So here we are again, not much of an update as I've been rather busy with work and just trying to survive. I did pick up one of these rather low cost DA's from Argos last weekend, so thought I would have a go today, and see how much damage I could do to my car.



As I wanted to compound my car I also picked up these, although I have others which I used by hand



I also bought some of these waffle polishing pads, as they are easier to use over the corners/edges of the car.



I had pre-washed the car, and decided that it didn't sound like sand paper when I rubbed my hand over the paint work, so it didn't need a clay.

But firstly I wanted to do the headlights, as yes, they had gone cloudy already having only done them a little while ago.

A little cloudy:




Here's the first pass:




Followed by a top polish:




By this time it had already started to cloud over, with the odd spot of rain.

 

Next on the list were the wing mirrors, as both had been clipped by other cars or the garage door

Faded:


One pass:


Faded:


One pass:

 

I think my bonnet is beyond compounding lol



Stone chipped, and touch up paint, 5-10p coin sized #driveclean lol

 

I then moved to the side of the car, and managed to do one panel, before it began to spot with rain.



So some improvement, but don't get me wrong, the closer you get to my car, the more apparent that it's been "special staged" on a gravel road but I love it anyway. The reflection looks clearer, and you can even see the dark clouds

Having then packed all my stuff away, due to rain, it's now really sunny, but I suspect to warm to finish off.

 

Looking really good Paul.

I jut got a cheap polisher from ebay, so I might try that trick with my passenger side HL as it is quite bad. Can't make it worse anyway

 

Good idea, and thanks, as I say close up my car is well used and the costs of a respray are just unjustified really, so a bit of spit and polish is well within my means.

The headlights are fairly easy to do, so worth a blast

 

use a good uv wax after polishing headlights as its stops them going manky so quick

 

Thanks, top tip I will do just that

 

So this morning (yes I know it's only 10am already) before the sun heated up my car, I decided to coat the headlights, mirrors, bonnet (and windscreen) in some VP products.



As you can see, the car is covered in stone chips, marks in the paint etc, but it's looking a little better.





The sunlight is now to strong to carry on, so it will wait , I also check the tyre pressures and oil + screenwash

 

Not much of an update.



But I spotted this and thought I would give it a try , I did as instructed, but after 10 minutes when I opened the car door, I got a bit of a lung full

Still one less job to do.

 

Sounds a bit dodgy Mate

 

LoL, well the drive into work this evening was pleasant, although my car tends to always smell fresh (and no, I don't have a dice "on" the mirror).

Still it was a pleasant drive almost relaxing.

 

Well not much of an update, still enjoying the ST, and still cleaning it.

 

Its still looking nice matey

 

x2 Paul

 

Thank you, it needs a lot of paint work done to it, but it will have to wait. I'm hoping to get an oil change done tomorrow, and I've emailed two local places about an exhaust.

 

Well it's my first update in a while, but thankfully this is due to working pretty hard all through August. Today I spent a little time with the ST170, and thought I'd give my Power Maxed iron off a try.



Needless to say I thought it did a really good job.



When you consider the alloys have done 130k, and have never been resprayed or anything, they don't look that bad.

I've saved up a couple of pounds, so I'm going to do some math now, as the list of jobs needing to be done, is getting rather long

 

Looks good mate, better than mine came up. I used Bilberry wheel cleaner on mine, but ti didn't seem to do much. I've got a build up of crud on mine, brake dust baked on i think, and it's still there after the bilberry treatment. Maybe I did something wrong :-(

 

I have used the same stuff, it's o.k. but this Power Maxed is almost as good as the AutoSmart stuff I tried, sure smells as bad. I would recommend wearing at least eye protection.

Tomorrow I will try and get some photos of my car, as both of the back arches have tiny bubbles on them

 

Oh no bad news on the bubbles Mate, sure you'll sort it though. I have found a couple of front wings for mine that seem pretty good, as both of mine are dodgy where they join the sills.

 

Check behind the rear carpet wheel arch liners. I had some rust holes right through to the cabin. I done a bodge repair but failed mot on this. So had it professionally repaired and then I undersealed it myself. So fair it's water tight .

 

Yeah I did both of mine a few years ago, they were proper rotten

 

Here's both of the rear arches, with tiny bubbles

 

I did give the interior a quick wipe over, although it wasn't actually that bad to be honest. I've still got the seat fabric to vax, but it started raining.

 

That sure is one immaculate car Paul

 

Thank you, as I said, I want to vax the fabric parts of the seats, as they've clearly never been done, and I do own a wet vax, but typically it started to rain.

When you get close to the car the stone chips etc jump out at you, it's almost like one of those drunk night out but for a 15 year old car, with issues, well she's not doing to bad.

 

The seats come up a treat once you've wet vac'd them. I have a gve370 (george) wet vac and it does a proper job. Just need some good sunshine to air them out, as the suction is good with the one I have.

 

Sounds good, today down south it's wet again, so no chance of doing them today maybe tomorrow lol.

 

Well whilst on my travels today I picked up this handy little cleaning device. My plan is to use it for my wheels, so I will let you all know how I get on.
On the way home today though the back of the car really started to drone which is annoying as I had the rear wheel bearings changed only a few months ago, hey ho.

 

A little bit of an update, the other day driving home my ST start to hum rather loudly from the back end. I knew the rear caliper wasn't 100% even after being fixed, but this sounded very much like a wheel bearing.
So today I had the car checked, and yep the other rear wheels bearing has gone, and the N/S brake caliper on the rear isn't working well. So hopefully tomorrow I will have a new set of rear discs, a caliper, and wheel bearing all sorted (fingers crossed).

 

Bad news Mate, hope it goes well tomorrow

 

Hope it's not too pricey mate. My other halfs bearing went and it sounded bladdy awful!

My reverse lights broken so fixing that later and I'm about to restore my lights with that fluid you used last year to finish yours, what method did you use to apply it?

 

I've tried a few different ways, firstly by microfiber cloth, then by an attachment on my drill, and the last time was with my rotary polisher

The wheels bearing is drowning out my stereo, and sadly my car got bumped, so it wasn't fixed today. But fingers crossed on tomorrow

 

So new rear discs, pads, and a new caliper on one side, and new wheels bearings. The car was lovely and quiet on the way home

Yes my car is dirty, and yes the back is high, lol.

 

Looks good Mate, glad it's sorted

Not as dirty as mine, and about the same height too

 

If you want to see a dirty st170 than look at mine, not been washed since I bought it, maybe one day.

Why did you not change both rear callipers? you get a good deal for a pair, both would be new and you would not have one silver and one yellow

 

I had thought about that, but I get the parts trade where I work, so the rear caliper wasn't as much as it should of been. In theory I should of bought two, but ultimately I didn't even want to buy one standard one, because in the long run I want to up-rate all of the discs and calipers, brake lines etc. The mechanic where I work did mention that he wouldn't paint/spray the caliper yellow lol, but that's o.k. as I'm thinking of doing them blue now. I had planned on some "Yellow" under the bonnet stuff, but I'm still trying to fix everything that needs doing first

I'll take a look at yours, but bet it isn't actually that dirty

 

Well I took the Focus out for an early morning drive, and despite it's problems and serious lack of power, it still managed to put a smile on my face. The rear brakes are coming into force, and makes the car a little better regarding balance under breaking. My heel and toe is coming along a little now, despite the pedal gap and drastic height difference.

 

car looks great mate good thread gives me some inspiration to get on with mine.

 

No worries, and thank you. They are lovely cars I freely admit