ilogikal1

If that's the worst insult I get today (especially by proxy), it's a good day.

It's tomorrow; Or are you being a tease again?

He sleeps at work, obviously. Because that's his name, and don't let anyone (except ionabee ) convince you otherwise.

That's your excuse right there. There's even less English spoken over this way than there is in Wales. (said the southerner living in Hull) I'm looking forward to these photos, we do like a picture or two here. There's a "sloppy seconds" joke in there somewhere though, I'm sure of it.

So you don't fancy a 25 mile bus ride every time you want to go for a drive then, no? Option A, failing that the cheapest/easiest between C or D gets my vote.

I'll let you off, Graham. It's not like you speak English in your neck of the woods after all. Anyway, more importantly than my hypocritical nit-picking, have you fitted any more P clips to anything recently?

Apologies if I've missed something obvious, but where is it currently parked and why can't it stay there when fixed?

Not on this side of the pond, no. Yeah, I'm being that guy tonight. Sorry.

I can't help but feel that this is a moot question on this forum where the one opinion often proffered is that the Z "doesn't have the power it should have done from the factory"...

Mrs GM; "What the **** are you doing, Graham?!?" GM; "It's 'research' dear... no, honestly!"

What it needs is for everything that has already been thrown at it to be fit properly first. And then painted properly! That orange peel.

Apparently it's now been found on a driveway in Surrey by a delivery driver, intact just on different plates. Currently in the possession of the police.

Good luck receiving that order before Easter...

Polished Bliss' lucky dip give away mentioned above has now ended. Being the thoroughly nice people that they are, they've replaced it with a variety of offers until 7th January or until they sell out; http://www.polishedb...ial-offers.html (also ended).

Soooo many people have quickly regretted asking me that exact question.

Great finish on the repair, Stu. Glad to see you sorted your headlights too (yeah, I'm a little behind on that one ).

http://www.polishedb...g-kit-cat1.html - This kit has almost everything you'll need to correct the paint and offers a choice of machines. The DAS-6 is more than adequate (and what I typically use, "coincidentally" ( ) it's pretty foolproof too), the Power Plus is the same machine with a more powerful motor and very similar to the G220. All you'll need on top of that is a few good microfibre cloths and some wax to finish off, although there are various other optional extras (such as IPA [isopropyl alcohol], glazes, paint cleansers, etc. for after polishing). If you're polishing, either by machine or by hand, I'd recommend following a full decontamination process first - this is your usual wash routine, tar remover, fallout remover and clay (or a clay bar) - all of which, will set you back the best part of £200 (with the DAS-6 polisher) at least, with wax/sealant (known as a Last Stage Product - LSP) on top of that. Polishing by hand, you'll be best off (IMHO) with a decent polish or two (depending on the level of correction needed) and a decent polishing pad with some cut - I'd recommend the crimson for mild defects or the tangerine for heavier defects on the Z's paint - followed by wax/sealant. That'll set you back £65-80 (+LSP) but won't achieve as good a finish as a machine polish. Decontamination followed by a glaze will set you beck about £60 (+LSP). Alternatively you can combine the hand polish with the glaze option - to correct as much as you can whilst still masking whatever you can't. That'll set you back about £80 (+LSP) LSP is a whole new topic ranging from a £10 pot of wax to £2000+ pot(s) of wax. The finish will ultimately only be a good as your prep work in the above steps, so choose the LSP on budget as much as anything - if you're using PB Black Hole glaze though, I'd suggest Natty's Blue for wax (which will need to be reapplied every 6 weeks or so), or EX-P for sealant (which should give you a couple of months protection per application) as both will sit over Black Hole nicely - you could even layer one over the other for added protection. If you're machine polishing, I'd recommend doing a diluted IPA/panel wipe type product wipe-down afterwards and applying CanCoat for 6 months protection between applications - CanCoat is easy to apply but it needs completely bare paint to bond to though so it's no use over a glaze and as such you'll want perfectly corrected paint before applying this really. Alternatively, hand over a fistful of cash to someone who knows what they're doing and let them do all that for you. I've no idea of any detailers in East Anglia myself, but this might help - it's a map of Detailing World supporters, it's by no means a definitive list or any indication of quality but it's somewhere to start. Finally, once the paint has been corrected, research the 2 bucket method and pre-washing to reduce the swirls in future. Also, re-mortgage your house, sell the wife, kids, everything you own and/or your kidneys because detailing is an expensive game to get into!

There's about a billionty options. Luckily there's also about a billionty threads on this, but Ekona's pretty much covered it. Depending on how much time and money you want to spend, your options are (from highest to lowest cost); Pay a professional detailer to fix it for you. Buy a machine polisher, learn how to use it then correct the paint yourself. Buy a filler heavy glaze (almost all of which are better when applied by machine but can be applied by hand) and hide the damage or polish by hand (you won't get full correction, but a fair level is achievable... it's hard work by hand even on the buttery soft Nissan paint though!). Live with it. Which products you buy (if any) will largely be determined by your budget, so if you give us an idea of that we can make some more tailored suggestions. That said, Black Hole is a cheap but very effective filler glaze.

Mainz Car Care are having (? Offering?) an "extravaganza" until 14th December; http://www.mainzcarc.../mainz-car-care (now ended).

In my opinion, you'd be hard pressed to find something that's NOT better than AutoGlym, unless you shop exclusively at Halfords that is. Car Chem 1900:1 (or Tailor Made, same thing but you get to customise it a bit). Gyeon Bathe+ as mentioned, or simply Bathe which is exactly the same as Bathe+ but without leaving any magic behind. CleanMax as previously mentioned. HubiKote HubiWash. Auto Finesse Lather. Poorboys Super Slick & Suds. FinishKare Super Concentrate (#118). Any of the Dodo Juice options. GTechniq GWash. Chemical Guys Mr Pink. Any of the Juicy Details offerings. Literally any of those would be an improvement over AG so take your pick. Personally I use/buy all of the first 5 on a regular basis.

Shop 'n' Shine have a sale on some decent products too - http://www.shopnshine.co.uk/sale

The '50's Rays are 8J front & 8.5J rear, so the 245/45 from the rear Rays will simply swap to the front Rotas. That's it. That's the sum of my knowledge. I'm sure someone more helpful will be along shortly.

As it's not Christmas any more, the Christmas bargains have subsided somewhat. However being the thoroughly nice chap that I am, I'll continue to add any decent bargains as/when I discover them. We now appear to be entering the "12 days of Christmas" period which brings with it some detailing based bargains so I thought I'd chuck a thread up for everyone to abuse such bargains. I'll add them as I find them, but feel free to add any that you know of yourselves. I'll start with Car Chem - different products on offer each day (seems to be updated at 10am each day) until 12th December, details can be found here; http://car-chem.com/...tmas-gift-guide (now ended). Polished Bliss are offering a free gift with every order over £50 until Thursday (4th December) - see here; http://www.polishedb...ial-offers.html (now ended, updated offer below). As are Auto Finesse until 21st December - http://www.autofinesse.co.uk/offers/ (now ended) Clean Your Car are doing a prize draw - spend £30+ between now & 24th December to be entered - http://www.cleanyour...per-prize-draw/ (now ended). i4Detailing are offering 15% discount using the code "SANTA" on orders over £50 until 31st December (excludes other special offer deals) (now ended).

I did little more than lounge around in the sun drinking beer. The rental car was filthy by the time we returned it but at no point did I have any desire to amend that. The only unusual water behaviour was that it didn't fall from the sky quite so often and it looks like this; Rather than this (picture shamelessly stolen from the BBC);

I don't know, JJ Abrams is involved...