Reconditioning of my new/used TSX (Ongoning)

[MDetail]

EDIT**Alot of this is reposted from another board that I post on that is not detail based, so excuse me if I miss something, and I sound like I am talking to people that don't know anything about detailing.

Alright so earlier this month I traded in my Honda Fit (which was one payment from being owned) for a 2006 TSX (Alabaster Silver). I do miss the Fit, but the TSX is nice. There were outside factors for the trade in as well. Even 2 weeks later I am still getting used to the amenities of a "luxury car."

I don't know that I can really handle driving a stock car like I had for the past 3ish years. Alot of this thread is going to be reconditioning a used car back to that "off the lot" look. But of course I will be getting some aftermarket items here and there, for now my main focus is my DA.

I think this is after driving it for 1 mile.

It had these crappy rubber fender protectors.

It also had tint (dealer removed the front tint). The tint looked kinda blueish purple but you can't tell in the pic. It was even hard to see in some of the daylight.
Insert shitty FB quality pic here

Removed the rubber fender pieces. I would have gone crazy if the tint didn't match perfectly front to back so I had the car fully re-tinted.

Just a quicky of the interior

Did a little interior cleaning. Just gave the mats a quick clean up (might not show up too well in the pics but there was an improvement)

after

Ordered a couple things right off the bat. One of the items pictured below, the other is a brand new set of OEM mats. I learned my lesson with the DA, and the mats no longer being available.

Because I don't want to constantly be cleaning the mats.

Yuck

It gets worse.

Old vs New

OEM goodness

ahh much better

Still have more stuff to show just haven't taken the pics yet. Be back soon, in the meantime :beer:

 

[MDetail]

Made a detailing purchase this past week. Wanted to try out the surbuff pads, needed some 4" small pads as well, and since I've never had leather in any of my cars before, I picked up some leather treatment.

Keep all of your microfiber towels separated. Keep them in an enclosed area. Separate your paint towels from your non-paint towels. When you wash your towels, do not wash non-paint towels with paint towels.
Here I have:
Top left: Hidden painted area microfiber towels
Top middle: Older drying towels
Top right: Waxing Applicators
Middle: Engine Bay / Wheel Well / Interior microfiber towels. (I only use the ones on the left side, then wash. I have bad OCD)
Bottom left: Wax removal microfiber towels
Bottom middle: New drying microfiber towels
Bottom right: Quick detailing microfiber towels

Car needed a little wash

Went with rinseless wash. If this car had already been polished, I would have not done this rinseless wash because it was a little too dirty for that. But I have yet to polish the car, so in order to save time this is what was done. Ended up forgetting a full after picture.

Wheels were dirty even from the dealer, well dirty imo.

Wheel wells.

Removed the wheels to give it a full and thorough cleaning.

Wheels

Peak at the DA and these disgusting things.

Pulled off the mud guard to clean behind it.

Cleaned

Mud guards treated

and re-installed

Didn't get all the way finished but it looks alot better

I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of the back of the wheels after, but I still have to pull them off again next week so I can clay and wax the wheels. Here is all of it put back together.

Last week I took the wiper arms off, polished and sealed them. Should have had before pics, but I was annoyed with all of the waterspots on them and was too lazy to get the pics.

I still have alot of stuff to get to. I am sure everything that came off today will be coming off again shortly to get fully cleaned. Like the mud flaps I will have to take off so that I can polish the full fender.

 

[MDetail]

The car came with 2 keys and one alarm fob. After having my fit, which uses the combined remote/key, I couldn't understand why the TSX would use a separate remote and key. I found the switchblade key, purchased that, and now much happier. I am sure you all understand my OCD by now, so you could also understand I try to keep clutter to a minimum.

So I previously clayed and polished the hood. And to make it so I don't get burned out, I plan to clay and polish 1-2 panels every couple of days. Clay after the fender.

the clay removed all of the residue that was left from those fender protectors.

side not done

side done

Then on to polishing. Here is the clarity before polish

After polish (It is hard to see defects, or much improvement in gray/silver colored cars)

I noticed the hood didn't quite match up to the fender, so I just adjusted the hood bump stop.

and presto, fixo!

Took the Klima Cleaner, and cleaned out the vent system.

Still had a little time left, and I really got tired of seeing a bunch of nicks int he paint, and thinking it was dirt. I might have gone a little overboard

Still not done with the touch up. For the larger nicks I will put a second coat. Then sand the hood, check to make sure I got most of what I wanted. Re-touch anything that still needs to be filled again. Sand one last time, and then polish.

 

[MDetail]

Nothing too big.

Got a box from the dealer. (actually a second box inside this one.)

Before.

After. Really want to be able to just throw things in the back of the car like I used to with my fit.

 

[Finemess]

Looks great. Those new cabin air filters are a blessing.

