ScoobyNet.com - Subaru Enthusiast Forum - Polished Bliss vs S2000 (Zymöl Vintage on Solid Black)

Well, here we go then, our first customer detail finishing with Zymöl Vintage. This nine year old Honda S2000 is currently only used during the summer months, and was under threat of being traded in for an Evo at the end of last year, but the owner then had kittens about the likely running costs for an Evo, and instead decided restoration was a better option. After a referral from another customer, the owner Dave got in touch with us and arranged a full correction detail to coincide with the return of the wheels from a refurbishing treatment. All that remained was to pray for good weather for the finals…

You would think that this would be an easy car to do, what with Honda paint being about the softest there is, but as it turned out this was one of the hardest correction details we’ve done. The problem? Finishing with the rotaries without leaving holograms proved damn near impossible, with either of the high quality finishing polishes at our disposal. The correction itself was easy, with virtually everything coming out in the first pass at 1500rpm, but trying to then finish perfectly, even at 700rpm and much patience, was just not happening. The holograms were very faint, but present all the same. Remembering that Brazo had a similar problem recently on soft Honda paint, we switched to finishing by PC using a firm finishing pad. This did the trick perfectly, leaving a perfect high gloss finish with zero micromarring. All in, the paint correction work took around 10 hours, which was much longer than expected, and we were glad we had allowed two days to complete the work.

Wing Before

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000a.jpg

Wing After

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000b.jpg

Rear Quarter Before

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000c.jpg

Rear Quarter After

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000d.jpg

Bootlid 50:50 Shot

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000e.jpg

Day two was easier, but not without difficulties. The HD-Cleanse and Vintage went on and off easily enough, with massive care being taken to be gentle in order to avoid leaving any fresh marring, but the Vintage continued to expel oils for the rest of the day as it cured, with some fresh smearing continuing to surface even some six hours later as we finished off the detail. Judging how long full curing is going to take is obviously going to require the benefit of experience, but for now we warned the owner that any fresh smearing is part of the curing process and can either be quick detailed away with Field Glaze or left and washed off on the next wash day. If all of this sounds like the finish was compromised then I should point out that the final smearing we noticed was minor, and too slight to show in the photos presented below. Everything else went fairly smoothly, including restoration of the exhaust tips, cleaning of the hood and feeding of the leather interior.

Exhaust Tip Before

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000f.jpg

Exhaust Tip After

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000g.jpg

I mentioned at the outset that we prayed for good weather. Well, unfortunately it was hosing down with rain by the end of the day, so you’ll have to be content with these indoor snaps…

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000h.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000i.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000j.jpg

Only joking!

In reality we were blessed with a perfect winter’s day, and here’s what the paint looked like after we rolled the car outside…

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000k.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000l.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000m.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000n.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000o.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...000/s2000p.jpg

As has been mentioned on several recent threads, even good pictures don’t tend to do justice to high end finishes, and this is no exception; although the paint looks good, in the flesh it was simply stunning. I’ve been very happy with previous finishes we’ve achieved on solid black, but this is the first time paint has in my experience looked alive, with it shimmering away in the sunlight. To say that we are very happy with the Vintage is an understatement, and the owner was equally impressed with the finish (he is a member on here, and may or may not comment!). As a final thought, who would ever have imagined a full detail on a Honda would take two of us 19 hours in total to complete?! Just goes to show, you never stop learning...

:D