Wife is out of town on a long girls weekend.So on Saturday I figured I would polish her car(2003 Honda),I don't think it has been done in years.Pitting,clear coat starting to bubble an scratches where the PO dragged luggage or something across the roof and trunk.So I figure I'll polish the car with compound.I have a 6 inch buffer and polishing pads,blue coral pads and synth wool pads.I bought a bottle of Turtle Wax compound and had some Mothers wheels polish on hand.I hand wash the car at 1130 am.
I started out on half of the trunk with the TW and couldn't really tell any effects.Well There is a guy on youtube that uses Mothers for paint correction so I tried that on the other half,still not much improvement.So I get the bright idea of mixing the two products.
So I got to it.Figuring I'll knock out the car and hit it with the pressure washer.Before I get finished I get interrupted by the dogs raising sand in a brushy area about 30 feet from me.I figure snake and go over hoping to catch a king snake.Nope.A large Timber rattler coiled up and rattling away.I call around to see if one of my buddies is around to give me a hand catching him.No luck.I poke him with a stick to try and get him to leave.No luck.I tell him you got to go buddy one way or another.I can't have a rattler hanging around ,I've had a couple of vet bills due to his kind.Not to mention my wife and some friends staying here.A .32 round to the head put him down cleanly and quickly(5ft and 13 rattles).
Back to the car. Start to rub off the haze and some of it is not budging.Grab the pressure washer and hit the car.About a third of the car has a haze that did not budge.So I grab the wash bucket and go to it with the sponge....nada.I think for a little (the wife will kill me is the first thought)and head into town and get some Megs scratch remover and some NuFinish.Come back home and try the Megs.....nothing.Apply the NuFinish with a buffing pad and let it dry to a haze and the apply the buffer again.Hooray the NuFinish is pulling up the residue,you can see it roll into tiny cylinders and fly away.I get 90% of the residue removed before it gets too dark at 830pm.
The next day I had prior commitments and could not return to the car til Monday.The remaining 10% of the car has residue that is built into tiny mounds and a thumbnail just bounces off it.So I end up doing repeated applications of NuFinish and light misting with an alcohol/water mix with the buffer.I between I buffed out all of the lenses and windows on the car.I finally end up dry buffing with a coral pad and and removing the last concentrations of residue but the car is now covered with tiny specks which seem to be residue build up in the pits and tiny surface imperfection.Most of these you can scrape off with a thumbnail and the rub the area with a microfiber towel.
Now the car looks great with a mirrored black finish good enough to shave with.However the finish is now slick (a plastic bottle cap slides off when you set it on the trunk) but it shows every fingerprint and smudge and the clearcoat bubbles do stand out more now.Does NuFinish need some cure time ?I have it parked in direct Georgia sun right now to bake it a bit.Or do I need to do a wax top coat.I have Quix wax and I think a spray bottle of Eagle One wax may be in the garage some where.
I started out on half of the trunk with the TW and couldn't really tell any effects.Well There is a guy on youtube that uses Mothers for paint correction so I tried that on the other half,still not much improvement.So I get the bright idea of mixing the two products.
So I got to it.Figuring I'll knock out the car and hit it with the pressure washer.Before I get finished I get interrupted by the dogs raising sand in a brushy area about 30 feet from me.I figure snake and go over hoping to catch a king snake.Nope.A large Timber rattler coiled up and rattling away.I call around to see if one of my buddies is around to give me a hand catching him.No luck.I poke him with a stick to try and get him to leave.No luck.I tell him you got to go buddy one way or another.I can't have a rattler hanging around ,I've had a couple of vet bills due to his kind.Not to mention my wife and some friends staying here.A .32 round to the head put him down cleanly and quickly(5ft and 13 rattles).
Back to the car. Start to rub off the haze and some of it is not budging.Grab the pressure washer and hit the car.About a third of the car has a haze that did not budge.So I grab the wash bucket and go to it with the sponge....nada.I think for a little (the wife will kill me is the first thought)and head into town and get some Megs scratch remover and some NuFinish.Come back home and try the Megs.....nothing.Apply the NuFinish with a buffing pad and let it dry to a haze and the apply the buffer again.Hooray the NuFinish is pulling up the residue,you can see it roll into tiny cylinders and fly away.I get 90% of the residue removed before it gets too dark at 830pm.
The next day I had prior commitments and could not return to the car til Monday.The remaining 10% of the car has residue that is built into tiny mounds and a thumbnail just bounces off it.So I end up doing repeated applications of NuFinish and light misting with an alcohol/water mix with the buffer.I between I buffed out all of the lenses and windows on the car.I finally end up dry buffing with a coral pad and and removing the last concentrations of residue but the car is now covered with tiny specks which seem to be residue build up in the pits and tiny surface imperfection.Most of these you can scrape off with a thumbnail and the rub the area with a microfiber towel.
Now the car looks great with a mirrored black finish good enough to shave with.However the finish is now slick (a plastic bottle cap slides off when you set it on the trunk) but it shows every fingerprint and smudge and the clearcoat bubbles do stand out more now.Does NuFinish need some cure time ?I have it parked in direct Georgia sun right now to bake it a bit.Or do I need to do a wax top coat.I have Quix wax and I think a spray bottle of Eagle One wax may be in the garage some where.
