New Black Acura ... fine scratches .. need polish info

mjp3475 · 01-17-06, 01:21

First of all, I love this site! I've been reading, searching & taking notes religiously since I ordered my new car 6 weeks ago. I'm very car/mechanically inclined, and understand and have done most of the basics when it comes to wash, clay, wax, etc. (however, beware, I'm a n00b when it comes to choosing polishes--hence the post). I did receive a PC for xmas, too, so that should help the below.

So I finally picked up my new Acura TSX in nighthawk black pearl this past weekend. A pic of the car, if interested, is here. (and yes, as my luck had it, in true upstate NY fashion, it snowed the day I picked it up!) After reading many horror stories online, I instructed them not to "detail" the car and only remove the protective film and the residue it leaves behind, as I plan on detailing the car fully once it gets above 40 (hopefully at least one day in the next week or 2).

Well, as you can imagine, there are random fine scratches on the clear all over the car. Here's a sample: (the red circle is a reflection of some storage tubs I have in the garage, not a scratch, dont worry!)

Specifically the long straight scratch in the lower middle and upper left of the picture. Unfortunately the pic doesn't show the true beautiful color of the car as it was dark in the garage & I had to take the pic at a weird angle to show the scratches.

Here's the cliff's notes version of my exterior detailing plan & associated products:

Wash (Sonus Gloss-Foam Gun-Sheepskin Mitt-WW towels)
Clay (Sonus ultra fine w/Glyde-MF towels -- to get rid of rail dust, etc. from shipping)
Polish (???)
Jeff's Prime (Blue Sonus DFX polish pad--MF polish towel)
Jeff's AJ (Foam/MF applicator)
Top with Carnauba (wax is TBD--Grey Propel pad--MF polish towel)

So here's my main question:
After a lot of reading, I am considering using either SFX-2 or Optimum Polish. My assumption is that either of these would work OK for this, but is there one that might tackle it better, or provide better results with the rest of my plan? I considered that maybe the Jeff's Prime would take those out, but I doubt it would, right? Also, which Sonus DFX/Propel pad to start with, blue, or would these scratches & the chosen polish be better off with the green? I know it's best to start with the least abrasive & work your way up, but when it comes to polish, I don't know what I don't know, so I'm hoping you all can recommend a good starting point based on your past experiences. I rather not abuse the paint too much since the car is brand new & I've heard Honda/Acura paint is soft.

So in advance,

!!!

Neothin · 01-17-06, 01:28

Optimum would be a great choice on your car. With the relatively soft honda paint, OCP will be able to get out your current scratches and maintain the car from then on. OCP does take a bit to break done, so your going to have to work it in for a bit.

Mad iX · 01-17-06, 01:34

If they're just random isolated scratches then you could do it all by hand with something like ScratchX.
SFX-2 should work fine too, but I've never tried applying it by hand, and if you don't have any swirls then you don't really need to use that all over the car.

mjp3475 · 01-17-06, 01:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad iX

If they're just random isolated scratches...

Let me clarify what I meant by random. These light scratches are more or less all over the car, but are not swirl marks or in other patterns. They are in random directions & are of various lengths. So the whole car will have to be polished. I would also be afraid of any "spot polishing" with something as aggressive as ScratchX (it is fairly aggressive, right? i thought i read that...) with the number of these little buggers on there, it would look like a dalmation afterwards.

getright · 01-17-06, 04:15

I am a fellow nhbp acura owner (CL) and i have had many a fight with marring on the finish. Since your car is new and there is plenty of clear left on it I would go with the optimum and a light cutting pad (I use lc pads so in mine it would be orange) which i think is green for you. If you see any marring from the ocp then you would use a lighter polish like menzerna fpII or poorboy's world ssr1/pro polish. I am also from upstate ny and have alot of family in the rochester area, so i know it will be an uphill battle to keep the finish in tip top shape. Here's a tip when your car is covered in salt park far away from everyone so no one will rub against it and smear the salt like sand paper on the finish. Beautifal choice of vehicle and i hope you enjoy it, check out acura-tsx.com if you already aren't aware of it. Six speed?

