The "Lazaras" Project

Red Baron · **Posted:** Sat May 11, 2013 9:16 pm

Okay boys and girls I'm finally getting to work on my friend Linda's 1999 Honda Accord. I had seen the car on several occasions but never had an opportunity to really look it over, inside and out before. It was in much worse condition that I imagined! :yikes:

I'm jokingly calling this the "Lazarus" Project because I'm attempting to bring this car back from the dead.

Before leaving the car with me Linda filled two plastic grocery bags with the trash filling the seats and floor of the car. Since it was already evening and dark outside I guess I can forgive her for missing a few things, like the additional two grocery bags of trash that I filled on Friday when it was light outside.

The first thing I did was take my camera and go all around the car to note the "problem areas" I need to address. Then I did the same thing inside the car noting the heavily soiled carpets, carpeted floor mats, cloth upholstery, and the dirty plastic and vinyl interior. Since this was purchased as a used car I don't know if the heavily scratched and scuffed floor console and under dash areas were this way when she bought the car or if it happened during the time she has owned the car.

With the weather being uncooperative I decided to work on the interior of the car first. You will see before photos of the interior and then the progress photos of the vacuuming, carpet extractor and cleaning and dressing of the plastic and vinyl interior. When I begin to work on the exterior of the car I will follow the same pattern so as to show you the before and after results of the detailing. I will also name and show some of the products I am using along the way.

So here is where we begin with the way the car looked before I vacuumed or cleaned the interior.

Midnight Blue
MCOM Treasurer-Historian

Red Baron · **Posted:** Sat May 11, 2013 9:38 pm

Here are the photos of the cleaning process including the cleaning, vacuuming, carpet and upholstery extraction and dressing the plastic and vinyl interior.

Midnight Blue

Red Baron · **Posted:** Sun May 12, 2013 1:20 am

So far the interior cleaning only required basic cleaners and dressing products. I used Armor All Interior Cleaner and Greased Lightning Degreaser to clean the vinyl and plastic of the interior. I used a Craftsman 2 gallon wet/dry vac to vacuum the interior and a Bissell Spot Bot Portable Carpet Extractor and Bissell Concentrated Oxygenated carpet shampoo to clean the carpets and the fabric upholstery.

A trick that I learned as a sales rep for Odorite Janitorial Products is to use the degreaser to pretreat heavily soiled spots on the carpeting and upholstery. The degreaser breaks down the stain so that it is easily lifted with the carpet extractor.

To add protection to the newly cleaned vinyl and plastic I used Meguiars Supreme Vinyl Dressing. This product not only protects but also has cleaning properties. The vinyl and plastic on this car was extremely dry so I will add a second treatment as an extra preventative.

I was fortunate to take out nearly all of the stains in the carpeting. There was one small stain that has permanently been dyed into the carpet where I was able to lighten it a bit. The console was covered in dried up spilled coffee, hot chocolate and sticky soda residue and the long screwdriver was needed to clean out the crevices along the console.

Surprisingly I was able to thoroughly clean and brighten the carpet mats that were heavily soiled, dark and dingy looking. Once they dried they became much lighter in color and are now usable again.

I will be limited to what I can do to the exterior of the car although I'm confident that I will make it look much better that it is now. There are serious scratches that were "touched up" with paint that didn't match making the scratches even more noticeable. Once the car is washed, clay barred, polished and sealed it will take on a new life. There are several areas where the paint has faded so bad that there is nothing to work with. Eventually this car would require professional body work and a repainting, none of which is going to happen as long as Linda owns this car. But I can make this car look a heck of a lot better and that is our goal.

More to come as I begin working on the exterior starting on Monday.

Midnight Blue

Bobt · **Posted:** Sun May 12, 2013 10:56 am

Wow Steve! That look like it was a challenge. You won that battle! Good work!

Red Baron · **Posted:** Sun May 12, 2013 3:53 pm

Thanks Bob!

Today I redid the Meguiars Supreme Shine Dressing on the vinyl and plastic parts of the interior. As I imagined the interior was so dry the plastic and vinyl needed a second application of dressing.

