2008 Accord gets a HUGE facelift

TTQ B4U

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So Adam, a fellow board member from a Racing Community I'm a part of had his wife's Toyota Matrix done last year and at that time I told him his Accord would look fantastic if it was shown a little love. He planned on it but lived with it for a while until this week when he decided to shave 8-10 years off it's 10 year life in the elements.

This Dark Royal Blue Metallic 2008 Accord is IMO the best daily driver one could have. His was a family members before he got it but the costs, the reliability set this baby very high on my list of smart cars to own. The before story is that it was garaged and protected but honestly, it doesn't appear to have ever been waxed or "protected" in any way. The entire car had each panel measure in at between 5.75mils - 6.5mils total. He has washed it and kept it out of the elements but it was in dire need of some love.

Water spots and heavy swirls dominated the vehicle. It never looked Royal Blue but rather looked like a dull lifeless black and the metallic flake never had a chance to make it to the human eye through all the swirls and scratches.

We approached this with a goal of 90% + correction and to seal it up with a ceramic coating. Looking at the options with Honda having soft paint, I decided to use CarPro Essence as the final polish as it finishes out beautifully on soft paint, but then it also serves as a great SiO2 primer base for the 2 layers of Cquartz Coating I targeted to protect his daily driver.

Here are some before and after shots but a link to the gallery for those that want to see the details.

Thanks for viewing and thanks again to Adam for trusting me with both of his cars!

Full Gallery Located Here


Here's a quick video of the before as it really shows the condition well. View in 1080p for best results:



COUPLE BEFORE PICS:

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Here's a couple before and after JUST Compounding (Not polished or coated yet) - Just Meg's Ultimate Compound on Purple Wool

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Again, Another BEFORE (Not polished or coated yet) - Just Meg's Ultimate Compound on Purple Wool

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Again, JUST Compounding (Not polished or coated yet) - Just Meg's Ultimate Compound on Purple Wool

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Here are a couple Merlin shots of once she was all done



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Again, the FULL GALLERY is located Here

Process Involved:


  • Washed with Meg's Gold Class
  • Iron X
  • Nano Sponged
  • Tool of Choice, Flex 3401 Buffer
  • Meg's Ultimate Compound on Lake Country Purple Wool Pads
  • CarPro Essence on Lake Country WHITE Hybrid Force Pads
  • CarPro Cquartz UK as the final LSP
  • Ultima Tire and Trim to accent the details
 
Dark blue gotta be a fun color to work with. Really a great job there.

Tom
 
That Honda paint hasn't looked that good since 2007 or 2008. And it probably never looked that good when it left the showroom. I just one stepped a coworker's black 2009 CTS. It pained me leaving so many defects. It is nice seeing your work and someone willing to pay for the great service.
 
You brought that baby back to life! Ask Adam to ask his wife if the car runs better! I bet you she will say yes cause it looks brand new! A job well done!
 
Wow! It looks a generation newer there was such a turnaround. Awesome work as always.

I'm glad you're not in my area. As much as I enjoy detailing (some day I'll have time...), sooner or later I'd just crack and give you my money to have you get my cars where they should be...
 
Great turnaround and wonderful color you brought out in that paint

ScottH
 
scratches, water spots, dirt/contamination and who knows what else was on that paint. nice job bringing it back to life!
 
scratches, water spots, dirt/contamination and who knows what else was on that paint. nice job bringing it back to life!

^^ Great point as to why both chemically attacking and physically attacking contaminants is important. This car was rough to the touch for sure. One very clear example of before and after the baggie test only no baggie was needed. It was scratchy even with soap on it. Ensuring a full decontamination saves my pads too. Dirty wool pads are meant for the trash can, thus I really make sure to clean before I buff.

Thanks for the kind words.
 
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