1990 Honda Accord - Iron X, polish, and Opti-Coat

[Shane731]

This car belongs to my mom and dad, but it is being driven by my sister for the time being (she had a car, but wound up totaling it out due to hail damage). Unfortunately, our schedules are very different, so I am typically unable to give this car the TLC it needs. With infrequent care (or should I say, less frequent care than I would prefer to be the case), a tough barrier between the paint and the elements was a must. My weapon of choice was Opti-Coat. This is what I was facing: this car is 21 years old, a daily driver that sits outside 24/7, has 191k+ miles on the odometer, and has its share of deeper defects (water spots, RIDS, rock chips, small dings) that were unrealistic to attempt to correct. Also, I was limited on time. Keep in mind this car has been polished/corrected before, so it pretty much just needed some deeper defects removed and a light polish to remove toweling/wash marks and amp up the gloss. I started around 5:30 PM (did not have access to the car prior to this time) and finished up at around 2:30 AM, with a break for dinner. I also had to pull the car in after rinsing the Iron X off because it started to pour down rain. So I did a wash and rinse, water bladed what water I could off, Iron X, agitate, rinse, pulled in garage, water bladed again, clayed, and finished from there. Interior just got a light spruce-up. My process was as follows:

Wash
Tires, wheel covers, and wheel wells cleaned with Meguiar's Super Degreaser 4:1
2 ounces of Dawn with 2 ounces Chemical Guys Citrus Wash
pre-soak horizontal surfaces and front bumper with DP Cleanse-All
2BM, 2 wash mitts

Decontamination
Iron X
Lake Country blue grout sponge
Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay with Meguiar's Last Touch 1:1
Cobra Miracle Towel

Correction
G110v2
Meguiar's D300 with 5.5 inch microfiber cutting pad on horizontal surfaces
Meguiar's Ultimate Compound with 4 inch LC orange cutting pad on top edge of rear bumper, smooth plastic by doors
M205 with 5.5 inch and 4 inch white LC polishing pads
IPA wipedown

Protection
Aquapel on all exterior glass (required 4 individual applications)
Opti-Coat 2.0 on paint, chrome, headlights and tail lights, and smooth plastic around the middle of the car

Miscellaneous
Ardex Viper Wax on side mirrors and smooth plastic by doors
UTTG on lower trim, tires, and wheel covers


Wash/Decontamination stage

Iron X working on hood




Iron X working on trunk lid


Iron X working on rear license plate area


Iron X working on bumper


Iron X working on rear of car


Iron X working on trunk lid



Correction stage

before - side panels were in pretty good shape


look just above the light, and you can see that the hood had some light swirls - looked like someone had possibly wiped it with a dirty rag at some point, perhaps while it was in the shop


after polishing, before sealing








Post sealing stage

UTTG on tires and wheel covers




reflection of overhead light in hood


rear passenger side quarter panel


reflection in trunk lid


reflection of light in trunk lid


roof reflection


another roof reflection


smooth plastic by doors


reflection in driver side door


reflection in driver side


over-all shots (held the camera over my head - sorry they didn't turn out very good)




Sorry my pictures were all in the garage - I took most of these at like 2:30 in the morning. I will try to get some better pics outside when I can. All in all, I think it turned out pretty good, at least as good as a 21 year old Honda can turn out. Let me know what you think. Thanks for looking!

[bottlefed02]

Car looks amazing! Huge improvement in those reflection shots.

Sent from my Samsung Epic

[Avi@CarPro]

great job !!

[tuscarora dave]

The car looks great Shane. People will say "That's 21 years old?" I take it you haven't received your Flex 3401 yet.

[CaneCharger]

Awesome job!!

[rwisejr]

That looks outstanding !! Great job.

[Nick McKees37]

Excellent job Shane.

[Audi X2]

Looks great Shane
The Opti-Coat was a great choice for this vehicle.

[CEE DOG]

Awesome Shane!! Nice work

[RoyalBlUE08]

Car looks awesome for a 1990!