Today's Special: 2003 Element

R

RCBuddha

New member
The Process:



- Wash with a NXT/Optimum soap mixture

- Clay with Claymagic

- Adams New Scratch and Swirl remover on a scratch by hand

- PwC via Propel Blue pad

- Deep Crystal Step 3 Carnauba wax via Propel Grey Pad

- Meguiars Natural Shine on all trimming, inside and out

- Optimum Tire Dressing on tires

- 20/20 on glass



A good friend of mine asked me to do this 2003 Element for his parents. No swirl removal done today, just a wash, clay, polish and wax.



First thing i noticed was how rough the paint felt, this was just off a small 1x1 section of the roof! :eek:

Element9.jpg




This was from half of the back hatch:

Element6.jpg




Element5.jpg




Here's a scratch that was greatly reduced in appeareance:

Element4.jpg




Reduced to this:

Element3.jpg




And the final shots:

Element7.jpg




Element8.jpg




Element2.jpg




Metal flake is back!



Element1.jpg




All in all, the detail was a success. The owners were very pleased, and one even commented on how they had never seen the flake in the paint before!



The clay REALLY smoothed out the paint, i had to go over the roof twice! The car has been garaged kept for the most part, with the occasional tunnel wash being done. In fact, the owner mentioned that he got a "wax" job at the last car wash (about a week ago). He was shocked at how smooth and clean i had gotten the paint.



The Element was a really easy car to detail, a good majority of it is plastic, so the interior took me no time at all to dress and clean. One thing though: The paint felt kinda "thin" at certain points, has anyone else experienced this?



I hope to have more pics soon....
 
personally, I dig Elements. A very easy detail too...with all the plastic on it...!

Nice detail! That particular element could stand some rims tho!!



:)
 
Thanks guys! I was very pleased with the results, as were the owners! I was glad that the PwC brought the paint alive, when I first got there, I could not see the metallic flake at all.



I'm not the biggest fan of the Element, but it does seem quite practical for the owners who use it to haul their Costco purchases. I think some sportier rims, a V6 with supercharger, and styling like the new Ridgeline would make this vehicle quite fun.
 
I really can't remember ever seeing such an ugly Honda.

I'm actually glad we don't have it over here.

Nice detail, though.
 
RCBuddha said:
Thanks guys! I was very pleased with the results, as were the owners! I was glad that the PwC brought the paint alive, when I first got there, I could not see the metallic flake at all.



I'm not the biggest fan of the Element, but it does seem quite practical for the owners who use it to haul their Costco purchases. I think some sportier rims, a V6 with supercharger, and styling like the new Ridgeline would make this vehicle quite fun.
Click to expand...



Might as well just ask for a whole new car/truck/suv thing.
 
Buick_guy1 said:
Might as well just ask for a whole new car/truck/suv thing.
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I think that's the idea...



I'm not too fond of the Ridgeline yet, either. I do think it'll eventually grow on me though.



BTW, my '59 Dodge has lots of room in the back, and a big trunk too. It also looks good.
 
MongooseGA said:
I think that's the idea...



I'm not too fond of the Ridgeline yet, either. I do think it'll eventually grow on me though.



BTW, my '59 Dodge has lots of room in the back, and a big trunk too. It also looks good.
Click to expand...
Not what I ment by a big back.
 
General Lee said:
:xyxthumbs

Nice work RC, hopefully that vehicle didn't use up all your clay:p
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I pretty much used up an entire bar, the roof took half a bar to get clean. :eek: I'm thinking that rain water and dirt must have settled onto the roof during the heavy rains we had here in CA. I've never clayed a car as bad as this, especially one that has been garaged kept!
 
Why did you decide to mix shampoos? I tried this with Perls and the WG shampoo and I kind of like it. The suds of WG and the lubricity of Perls.
 
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