Steve-O

Well done Photof**ket for destroying mine and everyone elses blogs on the internet. Looks like this is the end of the road for the blog guys - no way on earth i am going back and fixing all these links. Looks like i will be logging into photobucket and deleting my account - whoever come up with this plan was obviously a a complete c**t!!!! Hope it was of interest over the years and maybe even helped some people, I know a lot of people were looking at it that didn't register on the forums. If you are one of those people please do come and register we could do with some decent content and we all love to gawk at your rides Cheers Steve

Oh there will definitely be some squat when launching, i anticipate not so much once on the move. When i get to drive it i'll know more. The meisters are set about 5 clicks off full soft at the moment.

So initial numbers are in post turbo conversion : 204.7BHP On Actuator (7psi) and 233.5BHP on high boost (11psi). Torque peaks at 225ftlbs at around 5k. I've not driven it yet but i'd imagine that might require my full attention when driving

Just time for a change as, and it doesn't help that my daily is on the nippy side! I'd like to get in it and get a bit of the excitement factor that its a bit of a handful

So its been a while since anything has moved on. The car is now running more happily since the MOT and awakening debacle! I had an exciting commute into work one morning a month or so ago where i started to notice some large amounts of steam rising from the engine bay when in traffic. It was a wet day so it was disguised a bit but something wasn't right!! I managed to get to work after smoking everyone out and took a look. Looks like the new mishimoto radiator i had installed had been punctured by the aftermarket fans central nut. Coolant was p**sing out!! It seems an intercooler pipe may have moved a bit and pushed the fan into the radiator causing the leak : So later that day i filled the car up and somehow managed to get it home without overheating. Ordered a new radiator but this time i decided to get serious with the fan mounting situation. A proper alloy mounting bracket and a motorsport grade SPAL fan and i had to bit the bullet and fit this one myself. Sometimes its the only way to get things done the way you want : Since then the cars been absolutely sweet. Switching from 2 universal fans to a single SPAL has not seen any loss of cooling in fact i think its better now since the SPAL is powerful enough to keep temps under control when stationary, however having a section unimpeded means that the cooling when moving along works better than before. Fast forward to end of April - the car has been running well however i've come to the decision that its time for a change.... The supercharger is coming out and one of these is going in : The car is away now having a conversion, which is is now turning into a significant change in setup (and increase in power hopefully!). More on this to follow soon

Not had any issues myself

The Wetcoat seems to be helping the wheels stay nice. Brake dust must be falling off the wheel a bit more

Yeah the Clio is dry which probably explains the change speed performance. Made by Getrag which is nice to know! I think i might go and test one. I am used to the initial lag as i have start/stop also. When the engine is running theres a fraction of a second delay as the clutch releases but thats acceptable.

Good tip on the BSD - i'll dilute a bit of it with the deionised water and see if it helps. I imagine that the protection will be shortened though if thats done?

How do you find the DSG box on your motor mate? The dual clutch setup on the Clio is very good, Its fast to change and does it when expected and the full auto mode is lazy enough to be relaxing. Its making an ideal compromise of a commuter car and a bit of fun, but i am half tempted to chop it in and go for a DSG Golf Gti. I only had a single drive of a DSG 1.4 polo a couple of years ago and that must of been shagged as it was changing at the wrong time and lunging forwards after a large delay on the gas pedal. Was awful!

