What have you done to your car today?

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I had the headlining fixed, which must have been on the verge of falling when I got it after its 14yr life, accelerated by the fact I need to park in the sun all day.:ouch: Anyway, all fixed now.:) Great being on holidays, I can finally get the stuff done that needs doing.:D
 
homeforsummer
Yeah, the speedo is a little optimistic, given that I don't think I've managed to get within 40mph of the end of it! The same speedo is used on the higher powered variants though so it's a little more realistic for those... and I think it's even used in some of the 90s Escort XR3s and RS2000s so for those it's more or less right!

I've put roughly 35k miles of the 50k on the car since buying it in March 2003, so around 5.3k miles a year. Not a lot at all, but more than the 3k miles a year the first owner put on it.
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Ahh, that makes sense. 3k a year? Jeez, I do more than that on my bike every year. I can put about 5000 miles a year if I ride 5 days a week. Thats bicycling too.
 
I've been limiting my mileage on my insurance to take advantage of lower premiums, and I ended up not driving it that much in the first place. When I've commuted by car in the past it's only ever been for just over a mile or so, and even my current commute, the longest I've had, is only maybe four miles. When I was living back home I tended to walk the mile or so into work (at whichever job I was at) and currently I live in a city that you can pretty much walk from one end to the other of in half an hour (or at least, anywhere worth going is less than 30 mins walk) so I walk everywhere at the moment.

The mileage I do put on it is when I go home, when I go to motorsport events etc, so it does get a decent run fairly often.
 
Not done anything to it, but more for it. Currently reburbing my winter wheel (standard Evo V alloys), so far only managed to strip the old paint from 2 wheels, hopefully have the other 2 stripped by the weekend and painted by next week.

Going for Evo IX yellow with a polished rim. Something original. ;)

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slidesquad#1
Gave up on carbon ceramic pads for the street. I'd got myself a set of Endless CCX pads for the Evo. Stopped the car remarkably well, but were wayyy too loud around town. Tried everything to quieten them down. Backing shims, kevlar backing pads, copper grease. It's not fun when everyone within a 2 km radius of you knows everytime you hit the brakes in traffic.

Got a set of cheap, soft pads and put them in. So far so good. Hope they stay quiet, because they're actually pretty terrible at the whole stopping the car thing. But I'm hoping that's just because I'm used to the carbon ceramics, and I'll adjust. But still, takes about 5 minutes a corner to swap out when I need to go to the track, so win win I reckon.
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Why did you get rid of the carbon ceramic pads?
I would figure that you're making alot of compromise with your car by doing this and gaining stopping distance for quieter pads seems like reverse logic.
Have you tried the EBC pads yet. I'm using the EBC reds for the rear and they work great.
Just curious on your decision with the pads.
 
misnblu
Why did you get rid of the carbon ceramic pads?
I would figure that you're making alot of compromise with your car by doing this and gaining stopping distance for quieter pads seems like reverse logic.
Have you tried the EBC pads yet. I'm using the EBC reds for the rear and they work great.
Just curious on your decision with the pads.
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I was real keen on EBC Greens, as a street/semi track set of pads, but they don't make them for the Evo's any more. All the people I know with the Reds all have issues with noise if they don't abuse them often. It's not just the pads, the Brembo's on the Evo 5/6's are known for being obnoxiously loud.

Getting used to the new pads now, they're nowhere near as good as the carbon ceramics, but they are more than adequate for the street. I'm sure they'll fade much quicker etc., but if I know I'm going to be pushing them, it takes, like I said, maybe 5 minutes a corner to swap the pads over. Even with the cheap pads, it'll outstop most things on the road.

The carbon ceramics are fantastic for stopping, but basically overkill for the type of driving I'm doing at the moment. The pads on it at the moment will be up for an emergency stop or two if they need to, so I'd rather not deal with the noise issue if I don't have to. I agree that I'm compromising, but it's one that I've thought through and can live with.
 
Joey D
5.3k miles per year? Wow, I do somewhere between 15-17k a year.
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So far this year it's about 16k for me :ouch: Out of that I've put 400 miles on the blue car though :D
 
This is what my sister did to HER car today:
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Also I entered my car into a show, which I have pics of in the photo threads....and I painted my trim that was showing signs of age.
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Nice hood ornament!
 
