As per, I thought it would be a good idea to have somewhere where we can post regarding to the above topic, personal experiences and funny stories, topics, help and advise welcome.

****, double post, thats a good start, not!

I have one immediately: what do I use to get that new car smell in a second hand car? I bought n old car a while back, but it had been valeted inside in such a way it looked and smelled like new! Any thing I do just make it smell of the stuff I used to clean it, so to speak.

Haha, nice one TM.

To get a new car smell you need to clean the interior, the carpets, seats and headliner.
Especially if the vehicle was smoked in you need to pay a lot of attention to the drivers side headliner from front to rear as the cigarette smoke seeps into the fabric and is released over time.

Once everything is cleaned it'll smell nicer, then you can replace your pollen filter, spray it with any scent you like (saturate it basically) and leave it for 10 minutes before you put it in.
Then start your car and put the air conditioning on with the recirculate on and spray your scent into the vehicle (I use Autosmart BLAST - Bubblegum You can buy "new car scent" stuff if you want) and spray it into the footwells as well. Allow the car to run with the recirc on for 15 minutes or so, the scent will go around the air conditioning system.

Everyone compliments on how my car smells so it must work.

Thing is, most of that luvly New car smell is created by the phenols and other nasties evaporating out of the plastics, highly toxic. Very difficult to recreate. However, if you have a leather interior that can be kept smelling nice by using Gliptone leather conditioner, available from Liquid Leather web site it accurately recreates the smell of old fashioned leather.

MM, for the sake of completeness, do you have, or indeed, are you willing to disclose, what you do for detailing your car?

I will PM you a link

But basically for a full on detail you would

Pre rinse/snow foam.
Use an APC on the wheel arches, door shuts etc
Jet down vehicle once again
2 bucket wash
Iron and tar containment removal
Clay to remove any remaining contamination, tree sap , etc
Rinse or snow foam again.
Dry
tape up the cars rubbers, window trim etc
Machine polish (anywhere from 1 to 3 stage normally)
remove all tapes
wash the vehicle again or snow foam to remove polishing dust, tape residue
Prepare the surface for LSP (depends which product you are using dictates how you prepare the surface).
Apply the LSP as appropriate
Apply dressing/sealant to the plastic trims
I personally wash the wheels last so I would now wash the wheels and dry them, then apply tyre dressing and wax the wheels

Automotive-related...

If someone wanted a personalised registration number, or one which meant something to them but appeared fairly standard (J389 KLV, for example), you can contact the DVLA. If it has never been issued then they'll include it in a future auction (with a reserve price of around £130 for that example probably) and they'll also inform you when it's available so you can bid.

I only found out about this recently and am now in the process of buying one which means something to me. I appreciate many don't see the point of 'personalised' plates but I thought it was worth sharing all the same.

Actually I do see the point, so much so I put one on my current ride. Good for you if you do it, stand out from the herd.

[quote name='motormad' date='Oct 17 2013, 02:03 PM' post='87342']
I will PM you a link

But basically for a full on detail you would

Pre rinse/snow foam.
Use an APC on the wheel arches, door shuts etc
Jet down vehicle once again
2 bucket wash
Clay
Rinse or snow foam again.
Dry
tape up the cars rubbers, window trim etc
Machine polish (anywhere from 1 to 3 stage normally)
remove all tapes
wash the vehicle again or snow foam to remove polishing dust, tape residue
Prepare the surface for LSP (depends which product you are using dictates how you prepare the surface).
Apply the LSP as appropriate
Apply dressing/sealant to the plastic trims
I personally wash the wheels last so I would now wash the wheels and dry them, then apply tyre dressing and wax the wheels
[/quote

Sound like a deal.

Claude I want a personal numberplate.
People will call me a **** but then again I have purple wheels so I don't think the plate will make much difference at all..

Roflmao

Yes, it will make you unique. Just like everyone else.

With the absence of Haynes Manuals these days does anyone know of a link or whatever that will show me how to change front discs and pads on a Nissan Qashqai?
Been quoted £325 = ridiculous!!

I would imagine it's the same as any car really.
Jack it up and take the wheel off.

Remove calipers by 2 or 4 bolts holding onto carrier.
Remove a screw or plate of some kind that retains the pads.

Use a vice or clamps to press pistons back into the caliper(some cars require a wind back tool normally this is on the rear however).

For the disk normally there is a small screw which holds the disc in place on the hub.
Remove this the disk will come out.

