My R was daily driven for 8 years by both my wife and I. Throughout that time we racked up more then 150,000 miles on the odometer. As of the 4 years the car has been a weekend car, track car, and just a nice toy that sits in the garage.The car doesn't see rain and never stays dirty for more then a week or two after driving or tracking it. I recently clay bared the car and it was like removing a biore strip I couldn't believe how much dirt, grime, and overall nastiness was hiding on the clear coat.

At my last track day one of my friends who's super particular (**** hate that word) saw my spare tire/trunk area and was like W T F... I knew it was bad but it was often an area I just ignored. He noticed the rust and was like man you need to take care of that. Given this is a California car and has always been a California car it didn't see much in the way of salt or the elements. I got motivated this weekend to clean it and here are the results. Funny thing I got a notification on FB how to remove rust from tools (Vinegar, baking soda/water, and coconut oil).

I went to work. First pic is of the nastiness and how my friend saw it. Yes there was a dum dum there from who knows how long ago but I can assure it was my wife's.

Next pic was after a simple wipe down of Simple Green.

Last pic is the final result.

I sprayed vinegar on the rust spots - let it sit then scrubbed.
Mixed 1:1 baking soda/water - let it sit then scrubbed.
Rubbed a little bit of coconut oil on the spots to "seal" it.

Most likely I'll order new tailight gaskets like the one 1223 got off eBay just as a precaution. Next time I wash the car I'm going to inspect the trunk to see if there is any water or if this was from years of daily driving and rain getting into the trunk some other way.

Thought I'd share in case any of you have been avoiding the trunk nastiness

 

Can you come to VA and clean mine up too? LOL I also had water coming in, I replaced both tail light gaskets and still water was getting in thru the vent on the left side of car. I think the seal has gone bad on it. You wont know water is coming in from there unless you drive it in wet conditions.

I had replaced my taillight gaskets thinking I was good, and I drove home in the rain, and decided to check for water, and sure enough there was still a bit of water coming in, and I narrowed it down to the underside of the vent. I had duct taped some paper towel under the vent, and that was the only area that was wet.

Good job though, looks great! What did you scrub with? a stiff bristle brush? plastic brillo pad?

 

Lol!

I actually used the same suede brush I used to recondition my arm rest. Good to know about the vent and hopefully she doesn't see rain too often.

 

Reading this thread makes me want to rush home and pull the trunk carpet up to see what could be lurking under it. Hopefully not water or rust.

I looked for the tail light gaskets on ebay a while ago but could not find them do either of you have a link to them?

 

I ordered OEM Honda gaskets, but here is the ebay link I was given for the aftermarket, thicker, gaskets: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291337583159?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Ooo. Clean clean clean.