1st post...hello from O-H-I-O

[zdecker]

So....So glad I found this forum. What a wealth of information. Trying to decipher it all has me a little overwhelmed though. Been through many, many threads since I joined. Can anyone help or advise me of the following?

Bought a brand new 14 Accord Sport. From what I've read Honda's have soft paint. Unfortunately I took delivery of the car before I found this forum, meaning the dealer prepped it, yikes! It's not too bad at all but still drives me crazy that minor swirls are somewhat noticeable under bright light. It's a silver metallic paint and I need a plan. From what I've researched so far I'm thinking the following.

Wash
Iron-x
Clay

and here's where I'm stuck....after the above what products work well on soft paint for minor swirl remover then a wax finish. This will have to be done by hand for the time being as I don't have a DA polisher yet.

D151 seems to get a lot of love?
Followed with Collinite 845 maybe?

Suggestions/recommendations are appreciated so I can start off on the right regimen. Thanks!

Zach

[hernandez.art13]

I'll let others chime in but welcome :xyxthumbs:

Art

[Evan.J]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on te new ride!

First I would perform the Baggie test. What this does is it allows you to amp up your sense of touch when feeling the paint. Get a sandwich bag place your hand into the opening and the begin to lightly run you hand over the paint. Do not press down and possible cause and damage. If your feel a rough texture then you will want to clay your paint.

As for your question yes you will want to wash using your two bucket wash. Durning the washing step once your are finished you want to dry off the paint and apply your ironx to the exterior. This will desolove any iron that may have bonded itself to the clear and yea it can be on new vehicles as well.

Next you will want to do you claying over te entire surface of the paint to remove and above surface bonded contaminants. Once this is complete now you will want to move on to doing a test spot.

Are you going to be working my hand or machine?

Do you have a machine or plan on buying one?

[zdecker]

Are you going to be working my hand or machine?

Do you have a machine or plan on buying one?

I'll be working by hand.

Thanks for the welcome!

[RLucky82]

Howdy fellow Ohioan!

Working by hand? I feel your pain. Finally last year I got the PC 7424x wow what a difference! If your really on a tight budget I believe Harbor freight may da polisher. I'm not sure what D151 is but you can't go wrong with a bottle of #845. Specially with Ohio winters.

:)

[FUNX650]

Hi...Welcome to AGO-H-I-O!


Bob

[96z28]

Welcome! Also from Ohio.

Congrats on the new car!

From my own experience with my older Honda with soft paint is that trying to remove swirls by hand is a difficult task. I tried and gave up. Not saying its not possible to do, but getting great results is much easier when done by machine

If you have a lot of patients and time try and go the hand route. But I would suggest.
Wash
Clay
Polish
Collinite 845

For a polish I would use finishing polish. This should clear up any marring left by the clay and add gloss before you wax. Meguiars ultimate polish can be bought at any auto store and is easy to use by hand.

In the mean time I would save up and learn more about machine polishing with a DA if you want to tackle any swirl removal.

Good luck!

[zdecker]

Let's forget by hand then, I can get a DA if it makes that big of difference, which apparently it will. I thought maybe because my paint was in good condition I could go without. So with a DA what would you recommend? I don't think I need a lot of cut, just some minor swirl correction. It almost doesn't seem like many swirls, just hairline scratches here and there probably from the incorrect dealer prep process?

[spitshine1]

You will get some good information here!
I can always get my detailing questions answered here!
Chemical guys jet seal 109 is very good I started using it last year I also will put a coat of wax over the sealent.
When I put the sealent on I let it cute over night.
I do the same with wax, the shines up like crazy!

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Hi Zach, welcome to AGO.

[96z28]

Let's forget by hand then, I can get a DA if it makes that big of difference, which apparently it will. I thought maybe because my paint was in good condition I could go without. So with a DA what would you recommend? I don't think I need a lot of cut, just some minor swirl correction. It almost doesn't seem like many swirls, just hairline scratches here and there probably from the incorrect dealer prep process?


Until you start working on your paint there is no way to tell if indeed your Honda has soft paint. This is why a test spot with the least aggressive method is a must to make sure you're only polishing off enough clear coat to get rid of the scratches caused by the dealer.

If you haven't made up your mind on the DA yet I would suggest to stop by your auto parts store pick up some Meguiar's Ultimate Polish and Ultimate Compound. Test them out in a small area on your hood by hand. If one of them produces the results you are looking for continue that process for the whole car. If neither by hand do what you want, then I would suggest getting the polisher.

If you have made up your mind and want to get a DA. IIRC I used Meguiars M205 on a 5.5" white Lake Country flat pad using my Griot Garage Polisher with good results on my Honda paint. This combination is not very aggressive, but again do a test spot(very important) to make sure your getting the results you want. Polishing, even by machine will still take hours. You don't want to do the whole car only to realize you haven't removed the scratches.

If you do the hand route first the UC and UP are great by machine too, so you wouldn't have to buy more polish.

[zdecker]

Thanks 96z, that all makes sense.

[vet]

Welcome!

[mswerb]

Welcome. Also from Ohio. Any pictures of your progress yet??