I know a good mechanic in Maidenhead who can do this (he does a lot of work for me it's always top notch) or another guy based in Newbury who can do it however his availability is not as good.

I reckon either of them would do it for around £200-250 all in (depends how much parts are)

OK thanks MM.
Have done this on other cars before but wondered if there was anything particular to watch out for such as funny springs etc.
I have found copious amounts of penetrating oil is usually needed on some of the bolts especially the small ones holding the disc on. If you round or shear them you are in trouble!

It might be cheaper to succumb to the 'dark side'!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/nissan-qashqai-workshop-manual

Blo0dy hel! Andy I have been looking for that for ages!
They must have only just brought it out!
You do have your uses after all!!
Seriously, thanks,

I presume it is the right one!

Yep, looks good!

It come out two days ago!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nissan-Qashqai-Pet...+NISSAN+QASHQAI

What about a thread on cookery tips.... or one for the allotment holders and garden owners?...



I must admit I did have a gander at motormad's link to the pictures of his Golf and that was one impressively shining car. Must look up where I can buy some of that Collinite N 476S gloop. It looks the dog's nuts. I take it that the buffing up process to get that sort of shine was done using a polishing pad attached to a power tool rather than elbow grease?

I'm being dim, but what's an APC (other than Armoured Personnel Carrier) and LSP... and what do you mean by 'snow foam'? Is that a product name?

I've got a couple of Audi RS6 number plates which I acquired a couple of years ago. Probably sell them on some time. If you buy an RS6, give me a call and I might sell you one.

I pop my car into the local wash boys and get it done for a fiver. Looks alright to me when it's done, trouble is the dents do stand out a bit afterwards and the self tappers holding the bumper on are starting to rust. The new Yokohama tyres though are spot on, reassuringly expensive.

APC-all purpose cleaner.
Snow foam is a kind of heavy duty pre wash treatment. Sometimes erroneously described as 'touchless washing'. Designed to pre wet and loosen dirt prior to being lanced off.

The wax does nothing for the overall shine of the vehicle to be honest.
Maybe the final 2 or 3% however it won't take a car with poor paintwork and turn it into one with good paintwork. The shine and quality of the reflections and what not is in the polishing of the paint.

The polish is applied using a machine polisher (I use a DAS6 pro on a variety of pads and polishes to get the amount of "cut" I require - basically how aggressive to go. paint is a finite resource and polishing in effects removes some of the paint. you measure the paint with a depth gauge to get an idea how of much paint there is and measure how much you're taking off as you work)
You can get the result by hand but it will take literally hours per panel - It's not fun.

Snowfoam is basically a foam that looks like snow and provides some cleaning. Some are "show foams" I call them , as they look pretty but don't clean much. You apply them with a snow foam lance and a pressure washer. I use Bilt Hamber Autofoam which is a good cleaner and also safe to existing layers of wax.



The local car wash boys are the ones who put all the fine swirl marks and scratches on it especially over time.
I would never use them, ever.

LSP is "last step product" basically the wax or sealant you apply to the vehicles paintwork (the last step).
APC is all purpose cleaner. (not to be used regularly)

Any one know a good wheel refurb outfit??

That might be true but to see a swirl, one needs the paint to be shiny to begin with. Non metallic solid colour doesn't show the marks and when I park up, I don't have to worry about finding two spaces to park in (like Vbird) and that my worst nightmare would be that someone has bumped their door on mine. Having a shiny car must be the stuff that nightmares are made of.

You can still spot swirls on a non-metalic colour, be it white, red, blue, orange, or rainbow.
Having a clean car to me shows pride of ownership. While I appreciate not all people have pride in their cars I would not buy a car that had not been looked after to at least some degree.

People should be more careful & respectful. I took my Mum into town today, she whacked my door into a rock on her garden when she got into my car - I flipped at her. It's just about paying attention to what it is you're actually doing!




My Alloys in Basingstoke
Silver Wheels in Ringwood (near Bournemouth). I have used both multiple times. I personally prefer Silver Wheels Ltd, as I find the chap there much nicer to deal with, have a good relationship with him.

Neither are the cheapest but then again, you pay for the results.

Perhaps it is also incumbent on proud car owners to be more careful where they park too?

It's only a car.

A car isn't always just a car. The point I was making is that while one can blame others for not taking care, it is also the responsibility to make sure, where practical, that one minimises the chances of others doing damage too.

Andy is right.

As usual User23 is wrong.

Another option to throw into the mix - City Powder Coating in Birmingham.

