08 NBP TL-S Detailed (TONS of Photos - 56k, Fugetaboutit)

[OCDinPDX]

2008 Acura TL Type-S

Nighthawk Black Pearl

Full Detail by Andrew



July 3, 2009 – July 10, 2009​

The owner of this 2008 Acura TL found me through the Acura Forums and saw my detail of my dad's RL. Interested in his TL getting similar love, he was even nice enough to bring the car up to me here in Portland (he lives in Salem) so I could get a good look at what I was up against. When he arrived, he was driving what appeared to be a showroom-condition TL-S in NBP.



I went through my usual inspection which quickly proved to be nothing more than a formality. If all my client vehicles looked like this I'd be out of a job.

Engine compartment? Immaculate.

Interior? Still got that new car smell.

Wheels? Flawless.

Paint? Lightly swirled and mostly on the horizontal surfaces…nothing I hadn’t seen before and certainly nowhere near the worst I’ve ever seen. Even the door sills were free of scuffs so I was careful while entering and exiting the vehicle during its stay at my house.



This car was an absolute joy to work with and while I can’t speak for the other detailers on here, I feel that working on a car that has been looked after is so much more enjoyable than one that has been wailed on like the cork-filled bat at the final game of the World Series. I was admittedly a bit nervous about doing a job for somebody even pickier than myself. The mantra of the job quickly became, “If it’s not 110%, it’s not done.�



Process



Wash:

Initial wash Dawn and Griot's Microfiber Wash Pad.

Dry with MF Waffle Weave towel



Wheels & Arches

Clean Wheels off car (per client request) with Griot's wheel cleaner and Microfiber Mitt

Clean wheel arches and suspension components with APC 4:1

Dress with Griot's Undercarriage Spray



Clay

Clay entire car with Griot's clay and Speed Shine as lubricant



Polish:

Flex XC 3401

Menzerna SIP & LC Orange

Menzerna Micro Polish & LC White

Re-wash vehicle with Griot's Car Wash to strip any polishing oils to provide best LSP adhesion



LSP:

One coat of 4-Star UPP hand-applied with microfiber applicator pad

Cured for 90 minutes and removed by hand



Total Time Spent: 18 hours (total killer...it got rained on during the drive home :sadpace



On to the photos. The license plates have been distorted at the request of the owner. You may also notice that through these photos I change shirts at least four times. That's because the photos were taken on different days.



Here are the before shots and yes, they are the BEFORE images. Nothing had been done to the car prior to taking these photos (minus moving it from the garage).

Look at this…even the exhaust tips are perfect!!

Very, very, very light swirling.

On the hood…

Paint in general had very good reflection even at the get-go.

Yes…that’s tire dressing. And no I didn’t put it there.

Ah-HA! A dead bug! This is really the only physical proof I have that the car was indeed "dirty".

Moving inside…

No scuffs on the door sills…

Usual dirt on the floor mat.

The engine.

Okay…enough of the before photos. Let’s get down to brass tax. The first full day I had to work on this car was a sweltering 91º and anybody who knows anything about cars knows how quickly black paint heats up in direct sunlight. I wanted to avoid hard water spots at all costs so I put off washing it until Day 2. I waited until about 7:45 (when it had cooled somewhat) to get started on the wheels and wheel arches. Due to the slope of our driveway, the car must be leveled between the down and up slopes which unfortunately leaves you only the end on the up slope to work with. In order to get to the other end, the car must be turned to face the other direction.



Pardon my blathering. Here we go.



This is the driver’s side rear wheel arch. For 4,200 miles this car is pretty clean and nowhere near as dirty as my dad’s 25,000 mile RL.

Anybody who has dealt with this felt-like arch trim knows it is a total mother to clean up.

Yours truly applying liberal amounts of APC to loosen surface dirt and get ready for cleaning. Not the most flattering angle, I know. :down

Suspension components drying; before dressing is applied.

Carpeted wheel arches looking 100% better if I may say so myself.

While the suspension and arches dried out, I got to work on the wheel while it was off the car. Here it soaks in wheel cleaner to loosen any brake dust (fat chance) or road tar.

The backside of the wheels is about the only place on this car where I found a noticeable amount of dirt. And even then…it wasn’t much.

Wheel backside and barrel after…

And the wheel face after.

Suspension and wheel arch dried out enough for undercarriage dressing to be applied.

Painted calipers were cleaned and hand-polished.

