Hammered 120,000+ mile NSX

Jean-Claude

Keeper of the beautiful
I met up with the owner, Sunday, on the north side of Atlanta to save him a bit of time on his drive from his home in Tennessee. He said I could keep it for a week and fit it in when ever time is available(as an owner/detailer, this is awesome). This also gave me time to take photographs and log this paint resurrection, which I rarely do. He used our free loaner car for the week.



He decided to go with a 2 step process, as the heavy swirls really bothered him. As I tell everyone who gets a 2 step process, every car is different and respond differently. There are times when a 2 step will give 95%+ correction and times when it will give 85%+. Sometimes I will spend a hour just trying different pad and polish combos that will give maximum results for the same effort. In this case, his clear was very soft and very workable. The paint had plenty of depth, despite being an 12 year old car with a lot of abuse(he said it looked like this when he first got it and the previous owner must have caused the damage). Readings showed north of 150 microns practically everywhere. Some places had 170+. On the other hand there were a few areas that needed more than correction will give. There were maybe 3~5 spots that were way through the clear and the front bumper was riddled with chips.



The interior was not touched. If you see dirty interior glass, it was not my doing. :stickoutt



Anyways, forget the small talk. The pictures tell the story.



When it first arrived at my shop:



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The wheels had some damage and need refinishing. Some of what you're seeing is that damage and not dirt.



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Tire rubber was cleaned with a house brand deep rubber cleaner and debrowner.



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P21s Total Auto Wash and daytona wheel brush(one is for wheel wells and a different one is used for wheels) was used for cleaning the wheel wells.



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Sonax Ultimate Wheel Cleaner and a soft fat boy green brush was the first step in cleaning the wheels.(Unpictured is the use of p21s wheel gel for a second step in cleaning the wheels. Wheel gel is great for a second step because you are not limited on time. It can sit and work while you wash the rest of a car).



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(Unpictured: p21s total auto wash pretreat foaming lower portions of the car, wheels and wheel wells)



Pretreat with my house brand shampoo. It foams so good it's rediculous. Also has a wonderful coconut odor. :D



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Emblems, cracks and many other areas treated with boar's hair brush and p21s total auto wash.



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Dried the car with a large Cobra waffle weave towel and a blower.



After claying with very mild clay bar and drying the car this is exactly what I was working with this week.



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The prep work begins with taping off all rubber and sensitive areas.



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Removing windshield spray nozzles.



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The correction begins...



Menzerna SIP, Makita rotary, 6.5" Orange LC pad(4" orange in tight areas), water as well as an alky mix. I prefer using brand new microfiber towels when doing correction work. When they gum up enough, they get put aside.



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Spoiler being removed(top and undersides, as well as the deck lid under the spoiler, receieved the same combo everywhere else got).



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There was no disconnect readily available so towels made the perfect work bench.



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All buttoned up.



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Tail lights got attention too.



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Everyone works on the "not so fun" parts differently. I prefer to just lay down.



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I didn't take much for the side pictures. Between the camera tripod only going so low and getting tired of taking photos this is what I have left. Sue me. haha
 
Though, for information purposes: about half of the doors got the 6.5" pad treatment and the other half got the 4" pad treatment. Hard curves, tons of damage to correct and big pads do not do well together.



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The next photographs are shots after just using the SIP and orange pads on a Makita. Alky wipe down has been done twice at this point. I like to pull my canvas out into the sun to give it a true test for the eyes to find problem areas prior to the last step.



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Time to head back in for my final correction step. Finesse-It on a gray pad and flex DA.



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The next set of images is after the final correction step but prior to any sealant or wax.



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Menzerna Power Lock sealed up the deal.



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1z Einszett Vinyl-Rubber protectant was used for the tire dressing.



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Finalized.



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John, I wanted to put "the skin" on it, but as you could tell, I ran out of sunlight on the last day and wanted to make sure I had time to wrap up on some odds and ends. :(
 
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