Ongoing General Automotive Thread v2

[Baron von Kriterium]

My dad took me to watch a Can-Am race in Edmonton in 1973. Mark Donohue won the race in the 917/10. That was the most bad-a$$ed race car ever built, I thought. And then came the 917/30. I was seven years old and I have followed Porsche Racing ever since.

[bizaro86]

So I finally bought the 2018 Altima I mentioned looking at a few pages ago. I declined the dealers offer to pay $1500 for paint/cloth protection. I'd like to do those things myself, and was wondering if anyone has recommendations for products? With two little kids, the interior protection is especially important...

[zamler]

I would gets some nice seat covers instead of putting potentially harmful chemicals on the fabric. Do you have a random orbital polisher?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by zamler

I would gets some nice seat covers instead of putting potentially harmful chemicals on the fabric. Do you have a random orbital polisher?

I don't, but a quick google looks like I can buy one and still come out way ahead. General preference would be to not buy tools for this, but I'd prefer even more to not have issues later.

[81MC]

If the car is new, stay away from a machine polisher. A random orbital is safer than rotary no doubt, but unless you really know what you’re doing and are fairly meticulous, you have a better chance of actually creating some swirl marks. Don’t be fooled by silicone/diamondkote/once a year polishes either... they don’t allow the paint to breathe and over he long term actually increase paint degradation (if you plan on having the car for a long time).
Get some quality microfibre cloths, and give it a proper carnuba wax job. If you stay on top of it, you won’t need to do anything aggressive to the paint for a long while. And it’s easier to wash, you should almost never have to take a dirt-filled car wash brush to your finish.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by 81MC

If the car is new, stay away from a machine polisher. A random orbital is safer than rotary no doubt, but unless you really know what you’re doing and are fairly meticulous, you have a better chance of actually creating some swirl marks. Don’t be fooled by silicone/diamondkote/once a year polishes either... they don’t allow the paint to breathe and over he long term actually increase paint degradation (if you plan on having the car for a long time).
Get some quality microfibre cloths, and give it a proper carnuba wax job. If you stay on top of it, you won’t need to do anything aggressive to the paint for a long while. And it’s easier to wash, you should almost never have to take a dirt-filled car wash brush to your finish.

The bolded doesn't describe me at all... I'm definitely looking for the idiots guide to car protection.

[81MC]

Then my honest opinion would be to use the gentlest, safest, and easiest products, by hand. And the 3M paint protection film is a really good investment. Just be mindful that most dealers and cheaper quotes will use a pre-cut kit that doesn’t wrap around the edges of the hood, where you really do need it most. It isn’t cheap, but your front end won’t look like hell in 150K.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by 81MC

If the car is new, stay away from a machine polisher.

Unless the paint is literally 3 days old this is not a concern. 2-3 weeks in and the paint is as cured as it is going to get (the paint chemically hardens) plus it is nearly impossible to damage paint using something like a Porter Cable 7424 combined with a light cut pad and your average compound.

[81MC]

I don’t mean because it’s soft. There’s zero need to take polish (abrading) to a finish unless you’re trying to remove defects in the paint. Being a new car, it should only have pretty minimal evidence of swirls or hazing. To take a machine and an abrasive to it doesn’t make much sense, compounded when you factor in all the variables of someone not familiar with the work. If that pad has any contamination on it, or compound is worked incongruent with the recommendations, you will be worse off. Not to mention, in the shade everything looks good. Get it in the sun, and look critically, and an inferior polish job shows up. There’s a whole world of products designed to fill and hide the results of that, none of which are permanent. So I say, your best bet is to just avoid putting them there in the first place .

[zamler]

The reason you paint correct on a new car is to remove all defects and any contaminants before you seal it with a nano coating. It is nearly impossible to damage paint with the Porter Cable unless you use a heavy cut pad, heavy pressure and a heavy cut polish. In other words being stupid about it. Use the Porter with a white or orange pad, I like this compound for quick jobs no it won't give you an absolutely flawless shine that takes several steps. But the finish will look much better. If you're lazy use this one step compound

BTW most new vehicles are poorly washed and detailed by the dealer I've seen many that are badly swirled. I was at a dealer the other day the cars on the showroom floor were screaming out for paint correction.

[Northendzone]

Need some opinion on wether I was a tool in this situation.