While working on the dirtiest part of the car (arches) I noticed I did not want to be dragging dirt from my derriere onto the nearly-perfect driver seat. So I took five minutes of my time to fashion this makeshift seat cover out of new white trash bags. I wound up leaving it on until delivery.

 

[OCDinPDX]

The next day, I began the paintwork by claying the entire car, top to bottom, front to back. And because I know somebody will say something smart, Phelps is the name of my high school...it is NOT a Michael Phelps T-shirt.

Almost nothing off the clay although it did give me a negligible improvement in smoothness.

Getting hot in the garage.

Being my first run with the Flex, I used the right front fender as my test panel. Here I check for any remaining swirls or holograms under an LED MagLite (in my left hand).

Menz SIP with an LC Orange resulted in some moderate hazing and holograms. These were buffed out with Menz Micro Polish and an LC White (next photo).

Taped off for polishing...

With the buffing complete on this side, here I am removing the painter's tape that was protecting the rubber stripping on the doors.

Polishing the trunk lid lead to this interesting conundrum. Leaving it partway open allowed the buffer to make the lid swing unpredictably so I fashioned this brace out of 2" painter's tape. Not too sexy but it worked.

This was by far the most awkward and least comfortable part of the job...most annoying of all? This plastic combined with the paint is so soft it re-scratched itself AS I tried to remove the polish. By the time I removed all the polish, it looked as if I hadn't done anything. I called to ask Nate about this and he said it was fine to leave it.

Buffed and looking good, the TL comes into the sunlight for a post-polish wash.

The water beading qualities of this particular car astonished me. This was without ANY sort of protection on it at all. :huh: And to those of you worrying about the pressure washer, I was standing at a good five feet here, running the pressure at 1/4 throttle on the widest attachement.

The 4-Star was hand-applied and cured on a 90-minute soak.

A few dusk badge shots...

And now, without further adieu, the AFTER photos.

The C-pillar after.

Hood sun shot.

Interior was an easy clean-up.

Engine cleaned up great, too.

And the piece de resistance....clouds reflected in the hood.

Thanks for looking.

 

[2000firebird]

you ended with a white pad? if i don't go down to at least a blue or black i end up getting swirls just like this http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/lovemysantafe/IMG_6769.jpg

sometimes i even get that with the blue/black pads. any idea if i'm doing it wrong.. white just seems like an aggressive pad to finish with and i always get buffer hazing with it.

awesome detail btw :wow:

 

[04yfz]

Nice work OP. I have a jet black bmw which has paint as soft as the sideskirts you mentioned, except its the entire car thats that soft. What I do is instead or removing the polish residue I just leave it and wash it. I have to use a cr spotless so I don't have to touch the paint which will mar with virtually any towel.

you ended with a white pad? if i don't go down to at least a blue or black i end up getting swirls just like this http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/lovemysantafe/IMG_6769.jpg

sometimes i even get that with the blue/black pads. any idea if i'm doing it wrong.. white just seems like an aggressive pad to finish with and i always get buffer hazing with it.

awesome detail btw :wow:

It depends on the paint hardness and polishes as well.

 

[dsms]

primo work!

 

[Aviator16]

That is impressive, i'm now a senior in high school, i've been poking around mostly watching on autopia for about a year now and there is no way i've read enough to do that kind of work.

Kudos, i'm astonished

 

[Dr.Boost]

You surround yourself with people that have good taste in cars. When I worked at **** Hannah Acura I drove quite a few TL-S' they are an amazing car, to say the least.



I wish I knew some people that would bring me their cars in this condition. Instead I always get the ones that look like they've been living in the woods for 10 years.



Great work, how long did it take you?

 

[kenleekenlee]

Good Work, but you need to be more careful when jacking up the car and taking wheels off. Get some wheel blocks and jackstands instead of using the jack as support. Also, I hope you have a good torque wrench to get those nuts back to the proper specs.

 

[RTexasF]

Flawless! :bigups

 

[Ronkh]

Great job, Andrew.



Nice clarity, great shine.



Next time, please use a larger font so I can readi ti without using my glasses.

 

[quakerroatmeal]

Everything looks good! Must be nice to work on a car that doesn't have dead creatures and what not hidden around. One thing I noticed is did you lay the rim face down on the cement? Maybe the tire is fat enough to where it sits on the tires instead of the face.



I agree with the post above, need to use some jack stands!

