2001 Honda Accord Coupe - v. Dirty Icicles

S

stilez

New member
I'm forewarning you that these pics don't come close to the glamour of JDookie's Bimmer and 1 Clean WS6's Maserati, but I worked my tail off so I'm gonna post :D



About 33* out today and the sun never poked through the heavy overcast. The water froze on the car soo many times that I was forced to use warm water in the wash buckets, clay lube, and final rinse (dumping buckets on it). You can see some icicles in the after pics :)



2001 Honda Accord Coupe in Single Stage White, well half of it... The car was in a bad front end accident a few months back and the body shop repainted the front doors forward and rear bumper, white with clear on top, but the rear 1/4 panels, roof area, and trunk are all single stage white. The single stage areas were VERY oxidized and stained in general. The lower vertical panels were pretty badly covered in break dust rust and tar. The sideskirts were so bad that nothing helped (clay, bug and tar remover, polish).



Anyways, interior was pretty quick. Just some stains here an there. My final processes were:



-Simple Green/Protein Remover Mix (tried SG today instead of APC with sucess)

-APC 10:1 on all vinyl, rubber, plastic, and leather surfaces

-Adam's VRT on vinyl, rubber, and plastic

-4* Leather Conditioner on the...hmmm...leather



DSC04047.jpg






The exterior was a completely different story from the interior. As stated above, it was pretty bad. I battled with the weather all day, but luckily I did this detail at home so I could take short breaks to de-thaw as well as use warm water when needed. Final processes on the rims, tires, and wells:



-APC (10:1) presoak on rims, tires, and wells

-4* Wheel Gel on rims and tires

-BnB on tires and in wells

-#20 on rims



Before

DSC04050.jpg




After

DSC04066.jpg






Plenty more coming :)
 
Next, I'll go to the "during pics"...Some people have mentioned when Menzerna IP was used via rotary, it left hazing that resulted in an extra step, usually FP. Here is a side by side of the front door/rear 1/4. Both surfaces are washed, clayed, and degreased, but the door is polished with IP. Notice the staining on the 1/4 panel.



DSC04059.jpg






Next, I did a dead on shot of my 500watt work light on the door after polishing with IP via rotary @ 1500 rpm with a LC 7.5" Concaved pad. Notice there are no swirls or hazing.



DSC04061.jpg






Stay tuned...
 
To the exterior before and afters. My final processes were:





-Mother's Gold Wash with APC (10:1) presoak

-Tarminator on lower panels

-WG Clay on all painted surfaces

-IP via rotary and LC polishing pad @ 1500rpm

-#20 by hand and foam applicator



-GR40 Trim Cleaner





Before

DSC04048.jpg




After

DSC04072.jpg






Before

DSC04054.jpg




After

DSC04076.jpg
 
car looks great sean. those are some ****** *** working conditions you had there. i hate winter! the car really great in that money shot, the reflection down the side looks awesome!



Vernon
 
its apparent (in the before pic) they (autobody) just painted doors forward...looks like they were off in the paint matching.



but in the 'after' shot its not noticeable. awesome work.
 
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr I am getting New England flashbacks just looking at those shots!!!



Gorgeous work as always Sean!! :xyxthumbs You brought that white paint back to life for sure.



How do you like #20?? I have always thought that along with #16 it was one of Meg's sleeper products. Very wet and reflective on light colors.
 
Nice work Sean...thanx again for the Natty's to try out! Didn't get to the car today evrything including my hose was frozen. So i am most likely gonna hit the car tomorro! But great job on the Accord! :up :up :up
 
Thanks ;)



steck: Now that I look at it, it's very noticeable. Could just be the grime stuck better to the unoxidized areas.



Mike: I like #20 a lot. It goes on very easily and leaves a nice glow. I also like how incredibly slick it is. I chose this sealants because it looks great on white and also, the owner LOVES to touch the paint with the back of his hand...He should be in for a nice surprise with this one.



Kenny: No prob...you better get your car in before it snows.
 
Looks great! The white looks really clear and clean. :up



I too think it's fairly noticeable which parts were repainted in the before picture, the color match isn't very good.



BTW, I believe that's a 2000 model.
 
Excellent work Sean - seeing these pictures I know that the **before** car looked much worse then in the picture and the finished product looks even better in person.



I quit working on a black LS 400 yesterday due to cold weather.



Great job!
 
It wasn't quite as cold here, but only about 7-8 degrees warmer here. My first customer is right off a lake, I ended up having to work in his garage because the wind was just cutting through me. Luckily, it was a 2 day old Porsche Carrera so it didn't need too much. ;)



The good news for your customer is that once you really polish out that Honda ss white paint, it seems to stay looking really good for quite some time (I've used AIO/NXT and currently, VM/#16) and even the slickness should remain. I regularly wash one just like it (same year, also a coupe) so believe me, I hear ya' on what it takes to bring them back the first time!



I didn't even know you had #20 in your aresonal, its a really good product. #20/#16 would make a killer combo when you redo that Accord in the spring. :)
 
Scott: After today, Liz and I are looking for a house to move into. I can't do the outdoors thing anymore in the winter. I got mild frostbite the other day doing a stereo install for a client. I took a bunch of breaks to thaw out but at the end I was just like F-it, I gotta finish. Now I have a couple red marks on the tips of my fingers that tingle. I gotta be more careful. Up until this week, the weather has been rather mild but this weekend and coming week are all sub-freezing temps.



The paint was a PITA in the bad spots. My buffer was skipping pretty bad due to all of the oxidation. I had to put some muscle into it and ended up cleaning the pads after every 2 - 3 panels.



Anyways, I like #20 a lot for light colors. I haven't given it a shot yet on dark colors. They were absolutely thrilled with it. I paid special attention to go over everything a few times as this client has a lot of nice vehicles in their posession. After today, it appears to have led to bigger and better things. No #16 yet :D , but I'll eventually stock it. Are you thinking about trying out the FK1 pink wax? How have the samples of Race Glaze been goin for ya?
 
Wow, Sean, great job. I can't believe you are working outside in these conditions. If you ever want a break, come down here to thaw! It was a very nice 56* today, bright and sunny.



The owners should be extremely happy. That car looks better than new.
 
Sean-I don't blame you. It is tough when your customer either doesn't have a garage big enough, clean enough or well lit enough to work in. Not much you can do when you are mobile though, unless you want to set up a portable tent with a heater inside.



The Race Glaze sealant/polish is holding up pretty well so far but it has only been about 5 weeks. Beading and slickness are still there so that it good. I may try the Pink Wax this spring, I just have so much to test right now. I'm really liking the Shokar stuff so far.
 
GSRstilez said:
Scott: After today, Liz and I are looking for a house to move into. Are you thinking about trying out the FK1 pink wax?
Click to expand...



Hey Sean, especially good to read this first sentence. I know you guys were going through a rough time, and it's good to see you guys came out together. Glad to see you guys were able to work things out. Congrats.



And also glad to hear you are thinking about using the pink wax! I have an offer for you and Scottwax, I will PM you guys regarding the offer!:xyxthumbs
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top