First Detail - 2005 Acura TL, Redondo Red

I felt like doing my very first detail write up, so I went looking for a friend with a car that needed some proper TLC. It didn't take me long to get a volunteer.
This is my first full paint correction detail for someone other than myself. Overall it was a lot of fun and I learned quite a few things that will help me in my next one.

Products Used:

Adam's All Purpose Cleaner
Adam's Green Wheel Cleaner
Adam's Car Shampoo
Adam's Detail Spray
Adam's Waterless Wash
Adam's clay Bar
Adam's Super VRT
Adam's Metal Polish #1
Adam's Leather & Interior Cleaner
Adam's Leather Conditioner
Adam's Quick Sealant (wheels)
1Z einszett Cockpit Premium
Collinite #845
Menzerna Power Gloss Compound
Menzerna Power Finish PF2500
Menzerna super Finish PO106FA
Uber 5" pads
Surbuf 4" and 5" pads
Lake Country 4" pads
Adam's Fender Brush
Adam's Boar's Hair Brush
Adam's Lug Nut Brush
Daytona Speedmaster Brush
DuraGloss MF Polishing Towels
Adam's Great White Drying Towel
Karcher Electric Pressure Washer
Brinkmann Dual Xenon
1000w Work Lights
Porter Cable 7424XP

=======================================================================================

My buddy delivered it to me and said I could have it for two days. Here is the target:



Initial Inspection:
It's the usual daily driver: swirls on every panel, some really distinct scratches, marring and scuffs.













One headlamp was more faded than the other:













The interior wasn't bad, only a few scary looking spots.





When I first saw this, I thought maybe I might have to go find myself a new cow.







Damage from loading something:



















Let's get to it: Cleaning the Wheels: I chose Adam's Green Wheel Cleaner for the wheels and Adam's APC to get whatever used to be on it off. I followed it up with Stoner's Tarminator on the tires to get a real deep clean.



Adam's Green Wheel Cleaner attacking the grime while APC gets on the tires. The runoff was just gross.



Daytona Speedmaster Wheel Brush in action. I modified the handle with a tennis racket grip tape to stay grippable when wet.



Adam's Lug Nut Brush - an invaluable tool:



After Tarminator, a quick APC scrub with the Adam's Fender brush to avoid discoloration from the Tarminator's residue:






Clean Wheel




Wash/Strip:

I loaded up my pressure washer's reservoir with Adam's APC and spritzed down the whole car. I let it sit for about 2 minutes.



Next up, with the APC still on the car, I loaded up my Foam Gun with a mixture of Adam's APC, and Adam's Car Shampoo.



My neighbors think I'm crazy.



Adam's Great White Drying Towel - first time I've had a chance to use it since I got it a few weeks ago. Very absorbent and nice to use!



Engine Bay

As I didn't hose down the engine, I chose Adam's Waterless Wash to wipe down the covers, then dressed them with Super VRT and In and Out Spray.





Finished Engine Bay






This clay bar was brand new before I clayed only 1/2 the hood...



The casualties of war: 3 strips of clay bar destroyed on this car - (1 full package) In the car's defense, I did use the dirtiest one on the rocker panels, and yes, I have to avoid black trim in the future lol...



Now that the car has been completely clayed, I assessed the paint condition:



Good photos of the scratches are harder to take than it looks without a manual focus-able lens, I found out.



First 50/50 of front fender:





Driver's Door:



Trunk Lid:





B-Pillars:



Before



After



The car's true color starting to show



Only medium polish done so far and the reflections are starting to come to life.





The flake is really starting to pop



This was the result of having a sunroof deflector installed by the previous owner:



I mean, WTF





Ok here we go





What deflector?



Emblems - as taking them off to properly clean the edges and reapplying wasn't an option (time constraint and no tape) I had to get down and dirty:







Q-Tips with Adam's APC and lots of micro scrubbing!



Rear bumper must have seen a lot of luggage (and dirty towels, lol):



Everything polished out real nice:





Interior:

Some of the leather was peeled and beyond saving but at least it's clean now.





Armrest came out nice:



Before



After



I tested a section with sealant but wasn't happy with the high reflectivity on this color. I decided that a nuba woudld be in order.
I chose Collinite 845 for this project because this is his daily driver and longevity was a major concern.
Appled via PC:



Finished Shots:








Wheels were sealed with Adam's Quick Sealant Spray, and Tires were dressed with Adam's Super VRT, 2 coats:







Interior was treated to a generous helping of Adam's Leather Conditioner:







Passenger Headlamp Before:



After:




I had lots of fun over the past two days doing my first real detail for someone.

Things I would have done if I had more time:

Compound the passenger headlight again, it still seems a bit hazy
Use a sealant base and full cure with nuba topper
Filled in all the rock chips with Dr Colorchip
Taken wheels off and scraped off tape weight residue
Painted inside of exhaust tips back to black
Taken off emblems and properly clean the paint
Repaint the front grille
Seal the windshield

The customers were extremely happy when they picked it up! (especially since it was free haha)

Thanks for looking!

-Jae

 

great work!!

 

Stunning! Great attention to detail! Dude I'd let you do my car for free! LOL

 

That car looks so much better after it came out of your garage. Great job, also a great way to get customers

 

Excellent work!

-Kody-

 

Nice work Jae! You really brought out the color in the paint, I didn't realize when we spoke that the interior was that bad! I believe I would ask for $ to do most of the stuff you left off.

 

Nice work. You really turned back the clock on this TL.

 

Excellent write-up! Lol I'd tear off those side moldings. It kills the flow of the TL IMO. His a-spec kit is a great addition though.

 

very nice work mang!

i see that you've already purchased and used the adam's spray sealant. how do you like it? obviously you haven't had a chance to test the durability yet as it's a new product.

and the foaming that you got from the gilmour with a garden hose was wicked. was it pure soap and apc in the container?

 

Excellent work and attention to detail, much better than my first shot @ detailing lol

 

Great work! Keep it up!

 

Awesome job for your first detail for someone. Your friend should buy you an expensive lobster dinner for that work!

 

I like the first and last 'finished' pictures the best. That leather was beat and I know it's not cheap to buy a seat from Acura. Good detailing!

 

Very nice work, Sir!!

Looks great

 

Great Work Jae!

 

Great turnaround!!! brought back from the dead!!

 

Amazing job! Great documentation too! That is the way a car should look. Better than brand new! :applause:

 

It applies easy lol. Other than that I can't comment on how it lasts, it was on for an hour or so before the customer picked up the car From what I hear it's a remarkable product.
For the foaming on the gun, I usually only put 2oz of shampoo in then fill it up with water. This time I was suds happy and I went a bit overboard - I put 2oz of APC in and filled the rest up with car shampoo!

 

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Next up, who knows lol

 

Excellent work, you took years off the look of that TL. Your friend is a lucky dude!