88 Lx Detailing

[Patboy]

Hey all,

New to this forum here, can't wait to get started!

My father has owned his 1988 accord since day 1. It has been babied for the first 21 years and garage-kept, but due to space restrictions, its now parked outside pretty much 24/7. It has a little over 340,000 km on it and still going strong. The paint job is original, and is the metallic-grey color.

What are your recommendations for detailing a car of this age? Does it matter? Mind you, it has never been clay-barred or polished, only washed and waxed. I've noticed quite a few swirl marks, and I've been meaning to get rid of those for him.

Would you guys say its safe to wash, clay bar, polish with Meguiar's ultimate compound and then finish off with some wax? I've been hearing about this "thin honda paint" issue for some while, but it only affects the new models right? I'll be doing all this by hand so it wont hurt right?

Thanks for any feedback.

(I will post pics as soon as i get over my 5 post requirement lol)

[Dr_Snooz]

If it's outside, the best thing you can do is get it under cover. The sun will destroy it faster than anything. At least here in stinking hot central California it will. If you don't have peeling clear coat, then you are pretty fortunate. I wouldn't do anything that might jeopardize that. Basically, proceed very carefully. Only use polish where you have oxidation and only enough to get rid of the oxidation. Don't go gonzo with a power buffer over everything. I'm not sure what condition the trim is in, but you'll probably get more bang for your effort getting the trim painted and looking good than spending a lot of time clay barring and all that. If everything else is tip top, then do the clay bar. Obviously, a good coat of wax is most important of all.

Can't wait to see pics.

[Patboy]

Thanks for the reply!

Luckily, the clear coat has not YET peeled, I've just been noticing a lot of swirl marks, especially when its under the sun and you're less than a few feet away.

From a distance, it is as shiny as the 2011 accord that took the garage spot

If the clear coat is in "good" condition, would you say that the ultimate compound from Meguiars would help with the swirl marks or should I just avoid the polish all together to avoid harming the clear coat?

Pat

[Patboy]

Sorry...had a problem with the pics, please see most recent.

[Patboy]

Here are the pics!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/photo2ae.jpg/

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/212/photo3ay.jpg

As you can see in the second picture, 23 Canadian winters have taken its toll.

Though you cant see swirl marks in those pictures, they're quite prominent when the car is under the sun, and you're standing right beside it.

Should I still go ahead with the Meguiars UC?

[Dr_Snooz]

Meguiar's stuff has always been good to me. It should probably work fine. Finish up with a good coat of wax and you'll be happy.

The biggest thing to bear in mind is that someone has already gone after it with a power buffer, so the paint is thinner than it used to be. If that person wasn't careful, it could be very thin and you'll go through it when you use your polish. I did that on my BMW and it nearly made me vomit when I did.

[Patboy]

Ok, good, I plan to do it all by hand anyways.

I'll post pics of the paint up-close before and after.

Thanks again!