"All Motor Is Best Motor" (acidicheartburn)
08/11/2014 at 22:26 • Filed to: car care, acura cl, my arms hurt damnit
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"All Motor Is Best Motor" (acidicheartburn)
08/11/2014 at 22:26 • Filed to: car care, acura cl, my arms hurt damnit | 4
| 13 |
Random text and photo adventure ramblings of my experiences detailing my '01 Acura CL Type S. Pics at the bottom.
As terrible as it sounds, I hadn't washed my car since the beginning of spring. It had been rained on pretty heavily all through May and June, which brought hard water and rain dirt (what else do you call it?) to be embedded in the paint. I started off by taking her through a touchless wash to remove most of the larger bits of dirt. Then came the hand wash (two buckets, yo). I chose Meguiars Gold Class to do my bidding.
After two washes there was a serious layer of dirt still in the paint. You could see the marks where I had run my fingers across the paint months ago. You could also really hear the dirt on the surface when you rubbed your hand over it Larry Kosilla style. I decided a good claying was in order, so I went to town on the whole car. I've never used clay before, so I went out and bought a Mother's clay kit. It seemed to do ok, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It definitely removed a lot of contaminants from the surface of the paint, especially bits of sap, tar, and other road grime. However, the visible layer of dirt was still there.
So it was time for a polish. I have a really old bottle of Number 7 Clearcoat Polishing Compound that I've used for years which seems to do great for light to medium polishing jobs. It's not a highly abrasive compound; instead it's made for light oxidation and bringing the showroom shine back to your paint. Keeping in mind that my clearcoat is nonexistant now after 14 years (rubbing my hand over the paint when it hasn't been waxed produces a nice fine white dust on your fingers - thanks for cheaping out on paint jobs, Honda/Acura!) I went to work on the whole car. This took a long time, but was well worth it. Finally the awful layer of grime was gone. A thorough wipedown later and it was time to wax.
Consumer Reports rated Black Magic Wet Shine Liquid Wax as the longest lasting carnuba wax, so I chose that. I'm not looking for months of protection here. I'll use a sealant and wax over that before the winter starts for that kind of protection. The Black Magic wax goes on easy enough. It doesn't seem to spread that great, especially because a lot of it soaks up into my microfiber applicator. Removal isn't the easiest either. It takes a lot of wiping down to remove and buff away all the residue, but the results are pretty good. It's not the shinest shine possible but it's good enough for my purposes and budget.
I don't have any before pics, sadly. Also a note of warning: Yes, my wheels are !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but I will finally be getting new ones and relegating these to winter tire duty in the fall. I don't even bother washing them anymore, as there's no point.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
I went out to a small park by a lake today after the storms finally cleared up:
And the centerpiece of the story:
Dat wheel gap, brah.
Even the windows got the full treatment. Clay bar, and Rain-X (that stuff is really hard to buff off, btw).
And now for my favorite side of the car - the rear:
I loves me some spoilery goodness:
I also did some light cleaning of the interior today, but I had to do it in my garage where it was dark (storms outside) so I missed a few areas in haste and frustration.
My driver's seat is really bad:
No, seriously, it's really bad:
But my door panel is really clean and simple:
Arguably my favorite part of the interior - that instrument cluster is just so classy and easy to read:
Anyone else miss simple, easy to use buttons on a clean dash? Yeah? Well, I don't :)
It's not like I can just press every function by feel and memory alone. Nope, I'd so much rather have a complicated and fiddly touchscreen system for sure! #sarcasm, brah
Even my rear view mirror got the full clean treatment.
My OTHER favorite part of the interior - the shift knob. Yes, it's an autotragic, but I've got a functioning autostick so it helps.
One of the parts I forgot to clean:
Dat dust. But look at that. For an autotragic, it's a pretty good setup. I can force the car into first and second, limit it up to third and fourth, or leave it in D5 for full autotragic mode.
I pulled my back seat so I could adjust my rear struts (Koni Yellows).
You can see my hastily stowed cleaning supplies and some used up targets from my recent trip to the gun range.
These are the tops of my strut towers. The little flat prong on the very top turns with a tool to tighten or loosen the ride and handling.
Because I am a wimp I have them on their lowest (smoothest) setting right now. Handling is still better than OEM.
One last shot as the sun was setting after I arrived home:
There are still some things left to do. I need to finish cleaning my interior and condition the leather seats. Then I've got to do something about my fog lamp and driver's side head lamp covers.
JGrabowMSt
> All Motor Is Best Motor
08/11/2014 at 22:31 |
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Time to pull the dust boot off the shifter.
Any suggestions for when there seem to be impenetrable specs on the windshield? That's my main problem at the moment. Short of going to an auto glass place to take a look. Nothing I've used so far even gets the specs to smudge a little.
