Your fleet running reports

[Beany]

Unrelated to Carplay, I used that there ceramic thingy on the car 15 days ago, have jetwashed the car three times and despite the fact it sits under a tree and gets clarted in honeydew and sap, a 'hot pre wash' and cold rinse at the local Morrisons coinop jetwash has cleaned it up every time.

Still beading pretty well, although I think the roof could do with a reapplication - sides and bonnet are still fine though.

So in terms of making the car easier to wash for a few weeks at a time, for the crap parking I have, it's done exactly what I hoped.

Quite pleased with that.

Unrelated, but for posterity - still beading on the sides, but the bonnet and roof got cleaned nicely, but were a bit smeary after a wash and towel dry tonight (after a few weeks of no washing, admittedly) so I think I need to clean properly again, and reapply.

I might take the opportunity to buy a a clay mitt, and a proper cordless machine polisher, and compound a couple of panels at a time, get all the small scratches and swirls out of which there are plenty - then do a more proper/long term ceramic coating on it.



I think two months - half of which featured no washing at all as I've been busy/exhausted with audit season at work - of minimal effort washing ain't bad for £16. I've not been tracking it costs in a spreadsheet, but I've probably saved that in the reduced jetwash time required just by itself.

[Alex88]

I'm dubious about ceramic sprays. I always thought they were just quick detailers?

Might be worth giving Optimum No Rinse a try. I've saved a fortune on car washing stuff as I have this as a wash and quick detailer (and glass cleaner, clay lube, interior cleaner..) Price per clean is pennies.

It's not a waterless wash. Loads of detailing enthusiasts recommend it.

Couple of capfuls in a large bucket of water, large microfibre mitt, and away you go. I pre-soak the panels and wash from there. Works an absolute treat and can't say I've noticed any additional swirls.

If the car is filthy, I will jet wash it first before using ONR.

They also do a version with wax in the product, which saves another step

[integrale_evo]

I bought some Meguires “ultimate waterless wash &wax” not to really use as a waterless wash, but more to give the car a once over on arrival at a show. It probably doesn’t offer the gloss or protection of a really good detailer, but it’s very slick to use, and very economical too. I’m using way less to do a car than the detailer I used before. It did still head nicely after.

I’m a little dubious about any spray offering long term protection, but used once a week or so they probably do the job. Not going to compete with properly clean paint and some ‘proper’ protection.

[Beany]

I mean, I've literally not *touched* the car (other than jetwash and a drying towel - so not a 'touch' wash AFAIK) for two months, even after the thick end of a month without a wash and the crap just came off, so it's definitely doing *something*

I know the QD stuff is kinda similar, but from what I know you tend to need to apply that weekly. I've just been jetwashing this thing, no brush/mitt/etc and it's been fine, even the sap and honeydew and I've not applied it again since June (I never did top up the roof)

[Alex88]

That does sound better than a QD, to be fair. Looks like you're getting a decent coating with that.

[Beany]

Quite frankly, even as a small car applying the stuff is a chore (lots of crouching down to get the lower half of the body, etc), so that it lasts pretty well without needing constant attention is nice. Could probably get away with applying once a month or something to properly maintain it and keep it proper beady and shiny.

The 'proper' ceramic coatings that last five years* etc apparently need topping up with.....yeah the same kind of spray to maintain their protection, just not quite as often from what I've read up on. I suspect at least some of that is down to having car cleaners/detailers maintaining repeat business - "it's time for your top up treatment" etc.

Still, it's way way less work than applying a decent wax and it seems to last about as long, as I recall from back when I was doing that on the Puma more regularly - aah, to be young and have real enthusiasm for this stuff, eh?

*if your car is garaged and does 1000 miles a year, etc

[integrale_evo]

Looks factory - nice work (and i like the sharing of the process!)

Thanks! Probably unnecessarily long for a post about sticking on a bit of plastic, but I like to show there’s thought and consideration to the things I do

No one on the Alfa groups have mentioned it yet so must be quite subtle.

Last time I posted someone told me it was too low and ‘Max Power’

[Beany]

Needs a 'gas, grass or ass - no-one rides for free' sticker.

[Jimexpl]

X5 made it down to Spain without incident. Nearly drove here without any a/c though -
Thought I'd take it to Kwik Fit for a re-gas as it didn't feel quite as good as it could be (it hadn't been done for over two years). Picked it up right at the end of the day when they were closing and by the time I got home realised that the a/c hardly worked and the auxillary condenser fan was whirring away like a vacuum cleaner.
Couldn't find any fault codes, did some research and the internet suggested that you can overfill them with gas and you get the symptoms that I had.

I needed to be up in Leicester for a few days before leaving, and I'd lost faith in that Kwik Fit, so dropped it off in one up there. 30 min later they call to say that it doesn't need gas and the car is good to go. I explained the issue and said it might be overfilled, and Mr Kwik Fit immediately replied and said 'yes, it does actually have 250 more in than it should'... Got them to drain it and refill with the correct amount and have perfect a/c again.

I spent nearly a decade in the motor trade (admittedly in sales/management), but have worked on my own cars, and used garage a/c machines to re-gas my cars, and never knew that you could overfill the system and stop it from working! I guess the overfilling makes the car (well my X5 anyway) think that the system is overheating, switches on the auxillary fan and turns the a/c off until it 'sees' a normal temperature?

It reminded me of the C-class that I borrowed from my dad in the late nineties to drive around Europe (I'd blown the engine on my Mini). In central Spain when it was nearly 40 degrees outside, at full throttle above about 110mph the a/c used to turn off until you backed off for a while or dropped to 90/100.

