Optimum Polish/EX-P+ on a Satin Silver TSX

S

stilez

New member
This one is image and information intensive, so go grab a drink 56k'ers.





The Engine



The car is a little over a year old with just under 12k miles. The engine was pretty dirty and greasy in some areas. My final processes were:



-Hose down engine (wide spray pattern, moving water quickly)

-Soak with Simple Green full strength for 5 minutes

-Using an OXO inside of rim brush and the new Meguiar's Gold Class wheel brush (pic below) I scrubbed each area down with a mixture of 1oz Mother's Car Wash/1 gal water

-Spray down engine and check work

-Went over a couple missed areas (scrub & rinse) then ran engine for 5 mins

-Wipe down with MF towel

-Dress with Meguiar's Hyper Dressing cut 2.5:1 by spraying on liberally and letting dry while I finished the rest of the car

-Wipe down entire engine to remove excess dressing







Here I am scrubbing with the Meguiar's Wheel Brush. This proved to work out really well. The bristles are stiff enough and long enough to get the job done, but did not scratch anything.

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Before

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After

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Before

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After

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The Interior





The interior was rather new as well with some light soiling on the matts. The leather was a bit dry and the rest of the interior just a bit dusty. My final processes:



-Vacuum

-303 Spot Remover and Simple Green cut 6:1 on mats, then extracted

-Meguiar's APC+ 10:1 to clean vinyl, rubber, plastic, and leather

-Adam's V.R.T. to dress and protect vinyl, rubber, and plastic

-4* Leather Conditioner on the leather seating

-Adam's Detail Spray for the windows, chrome door pulls, seat belts (chrome part) and clear plastic in dash





Before

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After

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For the door jams, I needed to clean up my act a little bit. On the last car I did (Black TSX) I didn't go over them throughly enough and heard about it afterwards. This time, I used a Simple Green mixture with 1 part SG, 6 parts water. I then used a Poorboy's 2nd MF to degrease the jams thoroughly before attacking the exterior. Upon final inspection, I sprayed them with Adam's Detail Spray and wiped clean with an Ultra Plush MF.



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The Exterior





It was cloudy when I began so no befores. The exterior didn't look bad at all until the sun popped out. It was reasonably swirled throughout and had some IFO and tar deposits on the lower panels. My final processes were:



-Mother's Gold Wash

-Poorboy's Clay with Mother's Gold Wash (fresh mixture) as lube

-Cleaned rims, tires, and wells with Meguiar's Gold Class wheel cleaner, a tire brush, Gold Class Wheel Brush, and OXO inner rim brush

-Polished paint with Optimum Car Polish via rotary and Lake Country White Concaved Buffing Pad (7.5") @ 1500 rpm...In some spots, two separate passes were needed.

-EX-P+ by hand



-Poorboy's Bold 'N Bright on tires

-Meguiar's Hyper Dressing in wells

-Meguiar's Trim Detailer on plastic in front grille

-Flitz Metal polish and #0000 Steel Wool on exhaust





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And my favorite

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As many people will ask, I will address it now. Optimum polish is on the lines of a Menzerna polish. It works in for a while and is very pad dependent (cut wise). It is safe to use in the sun and if worked in properly, will leave a high gloss, swirl free shine. I would rate it closest to Menzerna IP with longer working time, a touch less cut, and no dusting.





Enjoy ;).
 
WOW a Manual TSX!!! ::drools:: it doesn't get any better then that!! Not only is it a hot car but it was detailed by Sean the value just went way up!! $$$$$$$ lol
 
Nicely done!



Quick question... did you have to cover anything under the hood (i.e. with foil or something else) or did you just spray very carefully? I've been hestitant to work on engine detailing for now since I'm afraid I'll hose something unintentionally... (I know, bad pun)
 
GSRstilez,



Nice pictures and details....Thanks for the Optimun info too, but what "pad dependencies" did you discover?