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All Motor Is Best Motor
> JGrabowMSt
08/11/2014 at 22:36 |
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I'm not sure if you mean contaminants on top of the glass or pitting. My windshield suffers from really terrible pitting. Late in the day when the sun is low in the sky and the sun shines directly on my windshield I can't hardly see out of it because all the pitting lights up like a christmas tree. Other than taking a large rock to your windshield and hoping insurance covers free replacement, there's not much to be done I think. If your affliction involves contaminants on the surface of the glass, Larry Kosilla has got you covered:
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JGrabowMSt
> All Motor Is Best Motor
08/11/2014 at 22:38 |
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I have watched that episode a couple times. I think I'll have to stop at an auto glass place to get an idea of what needs to be done to fix it. There's a ding in the passenger side front window that I want taken care of before winter anyway.
Sn210
> All Motor Is Best Motor
08/11/2014 at 22:38 |
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Type S! looks awesome! How is white as far as keeping it looking clean?
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All Motor Is Best Motor
> Sn210
08/11/2014 at 22:44 |
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It hides dirt a hell of a lot better than black. Pretty much the opposite of black in that regard. At a glance from a distance the white, even when dirty doesn't look too bad. It only gets bad if it's covered in dried on mud, or you look up close. Obviously it loses its shine when dirty but any color does that. When I bought the car they had a really crappy color selection. There was an OK red, a really awful black (I don't even know how you screw up black, but it was bad - it had a purpleish tinge to it! WTF!), a seriously "meh" blue, and a really boring silver. I wanted the red but this one was in the showroom and the dealers gave me a better deal on it because the cars were slow selling. Mine was something like the 5th sold in the Twin Cities.
The Type S really is the only way to go with this car. The extra power and upgraded brakes and handling was much needed. This engine absolutely screams when VTEC kicks in. It really makes a glorious noise. One of these days I've got to get a good mic and record how it sounds to the human ear within the cabin.
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Sn210
> All Motor Is Best Motor
08/11/2014 at 22:52 |
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my TL is "Nighthawk Black Pearl" which has flakes of blue in it. I hope that's not the black you're talking about, i like it a lot! It looks really good for the first fifteen minutes after I clean it, until a light breeze ruins it with dust. It's very tough to keep clean, but I saved it from the previous owner's neglect.
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All Motor Is Best Motor
> Sn210
08/11/2014 at 22:56 |
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Wow, that's an amazing transformation! The black CL's I've seen didn't have any flake in the paint. Just an ugly sold purpleish black. What year is your TL? 01-04? Also, those are nice wheels. Are they OEM or aftermarket? I'm still looking for the right wheels for my car. From what I've seen the car really doesn't look good some wheels.
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Sn210
> All Motor Is Best Motor
08/11/2014 at 23:11 |
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thanks! It's an '08 Type S, so it's got those awesome gun metal ten spokes.
what are you thinking for wheels, Honda/Acura? Five spokes? You could probably get a set of RSX Type S throwing stars for cheap. I recommend the 17"s off a Crosstour too, believe it or not. I had a set on my Civic that I got for $450 as dealer take-offs.
If you want to go 18", consider the ones off the Acura RDX
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All Motor Is Best Motor
> Sn210
08/11/2014 at 23:21 |
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Oh you've got the best model. The '08's had a few styling tweaks, like placing the reverse lights in the tail lights which I think really made them look very sharp! And those wheels definitely look great on them. I've been keeping my eye on the Type S prices for TL's and they seem to be holding their value really well (which is bad for me!) Everything I've read (and the few times I've driven them as loaners) says the TL type S handles and drives like the CL should have. As far as wheels, I think five spokes look best on the CL but I want to go with a wheel that's lighter than an Acura OE wheel. The Acura and Honda five spoke wheels are really heavy, and the CL could definitely do with some unsprung weight loss.
davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> All Motor Is Best Motor
08/12/2014 at 12:19 |
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Needs a bigger "S".
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> All Motor Is Best Motor
08/12/2014 at 12:20 |
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White doesn't show off a good detail like a darker car would, but well done!
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All Motor Is Best Motor
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
08/12/2014 at 12:59 |
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That, and the lighting was a little darker than I'd have liked. The only parking spots left that were in direct sunlight were handicap spots (none of them were being used, but I'm just not going to be that guy ). Plus the camera only cost about 180 dollars, so it's not like it has the best detail. But thanks! The car's in great shape for a 14 year old car, but she's definitely got some "battle scars". Lots of paint chips on the hood and lower extremities.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> All Motor Is Best Motor
08/12/2014 at 13:05 |
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I feel your pain. I have to drive the same roads as sand and gravel trucks every morning... I've given up caring too much about rock chips. I love my car, and try to keep it in good shape, but she's a driver, not a garage queen.