wipe). Even though this is a "small" SUV, steps were required to reach the roof. After a rinse, we foamed the car again and proceeded to a quick clay. With no tar to deal with, claying takes just a few minutes. This car was very clean, and mild clay was sufficient to leave the finish "silky smooth". "Lets do this!"

during exterior wash:



Using the leaf blower and a large drying MF towel, the vehicle was dried. Engine was dressed with HD at 3:1, fenders at 1:1, and all visible suspension and chassis parts also received 1:1.

I then tried applying the Trim Detailer in heavy fashion on the more-than-apparent black plastic trim around the vehicle, as to let dwell and really soak in. It left he trim looking great, but when I started to tape up the trim for polishing, the tape would not stick Oh well, blankets and mucho cuidado por favor.

jlb85

Step two was to polish the vehicle. The Pilot was in fairly good condition, with few but deep swirls.

*NOTE: Dark spots in some pictures are due to dirty lenses :/












After trying just M205 on the yellow Solo 2 pad and failing to clear up the defects, I went head first with the UC on the same pad. this was sufficient to eliminate the defects and the scuff marks and scratches.







Of course, some hazing remained. I was planning on following up with M205, but being short on product made me reconsider. I had a new bottle of Ultrafina, but was not sure if it would clear the hazing. I had though it was much lighter cutting than M205, but I guess I was wrong! With the Ultrafina pad, it took just a few quick passes to totally clear up the haze and jewel the paint to LSP ready. I found the Ultrafina very easy to use, fast but not flashy like M105, easy to wipe off like Menzerna. Very little dusting as well. I dig it!





I worked the combo over the hood, fenders, bumpers, then applied the LSP Sealant to the portion completed. Then I moved to the doors, etc. This way by the time I finish the car, it is really "finished" and requires only a wash or wipedown, trim dressing (which was done), and tire dressing.

jlb85

The interior was done while the exterior was getting polished.

before interior:
























The mats were removed, soaked in APC, the pressure washed, and hanged to dry. this really cleaned them up, and no stains or discoloration was noticeable after dry. You can do this with mats that have plastic or rubber backing. I have even thrown these types of mats into the washing machine! Now, if the mats have a cloth backing, like on BMWs, DO NOT TRY TO WASH THEM! They end up ripping the backing.





Interior surfaces were cleaned with Megs IQD, APC 10:1, and Woolite 10:1 on the leather. Z9 was used on the steering wheel. After, Meg's Interior Protectant was used to dress the plastics, and Z10 was used to dress and condition the leather, including the steering wheel. I must say I love Z10, how it smells, how it feels, my favorite leather product. But the owner did not like it! She said it smelled like a pharmacy or hospital! So I wiped it with a Meg's Leather Wipe and the smell was subdued. I might let the client sample a few "smells" for the next time, to make sure they are totally satisfied. For me personally, the smell of the car interior is very important. Its like the way a MK2 VW smells (vintage), how an older BMW smells (BMW-ish lol), or how a cavalier smells inside (gross). Even my old beater Honda has a characteristic smell (reminds me of high school!) that is noticeable after sitting in the sun. I do not believe in perfumes for the car (like those little trees or glade packs), except for the leather conditioner, which is in my mind, proper. However, I have never had to do a serious smoker's car. I would like to try an Ozone producer to see how it works, though.

jlb85

After polishing, it was back to washing to get all the splatter from the crevices. Remember I was not able to tape up the trim, so it needed a good wash with lots of pressure. It took about 2 hours to clean and dress the trim and crevices after polishing!! Since the sealant was applied while polishing, all left to do after the wash was to top the sealant with some wax. Looking for durability, the choice was clear: Collinite Insulator Wax. This left the finish looking wet and brilliant, and better protected for the automatic car washes in its near future

Trim was touched up with Megs Trim Detailer, tires dressed with Megs Endurance Gel, and final wipedown with Megs Ultimate QD.

The vehicle came out great! Hardly a scratch noticeable, no swirls or rids, hard protection, wet look, and a nice and clean interior. The owner was VERY happy, and was negotiating garage space with her spouse as I drove off

afters:

MuttGrunt

beautiful! i'm about to go outside to start some work on my dad's black pilot now!

krshultz

Great job and great writeup. Love the interior work.

Sounds like you and I are the same way - interiors are very important, and the smell issue is a tough one. I use a lot of "Leather and Plastic Cleaner" from Majestic Solutions on interiors, and the smell of it is...horrible. What I did to fix it was to dump about an ounce of one of their fragrances into it, the one called "Clean Cotton" that smells like a dryer sheet. So far, people love it. And, it has the side effect of really helping a smoker's car.

And it looks like I should give my yellow Solo pad a second chance. I've still got mine, just haven't been using it often now that I've got some 3M UK pads. The Solo backing plate is wonderful, and a bargain compared to the 3M one.

Nsxnext1

slanguage

nice work on that Pilot. Interior work was top-notch.

nice little platform there (used for the wash). I have one like that from HD. Thing comes in handy.

krshultz

Is that platform one of those convertible ladder things? I really need something like this. I'm using an A-shaped ladder for big trucks, and it's very awkward - perhaps even dangerous - to polish while standing on that thing.