Shine, TSX, shine!

I

imported_RadMon

New member
It was a beautiful day. Temp was 74 with low humidity and mostly overcast sky which made for perfect outdoor detailing this past weekend.



My baby is only 3.5 months old. Thanks to all the info on this site and those who contribute, shortly after taking delivery I clayed, AIOed, and then topped with Pinnacle Paste Glaz. Made for a super slick and glossy finish on top of the Satin Silver Metallic.



Lately I have been trying the new LS which gives the same results as the Pinnacle. In between waxings I top her off with Meg's regular ole QD which gives a nice pop.



This past weekend I thought I'd try IHG and see how it did. Can't say I liked it too much. In most areas the final result was good but the bad areas left some nasty smudges. I'll have to consult the archives to see what the secret application and removal tricks are. Once again I topped it off with the Pinnacle.



The tires are courtesy of Meg's GC Endurance while the windows, inside and out are Stoners IG with MF polishing. For the interior vinyl I've been using Lexol and for the leather seats, doors, gear shift boot and wheel I've been using Zaino.



The sun was constantly peeking in and out so some of the pics are dark. Like this one taken from the back deck...
 

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i'm impressed. I really like the way the silver shows on your car. It's one of the better silver cars I've seen.
 
Because dealers leave the cars sitting outside, unprotected, and they accumulate horrid amounts of bonded contaminants. My brand new neon needed more claying than my Buick needs after a whole winter of snow and salt. New cars should ALWAYS be clayed before you do anything to them, unless they have been shipped in a covered trailer and kept in the showroom.



-Tom
 
You clay because they call it "rail dust" for a reason. New cars need clay too. :)



You are making me jealous, man. Soon, I tell ya. Soon. :bigups You are doing that car proud by taking care of it like that. Great work. :bow
 
Thanks for the compliments, guys! I couldn't have done it without all the info here and the people who help make this site so great by contributing! :up



I really didn't understand claying until I came here and from what I read, I understood that a new car was far from clean by the time I got it. That's the reaon for the initial clay and AIO. I wanted to make sure I started with a clean slate (which is also why I told the dealer NOT to detail it before delivery).



The wife and I had to spend the last two weeks in the hospital for the birth of our 2nd baby girl and parking in the hospital parking deck is quite an experience! After always parking in the back corner :D I usually had a ways to walk to get to the elevators. It gave me a good chance to check out the conditions of the cars thanks to the lighting (something I seem to be obsessed with after finding Autopia - How many times I now see nice cars in not so great shape and wish I could just get my hands on them! ;) )



And 95% of the cars in the parking deck just broke my heart with all the swirls and scratchs that were easily visible in those yellow lights. Even the new MBs, Audis, etc. that looked brand new and sparkled did not hold up to those lights. What a shame.



While I was afraid to, I just had to make a good examination of my car under the same lights and hoped I didn't find what I feared (after looking at all of those other cars). I was so pleased to see not a swirl or scratch (on the 90% or so of the car I could get a good reflecion off of for checking).



Once again, thanks for all the great info and advice!
 
Nice car! I really like the TSX. I also like Satin Silver. My sister's Accord is in that exact same color and it's one of the nicest silvers I've seen. Good job on the detail as well!
 
Nice job on the detail. I love the way the interior is laid out and the overall quality of the interior in general. I bet it's fun to drive but is it underpowered?
 
I bet it's fun to drive but is it underpowered?
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It is very fun to drive. The wheels, suspension, steering, engine and manual tranny make for one sweet combination. Drive one yourself (and go with the MT) and see why the press has applauded Honda for bringing this car over from Europe.



I've owned everything from a Corolla to a highly modified 360hp twin-turbo Z used in SCCA and the TSX is the nicest blend of a sports sedan with everday useability thrown in (not to mention Acura fit-n-finish, reliability and resale value).



It's not a fast car by any means but at 200hp for a 3200 lb car it's no slouch. Sport Compact magazine dyno'ed a TSX and actually got 210hp (which is indicative of Honda's usually conservative press figures). Car and Driver clocked the MT 0-60 in 7.2.



I spend most of my time commuting these days on the interstate (and none of it at the track) so I need a car (and suspension) I can live with, not to mention the need to ferry the wife and two kids at times.



Jackson Racing is working on a supercharger for the TSX as well as an upgraded exhaust system. That will definitely be something I'm interested in. Or perhaps I'll just give the TSX to the wife and get myself one of the new 270hp TLs coming out in October.



Hmmm. Decisions, decisions. :D
 
Nice work!



Just a note, 3M IHG has fillers in it. IHG works very well with any waxes containing oils and the like as it will not disturb the product used for filling.



As for a QD, you HAVE to try Megs FD and Clearkotes QS... Both VERY NICE QD's for wax.



I hear the S100 looks really sweet with silver cars and metallic just jumps out at you.



Keep it clean!



Regards,

Deanski
 
tkr128 said:
Nice car! I really like the TSX. I also like Satin Silver. My sister's Accord is in that exact same color and it's one of the nicest silvers I've seen. Good job on the detail as well!
Click to expand...



I think Honda/Acura has used this color on just about every one of their models!



I really didn't want a silver car but I did come to the conclusion that the TSX looks best in this color. But the silver does hide the dirt very well (not that I ever let my baby get dirty :xyxthumbs )



I really wanted to get the Carbon Grey but the pearl paint really didn't sparkle unless it was in brilliant sunlight, otherwise it looked too much like dull, flat gray, IMHO.



Besides, with all of the chrome accents on it, I found them to blend in nicely with the Silver and White Pearl while they stood out too much on the darker colors (Black, Blue and Grey). It also looks pretty hot in red but I just came out of a '96 Prelude VTEC in the same exact color so I wasn't willing to do that again.



I also wanted the Ebony interior (and not the Quartz or Parchment) which cut back my choices. In the end, Satin Silver won out and I'm very pleased with the decision (although such a color doesn't lend itself well to the nice glossy reflections I use to get on my other 3 red - Corolla, Integra & Prelude - and 2 black - 300ZX & Prelude - cars).
 
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