How to keep new Honda paint happy for A long time ? All suggestions appreciated!

[duck__dodgers]

Always use brushless car washes (which is now impossible in my neck of woods as almost all of the automated brushless car washes closed over the last 15 years.) but of course car washes with a brush is better than letting salt hang out in the undercarriage

Source: one-owner 2004 Honda Accord with 189k miles still in service and one-owner 2009 CRV sold to my mechanic at 298k miles, replaced by another CRV.

YMMV.

 

[tbm3fan]

This is how I take care of the paint on my 2004 Focus which shines like new. I wash every week, unless it rains, using a decent car wash, rinse, and then blow dry. A clay bar may be used twice a year. The car is waxed and sealed three times a year now using Turtle Wax Spray Wax and then Seal 'n Shine. Consequently I really don't need to use my several Makita rotary buffer or forced random orbital buffer used for after painting a car. My wife's 2018 Mazda 3 gets the same treatment. Both cars are outside as the important cars are in the garage and others covered in the driveway.

 

[dtownfb]

Contact a local detail shop and ask about ceramic coatings. That along with regular wash and wax will protect your Accord for years.

 

[Gladtojoin88]

The best protection would be to fix the garage door and get all that crap out of there so the car can pull in.

Thanks for your insight

 

[gofast182]

Someone said clay every year. That's fine but clay WILL mar your clearcoat.
Someone said brushless car washes. Certainly better than a tunnel/brush car wash but the chemicals they use to get around agitation are VERY harsh (alkaline).

Take a combination of rooflessvw and The Critic. Prep the finish and apply a coating, a real coating like CQuartz Lite, CSL, Adams, etc. (if you spray it on with a trigger sprayer it's most likely not a real coating). Hand wash frequently, every 1-2 weeks, using a two bucket or other enhanced method like multiple mitts and you may go years without having to clay. Related to the wash process, try to do contactless drying (blower of some kind) as much as possible.

 

[RTexasF]

Thanks for your insight

Glad to help. Perhaps not what you wanted to "hear" but it is true, like it or not.

 

[buster]

Hand Wash frequently, garage as much as possible.

The rest is debateable.

This.

Hand washing helps a lot.

As far as protection, good luck. A billion products on the market, most coming from the same chemical manufacturer or blender. You can quickly go down a rabbit hole in the detail world. I have lol.

 

[Cujet]

I live in South Florida. My 170,000 mile, jet black 2009 F150 4x4 still looks new, the headlights are still perfect, and the dashboard is not warped. But it is only outside when in use. The rest of the time, it resides in our air conditioned garage. No wax will provide adequate UV, thermal and environmental protection.

 

[Gladtojoin88]

Glad to help. Perhaps not what you wanted to "hear" but it is true, like it or not.

Yeah man when someone argued with me over my "garages "abilities it's a little insane but to each there own lol