The carpets brightened up quite a bit after drying over night and I placed the floor mats back into the car. I believe that Linda will notice and immediate difference in appearance when she picks up her car. I'm waiting until later in the week to do the glass in the car and then will Scotchgard her seats to help protect them from spills and stains.

Tomorrow I will start on the outside of the car with a thorough removal of road tar and other problems with the paint that washing will not remove. Then I will wash the car, clay bar the car, and will be Griot's Garage One-Step which is a polish and paint sealant in one product. On the areas where the paint has faded or is lifting off I will carefully try to restore it the best I can. You can only do so much once the paint has become so badly damaged. I have taken some before pictures of the outside of the car and will be able to compare them to the after photos I will take after the exterior has been detailed.

Here are some additional photos of the interior after the second application of the Meguiars Dressing.

Midnight Blue

Red Baron · **Posted:** Sun May 12, 2013 9:42 pm

Now comes the "fun" part, the exterior of this car! :yikes:

Tomorrow I will begin the process of detailing the exterior of the car with the goal of thoroughly cleaning the outside and bringing back the paint as best I can to once again shine. Unfortunately the areas of the drivers side rear door was severely scratched and the owner made it worse by using a "touch up" paint that was almost the same color as the car but as you will see did not do a very neat job of covering the scratch.

This car is a daily driver so the goal is to make it look as clean as possible and hopefully improve the appearance or diminish the defects as much as possible. We'll have to see how that turns out over the next couple of days.

Here are the "before" pictures.

Midnight Blue

DRRummel · **Posted:** Mon May 13, 2013 10:51 am

The interior looks much better. Nice job.

Great White · **Posted:** Mon May 13, 2013 1:10 pm

MOTHER OF GOD!!!! :yikes:

what caused all of those scratches on the interior? a porcupine?

Bobt · **Posted:** Mon May 13, 2013 11:36 pm

Great White · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2013 3:07 am

Red Baron · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2013 7:52 am

I have no clue as to what caused the deep scratches on the console and under the glove box James. I'll have to ask Linda when I get back from Ocean City.

She will pick up car from my house on the 18th. Seeing how bad the car had become I'm doubting if she will even appreciate how much work was required to clean it up.

I have tried several times to upload the photos of her car after I had cleaned it yesterday but so far have not been able to do so. Today I clay barred the car and have brought back a little shine to the paint. Later this afternoon I will use my Griot's Orbital Polisher to polish and seal the paint. Then we will be able to see a huge difference in the appearance of the car.

Midnight Blue
MCOM Treasurer-Historian

Red Baron · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2013 7:54 am

Thanks Dave! It has been a lot of hard work but at least I have achieved my goal of cleaning and restoring this car to a much better condition than when I received it from my friend.

As for the damage to the interior of this car I honestly don't know what caused that. I'll have to ask Linda when I get back from Ocean City as to how the car got so scratched and scuffed up.

Today I started to clean the exterior of the car with emphasis on cleaning up all of the road tar and debris that had accumulated on the lower sides of the car and front and rear bumpers. Since this car was so dirty I decided to use a commercial strength degreaser to clean the car. I sprayed the degreaser onto the car and wiped it off with a microfiber towel. After that I used Griot's Garage Waterless Car Wash to redo the whole car and neutralize the degreaser. I also had to use an aerosol solvent to take off some of the heavily imbedded road tar off of the car.

Tomorrow I will clean the tires and wheels and than clay bar the car before using the orbital buffer to polish and seal the paint. I took some photos today after the car was cleaned. The car looks much brighter but the paint is dull and lifeless. The polish and sealant should dramatically change that! :btu:

It will be interesting to see the difference in the exterior appearance of the paint once it has been polished and sealed. It already looks better now that it has been cleaned!

The plastic wheel covers are very rough. They are heavily scratched most likely from scrubbing against the curb. These scratches are very deep and will not come out but I'll try to make them more presentable.

