CocheseUGA
New member
Note: this C&B encompasses some mechanical repairs as well as detailing. I did zero paint correction due to the clear issues, and lack of a PC.
This is a long read, so be prepared. And I know there are things I can do better.
I wanted to share a little bit about my project I’ve been working on. Before I bought my TL, I was driving a 97 Accord EX Coupe. We’ve had it in the family since new, but I’ve only had it for about the last 30k miles. My mom, then my sister had it before me. Most of the damage you see is directly attributable to my sister.
Since I have been learning about keeping a car properly clean since I got the TL, I decided that this would also be good to apply to the Accord. I don’t need it any more, so I decided to see what I could do to maximize the resale value. One of the reasons why I pulled the trigger on the TL was due to vibration at 55-60mph and brake vibration at speed, both of which I hoped to address during this project. The clearcoat and bumper damage would be outside the scope of my budget or ability.
I started by doing an ONR wash and dry, then let it sit while I obtained the brake parts. The pictures below are from after that wash. No real detail to them, sorry.
A few weekends later, I was ready to start on the brakes. This was actually July 2, I took the day off work to do them. Unfortunately, I discovered that the front brakes were hub over rotor. I couldn’t remove the flange bolts, nor did I have a hub puller, much less the patience to do it. So, the fronts got shelved for the time being. I moved to the rears, and went to town.
Now, here’s the part where I feel stupid. I didn’t even pay attention to the pistons, and the RR one pushed right in, so I changed the pads and rotor no problem. The LR wouldn’t budge. Press, bleed…nothing. So, irritated, I put all the original parts back on – even the wheel I had already done. Went for a drive to make sure everything was good. Left front wheel was locking up, the parking brake wouldn’t work, and I got almost no pedal response. Oh ****. All the brake jobs I’ve done, the training, the certification…this was the first brake job I’d ever screwed up. Of course, it had been almost a decade since I went through the ASE certification, so I was out of practice. But the job I did on our CR-V went fine a few weeks ago. Day off ruined, I parked the car at my parents’ (I don’t have a garage) and felt extreme shame.
A week or so later, I started going back over in my head about what went wrong. I figured that I had some air in the system, but that couldn’t account for all the problems. Then I started thinking about why the LR piston wouldn’t compress. Then I had one of those ‘I’m a stupid prick’ moments, and I did a bit of internet research – sure enough, it was a screw-in, not a push-in, piston. Feeling extremely embarrassed, but renewed in spirit, I rented a kit and got both rears done in about an hour the next day. Test drive – no more wheel lock, but the pedal was still horrible, no parking brake. I figured I had air in the line, but didn’t have time to take care of it. I instead adjusted the clutch cable to get a bit more time out of the clutch, and buttoned everything back up.
So on Friday, I decided to take it to get checked out, thinking it needed a bleed, but would see what the current ASE guys would say. Sure enough, there was a massive amount of air in the lines, causing the RR not to even actuate. So I got that done, and found that the front rotors were still within spec and were able to be turned. Returning the rotors I had bought would just about cover that cost. Service done, the brakes were back to normal. The front pads are currently in the trunk, waiting for me to either install them, or sell them with the car.
Now – to the part you care about – the appearance.
A month and a half had passed since I had to park the car and the brake service on Friday. During this time, the car was parked at the back end of my parent’s driveway, under lots of pine trees. The paint surface was a disaster, as hopefully you can tell by these pics.
The interior was also in need of serious attention. I had tidied up the junk and trash inside earlier, but now it was time for the details.
Now, for a few weeks, I had been reading about how people were skeptical about the cleaning properties of ONR. I had been using it for a couple months, but this was on fairly clean cars. So, I decided this was the perfect time for an experiment. While most detailers would automatically grab their foam gun or pressure washer, I wanted to see what kind of encapsulation the geeks at Optimum had up their sleeves. On the perfectly dry and extremely dirty surface, I sprayed the regular concentration of ONR from my 2-gallon sprayer on the horizontal surfaces (hood, trunk, and front/rear windscreens). Now, this is where I might get some flak on a couple of points – instead of my sheepskin wash mitt (because I didn’t want to ruin it or anything), I used my cheapo bug sponge. I can see your winces. The paint isn’t in awesome shape, so I wasn’t real worried about it. Also, there were some ground in bird bombs etc that needed the extra help. But, it turns out I shouldn’t have worried. I’m sure I could have gotten the same results with a MF mitt, grout sponge, or cheapo sheepskin mitt.
I used two buckets – one with my leftover ONR from my TL wash a week ago with no grit guard, and a larger rinse bucket with the GG. I took my time, and had to replace the rinse water at least five times. But the wash bucket stayed pretty clean. It’s getting thrown out after this, that’s for sure. But I do think leftovers could be used again if you were really anal about rinsing and using an additional GG. But I’ll be using future leftovers to wash wheel wells, my lawnmower and patio chairs. Waste not, want not. I finished the exterior wash by doing the back of the trunk, then spraying each vertical surface and working in turn.
