1953hogan
09-03-2013, 01:56 PM
Took my youngest son off to college on Saturday and just like that, we're empty nesters. Not wanting to sit around and mope, I got busy on a project I've been contemplating for a while now, correcting the 2010 Acura TL I purchased several months ago.
Being the uneducated car buyer that I was before coming to AG, I didn't realize how poorly the previous owner had taken care of the paint. I may have purchased a different vehicle if I had noticed the RIDS, stone chips, glass scratches when I bought it. Moreover, as soon as the dealer's "speed wax" job wore off, I could also see the swirling from years of automated car washing.
Anyway, I've been reading AG for a while now, and while I still don't consider myself a car guy, I thought I would try my hand at correcting (or at least improving) the paint.
Here was my process:
Rinseless wash with UWW+
Clayed with Griots clay.
Polishing
Griots DA with 5" Lake Country backing plate.
Hood, top of trunk, and roof were in pretty good shape. On these I used SF4500 on a white Lake Country Pad.
Most of the vertical surfaces were much more swirled for some reason. On these I used PF2500 on a tangerine pad.
After 2500, I tried a test spot finishing it off with 4500 but could not see much (if any) improvement in gloss. The 2500 finished down to a very nice shine so I didn't spend the extra time to go over it again with 4500.
After polishing, the entire car was cleaned with the special paint cleaner provided by the coating manufacturer (see below).
Coating
I should mention that I purchased most all of the above from AG over time.
For my coating, I went off the reservation a bit and used Element 119 System X, which I had purchased on a whim a few months ago and had ready to go.
I found the System X to be somewhat difficult to work with. Despite working out of the sun, the product flashed MUCH faster than the 3 minutes stated in the instructions and I had a devil of a time buffing it off. As I worked around the car, I progressively reduced the time until I was down to a minute or so before buffing. Outside temperature was just 65 degrees so I guess I didn't anticipate this rapid flashing problem.
Anyway, given my amateur status, I found working with the coating to be somewhat trying and stressful. Maybe I overdid it a little bit helping my son and his roommate move into their dorm the day before, but after coating the vehicle, I was pretty tired and sore when I finally called it a day. At that point I was somewhat ornery and not really pleased with the vehicle's appearance, to the point of starting to plan how I would buff off the System X and move to something else.
Next Day Surprise
When I went out to the garage to go to work the next day, I have to say I was blown away! Overnight, the vehicle had taken on a whole new level of glassy, diamond-like shine that I've never seen before.
The System X obviously improved substantially in the first 16 hours or so, which I hadn't anticipated, and I'm sure if I used this coating again the job would go much smoother given what I learned the first time around. The System X look and appearance is very pleasing to my eye, so I guess all's well that ends well!
Anyway, as you'll see from the few photos I took, I've still got much to do. The wheels/tires need some TLC and I'd like to start working on some of the RIDS, but overall, I'd say I achieved about 95% correction of the swirls and the paint looks much better than it has since I've owned the vehicle.
What I Learned
First of all, I've gained even more respect for those of you who love to do this and I can now appreciate even more how well you care for your vehicles. My modest improvement comes nowhere close to some of the stunning jobs I see posted here, but I'm satisfied with my first attempt.
Second, I learned that working with a coating can be tricky. I hope that this coating lasts for 12 months or more, but now that I've seen the results I'm pretty much sold on this type of coating and will probably try something like DP Paint Coating or Cquartz UK down the road.
Question
I've posted just a few before/after photos below, but do have a question for you guys.
For those of you who use a coating (whether DP, or cQuartz or whatever), do you top it with anything? I don't see a DP product made specifically to top their coating (such as Car Pro Reload) and I'm wondering what you guys do to top-up your coated vehicles.
Thanks much for this great forum. I'm learning.
