junkie

And here is the 35 after a bit of Saturday detailing action Its my guinea pig for all the new detailing gear I buy

Sorry there was meant to be a bit of a story to the above pic. Its a Lexus that me and my bro worked on last Sunday, that looked like this when we started: The paint was super hard, took us most of the day to remove 80-90% of the above damage, with a rotary polisher, cutting pads and my heaviest cutting Menzerna polish. On top of that keeping the polisher on the paint was super difficult as it wanted to skip around, stick, basically had a mind of its own. my ranodm orbital was totally useless on that paint... hard day but results were pretty good

its oxidation. polish time!

Well I finally did another coat of Collinite 845 on the wifes Mirage, thats outside 24/7 as well. Last one was done just before xmas, so 5+ months without any additional maintenance except the odd wash here and there NXT 2.0 on this car would last 2-3 weeks max, and it costs almost double. Collinite also outlasted Jetseal 109 under the same conditions - did the bonnet half/half

Finished today after getting some decent solder... had to reset the airbag light though (thanks youtube), as I unplugged the passenger one while removing the glovebox. Polished the plastic on the aircon/time/temp display while i was at it too, was all fuzzy before, nice and clean now. While I had everything in pieces, also fixed a rattle from the aluminium trim around the gear selector with some sticky felt pads, was driving me nuts before oh and highly recommend these for any interior work, i did the whole install without any trim damage whatsover: http://www.bojoinc.com/index.php/composite-hand-tools/ath-m-ngl.html

This video might help... if you have a steam machine handy

ripped the dash apart today. sick of am radio due to lack of frequency converter and a Japanese pop cd stuck in the factory single din player too bad the solder I have is garbage so couldn't finish the job today. pulled out the non-functional spaghetti junction carmate alarm too, all the wiring can be seen on the drivers floor, along with the box on top of the dash... much cleaner under the wheel now. locally installed mongoose looks so much neater under there

I think its more a case of having something nice and keeping it nice while its in your possession, not so much thinking about the next owner Personally I hate ruining anything with careless use and don't like having broken or damaged stuff that I worked hard for. Getting more cash when it comes to sale time is only a bonus

I think having covers over leather will not stop them from being damaged - you will probably prevent scratches and scuffs but the cover will still slide around, and may possibly stain, if not good quality Main thing with leather is keeping it clean and treated regularly. Also avoiding bad habits such as sliding your butt (or back) over stitched edges and wearing pants with sharp studs or zippers etc

Tried two Autobarn stores nearby looking for Wheely Clean - not in stock at either. Didn't want to wait another week for the order, so tried a bottle of Sonax wheel cleaner instead, similar "bleeding" effect and destroyed the heavy brake dust on my V35 wheels in no time... I'll still keep looking for Wheely Clean but the Sonax stuff is pretty awesome. They are also supposed to have a really good quick detailer but forget finding it in Aus at this stage quick vid here:

$900 is pretty nuts, that would be a full on top end job. Justified for some cars of course, but you would be better off getting some good gear and learning to do it yourself. Plus, you can make some extra scratch on the side by doing the odd car here and there for friends and family

Wax testing... Dodo Juice Purple Haze, on my dream car...

Stanced cars have always looked broken to me. Especially from the rear, and I dont see the point of fitting massively wide wheels only to camber them in just to fit the tyre into the top of the guard With that amount of camber and lack of rubber on the road, stiff suspension and crappy tyres (in most cases) braking performance goes down the toilet

so you're saying you removed the wax with the cut and polish

Could the the timing yes, one of the more common causes... Mine has zero mods, its just my daily and I haven't had it for long, but being a high comp engine with Japanese ecu tuning I'm not hugely surprised by the ping on crappier fuel. But I will look at spark plugs and intake clean soon The Mirage on the other hand has been driving me nuts. I have changed the plugs, plug leads, dizzy cap, rotor, fuel filter, air filter, checked the timing, three rounds of intake cleaning (two at home and one with a pro machine) and full bench injector clean with new o rings etc... yet, still pings Next step - colder plugs and oxy sensor. No luck with cheap OBD2 adaptor either

Yeah, its not 100% gone, I can still occasionally pick a faint trace of it here and there, especially low rev/high load situations

My 35 has had it. I have a well tuned ping ear after trying to eradicate it from the wife's Mirage for a few months. Seems to happen when feeding it 95 RON but improves a lot on 98

Possibly silly question Do you guys lubricate the plastic check straps on your doors? Mine are dry as right now but work fine and hold the doors nicely. So I'm wondering if the plastic ones should stay this way and may become too loose with lube? Can't seem to find any good info online All my other cars had the metal straps that normally need the odd swipe of grease to stop rusting and becoming noisy and clunky

You need a machine for any decent swirl removal. Can be done by hand but will take forever and your arms will probably fall off after one panel... I've never tried the Poorboys gear but hear very good things about it. If you have the cash, get a random orbital machine and some decent foam pads, then jump on youtube for how to videos. Junkman2000 has an awesome 5 part tutorial for beginners, very clear and easy to follow, his channel is here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Junkman2000

I did have a brief ponder about buying a four door SAAB a couple of months ago before getting the 35. Especially with the prices going low now... but love my Nissans too much Here is some beadage after a wash today, its wearing a three month old coat of Optimum Spray Wax

I could be wrong, but Ive heard many people suggest not to use sealant for the first couple of months, the let the paint "cure" a bit more. normal wax should be fine though. this may not apply to 2pack but im not sure, best check with the painter

Well done mate, that is clean as and very neatly done. Just my cup of tea. Did the seats bolt straight in??

I would also suggest to use a nice tar remover on the wheels as normal wheel cleaner wont touch it. Most wheels will have tar spots on them, especially on the inside barrel. Once clean, seal them with a suitable product so they are easier to clean in the future. I just use normal carwash on mine now, after sealing them with Chemical Guys Wheel Guard

Megiars non-acid is more gentle for polished, chrome or aluminium wheels, etc. "All Wheel Cleaner" has a bit more bite and is fine for painted factory wheels. I've also tried Autoglym Clean Wheels (pretty good) and P21S Gel (very good but pricey). Megiars Wheel Brightener is probably the strongest one I have tried so far, but only comes in bulk trade packs and is a special order from most "walk in" auto shops I use whatever is suitable for the job - usually the weakest possible cleaner, just to be safe. Also, the whole spray on/ hose off thing that some companies advertise is rubbish, unless you use a high pressure cleaner, elbow grease will still be required