Detailed: 2004 Acura TL - Nighthawk Black Pearl
 

This is my best friend's new to him 2004 Acura TL. I was hankering to give it a detail after seeing it initially. The paint looked dull and really needed a good cleaning. And yes, the owner hates the wheels too. He has a set of OEM wheels he will promptly be installing.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3710/...4280217c_c.jpgIMG_2508 by K2's World, on Flickr

I don't think this car had received a claybar treatment since new. This is after a small section of the hood

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2931/...17327c4b_c.jpgIMG_2509 by K2's World, on Flickr

Re-washed the car after claybar and the sun decided to make a rare peek to reveal the general condition of the car

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5114/...6c31a2f0_c.jpgIMG_2512 by K2's World, on Flickr

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3792/...3a087bf5_c.jpgIMG_2516 by K2's World, on Flickr

Brought it inside and did a test section.

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2900/...19233144_c.jpgIMG_2522 by K2's World, on Flickr

I'm not sure how this happened. On the passenger side C-pillar

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3758/...089df13b_c.jpgIMG_2529 by K2's World, on Flickr

Did my best but didn't want to chase it too far.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3695/...3e2283bf_c.jpgIMG_2530 by K2's World, on Flickr

Passenger front fender before

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5039/...1c4e0646_c.jpgIMG_2539 by K2's World, on Flickr

And after, the awesome blue/purple flake really starts to show up. I had no idea that Nighthawk Black Pearl had this shade of flake. Reminds me a lot of BMW's Carbon Black metallic.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3670/...f5e49579_c.jpgIMG_2541 by K2's World, on Flickr

B-Pillar before

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3785/...9c5bafb3_c.jpgIMG_2542 by K2's World, on Flickr

after

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3695/...05dce44e_c.jpgIMG_2543 by K2's World, on Flickr

Tail light before

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5154/...4b6b636d_c.jpgIMG_2544 by K2's World, on Flickr

After

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2911/...b661c1ce_c.jpgIMG_2548 by K2's World, on Flickr

Another shot to compare the before/after difference. What an awesome colour

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3804/...c4ea08b1_c.jpgIMG_2563 by K2's World, on Flickr

Moved on to the interior.. Several years of build up coming off

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2912/...d4d51562_c.jpgIMG_2595 by K2's World, on Flickr

A close-up

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5586/...8c637ab8_c.jpgIMG_2598 by K2's World, on Flickr

Center console cleaned up

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5493/...531ff815_c.jpgIMG_2600 by K2's World, on Flickr

Unfortunately, the sun didn't come out this evening to get any good shots so I'll just leave this shot for now. Will try to snag some more photos before the owner picks it up tomorrow.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5572/...0435edb0_c.jpgIMG_2610 by K2's World, on Flickr

Thanks for looking!

Kev

My god!! A million thanks for you

Out of curiosity how many hours did you put into that?

And what polisher do you use?

The interior took me about 1.5 hours including vacuum'ing and wiping down dash/plastics etc.

The exterior took about 12 hours with compounding, polishing and applying sealant.

I use a Flex 3401 to compound and a Porter Cable to polish. I find that the Flex has great cutting ability but I have trouble finishing hologram free.

Kev

That's dedication, your friend is one lucky dude.

The outcome of all that time was surely worth it, you brought new life into that poor acura.

I'm most impressed with how perfectly those black plastic pillars came out. I need to get mine polished like that.

Are you looking for friends with White TL's?:whistle:

Great job on that one.
Did you measure your paint before the correction?
If its anything like my fiencees is has a good solid coat all around it. I was able to do some wet sanding to get out some RIDS out without having to worry about cutting to much.

Will have to post some pics of her TL when I get my new polisher this weekend.

^ Thanks!

I do have wetsand paper in varying grits but have not invested in a paint thickness gauge yet so I don't want to experiment on other people's cars :(

Do you have one? If so, what kind?

And what kind of polisher are you picking up?

Kev

I've got a NBP TSX and the blue flake looks great in the sun! However, my biggest gripe is Acura's paint is notoriously soft. I guess it's great to work on with the polisher but it doesn't take much to get some marring on the paint. (even if you're super careful)

Just out of curiosity, what polishes and sealants do you use?

That reminds me...it's time to whip out the PC and give the car a once over as well.

what did you use to clean the leather? and whats the best way to prevent any cleaner from going in the perforated leather?

Wow, the time and effort was definitely worth it....

That looks incredible, and now im inspired to use the clay kit my gf's dad bought me!

Definitely a great colour. And yes, the paint did seem soft to me. However, the quality of paint is far better than other Japanese manufacturers IMO.

For this car I used Menzerna FG400 compound followed by Meguiar's 205.

Then I sealed with Blackfire Wet Diamond.

Definitely get the PC out. It's a time-consuming but rewarding process.

Kev

Hey Kev,

Yeah, wet sanding takes a bit of time to get down well. How I practiced was to pick up some scrap panels from the wrecker (the mangled ones that no one will buy, they let me have them for free) and I would practice sanding and buffing these to see how they react. It's interesting to see how different types of clear and paint react to being sanded and how some cars have very soft paint where others have very hard paints. Was a big eye opener for me.

As for the polisher, I ordered a Rupes LHR21ES Bigfoot polisher as well as the 15ES backing plate so I can use 5" pads on the 21. Figured it's worth saving the money over buying both machines.
Until now I have been using a Makita rotary polisher so I'm looking forward to a high quality DA.

For the paint gauge I'm using a Delfesko DST combo but I want to upgrade to the 200 as I have done some cars that have plastic/fiberglass/carbon parts and the combo will only measure on metal panels. Great thing to have and it's a good price point as well. Can save you big money on a car if you can find out how much material you have to work with before you start working on it.

@AVS getting a little cleaner in the perforations will not do any damage but to mimics it you could apply the cleaner the the microfiber and work it in or use a detail brush and spray it into the brush rather than on the leather.

Nice job on that Acura!

Just a quick question. Does Canadian tire sell clay bars?

Awesome job! What did you use for leather?

They have a Mothers kit. (claybar and Instant Detailer)

Canadian Tire - Mothers® Clay Bar System customer reviews - product reviews - read top consumer ratings