What did you work on today?

[ygoslo]

Washed it and put shiny stuff on the tyres. Added 60-70kw.

 

[frozen]

Washed it and put shiny stuff on the tyres. Added 60-70kw.

haha me too - going to the gold coast tonight to meet up with some ppl. You know i think it DOES go a bit quicker when its clean - i put it down to wind resistance is less on waxed paint

 

[ygoslo]

Changed oil & filter, trial fitted 18x10 +9 Work VS-SS.

 

[Peter_D]

Yesterday. Changed an O2 sensor. 20 minute job from start to finish with the loss of some skin off my knuckles.

 

[jet150]

Took some bits off the engine, ready for new timming belt, water pump and tie rod ends.

 

[Scottie]

Well? What are they?

17 x 8 +30

 

[Mortz]

Mookers- Nah, my headlights are OK but apparently if the car was living outside in Tokyo or another big city it may be the pollution from the air staining the plastic which causes that to happen. There's a little DIY article in Augusts HPI magazine about getting them looking like new again.

 

[mookers]

Thanks guys. My car came with one headlight quite yellowed and blotchy. It polished up nicely with some all-purpose metal polish (of all things). After about a year however I noticed both lights getting a bit blotchy again. So I polished them again, and this time I finished them off by waxing them (we'll see how that goes). I don't really mind doing them once a year, but I did wonder why it happens so quickly.

 

[Guest]

Some plastics in the head lights, (especially EL Fowlcoons), are affected by the UV light from the sun. t makes them kind of dull and yellow. Pain in the rear end, I had to keep at them using GUMPTION and lots of elbow grease.

 

[ygoslo]

Thanks guys. My car came with one headlight quite yellowed and blotchy. It polished up nicely with some all-purpose metal polish (of all things). After about a year however I noticed both lights getting a bit blotchy again. So I polished them again, and this time I finished them off by waxing them (we'll see how that goes). I don't really mind doing them once a year, but I did wonder why it happens so quickly.

If it is the same coating as the FTOs have on their lights (quite likely) what you need to do is actually sand the light with some very fine sandpaper to remove the stuffed coating, then polish it with ScratchX or something similar.

 

[Mortz]

Most Supras get it real bad too. Almost every near stock one I see has yellow ugly headlights, and I mean like bright yellow. Look so much better once they're cleaned up to how they're meant to look.

 

[mookers]

I'm glad the area to polish on a VR-4 isn't as large as on the Supras! lol

 

[Nash]

On Friday I got my mega flow muffler swapped to a Triple flow.

Now my head wont explode from the ear splitting drone :lol:

Kept the old one for race day !

 

[kiwibstokes]

Yesterday, Got the car fully detailed, wax'd polished etc, finally put my HKS air filter in and also put the 24valve twin turbo stickers on.

Will try to get some nice photos of the car soon with my house mates SLR... when it stops raining here, i don't want to take the nice clean car out in the rain.

 

[Tom]

I was hoping to wash and wax the car last weekend, but it's raining today so probably a good thing I didn't!

I think it was rained on last night too, as the car was way dirtier with spots haha..

Usually spend 2-3 hours when I wash/detail/wax my car! Time just get's away from me haha

 

[godzilla]

Tom, i have never waxed a car, what sort of difference over a polish does it make? Also what brand do you use?

 

[Tom]

I won a Mothers Car Care kit from Autosalon Magazine one time, it came with heaps of Mother goodies!

I do a wash to clean off most, then a detail/polish thing to get more of any left over grit off, then whack on the wax over the top of that to seal it all in.. It gives a nice shiney coating, makes the pearl come out even stronger, and gives it a gloss coat

Seems to look cleaner for longer too haha..

You can really tell a difference!

 

[Guest]

Tom, i have never waxed a car, what sort of difference over a polish does it make? Also what brand do you use?

I prefer a polymer sealant for our paint rather than a wax, but it's really up to personal preference. Some of them will last 6 months before needing re-applying.

There are basically sealants & waxes.. and the labelling can be confusing too. Meguiars Tech Wax 2.0 is a pretty easy to apply consumer sealant (even though it says wax in the name!). It buffs off really easily and leaves hardly any residual powder, well I'd say none actually. It will keep protecting your paint for a couple of months, so you'll only need to wash for a while. Bird poo wipes off as if your car was a non-stick frying pan.

If you can't be bothered with 'waxing' and just want a quick shine or touch up, Meguiars Quick Detailer is awesome. It's a simple wipe on/wipe off procedure and will last a few washes and also help protect your paintwork. It's safe on trim and plastic and will do a good job of shining those bits too (unlike waxes or sealants which usually require the trim to be masked off as they can cause those bits to fade or turn white).

Quick Detailer applied with a microfibre cloth is your paint's best friend!

Thanks guys. My car came with one headlight quite yellowed and blotchy. It polished up nicely with some all-purpose metal polish (of all things). After about a year however I noticed both lights getting a bit blotchy again. So I polished them again, and this time I finished them off by waxing them (we'll see how that goes). I don't really mind doing them once a year, but I did wonder why it happens so quickly.

Derek, are you using a wax or a sealant? A hard wearing polymer sealant will protect your headlights much longer than a wax will and stop crap adhering to them.

For the actual restoring of the lenses try the Novus plastic polish range. I've used it for restoring motorcycle screens and helmet visors back to an optical quality finish. It's hard to come by, so I recently ordered some from that pinball website myself. A good price and delivery was quick.

 

[mookers]

Derek, are you using a wax or a sealant? A hard wearing polymer sealant will protect your headlights much longer than a wax will and stop crap adhering to them.

For the actual restoring of the lenses try the Novus plastic polish range. I've used it for restoring motorcycle screens and helmet visors back to an optical quality finish. It's hard to come by, so I recently ordered some from that pinball website myself. A good price and delivery was quick.

I just used the stuff I had already. Meguiars Gold Class (carnauba based wax). The tin has nearly run out (after about five years lol) and I plan to get some Tech Wax 2.0 next time I go to the auto parts shop.

I'm not that fussed about the headlights since it wasn't hard to polish them up. I only put the wax on them after polishing because it was sitting there and I thought why the hell not lol

 

[Tom]

I might try that Tech Wax 2.0 stuff next time Probably not this weekend unfortunately, weather report says rain

My car is sooooooo dirty right now, it's horrible! Stupid dirty rain!