junkie

Shannon's wanted $2700 for my taxi spec 250GT. Even though I have 60% NCB, over 30, clean history, and was with them for 6 years with my 200, etc... went to Just Cars instead. Also saved 1k by insuring the 200 with LSV

My current wax favourite Only 32 bucks from Wax It Here is a friends car with a coat of Collinite:

Its a pretty good indicator but can change depending on driving style and care of the wheel. They can also be replaced if the seller wants to put enough effort into the fake mileage 75k+ on average it will still look okay but the grain will start wearing off and the leather will be shiny Under 50k should look satin with visible grain and maybe minor wear Anything that looks very tired, shiny and scuffed will def be 100+ Anyways this is just from what I have seen. Cars driven by women will be worse due to all the creams and stuff they use on the hands

Back to Nissan! Here is a couple of pix from today, my 250 getting some lovin' Quarter panel after polishing, with a crapload of dust on the bootlid: Headlight before and after, same pad and polish as the rest of the car: Outside after a coat of Jetseal 109, just before my arms fell off and I gave up for the day. To be continued tomorrow after work...

Cheers dude!

Spent a whole weekend on this one - my mates Euro. Got a free unreg N14 Pulsar for my efforts

Another +1 for Costco towels - they seem to be very good quality for the price. But, if you can spend a bit more, Aquatouch, Autoglym and Meguiars cloths are better. I have several of each and they have all lasted through a lot of abuse and washing... Don't buy cheap nasty microfibre a they tend to drop the little fibres which are near impossible to pick up and will show up on dark paint and glass

had a good look at mine today. seems like the longer part of the hinge, between the pivot point and the bonnet, has some flex in it, you can actually spot it when opening the bonnet with that amount of flex, if the pivot point isnt lubricated properly, it would flex enough to catch the corner of the guard, and only on the way up the pivot point itself appears to be in an area with a bit of water runoff from the a-pillar area, so regular lubrication would be a good idea you can reach it with a thin tube between the a-pillar/guard and lower windscreen trim panel, there is just enough gap there

quick "after" pic of a neglected honda accord from last year

reminds me on a grandpa's lancer i worked on once, bonnet was hard to open, turns out both hinges were rusted solid. i was actually bending them when opening and closing the bonnet, and the passenger side was already becoming soft and ready to snap

Damn it. Checked mine after reading this and see a small chip on the corner of the guard on the drivers side. Going to have a crack at fixing it on the weekend

LSV give me choice of repairer, just like Shannons... which is good but there's always some fine-print. It wont mean they have the freedom to use new or OEM parts, and even your preferred repairer will be pushed down on price... as I learnt from my one and only claim with Shannons a few years ago My 200 needed a replacement bonnet and front bar, both of which were secondhand items and not in the best condition. The job itself (my preferred repairer) wasn't 100% spot on, there was overspray, missing rubber knobs from bonnet and radiator support, buffer damage on my window trims... kinda disappointing after some really good work they did in the past, and I'm sure the secondhand bits were Shannon's idea as new parts are still available from Nissan

I just bought one a month ago, so far id suggest checking the front rotors (mine were shot), check the radio has an FM expander, unless you are planning to replace it, and check all the interior electrics carefully. Also check the crappyness of the tyres, they will mostly be pretty cheap compliance parts but its not always bad. Bad repairs should be easy to spot. Paint thats too "fresh" looking for the age of the car, paint missing from bolts around the door hinges, buffer damage on plastic trim parts, body parts that dont quite line up, ripples under the paint when you look down the side of the car, etc

Cheap (and safe) way is to WD40 the crap out of the glue, leave it on for a bit and it should come off pretty easy. Just dont scrape it off with anything, use an old tshirt instead then wash off the WD40 afterwards, it wont do any harm to the paint If that doesnt work, tar and glue remover will help. I have both Autoglym and Bowdens Own products and they work great

Gave Shannons the boot after 7 years. After moving house, my premium went up $500, and paying by month added an extra $200 on top of that. And thats for a limited use policy... for a 32yo with clean history and max NCB They are not the company they used to be. You no longer get a car enthusiast on the phone - last girl I spoke to had no idea what a 200SX was. The calls are probably just taken by a generic Suncorp call centre now LSV gave me a slightly better policy at half the price

He forgot the roof racks with a bmx and some fuel cans, random stickerbombing, and of course a bushy hipster beard for himself. Probably too young to grow one

I personally hate car bras, they just ruin the car's appearance. Better option is a clear film thats applied over the front bar and front quarter/third of bonnet. You can barely tell its there and will do a decent job of protecting the paint from chips and scratches, and you can always remove it without too much hassle

I use Chemical Guys Wheel Guard http://www.chemicalguys.com/Chemical_Guys_Wheel_Guard_WheelWax_Rim_Cleaner_p/wac_303.htm For cleaning, once they are sealed you probably wont need harsh wheel cleaners, just use the same carwash you use on the body of the car. Seal the inside barrel as well they are a b*tch to clean properly if neglected

I would suggest Collinite 476 instead of TechWax 2.0. Its actually about $20 cheaper, easier to remove, last three times as long (at least), beads water off like crazy and looks great. Very impressive for the money. My tin of 2.0 has been relegated to wheel protection duties now

Ladies and Gents Real name is Vadim, long time member (altho not active) and long time S14a 200sx owner, 10+ years now. Just bought a 2003 V35 250GT as a daily driver... Other than that, I'm a bit of an amateur weekend detailer and love working on my own cars, both cleaning and regualr maintenance

read the latest issue of motor mag, with pcoty testing. the holden products were plagued with failures, like boiling p/s fluid and bad brakes. seems to happen every year!