Shining an eleven year grocery getter

[Vikas]

1999 Honda Odyssey, 158799 miles
Cheap rotary buffer (under $25 after coupon Harbor Freight)
Meguiars backing plate and pads ($35 shipped from Amazon)
Chemicals shown in the pictures. You just have to be able to read the reflection shots (Walmart, Advance Auto, Carquest)
Lots and lots of hours! I was under impression that rotary buffer will make the job quicker but between washing, drying, compounding, polishing, waxing etc I ended up spending the entire three day weekend on the van. This is my first attempt at doing this as I just purchased the plate and pads after resisting them for an year. I was reluctant to spend more for the quality plate and pads than what I had paid for the buffer and its included accessories.

You be the judge

 

[CourierDriver]

u can come do my dodge 2002 one ton,,,,ur Honda looks show room new to me,,,great job,,,now go on vacation.

 

[bullwinkle]

Not sure I'd classify an Odyssey as a grocery getter (IMHO far & away the best minivan ever built)-but that sure does look good!

 

[Vikas]

Those pictures were taken at the super market and I was indeed loading grocery at that time You can even see reflection of grocery cart!

Amazing thing is that there had been many years when this van was not even washed and it lives in NorthEast. If you look closely in person, you would see galore of my attempts at scratch fixing using wet sanding methods. Some of them came out great, some not so. It is pretty much impossible to match the metallic touch up paint when viewed from all directions but I can now do a good 3-feet job with the body shop left over paint. With the dealer OEM paint stick, it color shifts when you wet sand it. Body shop paint is dull when you apply but buffs out nicely and color matches very well. There are some scratches which I can't even find them anymore at 1 feet distance.

Anyway, if you are willing to experiment on your older vehicle and will not cry if screwed up, just go for the cheap rotary but get good pads and backing plate. If I were to add all of it up, the material cost is sill around $75 to $100.

Depending upon your paint, even Warmart 6" orbital buffer ($18) with Ultra Compound can do wonders. That method might not work on some German hard clear but it does decent job on softer Honda paint. I was able to make a small section mirror shiny using the $18 orbital except it took quite a while. And you will NOT be able to screw up with the $18 orbital unless you use it as a projectile at your vehicle With rotary, you have to be careful.

- Vikas

 

[JHZR2]

nice! was it always garage kept? If so, wshing or not, that helped a LOT keeping extra UV from destroying the paint...

 

[RTexasF]

Looks very nice indeed. Again it shows how process is more important than product. Well done.

 

[Vikas]

Coming from you, it means quite a lot to me! Thanks Rick!!

To answer JHZR2's question, it was always garaged since new but only during the night. During the day it gets all the sun it needs. During the weekdays it is parked at work parking lot baking under the sun

Seriously, it was waxed few times when new but for many years in between, it was even barely washed. I have seen some Acura 3.2TL of this vintage where the paint was chalked badly on horizontal surface. Both were white. I have also heard that the dark blue Odyssey from that era had paint flaking off and there was a factory recall. But in general, minimal upkeep should keep paint from flaking or peeling off unless the paint was defective from factory.

- Vikas

 

[The Critic]

Looks good.

My main concern is, did you do an alcohol or mineral spirits wipedown prior to applying your wax or sealant?

I ask because it is difficult to finish well with a rotary on cars with softer paints, with is sometimes the case with Hondas. If you apply a wax/sealant with fillers, it will cover up any holograms or buffer trails and after a few weeks, the ugliness may show.

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Anyway, if you are willing to experiment on your older vehicle and will not cry if screwed up, just go for the cheap rotary but get good pads and backing plate. If I were to add all of it up, the material cost is sill around $75 to $100.

That's a bargain. My Flex 3401XRG + Meguiars M105/M205 chemicals and Lake Country pads cost me around $450 total.

 

[Vikas]

After I used UC, I had afternoon sun shining on the rear hatch lid and I could see the holograms. However, after doing the SwirlX, they were gone. As far as I know those two products have no fillers. I applied the sealant after couple of days.

Don't take me wrong. There are places on the van where minor holograms are present but they are minimal and only people like you or me would be able to spot them.

I believe one does not have to spend lots of money to get good results. All you need is good pads (and matching backing plate) and good chemicals and patient techniques and lots of time. All rotary has to do is to spin. It is nice to have a quality rotary but that is not necessary if you treat the machine with little respect and lot of common sense. Ultimately, it is just physics. Right pad spinning at "correct" speed is going to do its job. It does not care if it is attached to Flex or Makita or Harbor Frieight! I also specifically decided to use smaller pads because this rotary will bog down with larger pad and pressure. If I were to do it again, I would have "upgraded" to HF electronic which claims to have soft start and hold its speed. I would have spent over $50 instead of under $25 for the buffer.

I started with M105 last year but my bottle is now almost over. For a newbie, UC is lot more forgiving and slings less than M105 and you can pick it up at Walmart for like $8. I know Meguiar does not recommend rotary with UC and certainly not with HF rotary

- Vikas

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
After I used UC, I had afternoon sun shining on the rear hatch lid and I could see the holograms. However, after doing the SwirlX, they were gone. As far as I know those two products have no fillers. I applied the sealant after couple of days.

Don't take me wrong. There are places on the van where minor holograms are present but they are minimal and only people like you or me would be able to spot them.

UC and SwirlX may not have fillers, but they probably have some amounts oils like most polishes do.