What's In ALM's Garage?

[5.0ALM]

Hardly exciting, but the only action in the garage today, was fitting the Linkt transponder.

Sponsored

 

[DFB5.0]

The S650 got it's first detail (by me) over the weekend.

The basic process went like this:
Spray iron remover on wheels
Let dwell for a few minutes
Foam wheels with Carpro Lift
Rinse wheels

Spray wheels and tyres with brake buster
Scrub wheels and tyres with various brushes
Rinse wheels

Spray iron remover on rest of dry car - 500mL of iron remover only just made it around, and I had to forgo doing most of the windows.
Dwell for a few minutes
Foam with Lift
Rinse

Foam with Carpro Reset
Rinse

Contact wash with Mint shampoo (house brand crap from CarCareProducts I will never buy again, and wanted to use up) with MF (microfibre) wash mitt
Rinse

Blow dry with Ego 765 blower
Because of the limited hydrophobics of the new OEM finish, blow dry was, as expected, not totally effective.
Finished off drying with a Bowdens MF Big Green Sucker towel.

Bead Maker applied with two MF towels

Windows done, outsde and inside, with Stoner's Invisible Glass and waffle weave towels

Side mirrors.
I really do need to sit down and sus out these damn folding mirrors.
Note to one's self... make sure the mirrors are fully extended before starting the wash.
I'm sure they were to begin with, but...

At one stage I caught them folding in on me.
The key fob was not on my person at the time either.

Perhaps the water & shampoo tricked the capacitive touch sensors and locked the vehicle... which made the mirrors fold in?
#1stWorldProblems

The internal mirror switch only appears to have two states: deployed or retracted.
I don't know if one of those states includes auto retraction.
This is a sit down and play job, because the manual is very generic and can be vague.

And to simulate shutting down/parking the vehicle, you risk the dreaded double honk!
Although I think I have this sussed... turn the vehicle off, partially open driver's side door - WAIT - for the center screen to completely shut down - THEN - get out of the vehicle.

Turning the vehicle off and getting out/shutting door straight away will definitely earn you a double honk.

I'll asking my dealer to disable the double honk when it goes in for the Piece of Mind Service", as I know this can be deactivated using ForScan.


I must say, I'm really liking the Griot's Garage Boss foam cannon!
With the metering tip inserted at the bottom of the pick-up tube, and being able to screw a product bottle directly on, is not only a time saver, but just brilliant.
All foam cannons should do this.

It's a shame Griot's don't ship outside of the USA, as I believe many Aussies would like to have one of these. I think you can get them in from 3rd party vendors, but they tend to become crazy expensive.

There has to be a market for an Aussie-based detailing supplier to become a Griot's distributor, surely?
D, why hasn't this happened already?!!

I've been asking the same question for years now, the brand is highly regarded, maybe they just don't want to bother with exports.

 

[5.0ALM]

The start of personalisation

After two weeks of ownership, it was time to start delving into the box of goodies I have been stock piling for almost 12 months.

The first, the easiest, was to fit an appropriate decal to the rear window.

This is not a sponsored video - neglected to point that out during shooting



Decal: < 10 minutes to clean window and fuss over applying the decal very gingerly
Video: 7 hours to shoot and edit

Decals from etsy store Atomic Decals
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1054482058/shifter-vinyl-decal-sticker-car-laptop


Save the manuals!

 

[Deano1978]

Nice work Adam,

I've also been browsing shift knobs recently but don't want one with paint or powder coating on it. My wedding ring has chipped all the paint off the shifter in my current car.

Have you fitted the black exhaust tips yet,? A video on that would be great cause I've ordered them as well.

Speaking of which, have you thought about filling in the gap between the rolled edge and the pipe cause I reckon that gap will collect crud over time - would high temp silicone work, or am I overthinking the issue!

 

[5.0ALM]

I've also been browsing shift knobs recently but don't want one with paint or powder coating on it. My wedding ring has chipped all the paint off the shifter in my current car.

Is a DIY divorce kit a cheaper option?

Have you fitted the black exhaust tips yet,? A video on that would be great cause I've ordered them as well.

That was 3rd on the to-do list, one more very easy personalisation mod in between.

Speaking of which, have you thought about filling in the gap between the rolled edge and the pipe cause I reckon that gap will collect crud over time - would high temp silicone work, or am I overthinking the issue!