In the middle of doing the passenger side, I had to go to the ER for something unrelated. Therefore, the entire car got air dried, with no thought to water spots. No water spots formed anyway, thanks to the distilled water I was using. Really recommend it, especially if you can get it for a dollar a gallon or less.
I had picked up a cheap 500w light from Lowe’s for a house project, so now I was able to work at night, after the kids had gone to bed. Having an open carport, that was extremely difficult to this point. That night, I proceeded to clay all the panels except for the front bumper (plain forgot), then followed with DG105 by hand, then Optimum Spray Wax on the hood. I was seeing major streaking, so I stopped. It was probably a condition of the elements, as I hadn’t had too much of a problem before. Called it a night. One note – I used the last of that particular clay bar to try on the failed clearcoat. No flakes came up, but it picked up an extreme amount of black – probably a combination of a lot of dirt and a little bit of paint.
Some of Saturday, then Saturday night involved the interior. I don’t have any before pics, but a lot of the carpet was covered in brown stains, most likely from soda. Luckily, my new favorite product – Folex – was up to the task. I’d say I have about 95-98% of the interior stains taken care of, with the rest to come as I can get to it. The process was spray on stream setting, use a household floor brush with stiff bristles, then wipe/blot up with a dry washcloth. The original mats, however, are a bit beyond chemical repair – too much wear, but I got them in acceptable shape.
The engine compartment turned out great, better than the pics show. I used APC 4:1 around the time of the original brake service, but it still left everything looking dirty. I picked up a can of CD2 from Autozone a few weeks ago on recommendation, and gave it a go. Everything looks like it just came from the factory, minus the header shroud.
I vacuumed the trunk, and then treated the trunk floor with Folex as well, same method. Then I used a bit of APC to wipe out the well. Okay, a lot of APC. But it turned out great. The windows got Eagle One window cleaner, but I need to figure out how to remove the stains on the rear windscreen. Clay didn’t do anything. Wheels were cleaned with ONR, tires dressed with Titanium Matte. Trim dressed with Back to Black. Dash, etc wiped down with a damp MF towel that had some ONR.
As of the pics below, I still have a few things I want to do unless it gets sold before hand – clean that back windscreen, treat the leather, clean the original wheel (that’s not on the car), work a bit more on the carpet and a few other small details. But it’s mostly done, and the For Sale sign is going up on it tonight. I was going to give it away a few days ago, now I’m going to see how much I can get for it.
Enjoy the pics, and thanks for reading this novel. The next one will be shorter, I promise.
Pics taken in very low light, unfortunately.
And where I have to work:
Two days after I put the for sale sign on the car, it sold for $1250 cash, with zero advertising.
This is a long read, so be prepared. And I know there are things I can do better.
I wanted to share a little bit about my project I’ve been working on. Before I bought my TL, I was driving a 97 Accord EX Coupe. We’ve had it in the family since new, but I’ve only had it for about the last 30k miles. My mom, then my sister had it before me. Most of the damage you see is directly attributable to my sister.
Since I have been learning about keeping a car properly clean since I got the TL, I decided that this would also be good to apply to the Accord. I don’t need it any more, so I decided to see what I could do to maximize the resale value. One of the reasons why I pulled the trigger on the TL was due to vibration at 55-60mph and brake vibration at speed, both of which I hoped to address during this project. The clearcoat and bumper damage would be outside the scope of my budget or ability.
I started by doing an ONR wash and dry, then let it sit while I obtained the brake parts. The pictures below are from after that wash. No real detail to them, sorry.
A few weekends later, I was ready to start on the brakes. This was actually July 2, I took the day off work to do them. Unfortunately, I discovered that the front brakes were hub over rotor. I couldn’t remove the flange bolts, nor did I have a hub puller, much less the patience to do it. So, the fronts got shelved for the time being. I moved to the rears, and went to town.
Now, here’s the part where I feel stupid. I didn’t even pay attention to the pistons, and the RR one pushed right in, so I changed the pads and rotor no problem. The LR wouldn’t budge. Press, bleed…nothing. So, irritated, I put all the original parts back on – even the wheel I had already done. Went for a drive to make sure everything was good. Left front wheel was locking up, the parking brake wouldn’t work, and I got almost no pedal response. Oh ****. All the brake jobs I’ve done, the training, the certification…this was the first brake job I’d ever screwed up. Of course, it had been almost a decade since I went through the ASE certification, so I was out of practice. But the job I did on our CR-V went fine a few weeks ago. Day off ruined, I parked the car at my parents’ (I don’t have a garage) and felt extreme shame.
A week or so later, I started going back over in my head about what went wrong. I figured that I had some air in the system, but that couldn’t account for all the problems. Then I started thinking about why the LR piston wouldn’t compress. Then I had one of those ‘I’m a stupid prick’ moments, and I did a bit of internet research – sure enough, it was a screw-in, not a push-in, piston. Feeling extremely embarrassed, but renewed in spirit, I rented a kit and got both rears done in about an hour the next day. Test drive – no more wheel lock, but the pedal was still horrible, no parking brake. I figured I had air in the line, but didn’t have time to take care of it. I instead adjusted the clutch cable to get a bit more time out of the clutch, and buttoned everything back up.