FA sounds pretty much what Wetcoat is then. I might compare those next I'll try applying the BSD with a cloth next time. I think this time i was deliberately being a bit lazy to see how well it buffed off. I wasn't expecting it to be so grabby. It felt almost like what its like when you have striped all products off the paint. You just have to trust its doing its thing

Yeah theres a chap across the road who seems to be interested in cleaning cars and i bet his net was twitching whilst i was doing it! So as of this morning the beading/runoff of both products looks to be identical. Nice tight beads anf they are rolling off when they reach critical mass. So really not much between them at present in terms of the protection. Sonax BSD Pros : Cheap @ £8 or so from euro car parts (when 30% offer is on). I think i could get 4 good washes from a bottle realistically. Proven product and highly regarded. Application is easy. Overspray onto trim doesnt leave any reside that i could tell. Very good beading immediately after application. Sonax BSD Cons : Does not leave a slick waxed finish in the conventional sense, so doesn't give you that nice sense of achievement. Very grabby when running a microfibre over it. Slightly tricky to buff off. I can imagine it will be even worse on a warm day. Perhaps this might be less of an issue on a car that has it applied regularly. Gyeon Wetcoat Pros : Amazingly easy to apply. Spray onto wet car and pressure wash off. Great beading immediately after rinsed. A very fast way to protect your paint. No buffing required that i could tell. Can be applied on any surface and absolutely no powder residue to worry about. Leaves a slick to the touch finish immediately after application. Gyeon Wetcoat Cons : Touch more pricey than sonax @ £16ish for a litre. That said i think you could get 5/6 decent washes out of it. Might leave some faint spotting on glass surfaces. I can't rule out this was my mistake though. It could be a proper glass clean is required ahead of application. Despite these being very different products (BSD is a spray wax/detailer and Wetcoat is a spray sealant) they are achieving the same objective which is a low effort way of protecting the paint. Only time will tell how they stand up to the elements which is what i am really interested in. I'll look at them again in 2 weeks and see how they are getting on! Edit: i just remembered that a seagull crapped on the Clio (Wetcoat) this morning. It just wiped off with no fuss whatsoever. I'll give it a proper clean with the ONR diluted spray when i get home.

Ok so heres the clio in all her filthy glory, Remember this has a coat of Gyeon Quartz sealant on which supposedly offers 12-18month protection (more if multiple coats are applied). I only have one coat as it was a bad day when i had it applied : As normal i started off cleaning the wheels with Bilberry a couple of times using my Wheel Woolies, To be honest the wheel cleaner is very good so little agitation is required to clear the brake dust off. So i had another shot with the snow foam after fixing the lance. It was leaking a bit to wrapped the thread with PTFE tape and screwed the adaptor on. night and day difference. This is the best volume of foam i have had out of a product but saying that i have only tried this and a generic cherry one which i think wasn't much cop. Quite a pleasing experience and the cling/dwell time was 5 mins plus which i think is around the sweet spot. I can adjust this with the valve and concentration of the mix next time. I think it could be very slightly less thick to carry the dirt off faster. After about 4/5 mins the foam was still very much present : Not as much dirt coming off but then the CT200 was much dirtier! So then i gave the car a thorough rinsing and then cleaning using the usual 2 bucket method with 2 mitts : one for the upper bodywork and one for the wheel arches and sills etc. Once again then gave it another rinse and blasted out the wheel arches to clear any gunk. Whilst the car was wet i then applied the Gyeon Wetcoat : Video on what Wetcoat is capable of. Its applied wet and literally rinsed off and thats it! I used about a quarter of a bottle on the entire car and i feel i could get away with less next time and let the water work harder to spread the product. I chose to buff the remaining water off but what was immediately noticeable after application and rinse was the excellent beading that was present : Whilst buffing it was obvious the paint has a protective layer and was soft to the touch. My microfibre glided over nicely. On face value its not left any smears - i applied it everywhere including the glass and wheels. Scrubs up nicely : Finally a pic of both cars done with different protection applied on each Was knackering but worth it! Will post my observations of the two finishes shortly...

