Need your help with an Acura Integra! [56K NO]

S

Swerve

New member
I've been browsing these forums for about some time, and I am very grateful the great amount of knowledge you can receive here. Well here's my dilemma: I am detailing my friend's 94 Acura Integra which he received as a present just recently. The problem is that the car seems neglected by the previous owner. The car's paint is in horrible condition . . .



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Nothing overwhelming from far away . . .



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. . . until you get a closer look. There's a scratch



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This is the most oxidized area of the car; the trunk



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The rear bumper isn't even flush with the body anymore :cry:



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Closeup of the rear passenger's side door; notice the scratch



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Check out the wheels



This will be my first ever Autopian detail, so you can imagine, I am a little overwhelmed at the moment. I clearly don't have all the necessary tools just yet. There are some portions that I have no clue what pad to use. Here's the process I'll be using though:



[EXTERIOR]



Detar - Stoner's Tarminator via bug/tar sponge

Wash - Meguiar's NXT via sheepskin washmitt

Deoxidize - Klass AIO via cotton towels first, then PC (which pad?)

Clay - (undecided still, open to suggestions)

Correct - Poorboy's SSR2.5 via PC (which pad?)

Polish - Klass AIO (again?) via PC (which pad?)

LSP - Zaino Z2Pro (by hand or PC? which would be better?)

QD - FK 425 via MF



[WHEELS/TIRES] - (I have no idea what tools to use, though I do have PB's Bright & Bold)



[GLASS] - Clay if necessary, then Stoner's Invisible Glass via MF



[MUFFLER] - (Meg's Powerball & Aluminum Polish maybe? Open to suggestions here as well)



I wouldn't want to mess with engine bay just yet, because of fear of short circuiting something. If anyone could tell me EXACTLY how to do the engine bay, I'd be forever grateful. What can I do about those scratches? What can I do about the clearcoat failure on the trunk? The interior is actually in really good condition, so I won't have to worry about detailing that.



So can anybody help me with the process? Any comments or suggestions would be deeply appreciated. Thank you very much.
 
:nervous2: The paint on the trunk looks pretty gone to me too. But otherwise just a wash will improve the looks on that thing and many of the swirls don't look that impossible to remove either. But it's really hard to tell becouse of the dirt.
 
HOly Moly, even the underbody of my car looks better then the outside of that HAHAHHA. The trunk's clearcoat is failing and will have to get a new paintjob. I am sure the top of the roof is starting to fade and where the windows are. I would be carefull on polishing that cause the clearcoat might be alot thinner then expected.



Pressure wash the engine bay and use a gel-type wheel cleaner like P21S for the wheels.
 
When was it last washed 1994? Whew that is dirty. I'd forget trying to revive that and go for a repaint. Just too much damage to make it worth your while. If you decide to go for it I don't think AIO is going to be strong enough. I'd also clay first to remove as much of the contaminants as possible. I wish you luck, may the Force be with you.
 
WOW, you got a lot of work ahead of you. As others have said the peeling trunk needs to be repainted. I wouldnt even bother polishing it. As for some of your questions.. Use a yellow or orange cut (LC) pad with SSR2.5. Clay after you wash and before polishing. Suggest using mothers clay, zaino, or whatever clay you can get a hold of. Get a strong wheel cleaner like Eagle One tire and wheel cleaner and I suggest getting Meg's wheel and spoke brush (the fuzzy looking yellow one) and use old "used" claybar to clay the wheels. After the SSR2.5 then use the AIO with a white polishing pad assuming your using lake country pads. If you arent used to applying Zaino then you might want to use the PC with a grey finishing pad. Zaino takes a slight learning curve to apply thin and even by hand. As far as the engine bay, click on the learn button at the very top of this website, there is a tutorial about that I believe, along with many others.



GOOD LUCK WITH THAT CAR THOUGH!!!!!
 
Did they live on a farm?





Your process looks good, but I'd skip the AIO before clay. Go straight to clay from washing.



For the wheels, tires, wells, go pick up some Eagle 1 A2Z and use a scotchbrite pad if needed.



If I were you, I'd document this detail really well, it looks like a good contender for the Xtreme Detailing Contest.
 
That car has been put through it! If it were me I would wash it and take it to a good body shop. If the cc(clear coat) on the trunk is that for gone I have to believe the rest is not far behind.



One of the first things he should do is clean the engine bay and then change all the fluids in the car and put a new filter on that cold air intake(that thing is nasty).



Good luck it looks like quite a project and keep us posted on the progress. :buffing: I'm sure there is a nice car under there somewhere.
 
Swerve,



Good luck with this car! It was a present? Looks like an abandoned vehicle that some tow truck driver picked up from the side of the road. Hope you can do some nice restoration work.



My coworker has a grey Integra and looks about the same year. His trunk looks the same way! His car is usually pretty clean (i.e. no real dirt of grime on it) but I don't think he took care of it beyond just washing.
 
Thats a bad repaint. The doors are painted also, see the clear flaking away from where they taped by the window molding?



Clean it up, it will look nice when you are done.



We will need to see the after pictures for sure.
 
I'll definitely keep everyone well informed of the detail. I just needed to get everyone's advice so far and how to approach this type of detail. I've set the appointment for the 29th of this month, so I'll have plenty of time to gather materials/tools. I'll ignore the trunk; nothing can be done for that besides a repaint. I thought the paint might be slightly oxidized, so that was my reason for using AIO before clay. , but everyone's suggesting to go straight to claying. It's a car of a really good friend of mine, so of course I want this to do best I can to restore it. Probably some maintenance work will be in order later, as well as the rest of the detail. So many things to plan out, but thank you everyone for your thoughts & suggestions.



the0ne, I believe the car was bought for nearly $3000? The previous owner modded the car a bit, even swapping out the engine (it now has a B18B). The thing is, he sold the car, then conviently moved to another state without provided us a contact number.
 
just to let you guys know.....i'm the owner of the car....and yes it did have an engine swap....the thing is the guy conveniently covered the etching.....i looked closely and it was really a B16A.....the del Sol engine, so it won't pass smog



all in all i'm gonna wait for small claims to pull through so we can get some money from the previous owner through the lawsuit for false advertisement and fraud so i can get a B18C1 in there



i'm gonna have to put the project on hold 'till then

the dirt i can explain......the shop that it sat at when we were getting the valves adjusted was situated near a dirt lot......being parked outside during a windy part of the season resulted in what you see in the pictures, i USED to just wash it and it looked alright save for the trunk and the scratches but after the shop called me and notified me that i had the wrong engine i was just pissed and couldn't stand to look at the car....



i just hope we can squeeze some money to finance the work that'll be done....i'll probably post in progress pics as well
 
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