Sometimes it’s not about being perfect.

[Ochnob]

Not a professional detailer, just a weekend warrior. But I enjoy detailing and everyone I know comes to me about taking care of their cars because my always look good.
I had a friend come to me who has twins but didn’t have a ton of money to spend on a car for his kids. At the last minute he asked if I could “clean it up” before he gave it to his kids.

2002 Honda Accord that has sat under someone’s tree for 2 years.




The car was hammered. That’s not dirt. That’s moss that grew on it from sitting under the tree. Both the roof and trunk had horrible clear coat problems. It had break dust buildup on the rims since 2002.

So I went to work on it. Had to power wash the moss off 3 times. Compound, polish, and I had to figure out how to make the CCF not as noticeable. I tried DG111, and Sonax PNS. Neither made any noticeable difference. Then I grabbed Gyeon Cancoat. It made a lot of the whitening clear coat disappear and made the underlying base paint turn black again. Here is an example. The cancoat made it look 100 times better.


I topped it with 2 coats of DG111/601 and a final layer of FK1000p trying to give it as much protection as I could so it would last.

After working on it all weekend I got to deliver it to the kids. It is far from perfect. The clear coat failure on the trunk and roof are still there but is much less noticeable.

.



The kids had no idea I was dropping the car off. When I pulled it in the driveway the parents brought the kids out and they were confused. He explained that this was their new car to share because they are twins. The young girl started to cry. She said “but you told me we couldn’t afford a car!” The parents could not believe that it was the same car.
The surprise and genuine emotion was a special moment.

While we are constantly striving for perfection on this site with our vehicles, sometimes it’s not about that. Sometimes just better than the current condition makes all the difference in the world. Sometimes it’s not about being perfect. It’s about the tear in a young girls eye who wasn’t expecting to ever have a car of her own.

To all of you in this site, kudos to you. I have learned so much from all of you. I have enjoyed my detailing journey and was happy to be able to provide something to a special family. And you all deserve some credit in this as well.



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[FUNX650]

What an inspirational, feel-good story!
Kudos to you!


Bob

[Ochnob]

What an inspirational, feel-good story!
Kudos to you!


Bob

The FK1000p was in your honor Bob.


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[fly07sti]

I love seeing jobs like this. Good on you for doing such a great job!

[oneheadlite]

Terrific story, and amazing turnaround.

Really cool thing you did there. Now they’ll not only be able to be excited to have a car, but be proud of the car they have, which will hopefully help motivate them to take care of it and keep it up.

May the universe treat you with some Karma points that’ll come back around in your favor when you need them.

[PaulMys]

Now THIS is a great thread!

I think you did an awesome job, man.

[fightnews]

Phenomenal job and story. Car looks incredible. Those cars would be like the greatest affordable car in history if not for the clearcoat failures they are plagued by.

You should be proud today you deserve it

[fightnews]

I wonder what that new clear coat restorer product from carpro would do to that ccf?

[Ochnob]

Thanks guys. My lesson during this process was dealing with the clear coat failure. I have never dealt with that before. It made me realize that for what they paid for they car they were not going to pay to get it resprayed. So I tried to simply make it less noticeable.

The roof and trunk were in bad shape. Here is the trunk with the test spots to try to at least mask the issue. You can see the Sonax PNS and DG111 made no difference. I was trying product that I thought would mimic clear coat. Also tried fk1000p on the roof with no luck.



Here is the test spot of Cancoat on the roof.


The Cancoat did the best of all the products I tried. The send result is that it is not nearly as noticeable unless you walk right up on the car.


While I don’t have a need for it myself I would be intrigued at some point to try that new Optimum Clear restorer. Also seems like a cool product. But in this situation I had to deal with what was already in my arsenal.



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[PaulMys]

You did an outstanding job considering the subject you were given to work with.

And remember, us 'Geeks are 1%ers.

The other 99% only see a car as a means to get from A to B.

This fact would make them all the more thrilled with the job you did on it.