I'm a big fan of the gold bbs wheel look. Just looks classic. I did the centers of mine in gold with polished lips.
I'm a big fan of the gold bbs wheel look. Just looks classic. I did the centers of mine in gold with polished lips.
"Rebuild your own set of wheels, it'll be fun and you will save a grand" I said to myself.
About this point when the shells were all at 600 grit I was starting to think it was a false economy
And the tire monkey who put this one upside down on the tire machine without the protective feet should be publicly chastised
Luckily I am shooting for 10 footers or better. Mirror polishing is not in the cards.
Fatigue is setting in. This is the dangerous part where you can start to cut corners because you are bored and just want it to be done.
To the buffer!
I think the first one is teaching me the correct order to buff in. Hopefully the next three will go faster.
And a quick mock up as a mojo boost. Gotta remind myself why I am doing this.
Oh.......
Holy E36 M3. Ok then.
That'll do I suppose.
I thought my Gotti wheels were nice but there is something extra special about BBS.
A fresh set of 235/45-17 Continental DWS are on the way from Tirerack. Mid-next week I should be stylin'
Mmmmm
Gold centers are so correct.
Worth it, IMO. But I've never buffed out anything as large as a wheel.
It's a lot of work
But oh so worth it
That wheel is looking great, that gold is spot on.
Should you ever be such a masachist and want to polish wheels (or anything) again, I've had had good luck with this kit
Damn TireRack! You fast!
I didn't lose a single fastener!
Those are going to look great!
Well this job isn't fun.
Also need a new turbo oil return line, Should probably do the feed line (common failure item) while I am at it, and I broke the auxiliary electric water pump because I was grumpy about the whole thing and got impatient. Setting it all aside until parts arrive
I try not to spend any time in the shop on Sundays. It makes the week seem long. But the missus had things to do and it was for some reason sunny and 70°. The temptation was too great.
Anyhow, here we are.
Blingy AF. It has really changed the look of the car. The confirmation of this was two separate occurances of people complimenting me with "nice ride" comments at stoplights.
I also replaced the faded roundel on the nose and installed a sunglasses holder in place of the handle above the door
Which pleases me more than any $15 piece of plastic should.
Last bit is to wire in the Resler iBus interface and continue cleaning it.
Still waiting on the auxiliary water pump for the clubman, so today's shop time was to deal with the factory PPF.
The 22 year old clear bra is about a dozen years past the proper time to remove it.
i ran next door to Harbor Fright and brought back the steam cleaner thing
And a supply of plastic razor blades and some 3m adhesive remover.
The first half I steamed the film and started scraping it off. It didn't go well or quickly. Steaming it softened the adhesive so it left a lot of residue.
But it was working
On the other half I used the heat gun. It seemed to have a slightly longer lasting effect. I could heat a 6"X4" portion and scrape it as opposed to a 2X3 that the steam was doing.
This stuff went on before the grilles and emblems. PITA
What did I learn?
Well for one, I learned why all the auto detailers I asked said no to the job. It sucks. It isn't difficult, it tricks you into thinking you have a good process and then slaps you and reminds you you don't in fact know what you are doing.
I think an upholsterers steamer is the better tool for this job.
Cheap Amazon plastic razors are better than the expensive McMaster ones.
Don't use a metal blade holder. When the plastic blade flexes you can gouge the paint
This took over two and a half hours and was a about half of the amount I need to eventually remove from the clubman
and i have a lot of this to clean up
Now I can talk to a detailer about a buff.
And yes, new headlight lenses are on the way.
Clubman update
This berkeleying thing!
The "non return valve" for the vanos system in the cylinder head seems to have been the source of the low oil pressure. Replaced it and the noise has gone away. I can now reassemble the car.
On the replacement part the check ball was very stiff. Hard to move with a pick. On the old one you could move it easily and it would rattle if you shook it.
Today I replaced the non functional auxiliary fan.