I got my hose from Direct Hoses and was about £29 delivered for a 10m length. To be fair the quality is very good The surfex i am only just starting to use it but i am amazed on how well it worked even when diluted, Bilt Hamber products really are decent. I think mine will last ages also! Yes i am using ONR mixed with deionised water (got 10 litres for £3 from euro car parts!!) as a drying aid to avoid water spots, and also some in the shampoo mix. I am doing this under recommendation of a chap who runs a youtube channel called Forensic Detailing. True to his word it adds a nice slip to the shampoo and helps the sponge glide over the paint. It has some dirt grabbing capability but not sure if thats effective in a diluted mix like mine. Love the cherry scent on this. Its also there as a backup incase i need to treat some bird s**t ASAP. I have loads of Showroom shine which is a similar product but i am moving away from this a bit as i am not keen on the overspray mess it makes and the residue it leaves behind. It does work as a waterless wash though but i primarily used it on my cars when wet as a combined drying aid/quick wax application. Gives a great gloss but the wax aspect lasts 3 weeks if you are lucky which is not enough! If anyone wants to try some showroom shine happy to send a sample over. The PH Neutral snow foam initially made my drive look like i had just exploded the Stay Puft marshmallow man! I didn't really expect that but i left it and its disappeared on its own within 24 hours. S yeah it hangs around for a little while but thats fine. I think its cleaned the drive a bit which is nice Part 2 coming up...

Cheers Tone It's quite therapeutic giving the cars a clean. It's amazing what some of these detailing products can do these days. You don't need to break your back to get a decent finish. I think the lotus would of come up well

Hi All Up until now i've always enjoyed cleaning my cars. Its a part of the ownership experience i enjoy just as much as the driving! To date though i have just used Auto Glym products but the last year or so i have found myself becoming more interested in the higher end detailng products, as i have been left unsatisified with some of the products i have been using. I've not documented any of my car cleaning routine before as i normally dont have the time but this weekend i have been blessed with a free day so i've used it as an opportunity to start this thread to show you guys what i am doing and also maybe help some of you pick a decent product for your own cleaning activities My ethos on car cleaning is to use products that save time but don't sacrifce on protection. I don't have time to polishing and waxing most of the time. So i need to make the time i do have to clean the cars count. With this in mine i am looking at quick application waxes and sealants at the moment. So today i was read to clean both the CT200 and the Clio. The CT200 was absolutely minging and was driving me mad. The Clio not so bad. The Clio already has a coat of Gyeon Quartz sealant on so i knew that this should take less effort to bring up to a good standard however the Lexus was a state. My goal today was to attack some of the worst areas with a view of next time going at it again, and again until the car eventually gets to a good state in terms of its paintwork. I decided that since i was cleaning 2 cars this was a great opportunity to do a side by side test of 2 new products i have in the toolbox now and to post durability and performance results in a month or so to see which one appears to be the better product. The winner will be used on all my cars moving forward until a better one is discovered So heres the products i used today. What you can't see in view is a spray bottle of Bilberry wheel cleaner by Valet Pro, Simoniz wash and wax shampoo which is mixed with what was left of my Auto Glym shampoo and Meguiars Endurance Tyre Gel : Left to right : Bilt Hamber Surfex HD - General All Purpose Cleaner (APC). Bought this for engine bay degreasing, Excellent stuff. Gyeon Wetcoat - This is the new fast application sealant i applied on the Clio today. Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer (BSD). - This is the new fast application hydrophobic wax spray i applied on the CT200. Generic window/glass cleaner. I find the Aldi own brand one to be excellent. Meguiars Last Touch Detail Spray. Diluted to their recommendation. Used in door shuts and any last touch-ups. Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine. Diluted 1:10 with deionised water to be used as a drying aid that wont leave any water marks. Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine - Neat. 2 x squirts added to the wash bucket to add some extra 'slip' to the shampoo mix. I am using a Nilfisk Titan 120Bar pressure washer with Car Cleaning and Chassis Nozzles with an aftermarket replacement 10m rubber hose extension so i can get around the car without moving the unit. This is well worth the money its miles better than the rigid standard hose!! Was about £16 so great value. Now to the first offender - check the dirt out on this. Filthy!! And so onto the first stage. Snow foaming using Valet Pro PH Neutral foam. This was the first time i was using the Foam lance and with the CT200 the application didnt work quite as well as i wanted due to a bad seal on the Nilfisk adaptor. This was solved when i came to doing the clio as i wrapped it with PTFE tape. You can see how much better the clio got snow foamed later!! : As you can see the foam here was too loose so wasn't clinging to the paint like i had hoped. That said though it was obvious it was removing some dirt. Evidence of dirt coming off the paint which was nice to see! And jump cut to the clean bit. I went around the car and clay barred a couple of spots along with the bonnet which was like sandpaper to the touch. I then applied The Sonax BSD which is sprayed on and then buffed off quickly after, whilst not allowing it to dry : Apologies for the crap photos but its harder than i thought documenting this stuff whilst trying to get it done! So the Sonax BSD is highly rated as a Hydrophobic wax coating. Application was not too bad but the buffing off i found a bit hard work as it doesn't leave a nice slippery finish, so the microfibres were snatching at the paintwork. I have heard this is normal but the tradeoff is an amazing water beading performance that should last a few weeks at least! Check this out for an idea on what BSD can do : I will be comparing directly the performance and durability of of BSD against the Gyeon Wetcoat in a months time to see how they are both fairing. More on wetcoat later. So thats part 1 done. I'll try and upload the Clio clean using Gyeon Wetcoat later today or tomorrow. Theres some better images of the snow foam and product in action on the 2nd run Hopefully this post will be the start of a useful thread for you guys who want to try some new stuff out and look at stuff getting cleaned ! Cheers Steve