AlexRuiz · 01-17-06, 05:30

SFX-2 is an excellent polish as far as shine, but I find it mild to remove swirls. I would say SFX-1 followed with SFX-2. Make sure you work them long enough. SFX-1 goes with Sonus SFx yellow pad, and SFX-2 goes with the SFX white pad

By the way, lovely car and welcome to the forums

a.k.a. Patrick · 01-17-06, 07:11

This was one of my favorite NBP TL's I have done. By the description of your issues at hand, its sounds very similiar to this one, maybe a little less severe. The owner of this ride shows great care in his attempt to keep his car looking its best. When he needs help, he gives me a shout, and I make the 35 mile trip to assist.
I used SSR 2.5 and Optimum Polish on this one, this time. Its one of my favored combos for dark But to be fair, I havent used any of the SFX's or "Jeffs Prime" (I dont even know what that is), or any Menzerna polishes......Im sure other readers can come up with their favored brands for these situations as well.

I love the pic in the snow though! (Im in Calif and rarely see snow!)

mjp3475 · 01-17-06, 07:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by a.k.a. Patrick

This was one of my favorite NBP TL's I have done. By the description of your issues at hand, its sounds very similiar to this one, maybe a little less severe. The owner of this ride shows great care in his attempt to keep his car looking its best. When he needs help, he gives me a shout, and I make the 35 mile trip to assist.
I used SSR 2.5 and Optimum Polish on this one, this time. Its one of my favored combos for dark But to be fair, I havent used any of the SFX's or "Jeffs Prime" (I dont even know what that is), or any Menzerna polishes......Im sure other readers can come up with their favored brands for these situations as well.

That's a BEAUTIFUL looking NBP TL!!

I was reffering to Jeff Werkstatt's new Acrylic Prime all-in-one product. Like AIO, I doubt it will hide any scratches like these.

As my paint is new and the scratches are faint, it sounds like I can skip the SSR 2.5 & use the Optimum starting with a propel blue pad & see if that works, if not, move up to green. Sounds like a plan?

Also, I've read that a 5" plate with 7" pads are best for a PC newbie. Is that a good plan, or should I just jump right into the 6" plate with the 7" pads?

Neothin · 01-17-06, 07:34

the original propel's have a 5" circular depression in the back of the pad. Using a 5" backing plate, its a cinch to center the pads on the backing plate.

aaron33 · 01-17-06, 11:24

If you are getting the new Propel2 6.5" pads, they have the hook&loop backing all the way to the edge, so you can use both 5" and 6" backing plates with them.

dandydaniel · 01-18-06, 05:03

I recently got a brand new 2005 Graphite Grey Accord and I found the same exact scratches in random various spots and like you said they varied in length and direction. To fix the problem I went out to Autozone and bought some ScratchX and they did the job. I would go out and spend the small amount of $ and give it a shot. You really have nothing to lose.

mjp3475 · 01-21-06, 03:50

Update:

Well it was nice out yesterday, enough time to wash the car. Here's my wash process:

Rinse car
Spray down with foam gun & let set for 5 minutes
Rinse car
Spray one panel at a time with foam gun, use sheepskin mitt to gently wash each panel, rinsing the mitt after every half of a panel or so
Continually rinse section and rest of car for it not to dry.
Dry with WW towels

And wow... the light scratches above are nothing ... holy swirl marks batman!

It looks like I'd been washing the car with a sponge & terry cloth towels for months! Given my wash procedure, there's no way it could have caused all that marring. I'm starting to think that the dealer marred the heck out of the paint when removing the protective film, and then decided to cover it up with a glaze (I did tell them not to detail the car, so to them I'm guessing that means only not to wax it.) There was no wax on the car, but my rinse bucket was a weird dirty color, not the normal "dirty car rinse bucket water" color. Also, the other day when I went to clean the snow off the windows after work, the snow had this exact same weird color tint to it.

So would a glaze that the dealer put on have this effect on the car, and come off with only one washing? I'm glad I have SSR2 and a green pad on order now, as I'm going to have to put the PC to some good use here. There was also a decent amount of orange peel on the paint. Between that & the scratches, I'm livid. I've only had the car for one week now and it already looks a year old.

I did love using the foam gun, though. I think my mix was too concentrated (went with Megs GC Shampoo) so I'll have to measure out & mix a milder batch for the next time. There were a few water spots after drying, but even after QD'ing, they wouldn't come all the way off. I'm thinking that these were from last week when the dealer washed the car. Would the glaze mask these, too?

(I'll try to get a pic of the swirls here in a bit).