Midnight Blue
MCOM Treasurer-Historian

Red Baron · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2013 8:07 am

Here are the photos of the car after it had been "cleaned up".

Midnight Blue

Red Baron · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2013 1:39 pm

Today I clay barred the 1999 Honda before applying the Griot's Garage One-Step Polish and Sealant. There is a marked improvement in polishing out many of the scratches and imperfections in the paint, including the long jagged scratch that was touched up with the wrong color paint on the drivers side rear door!

The areas on the roof and trunk where the paint is peeling and fading look a lot better too. The first two photos show how much additional dirt came off of the paint with the clay bar. You can even notice how the paint started to shine just by using the clay bar to remove the surface dirt.

A lot of people skip this step and merely wash and wax their cars but they never get the best shine because they are waxing on top of the surface dirt. In this extremely dirty car I was able to demonstrate the added benefit of using a clay bar before polishing and waxing.

The One-Step polish and sealant is a machine polish with a paint sealant to protect the paint for up to one year! This is a perfect product for a daily driver. Notice the reflections on the sides of the car now!

Your tired but satisfied Treasurer!

Now... Let there be SHINE! :banana:

Midnight Blue
MCOM Treasurer-Historian

Red Baron · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2013 1:49 pm

Now I need to get my car ready for Ocean City! Since I washed, clay barred, polished and waxed my car last week all I need to do is a little fine detailing. I also have to rearrange my trunk so that we can pack some of our traveling gear as we are planning to stay in Ocean City until Monday.

Some photos of my clean but dusty car. You can't keep the car clean for ten minutes in my neighborhood with all of the trees and bushes blowing all kinds of dust and vegetation everywhere! :yikes:

Midnight Blue
MCOM Treasurer-Historian

Red Baron · **Posted:** Wed May 15, 2013 4:20 am

We have had some rain over night and it is raining a bit today so it was pretty gratifying to go outside this morning to bring in the newspaper and see the 1999 Honda all beaded up! :banana:

Midnight Blue
MCOM Treasurer-Historian

Red Baron · **Posted:** Thu May 16, 2013 4:00 pm

Today I finished up some loose ends to complete this detailing project. I cleaned all of the windows in the car, sprayed on ScotchGard onto the seats and carpeting and finished off by spraying a "new car" air freshener scent onto the seats and carpeting. I also did a quick clean up with detail spray to remove some dust and dirt from the recent rain showers we have had.

Linda will be picking up her car on May 18th when she returns from her cruise vacation and I am in Ocean City with the club.

I'll touch base with her next week to get her reaction to the transformation of her car! :wave1:

Midnight Blue
MCOM Treasurer-Historian

Red Baron · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 12:49 am

Epilogue

My friend Linda picked up her car on Saturday afternoon when she returned from her cruise. Since I was still in Ocean City until Monday afternoon I didn't get to talk to her until today when she came by to pay me for detailing her car and to pick up her keys that I had during the time I was working on the car.

I had a chance to ask her how the passenger side interior became so scratched up. She uses a "club" devise that attached to the brake pedal which is awkward and heavy to lock up her car and deter someone from stealing the car. She said that the scratches came from her unlocking the club and placing it on the drivers side of the car. Because it is heavy and awkward the club sometimes comes in contact with the interior of the car and over the years these scratched occurred.

She was so pleased with the way her car came out and how much time and effort I put into restoring and detailing her car that she voluntarily added an additional $50 to the check she wrote out for me! Since the car only has 84,000 miles on it she has decided to take it to Maaco next year to have to car repainted to match the new look of the interior of the car.

She told me that she was so happy with the way the car turned out that she used her car to pick up her friends to go out to dinner!

So I guess all of the hard work actually paid off! :btu:

Midnight Blue
MCOM Treasurer-Historian

Great White · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 10:02 am

Steve,

I'm glad in the end your hard work was greatly appreciated, you did an amazing job on that car!

I still think a porcupine broke into her car and did all that damage. :smile:

Red Baron · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 4:59 pm

Mustang Club of Maryland

The "Lazaras" Project

Who is online