Jimmy's Deep Black R27 no.243 - Goodbye kid, it's been a blast.

[Jimmy]

I had a day off today so decided to use the time to give the car a good clean. I made the mistake of parking under a tree at work the other day and the aftermath wasn't ideal...

I'm an amateur when it comes to detailing, however this is what I used:

AG Bodywork Shampoo and Conditioner using 2BM - I've always used Meg's Gold Class in the past, but I was really impressed with the AG stuff. Only 1 capful and there was plenty of suds.

G3 Clay Mitt - I've used a bar before but was always anxious about marring the paintwork, so decided to give the mitt a go. Again, pretty happy with it. It makes a real difference to the smoothness of the paintwork afterwards and it showed just how much the car needed 'claying'. The mitt itself is easy enough to use, just have to make sure there's plenty of water.

AG Quick Detailer to help with wiping down the residue from the mitt - I really like this and it smells good too!

Super resin polish to finish off. Ran out of time otherwise I would have used the Coillinite 476s.

Results (terrible photos, sorry):





I also swapped the front wheels to the back and vice versa. Much more meat on the rear tyres so it should prolong the overall life of the set - had them on about 15 months now. The fact it had been jacked up might also explain why it looks so ridiculously high at the back on second photo it can't have 'settled back down' yet.....

 

[Jimmy]

As I mentioned in the previous update, the rusty wheel nuts were looking a bit grotty so needed sorting. I opted for some caps to use in the short term. I found some on Ebay in a 'smoke' colour.


Excuse the rusty discs, this was taken straight after the cleaning....

Considering the cost and the fact that they aren't the most premium of product, I'm pretty happy with the way they look. It's an improvement from the rusty nuts and as a short term solution I think they look good.

C&Cs welcome. Thanks for reading.

 

[Pav]

Happy days Jimmy.looks good.the mitt is great and easy to use.

Looks like she us ready for a long journey:thumbup1:

 

[montana]

Looking good Jimmy you could get some dedicated wax on there too on top of the srp. Nice plate too

 

[sevenfourate]

Will look awesome once you get the Collinite on....

What mitt you use buddy ? Sounds like one where water is the lubricant.

 

[Yiannis197]

Sweet!

What happen to all the decals then Jimmy?

 

[Chris]

Looks great Jimmy

 

[CallorFold]

The G3 Clay Mitt is great, really rate it myself. Doesn't take too long to do the whole car, and it's left feeling silky smooth after.

For lubricant, I used AG Rapid Detailer. Good idea to take advantage of Halfords 3 for 2 on car cleaning stuff here - something like AG Shampoo + Mitt + Rapid Detailer.

The AG Super Resin polish is a great finish on top of all of the above too

 

[Jimmy]

Happy days Jimmy.looks good.the mitt is great and easy to use.

Looks like she us ready for a long journey:thumbup1:

Thanks Pav, yeah hopefully she is all set now for the trip! The new wipers arrived today, however they sent one the wrong size and the mountings are s**t. Really cheap, nasty things. Will be returning those....

Looking good Jimmy  you could get some dedicated wax on there too on top of the srp. Nice plate too 

Cheers Pete, I really wanted to get the wax on but just didn't have the time yesterday :thumbdown:

Will look awesome once you get the Collinite on....

What mitt you use buddy ? Sounds like one where water is the lubricant.

It's the G3 clay mitt Syer - as per CallorFold's comment you can either use a QD, or water as I did. In hindsight QD is the better choice as it's two birds with one stone then

Sweet!

What happen to all the decals then Jimmy?

Thanks Yiannis the first owner must have spec'd it with the decal delete. I would have preferred to have them all on, but it was only a small downside when I went to view it. I'd get the full lot if Renault didn't charge silly money for them.

Looks great Jimmy

Thanks Chris

The G3 Clay Mitt is great, really rate it myself. Doesn't take too long to do the whole car, and it's left feeling silky smooth after.

