I'm sure many people run them for years without even thinking anything negative of them at all. It's hardly aimed as a motorway cruiser is it?
We used to have one at work available for odd errands as it was so cheap to lease and just leave sat in the car park, I drove it a fair bit one summer for a project where I was between two sites that were only 2-3 miles apart and it served its purpose perfectly, the alternative was to use my own car and faff around claiming mileage for it constantly. I'd go as far as to say it was fun to drive just because it was so basic, in the cabin it sounded funny for a tiny gutless engine and you could throw it around like a toy with its skinny tires without risking stacking it into a wall as you're only doing 25 mph...
It doesn't sound fun, it sounds like a misfiring 1990s diesel Transit. Awful noise. You can't throw it around either, the steering is so over-assisted that you have no idea what the front wheels are doing; the damn thing has so much body roll that cornering at anything above 20mph makes it feel like it's going to tip. Complete lack of any support means you you will slide out of your seat if you don't tip. You can hit potholes, speed bumps, your neighbours dog, a corpse, whatever, you wont feel it through the steering. Will shatter your spine as the car has rubbish ride, but you wont feel anything through the wheel. For a car designed for use in the city, full of potholes and speed bumps the ride is atrocious.
Anyway, it took a while - between waiting for the sealant to cure and for a long enough gap in the weather - but I'm pleased to announce the crapbox finally has a clean exterior(ish!).
Still lots to do, especially with regards to some weird contaminants (more on that shortly) and the many paint defects. Could do with a proper LSP too, only got CarPlans No1 Super Gloss on it at the minute; though I have been very impressed with its performance over winter on both my 850 and the fiances Rolla.
The car was filthy, so I jumped straight into pre-cleaning with Power Maxed TFR at 10%. There was no protection on this car so I was far from worried about stripping LSP at this conc. I am, as I always am, impressed by just how effective TFR is. Some before and afters of various parts pre- and post-TFR:
ns by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
NS after TFR by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
nsr by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Rear after TFR by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Arches on these were properly minging. Still are to be honest, really need a good scrub and some tar remover - never seen so much tar! That will have to wait for another day, however. Not least because I'm fresh out of tar remover after using what little I had on the bodywork.
Rear arch preclean by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
OSR after TFR by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Front arch preclean by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
NSF after TFR by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Petrol cap preclean by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Petrol cap cleaned by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
With that done I applied a coat of snowfoam - Auto Finesse's Avalanche to be precise - so that I could get into the gutters, around the lights and panel gaps in greater detail. If I'm honest I don't like Avalanche. I don't find it has much cleaning power and its cling time isn't particularly impressive (possibly because unless I double up the concentration its pretty thin).
Obligatory foamed picture:
Snowfoamed by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
and then the cleaned gutters. Could do with tar remover here of all places too to get them perfect.
Gutters cleaned by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
After that it was on to a contact wash. I actually didn't use 2BM on this occasion, opting for a single bucket with a couple of mitts (one for top half, one for bottom) and rinsing the mitt as I went along. I figured that after TFR and a snowfoam there wouldn't be much left to do any damage, as inspired by the Forensic Detailing Channel. What was left, however, was an awful lot of contamination:
Contaminants by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
There was also this weird contaminant pictured below. I tried clay, tar remover (what little I had!), and a glue/sap remover. None of them touched it. Any ideas what it is or how to remove it? Its all over the front bumper.
Weird bumper residue by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
To tackle the contaminants I used the tiny bit of tar remover I had left, as well as a fallout remover, then clay. Here's some bleeding shots:
Bonnet fallout by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
OSR door fallout by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
NSR quarter fallout by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
For a bit of a giggle I also applied it to one of the corroded wheels:
wheel fallout by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
After all that, drying, and using the aforementioned sealant, I was left with something sort of respectable.
Cleaned and fallout wheels by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Post spray sealant by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
The paint on this thing is dreadful. Just the quality from the factory for a start, colour match between bumpers and door is shocking; the bonnet and wings are different shades, despite both being factory and original; the paint all round is oxidising and fading to a pretty high degree, which is not at all commensurate with a car this young - heck my 850 (twice the age!) still has no issues with either of those! Once cleaned I could also properly see all the damage inflicted to it. Guess I need to invest in some sick-up coloured touch-up paint...
NSR arch dmg by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
IMG_20190311_151413 by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
IMG_20190311_151436 by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Untitled by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
OSF scuff by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Wing mirror scuff by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
Wing stonechip by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
There are 4 of these stonechips that are starting to rust quite badly. Must do something about those at some point, as cheaply as possible of course!
I also saw this bit of contamination on the roof, again I cant figure out what it is and nothing I have touched it. Any ideas? It's textured, sits up over the surface so isn't clearcoat damage I don't think?
Weird roof residue by
alistair.hurrell, on Flickr
) it was absolutely fine.
