At Last, a Showroom Floor: Metallic Epoxy Coating in the Garage
Odometer (Legend): 564.765
It’s that time of year once again where I give a summary of annual mileage. Check out the chart below for highlights from 2018. The car that I drove the most – the 2013 ILX – also cost the least to maintain at around 2 cents per mile. But what’s interesting was how cheap my highest mileage car – the 1994 Legend coupe – also was to maintain, costing me only $311 to drive over 7,000 miles this year.
The NSX had an expensive year, but that didn’t necessarily translate into a pocketbook impact for me. One of the service advisors at my local dealership covered a timing belt & water pump for free, in trade for some help I gave him selling a vehicle. So in the end, of the $4,000 or so shown there, I was only out of pocket maybe half that. Enjoy geeking out on some data with me!
My coworkers got crafty with Photoshop for my 37th birthday.
In the nearly 2.5 years I’ve owned my current home, I’ve always wanted to dress up the showroom. Simple concrete is so drab, plus when you’re parking a fleet of 2+ decade old cars, you accept the fact that they’re all going to leak a little. And my floor was starting to look like polka dot street art with the drips all over the place. As you can see in this before & after photo, I’ve elevated the look of the garage in a big way.
To get this all done, I engaged the efforts of Eric and his team at Brilliant Epoxy Floors, Inc, based in Scottsdale, Arizona. They completely transformed the look of my 988-square-foot, 6-car garage by fulfilling a 3-step process: Base coat, metallic “Quicksilver” epoxy, and top polyurethane. The sequence took about 5 or 6 days to complete because we had to wait (and weather is cooler than usual this time of year) for the surface to cure / dry in between stages.
Then I waited another 6 days before attempting to drive cars across it. Meanwhile, my backyard was full of cars and starting to look a little bit hillbilly with cars parked every which way. In all, the cars spent 12 days outside getting leaves & bird droppings all over them.
Yesterday was the big debut when I was finally able to park indoors. I am thrilled with the results! A couple of observations I’ve already made: The new floor does show dust and dirt pretty readily – from footprints, tire treads, etc. It’ll be extremely slick to walk on if it gets wet. But, spills and leaks (oil or anything else) will wipe up really easily. Let’s see how everything holds up over the next few years!
Here is a timelapse video showing stages 1 & 2 of the refinishing process. In all, I captured about 1,000 pictures at a 20-second interval with a small camera mounted in the southwest corner of the garage.
NSX & Integra “before”
Blank slate ready for customization:
The Brilliant crew showing up for day 1
End of first / base / single-color coat
Coincidentally, while the Integra sedan was out back, I received an order for a 1:43 scale model car in the mail – a twin to it!
Day 2 complete! You can see the metallic swirl starting to take shape here.
Meanwhile, the cars sat out back like this for almost two weeks.
Complete!
Even the “new car” went inside for a bit. Now you know what it is.
Few more shots of the garage, all staged & ready.
Thanks for reading & watching!
drivetofive 
December 30, 2018 at 10:21 am
Vanessa can’t wait to come try out that new showroom floor! Looks AWESOME!
December 30, 2018 at 10:55 am
I’ll roll out lots of red carpet for her, and for you! Thanks Conor & V!
December 30, 2018 at 10:52 am
Love the new floor! I priced out a coating for my 1-car garage and i thought he was joking when he quoted $2200.
I thought you were just storing the Accord for someone(?) so your fleet is 9??
December 30, 2018 at 10:54 am
I ended up buying the Accord back in September, but not with the intent to keep long term. I’ve actually already submitted it to Bring a Trailer to see if they’ll auction it for me.
December 30, 2018 at 10:59 am
Ahhh gotcha. I got your numerous car sitting duties mixed up with purchases!
Plus only 36000 miles driven this year? That seems low!
December 30, 2018 at 11:49 am
Loving the colour! The quicksilver finish really does make it look like a super luxury floor. Nearly ten thousand on maintenance throughout the course of the year makes the pocket hurt a little, it soon adds up without you even realising! I’ve had a car sitting in the service department since the 18th and think it’ll be another couple of weeks before I get it back, as all of the part suppliers have gone on leave over the Christmas/New Years break here. I wanted to get a few things mechanically tidied up before I take it to a car show in late January, so here’s hoping I have it back by then!
December 30, 2018 at 2:07 pm
Hopefully you’ll get the car back in time for the car show in January! I’m anxious to see where your travels take you in 2019. Thanks for reading, Adam, and Happy New Year!
December 30, 2018 at 3:30 pm
Cool post, Tyson! Thanks for the tour of the garage update. It came out great… a certain 2012 Honda Accord coupe would look good hanging out there. 😉
(My wife, who enjoys home improvement stuff, liked your post as well.)
Interesting graphic about your maintenance costs. My Accord’s maintenance has been a little higher than usual this year, but I had to account for a timing belt service and some suspension work. Do any of your cars have any impending service or repairs in the near future?
December 30, 2018 at 4:00 pm
I’d be interested in seeing your maintenance spreadsheet if you end up doing one for the Accord. Yes, some of the cars need work. As a matter of fact, while shuffling the 1992 Integra GS around I noticed that it’s leaking antifreeze… so I guess it’ll make its way over to Hon-Man in Tempe for an evaluation!
December 30, 2018 at 3:58 pm
Amazing job and your fleet is second to none… I wish I was that true to one brand.. I love the old school acura’s you represent them well
December 30, 2018 at 4:01 pm
Hey thanks a lot! I enjoy cars of this era and I’m glad to hear that others can relate.
December 30, 2018 at 7:40 pm
Beautiful!
December 30, 2018 at 8:15 pm
Woohoo, it’s Brad-approved!
December 30, 2018 at 10:33 pm
Yay for the new garage floor. Before you know it, it’s going to look like a dealership showroom! Now let’s draw up some blueprints to change up that lighting 😜
December 31, 2018 at 6:45 am
I’m totally down for some lighting upgrades! Something sexy and modern!
January 5, 2019 at 11:07 pm
This is just too gorgeous to comprehend! Money well spent in my book. Do you have window stickers for all the Acuras?
January 6, 2019 at 11:16 am
That’s a great question – no, I don’t, but I’ve made do with substitutes or reproductions for most of the cars. I have actual stickers for the Legend coupe, Vigor, ILX, and Integra sedan. I have a reproduction for the Legend sedan and the NSX. I am completely missing anything for the Integra GS-R, the Accord, and the SLX. If you know anyone who has something similar I could copy and just photoshop a different VIN on it!
January 16, 2019 at 4:51 am
I haven’t read your blog in a while. You’ll have to forgive me. But OMG, how many cars do you have now? I see your new high-mile method is to drive many miles and spread them over all your cars. Smart plan! Haha! BTW, Love your show floor. So reflective. So shiny.
January 16, 2019 at 6:20 am
Thank Jason! I’m at 9 cars, but one of them (a Honda Accord) goes up for a 7-day online auction today. I’m also storing 2 cars and a boat for a friend. It’s a little crazy around here. Thanks for reading, and I’m glad you like the look of the new floor coating!
January 16, 2019 at 7:11 pm
That’s amazing. I’m so happy to hear you are enjoying your cars. I’d collect a few myself, but with shaken(car tax) here in Japan, owning more than one car is prohibitively expensive.
August 12, 2019 at 12:54 am
The metallic epoxy coating in your garage is so perfect for your luxurious cars. A perfect combination it seems.
September 6, 2019 at 1:19 am
The coating is not only good when it comes to quality but also excellent for aesthetics. The layer makes the ordinary floor extraordinarily glossy and shiny.