Listed my current daily driver on auto trader and Kijiji. After some limited initial interest, I lowered the price.

Had a guy drive about an hour to look at it yesterday and we agree to a price and have a handshake deal. Early this afternoon, I get a message, from some guy saying he is in town looking at a vehicle, and he would not mind taking a look at my vehicle.

After a test drive and some tire kicking, he makes me a cash offer, which I accept.

Was I acting in poor faith to the first guy? He did not leave a deposit, and he had a few things he wanted to check out with respect to my vehicle.

Both the first offer and the sale price were the same - so no low balling.

I did not expect the sale to go this way, and it was first time selling privately.

[calumniate]

Cash.. congrats! There are other cars in the sea :-)

[burn_this_city]

A bit greasy but this is Kijiji and flakiness is usually expected. He should have paid a deposit if he wanted it held.

[habernac]

The other guy brought cash and paid you. Not sure I would have done anything different. If he’d put down a deposit, that would be a different story.

[bizaro86]

Speaking as someone selling my previous car on kijiji who is 0/3 so far on people who have said they're coming that day actually appearing, I wouldn't hold it when I had someone with cash in hand.

[zamler]

I would have called the first guy and said hey I have someone with cash in hand here. If the guy says oh sh... I'll be there ASAP with cash then you honour the handshake.

[cral12]

Yikes. Latest maintenance trip to dealer for maintenance gives me the news my 2010 vehicle with 95,000 km on it needs some serious work:
- timing belt (not such a surprise) ~$1000
- front brakes ~$400
- power steering rack replaced (do so before the pump runs dry) - it is leaking - ~$1800!

Any advice on alternatives for getting this work done?

[ah123]

Originally Posted by cral12

Yikes. Latest maintenance trip to dealer for maintenance gives me the news my 2010 vehicle with 95,000 km on it needs some serious work:

- timing belt (not such a surprise) ~$1000

- front brakes ~$400

- power steering rack replaced (do so before the pump runs dry) - it is leaking - ~$1800!



Any advice on alternatives for getting this work done?

If your car is no longer under warranty, I would suggest looking for an independent mechanic. Usually cheaper in terms of labour

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by zamler

I would have called the first guy and said hey I have someone with cash in hand here. If the guy says oh sh... I'll be there ASAP with cash then you honour the handshake.

I thought about this, and thought, what if buyer one says I will be there and then does not show, then I am hooped. Alternatively he could have showed, and all is good.

I feel bad, as buyer one did spend some time driving across the city to look at my rig.

I was clearly stunned when the buyers asked if I wanted all cash. They came prepared as they had all $100’s and $50’s.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Need some opinion on wether I was a tool in this situation.

Listed my current daily driver on auto trader and Kijiji. After some limited initial interest, I lowered the price.

Had a guy drive about an hour to look at it yesterday and we agree to a price and have a handshake deal. Early this afternoon, I get a message, from some guy saying he is in town looking at a vehicle, and he would not mind taking a look at my vehicle.

After a test drive and some tire kicking, he makes me a cash offer, which I accept.

Was I acting in poor faith to the first guy? He did not leave a deposit, and he had a few things he wanted to check out with respect to my vehicle.

Both the first offer and the sale price were the same - so no low balling.

I did not expect the sale to go this way, and it was first time selling privately.

I played the 'good guy' twice trying to sell my car 3-4 years ago. Twice I verbally accepted an offer, let them go home without a deposit and found myself turning down one or two offers each time before I realized too late that I put far more weight into that offer than they did. Only one of them even answered back that they bought another car and were no longer interested. The guy that eventually bought the car left without a deposit, but I told him it's his 'as long as someone else doesn't buy it before he returns'. Basically, you're only agreeing that "I'll sell you the car for this price, when I see it".

Edit: Hell, that's not even something all buyers like abiding to themselves. Selling the car before that one, I remember agreeing to the price... and the guy showed up with less money to negotiate even further.

If you'd sent him an email or something to let him know that the offer passed, that's more than he might've been willing to even extend to you. They run the risk of someone swooping in and accepting their own risk of not doing the same due diligence. Cash in hand is very powerful for that reason: they are putting money forward at risk that they misjudged how truthful you are. I now view it as rewarding the people who trusted that I was a forward guy, or at the very least came prepared to immediately lift the burden off my shoulders of selling a car.