Working 2 hours away from home has taken it's toll on the car. I haven't been able to wash it for 6,000miles!







I decided yesterday I better get my act together and get it cleaned. Not just for cosmetics but to make sure there is some protection on the paint over winter!
Started off with the wheels. Bilberry @ 5:1 with a little aggitation.
Then I prewashed the car using APC at 10:1 with hot water using a superspray. I used a brush to get into all the nooks and crannies before rinsing the prewash off the car with the pressure washer.
Car was washed using Meguiars Hyperwash and the two bucket method with a duragloss mitt.
The car was clayed with Bilt Hamber clay.
I polished the car with Autoglym Super Resin Polish to clean the paint, fill some fine scratches and leave a good base for an LSP.

The LSP in question was Meguiars #16. This is a cheap as chips wax that I always forget that I own and how good it is until I use it!

Rumoured to be the old forumla for Zymol Carbon it was released by Meguiars in 1951 and even to this day some modern waxes that cost many times as much don't compete with it! I usually use Swissvax Onyx or Raceglaze #55 on my car which cost 5x as much yet the #16 seems to give the car the same warmth as both waxes and yet the durability far exceeds either of them.
Absolute bargain for £11!

So anyway afters!










Must tackle the inside at some point! Have a rattle in the drivers door to sort out too. Hopefully get it done Friday morning before I trek down to London for the weekend!

 

hope you aint got OCD like me... drove me mad if my car was that dirty

done a nice job there pal

 

Top job. Do you like this car then.

 

Well I've had it for 18 months now and done 31,000miles (currently just about to click over to 129,000miles). Still drives like new, starts every time and runs like a dream! Hasn't let me down once since I've had it!
I do nurse it and look after it though! She only gets BP Ultimate diesel, always gets well branded oil (I've dropped down to 0w30 for extra protection when it's cold) which I replace regularly! I don't thrash it when it's cold, keeps the revs above 2k to protect the DMF etc etc.
But when it's hot, I'm on a nice road on a nice day she does get an absolute bootfull! It's not fast by anymeans but she goes pretty well and handles superbly. Which puts a big smile on my face!
I can't fault it! As much as I'd love a concours car with no miles on it I need a car to get back and fore work. Unfortunatly my car is a tool and my Mondeo is a damm good tool at that!

 

Looks excellent cracking job


Brian

 

Looks lovely buddy

 

Nice work!

 

What a transformation. I really like these mondeos. I'd love a titanium x sport after my frs

 

I had one of these which was company car, without a doubt the best daily driver I have ever had, had 100k on the clock when I had to change it as the lease was up and drove as good as the day it was new , fantastic car and I have had a few equivalent cars ie insignia,avenis etc

 

So not going for an ST TDCI then?

Mondeo looks like new! They don't feel powerful but look down the speedo and your pushing along at a fair pace!!

 

I had an Insignia one day and found it very loud compared to the Mondeo. All the plastics seemed much harder and coarse too!
I do like my Mondeo, I love the way it eats up the miles and never really shows any signs of wear.
I have a little rattle in my drivers door card and another behind my dials. Neither I think are serious and when I have a spare 5 I'l see if I can fix them.

I wanted an ST220 on LPG. I drive my Fathers 320d regularly and I love how sharp and precise it is! I thought an ST220 would be the next best thing. That and my Father had a couple of ST220's years ago and it was the car that really got me into cars.

The MK4 sort of whisks you along without you knowing in complete comfort. My car feels slow until you look at the speedo.

But it still handles well. I've yet to come unstuck in the twisties and I have really tried!

But I think I'm going to keep it!
I know the car inside out and who really wants to buy a second hand 5 year old MK4 Mondeo with 130,000miles on the clock thats been lowered with a 'boy racer' exhaust. Regardless of how well I look after it!

Up close she's got a bit of road rash, some arse wipe put a nice 12" scratch along my bonnet about a 12 month ago and I put a 6" scratch on the top of my bootlid when my unbrella broke when I opened it. But she still looks good when she's clean
I will get the bodywork freshened up sometime soon because it does annoy me. I just don't know which way to go about it at the moment. Either get the scratches smart repaired and live with the stone chips or a full respray. Or maybe just get the front resprayed and the odds and ends smart repaired? Who knows

 

Did you go and see the st220 in the end? Or just decide against it?

 

The Missus wearn't too happy about me changing it as we're looking to buy a house.

I didn't want to drive all that way to find out it's a dog, or have problems with it when I got it home.

I know my MK4, it goes well and it's good on fuel so I think I'd be better off keeping it.

 

with the amount of miles you do I think you made the right choice. I know the other car had lpg but there's other factors to think of aswell with running costs. I only use mine now and then,I couldn't use it everyday.

 

I'm still hankering after one. When the other half and I have finally moved out I may get rid of her KA and get her an early Facelift ST220 as she only does a few miles back and fore work.

I may see if I can track down my Fathers old Facelift ST220. Someone on this forum owns it!

 

Think you made the right decision. I sometimes wonder if I should have gone for the MK3 ST but then think again, for the money I paid for mine and the miles & spec it has I'm happy with it.

Mines got a bit of road rash & some bird poo going through the paint on the roof from previous owners. Think I'm gonna wait until I find a TXS front end and Respray the front end along with the roof at the same time.

Morello red is one of the colours I wanted and it's quite a nice colour.

 

The MK4 seems to have very soft paint. That makes it very prone to stone chips.

I also would like to fit a TXS kit. Well all of it except the rear bumper because of the exhaust and I would like to fit a detachable tow bar at some point!

I never even knew they came in Morello!
When I went to buy mine there was two in the showroom. A Ghia 2.0TDCi (140) in black with cream cloth with 25k on the clock and mine which at the time had 97k on the clock.
Both had full ford service history, the black one was on a 57 plate and both seemed to be in very similar condition, mine had more stone chips.
The Black one was £9,700!
I paid £5,900 for mine just because of the high mileage! *Touch wood* it's been absolutley perfect!

I don't think I'd ever buy low mileage again, not for a daily anyway!
Any major issues you hear about all seem to be low mileage models.
The high mileage cars and the cars that actually get 'driven' seem to be faultless!

 

Mines a 'Ghia' spec estate 2.0 TDCI 140 with the optional sports pack I think, 18's and rear spoiler. Company car for 1st 50k/3yrs then privately owned since, I'm 3rd owner now, nearly 100k.

Mines in thunder grey, lovely colour when it's clean - I actually feel proud of it when I walk up to it in the car park, flick the key open, hold open button down couple secs and every light comes on and I smile everytime it does that. When it's dirty I couldn't care lol

When I was looking, I was originally looking for a titanium spec or higher. Couldn't find one in my budget or mileage (5k & sub 100k) started to look generally at 5year old and this one popped up. Priced reasonably at 4.7k with 95k private seller but he was in Essex and I'm in Birmingham. Seller was top bloke, held on to car for me until the weekend and wouldn't let anyone view until then. Put a deposit down pretty much straight away and collected a few days later.

Only thing I miss from the mk3 TDCI was the overboost function when you booted it and you actually flew to redline. This one you don't need to redline, just change up at 4k or so and waft along rapidly lol

 

[QUOTE=Bailes1992;6395477]I had an Insignia one day and found it very loud compared to the Mondeo. All the plastics seemed much harder and coarse too!
I do like my Mondeo, I love the way it eats up the miles and never really shows any signs of wear.
I have a little rattle in my drivers door card and another behind my dials. Neither I think are serious and when I have a spare 5 I'l see if I can fix them.

Your not wrong mate and how much harsher is the ride, the Insignia is so bumpy on the rise in comparison