I have the cleanest S around so people have this crazy idea I know how to detail cars.

My dad just picked up an 05 RSX and it is really nice other than the fact that it was probably never washed.

So, he wants to bring it over this weekend and restore it to new. I looked at it and it is beyond nasty. The door panels are white, the engine bay has layers of sand and spiderwebs. I was going to cry.

I have some good ideas for the enigne and exterior but what do I use on the plastic(?) door panels. What about the cloth seats?

Any help would be appreciated. I am not looking forward to spending a day on this car.

 

I'll let some of the more seasoned pros take on the big stuff. But I will say to try to take some pictures along the way and let us know how it turns out. I like reading peoples 'war' stories on detailing.

For the door panels...are they vinyl? For the seats...I've always found it is much easier to work on them when they are out of the car. If you can take them out, you'll be able to really give them a good cleaning.

Good luck!

 

for the seats and rest of interior, start with a good vacuuming...
then most all purpose cleaners diluted should work on the seats- test a small area in the lower back of a seat first to make sure.

door panels can also use the apc, but i would be sure to finish up with a good vinyl cleaner/protectant (vinylex, 303, etc.)-

tip- rags are your friends in this job... prepare to use lots of them- so have lots of clean ones ready.

read up in our how tos- especially the engine cleaning one, and the polishing videos.

if i were sorta new at detailing, i would take that car in stages. you easily have a full day job there, so i would probably do the interior first- then see how you feel to decide how much further you want to go.
your dad will be very impressed whichever part you do first, and will beg for the rest !!

if you have the energy to get the interior looking new first, and still can do the exterior- go for it.
tip #2- if you really think that you will be doing the engine, do it before you do the exterior cleaning (very easy to splash stuff onto the paint, so you dont want to detail the paint and then the engine).

you could make this a part of 3 days (as in 3 separate saturdays) job
day 1 - interior
day 2 - exterior (prob gonna need some clay and polish- long day)
day 3- engine and exterior wash- focus more time on the wheels on this day

 

Wanabe is right (as he usually is). LOTS of rags. I'd suggest, in this case, going to Costco and getting the $15 pack of 36 microfiber towels. Not the best quality stuff in the world, but I think this would be the right play for cleaning up that interior.

Is it leather or cloth?

 

take some pics so we can see what you're up against.