I've got a couple of sets of wheels that need refurbing and I've heard good results from them, although they are quite difficult to get hold of on the phone by all accounts. I plan to turn up with 8 wheels, drop them off then collect them a week/fornight later.

I totally agree with what MM said - you get what you pay for - but £20 a corner is just too cheap to ignore. I'll definitely be making a visit in the next few weeks/months.

I would like to inspect a finish from them before I would even go near it. If you think about the process of power coating, and the overheads of running the business, costs of the paint, storage, upkeep of machinery, staff, I can't see how they can charge £20 a wheel.

Their website is crap as well and the £20 a wheel was apparently a winter special deal!

My friend has his wheels refurbished at a local company and it was good for about 6-8 months and then the powdercoat became pitted and went from an off-white to a odd yellow-ish thing.

Thanks MM, yeah looking for a decent job to restore back to new condition, gonna need grinding and filling I'm afraid. I'mm give them a look. Ta.

I'm going to Silver Wheels on Saturday to drop my winter wheels off for refurbishment.
As I have a good relationship with Marcus there I could probably get quite a hefty discount on any additional work.

If you wanted to speak to Marcus there - mbeck@silverwheelsltd.co.uk - or call him - 01202 896651 - (or let me know what size wheel you have and what finish you want I can ask him for you) then I drop them down for you if you wanted.

https://www.facebook.com/SilverWheelsLtd?ref=ts&fref=ts

Like I said, I've heard positive comments from people who have used their services, some 18+ months ago, but like you, I just don't see how they can do a decent job at that price. Unsurprisingly that 'special' price has been in play for nearly 2 years now!

One of my sets is for trackdays and will be shod in 'wets' so hopefully they won't see to many miles use each year, and the other set I may move straight on depending on the finish. In either case, if it's no good it's not the end of the world but I'll let you know so you can take a look.

I'll drop Marcus a call when my 'show' wheels need refurbing, cheers for the recommendation.

What do you drive yourself Claude?
I think trackday wheels need to be a bit beaten up, gives that #racekor feel I would be interested indeed to find out how they go!

And no worires.

A Renault Sport Clio - it's a superb handling car, but very French - everything rattles.

Haha, done anything chassis based? Coils, roll bars etc? never actually been in one
My sister had the first of the "newer" shape Renault Clo, I think it was a P plate, 1.2 . It was brand new and red, I remember you couldn't tell it was idling as it was so quiet.
However that's probably changed by now.

Up front standard shocks are Sachs remote reservoir dampers (used by BTCC teams back in the day), with Eibach camber bolts, and it's on lowering springs manufactured by a chap who won a race in the Clio Cup series at Brands Hatch last weekend. Koni adjustable shocks and a Whiteline anti-roll bar finish up the rear.

This video is great for summarising how much fun my car is...

Renault Clio 182 evo Diaries

Yes! I saw that video before. I subscribe to EvoTV, Drive network, etc . Very interesting. I quite like the old Harry, what a car guy.
shame he's gone to work for Jaguar/Land Rover really.

No doubt that handles well
And sounds like you use and abuse it suitably!

Thanks mm, what I'm gonna do is run it over the winter, then whip them down to Basingstoke in the spring, I'll probably have dinged at least one again in the next few months. **** annoying when it's a new car. Ho hum. Ta anyway.

Oh that's sods law

I've only curbed two wheels in 3 years.
One was on a stupid mini roundabout that had a raised curbed centre thing (ah well) and the other was on my show wheels *CRINGE*.
Luckily I was able to file it down and polish it up so you wouldn't notice it now

Yeah, it seems new cars and narrow cornish lanes are not a recipe made in heaven!

My Nan has a Renault Clio, which she uses a fair bit. Trouble is the spares are expensive - which pushes up service costs. Not a bad runner though. She got it from her friend, who had just brought another one, so they must have something going for ithem.

Spares being expensive is relative. Compared to a German VAG car I think spares are cheap, compared to Italian exotica they're peanuts, but it all depends on where you get them from. Main dealers & even independent garages will charge a premium for sourcing parts for you, whereas if you source them yourself you'll generally be able to get them much cheaper.

I'll tell her, I didn't even think you could do that, always just took what the garage said. Think she could have saved a few bob recently if she'd had cheaper parts. Thanks

Depends where you get them.
From a Renault dealer yes, from Motor Parts Direct, Hambridge Road much less!
You could even go to MDC if you can tolerate the surliness and swearing from behind the counter!