Finished welding up an exhaust for the S-10, it's no longer stupidly loud. I haven't welded in years and doing so this morning was a bit harder then I remember. Oh well, it's all fixed now.
 
dayum is that bird cut in half??
plus, isnt that bit of trim you painted rubber?
 
Changed the oil and a blown bulb. Total cost: $4. :D
 
That's pretty cheap oil...

Today I cleaned out the interior of the Volvo. That thing is in really bad shape. I also washed and waxed the GTI. Tomorrow (or maybe later tonight) I'll clean the windshield on the VW and the inside then wash the Volvo. Maybe I'll feel inspired to do something else with it or something.
 
This was yesterday but I've only had time to update today.

Anyway I took my wheels off the clean them as they were filthy behind the spokes etc. and needed a good clean.
How they looked before;
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I sprayed them with Bilberry wheel cleaner;
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I then cleaned them with a brush and here is how they now look;
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I've still got to de-tar, clay them and apply a layer of wax at some point too.
While I had the wheels off I cleaned the arches up too;
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I've got to de-tar the arches too, but that can be done any time. Eventually I'll get them clean enough to make me happy....one day.
 
Amazing results with the rims.
Nice.
 
Nice job in the wheels. 👍

Funny though that I got pretty similar results using just a sponge and some dish soap a while ago. You probably don't need the wheel cleaner unless your wheels are really bad. And for the tough spots I just turned over to the coarse part of the sponge. But be careful doing that because it scuffed them up a bit. But they're still the inside of the wheels so it didn't bother me all that much.
 
Ahh there's the thing. Moglet is obsessive over keeping every bit of that 500 perfect. He won't settle for "good enough" ! haha
 
misnblu
Amazing results with the rims.
Nice.
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Thanks!

SPhilli911
+1 I'm gonna give that a go with some rims I'm trying to sell.
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The most difficult part was re-fitting them afterwards, it was, for some reason, a complete pain.

Philly
Nice job in the wheels. 👍

Funny though that I got pretty similar results using just a sponge and some dish soap a while ago. You probably don't need the wheel cleaner unless your wheels are really bad. And for the tough spots I just turned over to the coarse part of the sponge. But be careful doing that because it scuffed them up a bit. But they're still the inside of the wheels so it didn't bother me all that much.
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You're right, I didn't really need to use wheel cleaner but I had some to hand and so it was easier for me to use it. I'd never use anything coarse on them though, even on the insides! The tar remover I use will remove the spots as soon as it touches them with a simple wipe of a cloth.

mustangGT90210
Ahh there's the thing. Moglet is obsessive over keeping every bit of that 500 perfect. He won't settle for "good enough" ! haha
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:lol: True, I never seem to be happy! I'm buying a new front badge again soon as I've noticed that the one I bought to replace the smashed one has small white specs on the 'T' of 'Fiat' and it's really bugging me!

But my obsession and dedication won me 3rd place at my first ever show & shine and I'll hopefully be entering more in the future. 👍
 
Nice car, dougboy! I love the colour and the wheels, but I'm really not sure about the lip spoiler. It's because it rises up in the center, it looks a bit out of place IMO.
 
Yeah. It's hella ugly.
 
I read that on a different site. That's just the rubber that you put on the bottom of garage doors, yes?

If it went straight across I'd dig it
 
Please, no...
 
Today I washed the Volvo and cleaned up a couple of very minor spots on the GTI. Rubbing alcohol is a pretty awesome substance.

Moglet
You're right, I didn't really need to use wheel cleaner but I had some to hand and so it was easier for me to use it. I'd never use anything coarse on them though, even on the insides! The tar remover I use will remove the spots as soon as it touches them with a simple wipe of a cloth.
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I might have to invest in some stuff like that. I don't really mind scuffing up the insides a little, but I'll be running into problems if that becomes the method I use to clean them regularly.

Do you have any recommendations for taking some bad scratches out of wheels? I got something metal caught in there about a year ago and it left a two-inch thick band of scrapes and scratches all around the inside of the wheel.
 
Reversed into a pole last night :ouch: So this afternoon I sprayed my bumper :)
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Thats awesome! I wish I had the color of my car!!!
 
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