2004 Acura EL - Detail

4u2nvinmtl

New member
2004 Acura EL - Detail


Two weeks back I detailed my wife's best friends 2004 Acura EL. The car was in terrible shape with heavy swirling, RIDS, accidents and rust. I wasn't sure how I'd correct the paint with some many rust spots and bear metal. The owner left her car overnight for pickup the following evening. As it was dropped off very late I wanted to get started early the next morning (charged my camera and prepped my products)...


*Unfortunately I didn't have any rust converter products.


Detailing supplies used:

  • 2x Boar's Hair Detail Brush
  • Bon Amie Glass Cleaner
  • Carpet Brush
  • 2x CarPro Denim Orange Peel Removal Pad's - 5.25 inch
  • Britemax - Iron Max
  • EZ Detail Brush
  • 4x Five-Gallon Buckets with Grit guards
  • Folex Carpet Spot Cleaner
  • 2x Lake Country Hydro-Tech Cyan Advanced Cutting Pad – 4 inch
  • 4x Lake Country Hydro-Tech Cyan Advanced Cutting Pad – 5.5 inch
  • Low Rider Liquid Wax
  • Meguiar's D108 Super Degreaser (1:4)
  • Meguiar's D110 Hyper Wash (2oz in foam cannon and 2oz in 4gal of water)
  • Meguiar's D149 Detailer Quik Interior Detailer
  • Meguiar's M101 High Cut Compound
  • 2x Microfiber Glass Polishing Towels
  • Nanoskin AutoScrub Medium Grade Wash Mitt
  • Porter Cable 7424XP
  • Pressure washer with foam cannon
  • 3x Rag Company Dry Me a River
  • 4x Rag Company Eagle Edgeless
  • Shop-Vac
  • Stoners Invisible Glass
  • 2x Super Plush Micro-Chenille Wash Mitts
  • Ultima Waterless Wash Plus+
  • Wheel Woollies


Process:

  1. All interior detailed and vacuumed
  2. Sprayed Britemax Iron Max all over the entire vehicle after test spots changed colors
  3. Sprayed Degreaser on door jams and tires
  4. Wash wheels by agitating the iron remover and used two buckets with wheel woollies to clean
  5. Foam lanced using 2oz Meg's Hyper Wash
  6. Washed using the foam from lance and two buckets to keep mitts clean
  7. Pressure rinsed and inspected paint
  8. Clayed using alternative and leftover soapy water in paint wash buckets
  9. Wiped dry with WW towels as I clayed
  10. Compounded test sections
  11. Applied Low Rider Liquid Wax by DA


Before:



After:



Uncorrectible damage:





Interior:








Britemax Iron Max application pictures:







Wash wheels pictures:



Foam lance pictures (notice Britemax Iron Max still hard at work):








Paint inspection:






The correction was challenging and I wasn't getting the results I wanted. I started by using M101 and 5.5 cyan hydro tech pads but wasn't happy with the amount of passes needed to correct so I stepped it up to a 5.25 inch Carpro denim pad. I still was left feeling defeated by the RIDS...
Before M101 and Cyan pads:

After M101 and cyan pads:



After shots:






After Denim pad and M101:



Switching pads and denim pads getting gunked up:





Headlight pad after one headlight (3passes using m101):
 
Well done! Why not post this in the Click n Brag? Also thats a Civic! I feel like those are more rare than the NSX.
 
Great job!!! I think it's great to polish trashed black paint like that because it shows very good 50/50 shots.
 
Very nice! Some of the before and after pics you guys put out look like two completely different vehicles.
 
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