That's something I hadn't considered.
Silicone would make them more of a permanent fixture, which might get really ugly if you do want to remove them periodically.

These tips slip over, and there is one tightening bolt, so removing the tips for occasional pipe cleaning doesn't appear to be too onerous. But don't quote me on that, just yet!

 

[Deano1978]

Is a DIY divorce kit a cheaper option?


That was 3rd on the to-do list, one more very easy personalisation mod in between.


That's something I hadn't considered.
Silicone would make them more of a permanent fixture, which might get really ugly if you do want to remove them periodically.

These tips slip over, and there is one tightening bolt, so removing the tips for occasional pipe cleaning doesn't appear to be too onerous. But don't quote me on that, just yet!

Ha, no way a divorce would cheaper!

Thanks for the response on the exhaust tips, reckon I was overthinking it. WIl prob just take them off occasionally as you mentioned

 

[PKs]

Ha, no way a divorce would cheaper!

Thanks for the response on the exhaust tips, reckon I was overthinking it. WIl prob just take them off occasionally as you mentioned

You may find that the bolt on tips can work themselves loose. One of mine came loose going down the M1 and was just flopping around pointing down. It did not fall off though. I ended up getting an exhaust shop to cut the OEM tips off and weld on tips that are very similar to what the Machs came with. I appreciate that I can't easily return the car to stock, but that does not worry me.

 

[5.0ALM]

Two firsts for me, today!

1) Using the Stoner's Reach & Clean Tool
2) Getting into the back seat to clean the rear window

Bringing the passenger seat forward, and then pulling the tab to tilt the seat forward, it didn't seem to provide much of entry path at all.

I could see the headrest against the headliner was limiting how far the seat could be tilted forward. Once the seat was lowered, it could be tilted forward all the way.
First time rookie trap!

Also armed with a Bowden's Inta Mitt, which is a double-sided glass towel mitt.
Twist pile one side, and a flat pile for the final buff on the other.
I've always liked this mitt for doing the windows.

I found that whilst the Reach & Clean tool did a great job of getting right to the back of the rear window, being already damp, it left a streaky finish and couldn't give that final buff dry.
Perhaps a change of the microfibre is needed at this point @DFB5.0 ?
I ended up dragging the mitt across the tight corner where the window meets the rear shelf.

Something the pre-delivery missed?

Plastic protector film behind each rear seat.


I can confirm, being 180cm, it's a tight fit back there in the cheap seats.

 

[DFB5.0]

Two firsts for me, today!

1) Using the Stoner's Reach & Clean Tool
2) Getting into the back seat to clean the rear window

Bringing the passenger seat forward, and then pulling the tab to tilt the seat forward, it didn't seem to provide much of entry path at all.

I could see the headrest against the headliner was limiting how far the seat could be tilted forward. Once the seat was lowered, it could be tilted forward all the way.
First time rookie trap!

Also armed with a Bowden's Inta Mitt, which is a double-sided glass towel mitt.
Twist pile one side, and a flat pile for the final buff on the other.
I've always liked this mitt for doing the windows.

I found that whilst the Reach & Clean tool did a great job of getting right to the back of the rear window, being already damp, it left a streaky finish and couldn't give that final buff dry.
Perhaps a change of the microfibre is needed at this point @DFB5.0 ?
I ended up dragging the mitt across the tight corner where the window meets the rear shelf.

Something the pre-delivery missed?

Plastic protector film behind each rear seat.


I can confirm, being 180cm, it's a tight fit back there in the cheap seats.

I sympathize with you here; glass is a pain. And after cleaning the glass for the first time earlier this week, I still have some residue at the base of the rear screen, which means folding myself back into the rear seats to do it again.

On new cars, you end up with quite a lot of fogginess caused by off gassing, which will continue to be reappear in the coming months. I mention this because that fog ends up in the towel, and if you don't swap or flip your towel between sections, you will be pushing it around and transferring it from window to window.

A couple of tips that could make the difference -

- Never attempt cleaning glass in the sun or if the surface warm/hot to touch, the glass cleaner will evaporate too quickly and cause those streaks and ghosting. This is my number one rule for glass..............................I discovered the hard way.

- On heavy build up, I always do a mow down cleaning first, then swap to fresh towels and repeat. In other words, you scoop the bulk of contamination with one set of towels, then the clean towels won't be shifting grime from window to window.