 

[OCDinPDX]

you ended with a white pad? if i don't go down to at least a blue or black i end up getting swirls just like this http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/lovemysantafe/IMG_6769.jpg

sometimes i even get that with the blue/black pads. any idea if i'm doing it wrong.. white just seems like an aggressive pad to finish with and i always get buffer hazing with it.

awesome detail btw :wow:

I had some softer pads but the white finished just great with the Menz Micro. I wasn't complaining. :woot2:

primo work!

You surround yourself with people that have good taste in cars. When I worked at **** Hannah Acura I drove quite a few TL-S' they are an amazing car, to say the least.



I wish I knew some people that would bring me their cars in this condition. Instead I always get the ones that look like they've been living in the woods for 10 years.



Great work, how long did it take you?

Thanks...took about 18 hours.

Good Work, but you need to be more careful when jacking up the car and taking wheels off. Get some wheel blocks and jackstands instead of using the jack as support. Also, I hope you have a good torque wrench to get those nuts back to the proper specs.

I had somebody on AcuraZine tell me this. It's on my list.

Flawless! :bigups

Great job, Andrew.



Nice clarity, great shine.



Next time, please use a larger font so I can readi ti without using my glasses.

Thanks, gents...will do.

Everything looks good! Must be nice to work on a car that doesn't have dead creatures and what not hidden around. One thing I noticed is did you lay the rim face down on the cement? Maybe the tire is fat enough to where it sits on the tires instead of the face.



I agree with the post above, need to use some jack stands!

The tire had a rim protector on it and I was exquisitely careful setting it down.

 

[OCDinPDX]

That is impressive, i'm now a senior in high school, i've been poking around mostly watching on autopia for about a year now and there is no way i've read enough to do that kind of work.

Kudos, i'm astonished

Thanks, man.



Just a nickel's worth of free advice. You can read until your eyes fall out of your head and your brain explodes but nothing beats getting out there and mingling with local detailers who know what they are doing. To read and attempt to duplicate is one thing. To watch and learn first-hand is another.



3 years ago I washed my dad's black car with a brush :scared: and had no idea what I was doing. Since then, I've learned a lot and a great majority of it was through asking questions, reading, but mostly talking with and observing other detailers.



This is my advice to you. Do what you will with it.

 

[Aviator16]

Thanks, man.



Just a nickel's worth of free advice. You can read until your eyes fall out of your head and your brain explodes but nothing beats getting out there and mingling with local detailers who know what they are doing. To read and attempt to duplicate is one thing. To watch and learn first-hand is another.



3 years ago I washed my dad's black car with a brush :scared: and had no idea what I was doing. Since then, I've learned a lot and a great majority of it was through asking questions, reading, but mostly talking with and observing other detailers.



This is my advice to you. Do what you will with it.

Absolutely thanks for the advice, I'm currently working at a local paint and body shop and have learned alot. Such as; your fingers bleed after only two days of wetsanding in the sun :lol . However your right, the best way to figure it out is getting out there and doing it, my truck makes the perfect test seeing as I don't think i could mess the paint up if I tried.:xyxthumbs

 

[Striker]

Very nice work man :hifive: how big of a pain was it to remove the polish residue around the door edges and the other spots that weren't taped off? Im doing my black T/A very soon and was wondering what I need to tape off and what can be left untouched.

 

[OCDinPDX]

Very nice work man :hifive: how big of a pain was it to remove the polish residue around the door edges and the other spots that weren't taped off? Im doing my black T/A very soon and was wondering what I need to tape off and what can be left untouched.

Thanks...I did the polishing on the days where we had a real cool spell (mid-60s) and they were much more agreeable then. I usually tape off the rubber seals and around the badges. Once polish gets in there, it doesn't like to come out, especially after it hardens.

 

[charlesaferg]

Regarding the beading, it's the mineral oil carriers of Menzerna that cause that.



Oh, and the lower plastic fairings, you're going to want to let the compound break down a little longer so the abrasives won't do that. I know what that's like, some of the Porsche single stage paints did that same thing when I was new.



Oh, dude.. I definitely deserve credit for this one for lending you my Flex, Menz, and pads.



Great job, I particularly enjoyed the fabric wheel well cleaning. I hate that stuff, too. Honda/Acura sure have improved their product quality over the years.

 

[imported_shine]

Excellent job on my favorite Acura (and color).

 

[Krees D Qban]

Very nice job on a great car:2thumbs:

 

[Mobilejay]

looks great very nice job. I did a TL last week and loved how easy the paint cleaned up. Great paint. Once again, nice job.