Acura/Honda(or other soft paint owners) couple of ?s

J

JaCkaL829

it was my first time...
Well as some of you might know I recently purchased a black RSX. I knew Honda/Acura paint was pretty soft and I heard the stories, but I would never imagine in being this soft. Regardless you can only imagine what im going through with BLACK nonetheless. :eek:

Anyway I have a couple questions for you guys/gals who have Honda/Acura (or other soft paint). First when you S+W what kind of MF do you use to remove it and why? Reason I ask is i'm putting together a PakShak order, and would like some good dedicated MF specificially for S+W. Just this morning I almost had a heart attack. I had to move my car for a dump truck and I had the biggest, nastiest bird bomb i've ever seen. Knowing my car was going to be sitting in the sun, and just :nervous2: at the though of it baking in the sun, I dropped everything and got some S+W and a MF. I ended up removing it and marring the crap out of the paint. It really looked like I took a brillo pad to it :shocked . Again dropping everything, I got my PC and some SSR2.5 with a polishing pad to remove it. Luckily most of it came of faily easy within a minute, except for 1 or 2 scratches that I need to work on a little bit longer. So i'm now looking for a new MF(from PakShak) that won't induce marring that easy.



My 2nd question is for the Menzerna users. I was originally going to polish my car up, then clean up any micromarring with my PO85RD sample. I'm wondering which pad would be a better choice? Finishing or polishing? Again my black paint shows everything, so im wondering what would be the better choice to get the least micromarring. My car is far from perfect and I don't plan on getting it 100% perfect or keeeping it that way. Just wondering how to minimize the micromarring for my weekly S+Ws and what to finish with the Menzerna with.

btw my car was looking pretty sharp on the street, I really got to see the full lines of it compared to other cars, and everytime I see it, i'm more and more pleased :chuckle:



Thanks in Advance for any input/suggestions :xyxthumbs :dance
 
as for MFs, i really like the ultra-fines from Pak and the dragon fibre perfect shines from PAC or CMA. those 2 work the best for me and are what i use for final buffing LSPs. when i tackle bird sh*t, i tend to soak the mess with s+w and allow it to soak and disolve. then i blast it with s+w on stream to break it apart/rinse away. then i wipe very lightly with short strokes and use a fingernail if any is truly baked on...then spray and wipe again.



with respect to PO85RD, i've never used it...hopefully one of the pros will chime in.
 
Hehe, I am in the Honda paint club and have been for a while. My advice.... no more S&W's. If you have driven more than 20 miles and then try to S&W *your* paint, you are definitely going to marr it. Even using the best techniques and towels IMO you will marr the paint.



If *I* was going to S&W some very light dust off of your paint I would mix one gallon of QEW and place a MF in the bucket. Saturate the panel with S&W, use QEW dampened MF to lightly remove dust(I am talking only the weight of the towel), then follow up with a WW. That is the only way that I could make S&W work on my Sherwood forrest green accord (now sold).



EDIT** FWIW, on the ISUZU in the family I can do weekly S&W's no problem without marring. I use several velvet smooth MF's and believe it or not they out perform the other, more plush MF's. I picked up the tip from Steve.....
 
man, i have a black RSX too. Its simply amazing how soft the paint is, its unreal. the slighest touch and it scratches. Bump for you mannnnnnn so we can get some answers. With all my detailing, i seem to be making things WORSE
 
Thanks for the responses so far.



EBP: So what should I do for weekly maintence? You think i'd be better of just washing it? I don't have QEW nor intend to buy it. Maybe a car wash solution would work as an alternative? I also might want to look into a foam gun, although I have no idea how they work.



Jake: What have you done to your RSX that you've messed it up? When I gave mine a quick detail about a month ago it looked great. Heck my car looks great to any non-Autopian pretty much all the time, its when you get it under the direct sunlight and start to see micromarring and other imperfections is when I get mad.
 
With the soft clear that is on my black Acura I have learned that paste can be a VERY good friend. You do know that paste hides right? You will have to learn that even if you do make the paint perfect it simply wont stay that way. I use the Poorboys WW, WCD WW and the Adams polishing towel for QD'ing. I have found that no matter which one I use I can't be in a hurry or it will show in the paint. I only do polishing(full car) once every 12-18 months and spot polishing when the paste wont cover whatever up. Recently I have found that the slicker sealants will have you doing less wiping to remove whatever is on the paint and therefore less marring.