- With the Reach & Clean Tool, you can use it for your first or second pass. Personally, I use it for the first step, soaking down the waffle weave bonnet by spraying with glass cleaner (I don't spay directly onto interior glass), work tool over the glass, then follow with a dry towel till the residue flashes away.

- I once used dedicated glass towels, and they work well because of the density and shortness of the fibers. However, I've settled on waffle weave for glass. Again, these have short pile and density to deliver streak (and lint) free results. TRC Dry Me A River in 40 x 60cm size.
14A The Rag Company Dry Me A River Premium Korean Waffle Weave Towel - Detailing Shed

If all that fails, then I'm guessing you have some Trace-less on the way?

 

[VB50GT]

The start of personalisation

After two weeks of ownership, it was time to start delving into the box of goodies I have been stock piling for almost 12 months.

The first, the easiest, was to fit an appropriate decal to the rear window.

This is not a sponsored video - neglected to point that out during shooting



Decal: < 10 minutes to clean window and fuss over applying the decal very gingerly
Video: 7 hours to shoot and edit

Decals from etsy store Atomic Decals
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1054482058/shifter-vinyl-decal-sticker-car-laptop


Save the manuals!

Have you dropped the spare wheel in the boot yet? Interested to see that the 20" wheel fits in there ok.

 

[5.0ALM]

This needed doing!




It takes significantly longer to makes these videos, than actually doing "it".
But it's a form of therapy.

 

[5.0ALM]

Window Tinting

Dropped the GT in for window tinting this morning.

Before proceeding, a baseline reading of OEM glass transparency was done.

Initially we were reading 72 - 73 on the driver side window, but moving it along the glass and the reading stabilised at 79.
Although imperceptible to the naked eye, tint coverage is obviously not uniform across the glass.

A test with a sample piece of UltraGard Genesis IR40 product (nominal 40% VLT) on top of the OEM glass produced the following results.

If our factory tint is VLT 70% and you apply a IR33 film that means the overall VLT is 33% of 70% = 23% This is below the legal limit of 35% for front sides.

The IR40 film will result in an overall VLT of 28%, still low. (40 x 0.7)
A seemingly high IR70 film equates to an overall VLT of 49%. (70 x 0.7)

The installer advised that a 5% leeway is allowed in QLD - your state may be different.

This means the film with a VLT of 40 on top of the OEM glass is ok, being above 30%.

It goes without saying, take sample readings of your own glass - it could be closer to the specified 70% minimum, where, say, a 40% film would breach the lower allowable limit of 30%.
Assuming you want to stay 100% ridgy didge.

I decided on 40% on front sides, and 33% rear side and rear.


Being the hopeless curious type ( ), the Enforcer II tint meter has a quoted accuracy of +/- 2%.

It's awkward to get shots on my driveway, because it's on an incline, and a PITA generally.

UltraGard Genesis 'Ultra Ceramic Heatshield' IR40 on the front sides.

Genesis IR33 on the rear quarters and rear window.

The tinted rear makes the shifter decal really pop!
A goodie bag of window cleaner, microfiber towel and lollies supplied as well.

Those hips!
"Do I look fat in this?"

Revisiting the A4 copy paper.

A comparison before and after split screen that's sorta ish accurate.

I couldn't get an accurate shot of the rear window that I was happy with.
This will have to wait until I'm out next.

Trying to shoot stills and video in a garage with reflections from lights, the flash bounced off the ceiling, and battling against ambient light outside aint easy.


Very happy with the result.
Roll on summer!

 

[DFB5.0]

Window Tinting

Dropped the GT in for window tinting this morning.

Before proceeding, a baseline reading of OEM glass transparency was done.

Initially we were reading 72 - 73 on the driver side window, but moving it along the glass and the reading stabilised at 79.
Although imperceptible to the naked eye, tint coverage is obviously not uniform across the glass.

A test with a sample piece of UltraGard Genesis IR40 product (nominal 40% VLT) on top of the OEM glass produced the following results.

The installer advised that a 5% leeway is allowed in QLD - your state may be different.

This means the film with a VLT of 40 on top of the OEM glass is ok, being above 30%.

It goes without saying, take sample readings of your own glass - it could be closer to the specified 70% minimum, where, say, a 40% film would breach the lower allowable limit of 30%.
Assuming you want to stay 100% ridgy didge.

I decided on 40% on front sides, and 33% rear side and rear.