Rear quarter panel before:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-x9wz9q4/0/L/Rear%20quarter%20before-L.jpg
Rear quarter panel after:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-cxz53ws/0/L/read%20quarter%20after-L.jpg
Trunk rear before:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-S445Npc/0/L/rear%20before-L.jpg
Trunk after:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-FBJ4X2L/0/L/rear%20after-L.jpg
Couple of overall gloss shots:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-w7gws2K/0/L/side%20shot-L.jpg
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-qghXMtH/0/L/front%20shot-L.jpg
Being the uneducated car buyer that I was before coming to AG, I didn't realize how poorly the previous owner had taken care of the paint. I may have purchased a different vehicle if I had noticed the RIDS, stone chips, glass scratches when I bought it. Moreover, as soon as the dealer's "speed wax" job wore off, I could also see the swirling from years of automated car washing.
Anyway, I've been reading AG for a while now, and while I still don't consider myself a car guy, I thought I would try my hand at correcting (or at least improving) the paint.
Here was my process:
Rinseless wash with UWW+
Clayed with Griots clay.
Polishing
Griots DA with 5" Lake Country backing plate.
Hood, top of trunk, and roof were in pretty good shape. On these I used SF4500 on a white Lake Country Pad.
Most of the vertical surfaces were much more swirled for some reason. On these I used PF2500 on a tangerine pad.
After 2500, I tried a test spot finishing it off with 4500 but could not see much (if any) improvement in gloss. The 2500 finished down to a very nice shine so I didn't spend the extra time to go over it again with 4500.
After polishing, the entire car was cleaned with the special paint cleaner provided by the coating manufacturer (see below).
Coating
I should mention that I purchased most all of the above from AG over time.
For my coating, I went off the reservation a bit and used Element 119 System X, which I had purchased on a whim a few months ago and had ready to go.
I found the System X to be somewhat difficult to work with. Despite working out of the sun, the product flashed MUCH faster than the 3 minutes stated in the instructions and I had a devil of a time buffing it off. As I worked around the car, I progressively reduced the time until I was down to a minute or so before buffing. Outside temperature was just 65 degrees so I guess I didn't anticipate this rapid flashing problem.
Anyway, given my amateur status, I found working with the coating to be somewhat trying and stressful. Maybe I overdid it a little bit helping my son and his roommate move into their dorm the day before, but after coating the vehicle, I was pretty tired and sore when I finally called it a day. At that point I was somewhat ornery and not really pleased with the vehicle's appearance, to the point of starting to plan how I would buff off the System X and move to something else.
Next Day Surprise
When I went out to the garage to go to work the next day, I have to say I was blown away! Overnight, the vehicle had taken on a whole new level of glassy, diamond-like shine that I've never seen before.
The System X obviously improved substantially in the first 16 hours or so, which I hadn't anticipated, and I'm sure if I used this coating again the job would go much smoother given what I learned the first time around. The System X look and appearance is very pleasing to my eye, so I guess all's well that ends well!
Anyway, as you'll see from the few photos I took, I've still got much to do. The wheels/tires need some TLC and I'd like to start working on some of the RIDS, but overall, I'd say I achieved about 95% correction of the swirls and the paint looks much better than it has since I've owned the vehicle.
What I Learned
First of all, I've gained even more respect for those of you who love to do this and I can now appreciate even more how well you care for your vehicles. My modest improvement comes nowhere close to some of the stunning jobs I see posted here, but I'm satisfied with my first attempt.
Second, I learned that working with a coating can be tricky. I hope that this coating lasts for 12 months or more, but now that I've seen the results I'm pretty much sold on this type of coating and will probably try something like DP Paint Coating or Cquartz UK down the road.
Question
I've posted just a few before/after photos below, but do have a question for you guys.
For those of you who use a coating (whether DP, or cQuartz or whatever), do you top it with anything? I don't see a DP product made specifically to top their coating (such as Car Pro Reload) and I'm wondering what you guys do to top-up your coated vehicles.
Thanks much for this great forum. I'm learning.
Rear quarter panel before:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-x9wz9q4/0/L/Rear%20quarter%20before-L.jpg
Rear quarter panel after:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-cxz53ws/0/L/read%20quarter%20after-L.jpg
Trunk rear before:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-S445Npc/0/L/rear%20before-L.jpg
Trunk after:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-FBJ4X2L/0/L/rear%20after-L.jpg
Couple of overall gloss shots:
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-w7gws2K/0/L/side%20shot-L.jpg
http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/2013-09-02-Acura-TL-Correction/i-qghXMtH/0/L/front%20shot-L.jpg