For removing bird droppings I have followed this regimen for over a decade and haven't once marred the paint when removing said droppings. I soak a towel(doesn't matter what kind) with water or QD and let it sit on the dropping for a couple minutes. It's then soft enough to simply wipe it away but you must still be careful as some birds eat hard things that don't soften when they come out. In the recent months I have noticed that S&W does the best job of breaking up the dropping for removing. Try a few different things to see what works best for you.



Don't be discouraged by this at all. You get many applications out of a tin of paste and hand waxing is therapeutic. It's time for my car as it looks like a black Starburst with windows and wheels. I will probably go RMG--->UPP or another sealant if it pasts the test. I will at the first sign of marring top it with a paste (probably #16) and just reapply through the winter. Hmm, maybe I will start out with Sovereign until the days get shorter again.



Good luck!!
 
I feel your pain. Silver is even more easily marred than black in my experience. My silver Odyssey has new scratches every week. it seems my best friend is the PC with a 4 inch pad. i only use Pakshak Ultra Olush or the ones I got from Fiber-Works. I usually wash instead of S&W. With the PO85RD I use the white Lake Country pad at speed 5 on the PC and I get rid of almost all the swrils.
 
SpoiledMan: I really wasn't planning on using a paste. I originally planned on using Menzerna followed up with Poorboy's EX in the next month or 2. Not sure how much carnuaba is in it and if it has any hiding abilities :nixweiss

Maybe I can try a good old nuba for next spring. Once this winter hits I plan on putting UPP to the test. And will probably use some (surprise, surprise) RMG underneith it :D . Pretty nice combo btw, just used it on my uncle's F-350 and it was the slickest combo so far, to bad he went up to PA the day after I did with lots of dirt roads so no pictures :angry

Anyway, any pastes in particular that hide very well? I would want something somewhat durable thats gives a nice deep shine. I have some P21s to play around with, but i'm thinking I would like to try TS. I'll try to wait next spring though, I already have plenty of inventory :nervous: .
 
Back before MB changed their paint in 2004, their paints were very soft, looking at it can make it swirl. After polishing the car (also black) with #83 once every 2-3 months (anything harsher is too strong), I had to wax it every other week to protect and hide any new swirls and used Mr Clean Autodry so I didn't have to touch it more than I had to. I just use Costco MF towels, they didn't do anymore damage than MF towels I paid 10 times more for. What I did to fix the problem was get a 2004 with the new nano paint which is very hard, no swirls even after a year of free dealer car washes and no buffing.
 
I use S+W with a gray WW (the smaller size). If any, I only get minute marring, but this is just on a dusty vehicle. Any water spotting, I go straight to a wash.



I agree with the paste comment. FK1 Pink Wax is my favorite wax for looks and hiding abilities.



Use PO85RD with a polishing pad.
 
Welcome to the Club.

Honda Black can be a bear.



I've used SSR1 / PWC / EX combo this spring and liked the results.



Now I have #80 via pc / Colonite 845 x1 and like what I see as well.



Both with plenty of SG to remove dusting in between wash's.



Suttle difference in visual appeal, but both combos looked wet and deep.



Both held up well to frequent hand washing with NXT Wash and a super soft sheepskin mit.



I've only had to do some minor touch up 3m Fine Cut RC or #80.



G in straight lines toweling off or applying product, no circles and take your time.



Try some SG applied while the car is wet after washing, might help slick things up and keep the water spots away and help avoid marring.





Got my VM/ RMG / bug squash today from Danase and hope to try that out soon.





Enjoy the car.....
 
my sister's green '00 Accord had moderate swirls that I thought was pretty easy to remove with SSR 2.5 and a polishing pad and it looked pretty much swirl free. put some UPP on it and 3 weeks later theres little swirls appearing and i'm not sure where it came from. it drove me crazy and i was thinking it was my towels that caused it



last week i detailed a black '04 TSX, which i noticed the paint felt pretty solid and the op wasnt as bad as other honduhs. did honduh change their paint process? it certainly felt like quality paint like a german car
 
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