 

[MDetail]

Alright so on with more updates. You can expect more updates to come during the weekdays rather than weekends, since the weekends are the heart of my work week. I apologize in advanced for the white balance mis-match. The camera was having a real hard time with the white balance, and I am too lazy to adjust all the images.

Decided to tackle the roof area today. Let me tell you, I love cleaning the car, but too much in one sitting can be way overwhelming. To any of you that feel that same way, I suggest planing to take care of 1-2 panels every couple days.

Here is the before reflection of

I cleaned the roof off, then started claying.

Harder to see but there are a few specs there.

Sadly enough this is only 1/4 of the roof.

After polish (before wax)

I noticed the under portion of the sunroof was a bit dirty.

The rubber seals on the sunroof needed some love as well.

Before, you notice some build-up on the rubber seal

Removed

Heres where that gunk went.

Treated the rubber seals.

After all of that was treated, I saw there were a few hard water spots on the moonroof, which is weird since the rest of the glass is spotless.

Cleaned the glass up top

Then sealed.

this picture is just before I started working on the hard waterspots.

 

[MDetail]

Just did a little cleaning, knocked out the passenger fender and passenger front door. Pictures are going to look pretty much the same as the other side I did.

Most of the bad scratches are under the door handles which is a pretty common thing. Maybe I should make microfiber mitts for people so they don't scratch that area.

Those scratches are easily taken care of.

Noticed the underside of the skirts were a little bit dirty for my taste. Sorry for the poor pictures here.

Embarrassed to say, but after a little wash, clay, wax action.

Here are the comparison pictures from yesterday since I didn't get a good shot after I took care of the hard water. It's not 100% gone, but it is greatly improved.

before

I missed this spot, but still the rest are pretty hard to see

I cleaned the passenger front mud flap. Used the same products as before. Didn't get a chance to clean the wheel well area so it might look kind of funny, clean mud flap, dirty everything else.

Everyone have a safe extended weekend :xyxthumbs:
But for me it's the start of my work week

 

[MDetail]

A little something arrived today

Tried to get a better shot of the moonroof glass

Started working on the passenger rear wheel/wheel well. Man the rears are so much easier to clean up.

wheel well before

wheel well after

Wheel face before

wheel face after

wheel barrel before

wheel barrel after

What it looked like when I started.

Everything put back together, and mudflap cleaned/treated

 

[Sunshyne]

wow man, really nice work. I had to laugh at the cabin filter, I replaced mine yesterday and it was GROSS! Had leaves in it lol

 

[ride5150]

where did you get that spray bottle carrier/holder?

very nice job btw!

 

[MDetail]

where did you get that spray bottle carrier/holder?

I think it was from walmart. Just happened to see it, knew it would work perfect.

 

[kingofsorrow]

impressive job and great results. that's probably my favorite out of all the acura's.

 

[newbdetailer]

Very nice work and alot of attention to detail. Awsome towel arrangement you have there.
Now all you need is some new rear tires to match the fronts

 

[LegacyGT]

Michael - Nice camera, how are you liking the 7D ?

Also, great thread, thanks for all the updates.

 

[MDetail]

Very nice work and alot of attention to detail. Awsome towel arrangement you have there.
Now all you need is some new rear tires to match the fronts

Or some new fronts to match the rears I don't know why, but that's how it was purchased.

Michael - Nice camera, how are you liking the 7D ?

7D is great, some were taken with the 7D some with the mark iii just incase you look up the exif some a different photo.

 

[MDetail]

Sorry the updates have been lacking. This past week I was sick (still am, but much better from day 1). Yesterday was my birthday and this was the 3rd year in a row that I have been sick on my birthday.

So Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday I spent pretty a few hours cleaning up the last 2 wheel wells, and really perfecting the barrels of the rims as much as possible so that the following washes will be cake to clean these things.

This morning I just gave the interior a quick cleaning and the exterior got a waterless wash. I will probably be polishing out the remainder of the car next week. My wife is on a biz trip so I am going to knock out what I can on her car (there is no way I can do to her car what I just did to mine, the last time her car was actually washed was over a year ago)

Here are just a few pics of the car after I gave it a quick cleaning today.

Im still about 2-3 weeks away from finishing everything I want to get done (cleaning wise). After its all clean, I will start getting more into the aftermarket purchases.

 

[RaskyR1]

Nice write up an congrats on the new car! rops:


I just bought mine after the lease end a few months ago...I think this may be my longest owned car now. Great cars!

I think I'm going to go order a cabin filter now....

 

[Munich77]

Incredible turn around...when you are done you could probably resell the car and make a profit. Nice to see someone take such great care of their car.

 

[MDetail]

Damn that red is sexy

 

[RaskyR1]

Damn that red is sexy

TSeXy!