OFF TOPIC:



(Wanted one of these myself, but since no Acura dealer in town ...got an Accord V6 instead. Terrible "SAAB" story once, you see. How has this car been for you? Do you run premium only or do you try to use regular? What kind of mileage have you gotten?

Finally, does it use a factory recommended 5W20?)
 
Thanks guys :).





maecrispy: I didn't need to cover anything. I use a light stream of water and as said above, moved it very quickly over everything. Don't spray at one area for a while. Usually the newer the car the safer, but the starting up after last hosedown is big.





MartyGrant: With optimum, it could be almost a pure polish with a finishing pad, light to medium polish with a polishing pad, and cutting polish with a cutting pad. I found it to almost be a pure polish in its true form but it stays very wet and allows the pad/speed/pressure to do all of the work. Both cars I worked on (Trans Am & TSX) were able to finish with a flawless finish with a polishing pad and rotary.



It's a customer's car so I'm not sure, but he only had good things to say about it. I was very very impressed with the overall build quality. I know he does use premium and the oil cap said 5-20 or 5-30.
 
Sean, Thanks for the extensive write up & pictures. The TSX looks like a nice car. Wish it had a little more power.



Did you like the Optimum polish well enough to use/purchase it again? The more I work with it, the more I like it.
 
hftw Audi 6 said:
WOW a Manual TSX!!! ::drools:: it doesn't get any better then that!! Not only is it a hot car but it was detailed by Sean the value just went way up!! $$$$$$$ lol
Click to expand...



My thoughts exactly... :up
 
mgm121499 said:
Sean, Thanks for the extensive write up & pictures. The TSX looks like a nice car. Wish it had a little more power.
Click to expand...



That's what the '04 and later TL is for. :D



Price wise the TSX sits right in the middle between the Honda Accord and the TL. Might as well get the TL. I've been supremely happy with mine.
 
I test drove a TSX with a manual a few months back. For the money, it is an excellent car. It handles better than anything in its price class and alot of cars that are more expensive. I plan to pick one up this summer. I'm just waiting to see if the 06's are different enough to justify buying the new model or else just get a deal on an '05. It could use maybe another 20 horsepower. Any more than that and it would probably defeat the purpose of the car.



GSRstilez, I am considering that color for the new car. How was it to work with? Anything I should know about? We have an '03 Accord, so I have a pretty good idea what I am up against.
 
Very nice Sean. :bow Great flake in that least shot and I bet the photo does not do it full justice...



How would you compare the Optimum polish to SSR2.5?
 
Great detail, Sean, as usual. :xyxthumbs Two TSX's in a row :shocked

How do you think the interior compares to yours ?



MartyGrant: I've head mine for a year and I'm very happy with it. Average 28 mpg mixed driving. The car is a blast to drive.
 
Terrific work, Sean! Excellent job on the engine and attention to detail on the door jams.



I really like the new Meguiars brushes but they don't have one with a head thin enough to fit into the fenderwells of cars.



Definitely agree with you on Optimum. It is a very high quality polish that finishes off very nicely.



How do you like EX-P+?
 
As far as the Optimum...I will be using it reguarly. I liked how it cut like IP and stayed wetter (better working in sun) and provided a flawless finish in the end.



The car overall is very beautiful. The fit and finish is the nicest I've worked on for the price. The body panels are very tight (see around taillights)...no 1/2-1" gaps like other makers. The interior is well laid out and simple to navigate. As others said, if it had more power it would be on the list. However, that's where the TL comes in :).





EX-P+ is pretty good. The look is a touch better than the old version, I just hope the durability shapes up. A little goes a long way and its pretty easy to remove. I had a couple of thick spots that took 2 or 3 swipes, but overall pretty good.
 
Sean,



Very nice work:xyxthumbs



To answer some questions.....yes you can go straight to your sealer after using the Opt polish and a finishing pad (dark colors) and a polishing pad (light colors).



Sean.....I like the clean door jambs:D That's the first thing people see when they open up their doors.



Great job,

Anthony
 
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