So on Friday, I decided to take it to get checked out, thinking it needed a bleed, but would see what the current ASE guys would say. Sure enough, there was a massive amount of air in the lines, causing the RR not to even actuate. So I got that done, and found that the front rotors were still within spec and were able to be turned. Returning the rotors I had bought would just about cover that cost. Service done, the brakes were back to normal. The front pads are currently in the trunk, waiting for me to either install them, or sell them with the car.
Now – to the part you care about – the appearance.
A month and a half had passed since I had to park the car and the brake service on Friday. During this time, the car was parked at the back end of my parent’s driveway, under lots of pine trees. The paint surface was a disaster, as hopefully you can tell by these pics.
The interior was also in need of serious attention. I had tidied up the junk and trash inside earlier, but now it was time for the details.
Now, for a few weeks, I had been reading about how people were skeptical about the cleaning properties of ONR. I had been using it for a couple months, but this was on fairly clean cars. So, I decided this was the perfect time for an experiment. While most detailers would automatically grab their foam gun or pressure washer, I wanted to see what kind of encapsulation the geeks at Optimum had up their sleeves. On the perfectly dry and extremely dirty surface, I sprayed the regular concentration of ONR from my 2-gallon sprayer on the horizontal surfaces (hood, trunk, and front/rear windscreens). Now, this is where I might get some flak on a couple of points – instead of my sheepskin wash mitt (because I didn’t want to ruin it or anything), I used my cheapo bug sponge. I can see your winces. The paint isn’t in awesome shape, so I wasn’t real worried about it. Also, there were some ground in bird bombs etc that needed the extra help. But, it turns out I shouldn’t have worried. I’m sure I could have gotten the same results with a MF mitt, grout sponge, or cheapo sheepskin mitt.
I used two buckets – one with my leftover ONR from my TL wash a week ago with no grit guard, and a larger rinse bucket with the GG. I took my time, and had to replace the rinse water at least five times. But the wash bucket stayed pretty clean. It’s getting thrown out after this, that’s for sure. But I do think leftovers could be used again if you were really anal about rinsing and using an additional GG. But I’ll be using future leftovers to wash wheel wells, my lawnmower and patio chairs. Waste not, want not. I finished the exterior wash by doing the back of the trunk, then spraying each vertical surface and working in turn.
In the middle of doing the passenger side, I had to go to the ER for something unrelated. Therefore, the entire car got air dried, with no thought to water spots. No water spots formed anyway, thanks to the distilled water I was using. Really recommend it, especially if you can get it for a dollar a gallon or less.
I had picked up a cheap 500w light from Lowe’s for a house project, so now I was able to work at night, after the kids had gone to bed. Having an open carport, that was extremely difficult to this point. That night, I proceeded to clay all the panels except for the front bumper (plain forgot), then followed with DG105 by hand, then Optimum Spray Wax on the hood. I was seeing major streaking, so I stopped. It was probably a condition of the elements, as I hadn’t had too much of a problem before. Called it a night. One note – I used the last of that particular clay bar to try on the failed clearcoat. No flakes came up, but it picked up an extreme amount of black – probably a combination of a lot of dirt and a little bit of paint.
Some of Saturday, then Saturday night involved the interior. I don’t have any before pics, but a lot of the carpet was covered in brown stains, most likely from soda. Luckily, my new favorite product – Folex – was up to the task. I’d say I have about 95-98% of the interior stains taken care of, with the rest to come as I can get to it. The process was spray on stream setting, use a household floor brush with stiff bristles, then wipe/blot up with a dry washcloth. The original mats, however, are a bit beyond chemical repair – too much wear, but I got them in acceptable shape.
The engine compartment turned out great, better than the pics show. I used APC 4:1 around the time of the original brake service, but it still left everything looking dirty. I picked up a can of CD2 from Autozone a few weeks ago on recommendation, and gave it a go. Everything looks like it just came from the factory, minus the header shroud.
I vacuumed the trunk, and then treated the trunk floor with Folex as well, same method. Then I used a bit of APC to wipe out the well. Okay, a lot of APC. But it turned out great. The windows got Eagle One window cleaner, but I need to figure out how to remove the stains on the rear windscreen. Clay didn’t do anything. Wheels were cleaned with ONR, tires dressed with Titanium Matte. Trim dressed with Back to Black. Dash, etc wiped down with a damp MF towel that had some ONR.
As of the pics below, I still have a few things I want to do unless it gets sold before hand – clean that back windscreen, treat the leather, clean the original wheel (that’s not on the car), work a bit more on the carpet and a few other small details. But it’s mostly done, and the For Sale sign is going up on it tonight. I was going to give it away a few days ago, now I’m going to see how much I can get for it.
Enjoy the pics, and thanks for reading this novel. The next one will be shorter, I promise.
Pics taken in very low light, unfortunately.
And where I have to work:
Two days after I put the for sale sign on the car, it sold for $1250 cash, with zero advertising.