For lubricant, I used AG Rapid Detailer. Good idea to take advantage of Halfords 3 for 2 on car cleaning stuff here - something like AG Shampoo + Mitt + Rapid Detailer.

The AG Super Resin polish is a great finish on top of all of the above too

Yeah the mitt is great, I was really pleased with how easy it is to use and then the results. The smoothness is immense! I had got the mitt on the Halfords 3 for 2, but I got my brother some tyre gel as well as my shampoo. I have the AG QD, but as above I should have used that really instead of water - I just doubled the work for myself!

 

[RossWoods93]

Only just got round to reading through your thread Jimmy!
Like the work you did with the front nose grilles, looks like they came out really well judging by the photos!
Cars looking great though! I can understand the annoyance of not having the wheel refurb done, that's a high priority on what I need doing but it's finding the time and money to be able to do it!

What a huge post that'll be when you finally get round to it!

 

[Jimmy]

Only just got round to reading through your thread Jimmy!
Like the work you did with the front nose grilles, looks like they came out really well judging by the photos!
Cars looking great though! I can understand the annoyance of not having the wheel refurb done, that's a high priority on what I need doing but it's finding the time and money to be able to do it!

What a huge post that'll be when you finally get round to it!

Thanks for reading through it Ross yeah the grilles came out well, I was surprised how good they looked for a DIY job. They seem to be holding out well which is a bonus.

Yeah the refurb just keeps getting put back, but I really do want to get it done this year!

 

[Pav]

it will happen Jimmy..its all about patience..

 

[Chris]

Lol since I've known Jimmy for coming up too 2 years now he's been talking about refurbing his wheels :lol:

 

[Jimmy]

I had the 9 year service done on Monday at RS Tuning in Leeds. I didn't personally deal with Paul, however the technician who looked after the car was very good.

Usual stuff with an annual service, however the nearside Track Rod End was very worn, so they ordered the genuine part in to be fit on Wednesday. They also offered to fit a Pipercross panel filter for me - I wouldn't ordinarily have bothered getting an aftermarket filter, however I thought why not! All about the upselling I guess!

In the meantime I had the MOT done on Tuesday.... I thought it might fail on the TRE, however it only flagged up as an advisory and therefore thankfully it passed and saved the hassle of a retest after the part was fitted. Another advisory was a very slight blow on the exhaust... I'll revisit that if (when) it gets worse and look again into an aftermarket system.

So it was back to RST on Weds for the TRE fitted - they had it all sorted within an hour. Now need to get the tracking done as they don't do that there. Great garage to use, and although general servicing isn't their bread and butter, they were very helpful and honest and obviously very knowledgeable with these cars.

 

[Chris]

Good to hear Jimmy

 

[Pav]

Yeah we like rst..they are good and they know their stuff..happy days then.enjoy your baby

 

[sevenfourate]

Good to hear all went buddy.

Not so good on the exhaust. Manifold ? Flexi's ? Is it bad..... :-(

 

[Jimmy]

Cheers guys, yeah RST were very good and were on the phone to me most of Monday asking questions and clarifying things - reassuring really when people ask, rather than assume certain things.

Good to hear all went buddy.

Not so good on the exhaust. Manifold ? Flexi's ? Is it bad..... :-(

The detail on the MOT sheet, and what they told me, was 'minor leak of exhaust gases (front pipe)'... so I'm assuming the pipe between the centre silencer and mani?? When I bought the car I was told that the exhaust had had a weld in that area, so it may be that rearing its head again.

I've heard it as a very slight blow, but it hasn't got worse over the last month or so and it hasn't been noticed by anyone else - specifically my brother who knows his cars very well, and also RST. It could be the mani/flexis, which would suck, or it could just need welding again.

 

[Beany]

Hopefully its just a minor leak at the front pipe as they said and not mani related! Glad to
hear she's still going strong even tho it's had new track rod ends!

 

[Pav]

thats what we were hearing on our trip Jimmy i guess..a slight blow..glad its not the manifold...