ilogikal1

But as with polishing paint, the more you do it the less you're left to work with next time. Always better to protect more and polish less. Always.

In terms of coatings, I'd always go with Gyeon or Gtechniq. Although to be fair the only bad coating I've used is Slick Rims, which was f***ing terrible (well documented on my thread in the detailing section on here). I'm not overly fond of the likes of Carbon Collective Platinum either which is just rebottled, so why not go direct to the source? In terms of prep they're all much of a muchness, the cleaner the surface is the longer the coating will last. They're only really differentiated by work time during application, personally I find Gyeon that little bit easier to use (not that Gtechniq is difficult) but then is that little less durable (again, not by much though).

I had a car with a big hole in the exhaust once. Hated it. [/real world, factual response]

Save yourself the effort Dan and just use this as an excuse to buy a decent car instead

Try living there, the city centre loses its appeal and the bridge is only good because it's the route out of there!

Yep. And that was in July !!! The last time I could bring myself to go to Hull.

Might just be me but that's all I read from this thread. Also I await the "it's not like that at all... but here's why I'm ignoring the advice and doing it anyway" retort.

Quick update for those wondering, it seems May was the last time I threw any LSP's at the car - I hadn't realised it'd been that long! - at which time the headlights were coated with C5. I can now confirm that it lasts about 8 months on the headlights (but longer on the bit of paint I overlapped on) as my headlights now need another polish. View is suffering a bit by now, but I've done no more than one wash since May (?!) So it might just need a deep clean. I suspect it's probably gone by now though. Mohs was holding up very well, as I said one wash in 10 months and it's still evidently protected. It's filthy now, but there's still signs of it working well under the dirt. Those of you who follow me on Instagram will know why I'm not washing it any time soon, those of you who don't will have to wait. It'll probably be about May again though.

I've just been quoted a very specific £726.45 for the front bumper, bonnet and both wings whilst mine's in getting some other insurance sponsored damage sorted.

I can. It does not. C5 can withstand acids like fallout removers but will be weakened by strong alkalis (such as "non-acidic" wheel cleaners).

£0.00. I don't have a company car/credit card either. Nor do I drive to work.

No such thing. Nothing you can spray on will stop a stone.

Only just spotted this. GLWTS Stu, I'm sure it won't hang around for long.

That's all well and good, but what's the actual volume of fuel that you are putting in each time? As previously stated a dirty fuel gauge sensor could easily mean you've still got 20% more fuel in the tank when the light comes on and you "brim it".

That's only half the problem with painting though. Firstly the bumper's plastic so the same paint will likely look different on the bumper than it will on the bonnet/wings anyway, but aside from that the paint on the bonnet/wings is now a decade old and has been exposed to all the things that brings with it so it's also likely that the existing paint doesn't quite match the original colour any more. You can save a lot of money on resprays by doing most/all of the prep work yourself, as that's labour intensive it tends to be the majority of the cost so it may be worth speaking to a few bodyshops and asking for a quote based on you doing the prep work first. They can then paint and blend the repairs into the existing paint and it may not be much more expensive than doing it all yourself.

Never got the fascination with this, it's just an APC. I say "just an", I mean "an expensive" at £5.15/litre. Get yourself down to your local supermarket and save yourself £4.15 per litre!

Bilt Hamber Auto Foam. Car Chem Snow Foam. Auto Finesse Avalanche. Whichever is cheapest (from approved vendors, not eBay randomers!). Any of those at 4-8% PIR will clean better than anything else (that I've tried... which is a lot).

Well you can, but that's exactly how you get **** results. Technique will be determined by the foam (ie. it's PIR and dwell time) and then the rinsing. The more thorough you are with your pressure washer when rinsing, the more dirt you'll pull off. Over diluting the foam will of course result in less cleaning. Not allowing the foam to dwell long enough will of course leave dirt on the car. Simply running a bit of water over the car to rinse will of course leave "random areas". As with all things detailing, you can't just slap it on and hope for the best, expecting perfect results every single time.

That depends entirely on the foam and how you're using it. Granted, it's unlikely remove all of the dirt, but you can actually lift a lot of dirt off well protected paint with nothing more than a good foam and the right technique.

TFR will remove wax as well. Only pre-wash alternative to snow foam is is a Citrus pre-wash, either Car Chem or Auto Finesse offerings are by far the best available, but even then it's never going to replace a proper wash. There's no such thing as a proper touchless wash that actually works. Unless you wash the car every time it gets wet, you're going to get stubborn dirt that'll need a proper wash. The more wet/dry cycles the dirt goes through, the more stubborn it'll be. http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/80939-pre-wash/

Lets get the standard "what tyres have you got on?" Followed by the obligatory "what tread is left of them?" out of the way then.

Yeah, commit insurance fraud to get a window replaced...

Don't you just get a limited number of freebies? I seem to recall that last time I actually sold a car... that was some time ago now though.

But yours has the ducting etc to direct the air flow appropriately. I had three holes in the bonnet of my Impreza, only one actually worked though, complete with scoop and ducting; the other two were there for homologisation and blocked off for the road going version. Removing the blanking plates and opening them up saw increased under bonnet temperatures - as tested by a number of specialists including, but not limited to, RCM on the Gobstopper in the early days.

Crystal Serum will work in terms of sealing the paint but if you're going for swirls/stone chip protection it won't be as effective as it would be on hard paint. That said, stone chip protection from a coating is hugely unlikely on any paint. If you want that then there are some very good PPF available these days, but these only tend to be as good as the installer.