Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

dr.fuzzenstein

This weekend it's finally time to do the job that I've been trying to avoid all year long-polishing my by now almost completely opaque lights on the CMax.
I have no idea what I'm doing, was thinking to attack it with various grades of fine and wet sandpaper and gradually move up to the polishing machine with some Schleifpaste and Poliermittel.
Anyone have some experience with that? My reward will be thanks and pics of the resulting dog's dinner.

nd

Yeah that's it. Tbh it isn't a big job. Ideally you'd remove the lights. But if not mask and if they're bad I'd start at maybe 600 grit or lower. Move up the grits to maybe 2500 and finish with your polishing machine.

Some people finish them with a coating of some sort but I havn't got round to that and am thinking if need be in a year or w/e very fine grit and a polish would suffice.

colm_mcm

My nightbreakers are now reunited in the bin. The other one went about a fortnight ago.
Let's see how long the Halfords ones last.

nd

How long did they last? Have had one lidl one( that came with 2 and a few other bulbs in a kit for 5.99) in the car over a year. I find the light output very good.

dr.fuzzenstein

Right, so I got some 600, 800 and 1200 wet and dry, some paste and some T-cut as well as an orbital sander with a woolen pad.
First I attacked the lights with the sandpaper and then with the sander and the paste and finished it off with the T-cut.
Here are the results:



As it was, gone very dull and opaque.



After 600 and I was thinking "Oh my God! What have I done!"



1200, looking better



The paste



After paste

dr.fuzzenstein

Think this is after T-cut. The end result. Definitely an improvement on the "before" pic.



From another angle. I'm very happy with that.



Of course the car looked like an elephant had drunk some milk and sneezed all over it.



Messy, messy



My crappy supplies.

Top Dog

Gave it a quick wash and vacuum before taking pics for its sale advert

http://www.adverts.ie/car/subaru/impreza/1998-subaru-impreza-turbo-wagon/8753441

Toyotafanboi

The best feeling is when you do a great job with **** resources!

joujoujou

Well done, sir!

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

[...]

Of course the car looked like an elephant had drunk some milk and sneezed all over it.

[...]

Of course an old blanket/few sheets of paper on top of an engine would keep it clean. :P

dr.fuzzenstein

joujoujou wrote: »

Well done, sir!

Of course an old blanket/few sheets of paper on top of an engine would keep it clean. :P

Yes, but you're making the dangerous assumption I actually think about these things.

I wonder, is there a product that protects the headlights? Don't want to have to do this every year.

joujoujou

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

[...]

I wonder, is there a product that protects the headlights? Don't want to have to do this every year.

Yes, there is. Don't remember exactly (lads on detailing subforum know), a kind of UV protecting thing.

dr.fuzzenstein

joujoujou wrote: »

Yes, there is. Don't remember exactly (lads on detailing subforum know), a kind of UV protecting thing.

Will check it out. Not sure if they let me in with the heap of a car I got.

joujoujou

They will.

dr.fuzzenstein

On an unrelated note:
Is €360 a fair price to have a turbo reconditioned? This would include new core, balancing and testing. For the Ford of course.

CianRyan

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

On an unrelated note:
Is €360 a fair price to have a turbo reconditioned? This would include new core, balancing and testing. For the Ford of course.

Sounds alright to me, especially considering the price of a new turbo...
Saying that, I've no idea how much it costs to recondition a turbo.

dr.fuzzenstein

CianRyan wrote: »

Sounds alright to me, especially considering the price of a new turbo...
Saying that, I've no idea how much it costs to recondition a turbo.

The parts and labour isn't the whole story, it would even be possible to buy the parts on eBay and rebuild it yourself, but you need some serious machinery to properly balance and test it or it would sh*t itself in short order. That's where the dough goes.
I know that if I brought the car to Ford and told them to fit a new OEM turbo I would be looking at close to 2 grand, so I do consider it a bargain.
That is for me removing the turbo and fitting it back myself. If the turbo place does it, it would be 800ish.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Foxhole Norman

Wetsanded and for the most part sorted my headlights, need a bit stronger grit paper but happy with them!

The Before:





And After:

canhefixit

Bought meself a cheap mk1 diesel focus fixer upper car and got working on the first couple jobs it needed doing.

Broken spring on from left shock so just swapped whole shock for another with coil and the bearing was gone so out came hub and new bearing put in and everything reassambled, no pics im afraid but next job will be a full service and tie rod ends need changed, there a random knocking nose from drivers side so im hoping the rod change will do the trick

wonski

wonski wrote: »

Got 3 sets of Bosch Super Plus (whoever came up with Super Plus - well done:D)
in Halfords at €3 each:eek:

Couldn't believe the price, but it was correct.

Went to buy the radio, came out with a radio and those 3 sets that should last for a while.

Tried to fit the radio straight away but no luck. Need to order one of those adapters:mad: I've done it before by connecting wires directly, but Merc used so many colours that I am not even trying today. Someone was there before me and the cables are all over the place.

At least the windscreen is clear now.

Took me 2 days to figure this out, but I got it right this time.

All it takes is connecting the yellow one to the red one (not a perfect solution but it works).

Old junk goes where it belongs:



Pioneer looking good:







Need to install the mic in some nice spot now and think of feeding the radio from the lighter socket rather than directly to prevent starting issues in the future.

GvidoR

Satellite radio, wonski?

canhefixit

Ok so this evening I changed the drop links in the focus and hopes that the random knocking noise was them and yes it was happy days

Oh and upgrades the gear knob to the newer style makes some diff, getting there slowly but surely and always learning along the way

Also debaged and it looks the business except for a nasty scrape some bollocks done on it will it was parked on street

Next job full service more than likely the weekend

wonski

GvidoR wrote: »

Satellite radio, wonski?

Ehm, no, just regular, cheapish radio from Halfords.

Bluetooth streaming works perfectly, and it connects very quickly so happy with it. Definitely better than cassette player that was there before:D

Duke O Smiley

(Rip in peace MM and other detailers after reading this)

colm_mcm

Wouldn't even stretch to Cif.....

wonski

colm_mcm wrote: »

Wouldn't even stretch to Cif.....

Looks like there is going to be another car care product in Lidl soon:D

MetzgerMeister

Paint transfer Duke?

Noccy_Mondy

You did the Camino? Hear that's supposed to be an awful cnut of a trek!

Duke O Smiley

colm_mcm wrote: »

Wouldn't even stretch to Cif.....

I've had that very bottle since the 405..magic stuff so it is and half the price of Cif!

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Paint transfer Duke?

Yeah, still a bit of a dent but I was surprised to get it off tbh!

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

You did the Camino? Hear that's supposed to be an awful cnut of a trek!

I have done (cycling), finished last August. Very tough but a great experience

Foxhole Norman

Sorted out a buddies Glanza's headlights today;

Before:





After:



50/50:



Another 50/50:



Pretty happy with that!