Being the hopeless curious type ( ), the Enforcer II tint meter has a quoted accuracy of +/- 2%.

It's awkward to get shots on my driveway, because it's on an incline, and a PITA generally.

UltraGard Genesis 'Ultra Ceramic Heatshield' IR40 on the front sides.

Genesis IR33 on the rear quarters and rear window.

The tinted rear makes the shifter decal really pop!
A goodie bag of window cleaner, microfiber towel and lollies supplied as well.

Those hips!
"Do I look fat in this?"

Revisiting the A4 copy paper.

A comparison before and after split screen that's sorta ish accurate.

I couldn't get an accurate shot of the rear window that I was happy with.
This will have to wait until I'm out next.

Trying to shoot stills and video in a garage with reflections from lights, the flash bounced off the ceiling, and battling against ambient light outside aint easy.


Very happy with the result.
Roll on summer!

Looks fantastic with the tint!

 

[5.0ALM]

On new cars, you end up with quite a lot of fogginess caused by off gassing, which will continue to be reappear in the coming months. I mention this because that fog ends up in the towel, and if you don't swap or flip your towel between sections, you will be pushing it around and transferring it from window to window.

Funny you mention this. I was out for a drive last week, and noticed the fogging on the windscreen.... but hang on a moment, I did the windscreen several days earlier, and thoroughly.

- Never attempt cleaning glass in the sun or if the surface warm/hot to touch, the glass cleaner will evaporate too quickly and cause those streaks and ghosting. This is my number one rule for glass..............................I discovered the hard way.

The primary reason for getting a shade sail installed almost three years was to protect against the hail storms that we can get up here. Since taking detailing more seriously in the last 12 months, it's become an absolute bonus for being able to detail the cars under shade, irrespective of time of day.

- With the Reach & Clean Tool, you can use it for your first or second pass. Personally, I use it for the first step, soaking down the waffle weave bonnet by spraying with glass cleaner (I don't spay directly onto interior glass), work tool over the glass, then follow with a dry towel till the residue flashes away.

I'm not sure what I was thinking, expecting the tool to do the work of the usual separate towel passes.
The trouble when playing with a new toy.... established routines go out the window!
Discovering the rear seats for the first time was a distraction too - at least that's my excuse!

However, I've settled on waffle weave for glass. Again, these have short pile and density to deliver streak (and lint) free results. TRC Dry Me A River in 40 x 60cm size.
14A The Rag Company Dry Me A River Premium Korean Waffle Weave Towel - Detailing Shed

If all that fails, then I'm guessing you have some Trace-less on the way?

Along with the Trace-Less, I have another Dry Me A River towel coming - these are great, and one was never enough, even with the Bowden's mitt.
I'm also getting some Maxshine Glass Waffle Glass Drying Towel Small 35x35cm 3Pcs to try, along with a TRC FTW towel to try out as well.

I fully appreciate why you have the number of towels you do.

Thanks D


ps
The Trace-Less has sold out with DS, again.
Must be popular, in limited supply... or both!

 

[DFB5.0]

Funny you mention this. I was out for a drive last week, and noticed the fogging on the windscreen.... but hang on a moment, I did the windscreen several days earlier, and thoroughly.



The primary reason for getting a shade sail installed almost three years was to protect against the hail storms that we can get up here. Since taking detailing more seriously in the last 12 months, it's become an absolute bonus for being able to detail the cars under shade, irrespective of time of day.



I'm not sure what I was thinking, expecting the tool to do the work of the usual separate towel passes.
The trouble when playing with a new toy.... established routines go out the window!
Discovering the rear seats for the first time was a distraction too - at least that's my excuse!


Along with the Trace-Less, I have another Dry Me A River towel coming - these are great, and one was never enough, even with the Bowden's mitt.
I'm also getting some Maxshine Glass Waffle Glass Drying Towel Small 35x35cm 3Pcs to try, along with a TRC FTW towel to try out as well.

I fully appreciate why you have the number of towels you do.

Thanks D


ps
The Trace-Less has sold out with DS, again.
Must be popular, in limited supply... or both!

I asked Nick to keep me a 5-liter Traceless and Touchless aside for me, when he let me know it was in stock, I was told it was selling fast. So, not surprised. Apparently AutoBuff have a limited amount of both due tomorrow.

Speaking of the FTW, I've found that and Invisible Glass to be the best for the touchscreen.

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