Hmm i didnt know that! Maybe they weren't available back then? I think i sourced them and brought them over when i first got my 5 spokes

Ok was just a suggestion Those dust boots always split but not that quick maybe they got pinched when compressed. Main thing is coverage when its on the ground i guess. Yeah if it were me i would take the rail off, take it in side and get it on a radiator and then go to work on it at the dining table. I would be looking at some flexible rubber patches and solvents i think like a big puncture repair.

i think there are reasons behind it - i know Stuart politely declined to touch my puncture as he started and knew that he would damage the finish - my wheels have a very shallow angle > area to work with on the lip of the wheels > tyre due to heavy powdercoating and the design, in which to get any leverage which i think is a bad thing for a lot of places. I think on standard wheels you dont have that issue. These wheels look great but they are a pain. They use fussy narrow valves as well which can be tricky to get hold of.

Yeah its odd - it was fine as far as i know and just got it out one day after being stood and noticed an oil patch. Assumed engine oil and thought an oil seal was on the way out. Parked it up for 3 months over christmas and laid a plastic tray over the drip and it was full when i got it out again - had the entire reservoir in it! If i had to guess i think either a hardpipe on the rack has split or a hose connection has worked loose. I am hoping its the latter as the first one might mean more serious work needed on the rack. Its p**sing out at the moment. Its in now with them and not heard anything but i am expecting to get a call soon with the prognosis which will probably involved some expense. Shes 20 years old this year so i can forgive her for wanting some TLC Yeah the whole reason i went to and use Black boots is they have that awesome touchless machine which doesnt damage my powdercoat finish. Its worth the driver over and premium versus having to refinish a wheel. I haven't seen another garage nearby that has that capability.

Before you take anything apart just chuck a load of carb cleaner in and give her a bloody good italian tune-up

I think initially a nip up of all the bolts and test again. Mine had a weep like that and it was one part wasnt tight enough. Someone had over-tightened and punched the nut through the trim. Had to install a washer to get a grip on it again and then nip it up sensibly. If the rain rail is split i would remove it from the car, and and patch the cracks with some silicone sealant and maybe some rubber patches over the split (and then some more silicone over all of that once more? That will keep you going.

Nick I feel you mate. There's always grief round the corner with them one way or another. Peace is temporary

Nope it's going to be looked at next week. Needs the undertray off.

An alternate solution there by Tony. Perhaps try that one in summer