The AC got weak sitting at stop lights and was ice cold while moving, popping out front confirmed it wasn't running. It had voltage and the PWM reference signal but just twitched.
Since the front end was torn apart I took the opportunity to replace the hazy headlight lenses
Wasn't too bad. First one took an hour, second took 20 minutes
But Jeezum Crow! What a difference.
Looks 20 years younger.
The Kia is still in the stable. Bianca can't decide what she wants. I think we are going to test drive a new jetta next.
In reply to Trent :
E39 so tasty
In reply to Trent :
timeless
Not where I expected this to go...
We test drove VWs, Kias, Hyundais, and Toyotas. Every time we left the dealerships she commented that nothing we test drove was as nice as what we arrived in (the E39), and finally asked "can I just get an older car like this?" I was all, I thought you were the one that wanted a new car? Of course!
So introducing the new Siouxsie. The new Bianca ride.
2009 CLK350. Under 80k miles and just two owners. Filthy but everything works as expected.
This will be our first Mercedes experience.
You're going to love it!
Looking at these for a 4 seat convertible. Following with interest
The Clubman experienced a mishap. Two way diagonal parking lot, parked on opposite sides 3 spaces apart. We both pulled out of our spots perfectly. His collision avoidance beepers never went off. We did not see each other until we heard the crunch. We couldn't have timed it more perfectly if we knew what we were trying to do.
So now insurance is involved 
50/50 responsibility. That is fair.
But after that, there was no sense in letting some stuff sit on the shelf anymore if it meant possibly avoiding something like that again
New trunk handle with built in camera
and WAY too much time disassembling the interior to pull a few wires to the dash and now I have a working backup camera.
And after 5 weeks of waiting I got a box from Poland
The US spec console/armrest is built around a "car phone" option that was outdated even in '01.
But the European cars got one without the uncomfortable hard plastic to rest your elbow upon.
With a bonus storage spot. The US spec version just had dead space underneath
Been playing with the Caddy the last few days.
Back when I bought the trucklet from Burrito, the interior was pretty nasty. The remnants of the OG peanut butter carpet sort of matched the mildew stained dashboard. The headliner card was long gone and the door panels were bare ABS.
I went so far as to buy a donor car
for the euro dash, sport seats and carpet.
My friend Ernie and I installed a euro spec, bow style headliner
I completed the dash swap, including the gauge cluster.
I also ordered the correct 77 GTI tartan seat cloth from Germany
And Ernie reupholstered the seats
I made some matching door cards
And I was feeling pretty dang good about the whole thing.
I mention all of this because of this thing.
This polycarbonate bubble rear window also came with the Caddy. It is neat looking. It provides extra headroom in the tiny cab.
It also does not block ANY UV light and has already bleached out the seats
They look worse in person. The headrests are pink. Certainly not terrible, but for the considerable amount of money and labor that went into the interior I get angry every time I drive the thing.
So I bought a new rear window seal to install a stock slider window and stop the damage from worsening.
Cut to Saturday afternoon. I pulled a seat run some speaker wires and fix the parking brake and the idea hit me.
I have a NOS set of discontinued Procar seats on the shelf, waiting to go in the Fiat. That is years away, why not enjoy them while I can?
Every now and then I have an idea that can be described as "very good"
This is clearly one of them. White over red is a classic combo for a reason. I am stoked.
Over to the plasma table to make some new door card panels. These will be upholstered in a matching red.
Why not just put some clear uv tint on the rear window?
Because
#1. Berk that thing. The resentment I have for it will take a long time to fade
#2. Those are some tight compound curves. A tinters nightmare
#3. The factory slider actually gives a nice bit of ventilation.
#4. Being a piece of lexan it is already starting to get little cracks in it.
I ran one of those windows because the I'm just to tall for a caddy and that extra 2 inch of movement made it bearable. Those procar seats look tits
You'll need to log in to post.