[jamcg]

You get zones of high pressure and low pressure in ac systems, if you overfill then there’s no spaces for liquid evaporation and gas condensation to take place properly, and then there’s no ac at all



Same principle in heat pumps, just the other way around essentially

[Marv]

Still, it's way way less work than applying a decent wax and it seems to last about as long, as I recall from back when I was doing that on the Puma more regularly - aah, to be young and have real enthusiasm for this stuff, eh?

*if your car is garaged and does 1000 miles a year, etc

Shortly after getting the M3 back on the road, I washed it, went over it with a clay bar, then waxed it (Colinite 476) it. Took bloody hours to do all that

Will do the same with the 968 when I get it back on the road next month.

I quite like the look of the Gtechniq stuff in the project farm vid, but the application process looks like even more effort. Not sure it's worth it for my garage queen's.

Probably the turtle wax stuff would be good enough and just need applying once a year.

[Beany]

Honestly, the application doesn't look much worse than a good carnuba wax - maybe the wax I used was extra hard, but I distinctly recall that being an utter pig to apply to the Puma (particularly doing it at the side of the busy, narrow road, avoiding traffic, etc - couldn't just sit with a footstool and work it in) and took a lot of effort to get properly evenly on there. I suspect taking an afternoon on a driveway is less 'work', even if it's the same 'work' if you catch my drift

I'll probably not be doing anything major with the car beyond washing and using the autoglym stuff till I can get some of the bigger paint chips sorted though - no point machine polishing spots of primer.

[Mito Man]

Using nice wax is a real joy, and then you can just spray it with one of those top ups each time you wash. Seems to bead almost indefinitely whenever I've done that until I don't wash the car for 6 months

[IanF]

I waxed the X5 once, it took two of us a whole day.. never again! Ofcourse, I also then could not stop stroking it and made my Father compare his gritty Mercedes (that has just been washed) to my car that had been driven for a week.. he got his done about a week later! It lasted about 6 months but I hardly ever washed it. Carbon black in summer though!

[Swervin_Mervin]

Shouldn't take that long to wax a car! I did the E91 a couple of months ago with my old Collinite 915, which is rock hard stuff if you don't get the excess off fat enough. Took me a couple of hours tops.

[Delphi]

There’s a chap on YouTube ‘restoring’ one with an alfasud engine. Hudson autos or something similar.

Well, he doesn’t usually restore, more like gets kind of running, cleans out the rats nests, paints with a roller and adds some stickers.

I think they’re awful, but also kind of cool by being so awful and so 70s

I kind of like that Nova kit. If it was me, I'd just go completely to town on it and make it as good as it looked. I'm thinking a 2.5 flat 6 Boxster engine & gear box, coil overs, really nice bespoke interior etc.


Back on topic, 928 is running really well. Covered just over 200 miles this past week on a TIPEC run out and a trip to the Yorkshire Porsche Festival. I was surprised at the attention and appreciative comments it got. But it did look pretty good - the ceramic coating really makes the paint pop. I've noticed that the dash has decided it thinks the lights are on at random intervals and keeps putting the illumination on. Probably a simple fix, I'll have a look at the wiring diagram.

Decided to check the tyre pressures and discovered that one of the fancy Porsche metal dust caps has welded itself on to the right rear valve. Also, the left rear valve was reluctant to shut off when I removed the tyre pressure gauge. Booked it in at my local tyre place for new valves/balancing tomorrow.

[tim]

Took a couple of days to waft down to the folk's place in the Jaguar, stopped overnight in Le Mans. Effortless silent cruising was deffo the order of the day. 44.8 mpg overall in 654 miles at a pretty consistent 85 mph. Still had 90 miles of range when I got here, having filled up in Folkestone.

When we got here, discovered we had a Jag Friend over the road staying in my Mum's friend's property.

[Rich B]

We’ve just come back from trip to France in the van (Saumur (Loire Valley) then Paris). Probably around 1000 miles overall in 30°+ heat.



The van has been an amazing road trip vehicle, comfortably taking the 3 of us in quilted leather luxury, our stuff, a boat and 3 bikes with plenty of room to move around still. The AC did well (despite only being vented to the front seats obviously) and the adaptive cruise was perfect for the french motorways; Set to 130kph, don’t touch pedals for next 150kms.

It wasn’t without “peril” though. The night before we set off, the EML came on! No obvious faults, i checked everything i could think of so i threw caution to the wind and set off. Nothing came up in the last 12 days. i’ve just arrived home and i have Carly OBD reader that i ordered sat waiting. As soon as I get the boy to bed I’ll hopefully find out what the issue is.

I’m driving down to Italy in a few weeks time for a mountain biking trip, so this was a good test!

[Jobbo]

I really like Saumur - been there a few times. It’s a nice easy journey to get there from Caen and it’s a lovely town with plenty to see in the area.

[Matty]

i have Carly OBD reader that i ordered sat waiting. As soon as I get the boy to bed I’ll hopefully find out what the issue is.

Be interested how you get on with this - I always thought they were a bit of a scam, being an overpriced OBD with a fancy front end, but I was suprised to see REPerformance being sponsered by them....would be suprised given their rep they'd be peddling shit.

So yeah, let us know how well it works.

Edit - been a while since I looked at those, £60+annual subscription? The annual cost isn't mentioned at all on the prices page, just very very small little subtext of " *Oh by the way theres an annual sub we won't mention until you've almost finished your purchase"