Swirled Accord, scratched BMW 330i, cream puff Honda Pilot

Scottwax · 05-18-06, 09:09

1998 Honda Accord. I had detailed it a couple of years ago, since then it had been in an accident and had the passenger side repainted but overall wasn't too bad. Interior was in pretty decent shape too. The roof has some clearcoat failure issues, nothing I could do about that but I could do something about the plethora of halo swirls.

After Optimum Compound using a white LC polishing pad...and notice the absolute lack of any marring or hazing!

Rear quarter polished as above, door untouched-I think you can see I went a little into the door when polishing the rear quarter:

Both polished:

After polishing with Optimum Compound and a white LC pad, I used Clearkote's Vanilla Moose with a Meguiars polishing pad and sealed with Poorboy's EX.

Scottwax · 05-18-06, 09:14

2004 Honda Pilot. Last detailed in early November using Klasse AIO and Werkstatt's Acrylic Jett. Still looked really good, had some slickness left, still beading well. Used Werkstatt's Prime with a blue Propel finishing pad this time and again sealed it with Acrylic Jett.

mr2guysingh · 05-18-06, 09:28

Where is the 330i?

Edit: nevermind

Scottwax · 05-18-06, 09:28

2004 BMW 330i. I've done this one a few times now but this time was mostly because a board on the freeway was kicked up by a truck and hit the BMW on the hood, part of the front left fender and door. He wanted to see if I could buff it out enough that he could live with it instead of having it repainted.

I stopped by his house last weekend after finishing another job to take a look and tried out some DACP by hand on it and I was able to make a noticable improvement but knew immediately not all of the scratches could be removed. He said he could see a difference and was aware not all could be corrected without a repaint and asked me to go ahead and schedule a detail.

Before (although after some minor correction by hand a few days earlier with DACP):

After polishing with Optimum's Hyper Compound using a burgandy Meguiars cutting pad (definitely left some hazing) and Optimum Compound using a yellow LC cutting pad (removed most of the hazing). Obviously not perfect but a noticable improvement.

I then went over the whole car with Meguiars #83 DACP using a Meguiars polishing pad and then #80 Speed Glaze, again using a Meguiars polishing pad. I went with Meguiars over Optimum because I wanted the filling properties I get with the 'trade secret' oils both Meguiars polishes contain. Polishing wasn't going to completely remove the scratches so I filled (mostly) what was left. I then topped with Meguiars #16. Sorry no after shots of the hood in the sun-about 3 hours had passed and I couldn't get a good angle. Definitely improved even more from the heavy polishing.

Oddly enough, though I had done this car a few times, I never had full sun to put the car in and realized for the first time the paint was metallic!

I also suspect the hood has been repainted at some point, the paint was noticably harder and took the heavy compounding on the scratches to also remove the halo swirls while the rest of the car responded well to DACP and #80.

Finished shots:

Stickman81 · 05-18-06, 10:18

It is amazing to me the corrections I've seen here. The damage to the hood on the BMW is almost gone. It looks great.

Jeremiah · 05-19-06, 12:34

Wow that 2nd picture of the Accord really shows how well the OC finishes

Nice work!

Atrocity · 05-19-06, 01:06

That Accord looks glassy. Nice job.

Picus · 05-19-06, 04:17

The BMW hood turned out very nice indeed, especially considering the damage. The clearbra on that car looks kind of wonky though - how was it in person?

The Accord looks killer. It's easy to forget how good the staples (VM/EX) are sometimes.

ScubaStevo · 05-19-06, 04:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Picus

The BMW hood turned out very nice indeed, especially considering the damage. The clearbra on that car looks kind of wonky though - how was it in person?

The Accord looks killer. It's easy to forget how good the staples (VM/EX) are sometimes.

I was about to say that. Is appears that there is still wax/polish residue in the line around the clear bra on the hood. Don't get me wrong, I've had this problem, and it took me 3 hours to fix since I didn't think anything of it. Then after 2 days backing in the sun I noticed it and was like "HOLY CRAP" and well, you can figure out the rest.

Looks great though, I'm extremely impressed with these Optimum polishs!

Picus · 05-19-06, 04:50

I don't think it's residue so much as a kind of crummy clear bra in the first place.

The_Terminator · 05-19-06, 08:31

That generation of the Accord coupe is one of my very favorites! Especially with the spoiler. That car without the spoiler just doesn't look right.

You did a fabulous job on it. I love it!

74 thing · 05-19-06, 09:15

Scott, what do you do to that plastic molding on the BMW that runs down the sides and goes across both the front and rear bumpers? I was wondering if running the PC over it while you are doing your VM step might save you some time. I have always had to go back and use something like Poorboys Trim Restore or something on it but it takes time.