Mirrors of the soul

To my way of thinking the condition of a car is a very good reflection on the mindset of the owner. The two parts of the car that are the greatest indicators of this are the interior and the rims.

Although this post is about rims I’ll diverge here for a moment to talk about the condition of a car’s interior. Many a time, when I have been interviewing a prospective employee I’ll finish the interview by walking them to their car. What I am interested in is the condition in which it is maintained. It doesn’t have to be spotless but if the interior is filled with fast food wrappers, paper, dirt, junk and so on it reflects in my mind that the owner has little respect for their property. Chances are, that respect will also not be forth coming when it comes to employment. Of course, this little observation is only part of evaluation of any employment candidate, but believe me, it is a very good indicator into the mindset of the individual in my experience.

Apart from the condition of the interior of a car to me the next most telling aspect of owner’s mindset is the condition of their rims. Many times while in traffic I find my gaze straying to inspecting the rims on the car next to me. I can’t tell you the number of times I simply cringe at what I see on all sorts of cars.

Many such rims have never ever been anywhere detergent, a sponge, wash mit or a brush. This immediately says to me that owner doesn’t care about their purchase. Sure, everyone is not a car enthusiast, but cars aren’t cheap, so keeping them in reason nick is a good idea? No? One would think that it helps with the trade-in or resale value? No?

The other problem with not regularly cleaning your rims is that the stuff that ends up on them is far harder to remove than normal road grim. This is because it is typically material from the brake pads and disc that is super hot when it initially attaches but when it cools down becomes very hard to shift. You should think of it much like allowing plaque to build up on your teeth.

If this build up continues, much like plaque, you get layers and layers of rock hard material that becomes virtually impossible to shift. Again, like plaque, you can’t see the damage that this is doing to your rims as it is being constantly caked on.

Long story short here, clean your rims regularly to remove all this this build up regularly. Of course you should always start with rinsing your rims down with water to remove any contaminates that you can. Of course, water alone is not going to shift much but it does provide lubrication for the next step which is using detergent.

Detergent is designed to loosen the contaminants from the surface and then the liquid in the mix floats those contaminants away. You can use a typical sponge or a stiff bristled brush to clean your rims but beware, you run the risk of scratching the surface if you use either.

I believe a better option is to use a lambs wool mit like you should on the rest of the car, however I would suggest that you should use a different one to any you clean your paintwork with. Why? Remember, brake pads and discs are made out of metal and small pieces end up on the rims, then in your lambs wool mit you clean it with. It can be very hard to full remove all these types of particles from your wash mit and even if they only scratch minutely, it will show up on the paintwork which is not what you want. So, if you can use totally different cleaning utensils (including buckets) when it comes to cleaning your rims, you should. I also like using a mit on the rims as it better allows you to get into all those nooks and crannies around the rim.

Another quick side note here. I once saw a Ferrari 458 (price around AU$500,000) at one of those cafe car washes. You know the places where you take your car, leave it to be washed by someone else while you have a cappuccino? Anyway, I saw the attendants cleaning the paintwork of the 458, then start cleaning the rims and then with the same sponge and bucket return to cleaning the paintwork. Noooooo…… Again, another very good reason not to take your pride and joy to a cafe car wash unless you want it covered with scratches and swirl marks!

So now you have washed your rims and they are clean? Yes? For most people, yes, the rims are clean. However for captain OCD here, there is more that can be done. if you want to go another step further you can purchase some Ferrous cleaner like so;

which I obtained from Car Car Products. This stuff is a lot more aggressive than your standard detergent because it will dissolve iron fallout from your rims. So be careful using it as it contains generally strong chemicals to remove all that nasty brake dust.

So here’s my nice clean rim after just detergent. However, if you spray the Ferrous cleaner on it and let it dwell, after a few minutes you rims will begin to look like:

Those purple streaks are the Ferrous cleaner reacting with iron deposits on the rim and dissolving them.

What I then do just prior to rinsing, is to agitate the whole area using a brush to ensure good coverage.

So even though my rims are pretty clean anyway, you can see that using the Ferrous cleaner pulls off even more contaminants.

If you wanted to go another step further in cleaning your rims then you would use a clay bar to pull any more contaminants out. If you wanted to be really thorough (and had plenty of time) you’d actually take the wheel off and clean both sides as well as the callipers.

Having done all this then your rims should be gleaming but the problem is now they are going to get embedded contaminants again really quickly. Why? Because you have stripped off all the protection from the rims and taken it back to its base. What you need to do as a find step is apply some protectant to the rims to resist the build up of baked on grim.

For this job, I turn again to Permanon which you simply dilute in water and spray onto the surface you want to protect. Permanon has a much higher melting point than brake dust so that means it won’t allow any super hot particles to now bond to your rims.

Once the rims have been give a liberal coating of Permanon I wipe them down with a micro fibre towel and provide a nice finish. This is one thing I love about Permanon, it is so easy to easy ANYWHERE!

So there you have it. Lots and lots of words about doing something simple like cleaning your rims, but as I said before, I truly believe that the cleanliness of your rims is a real reflection on your respect for the investment you have made in your vehicle. At the very least simply WASH then. If you are an extreme OCD hobbyist detailer like me, you’ll want to invest in some Ferrous cleaner, clay bar and remove the wheels completely from the car to clean them.

Unfortunately, after all this hard work the rims are what gets dirty the quickest but if you have taken my advice above, then at least the next time you clean then it will be much quicker and easier.

50,000 and still going

After the next trip in the F355 it will have clocked over 50,000 kms. That means I’ve done about 17,000 of those since I bought it about two and half years ago. That equates to about 130 kms per week and in most cases, given that I only normally go for a drive once a week, that is per drive.

As with all cars, there seems to be bias against those with higher kilometres, especially when it comes to supercars. However, one of the things that I learnt when I was on a Ferrari Drive day way back before I owned my car was that it is the service history that far more important than the kilometres travelled. In fact, supercars with low kilometres are more of a worry because they have not been used regularly enough. That leads to lots of problems with tubing, seals, and so on.

Thus, of primary concern when you purchase any time of supercar, is to examine the service logs and ensure that it has been serviced by a reputable mechanic on a regular basis to the specifications of the manufacturer. In my case, this means doing things like having the engine out to change the belts.

So remember, if you are in the market for any car I would suggest these days, don’t worry so much about the kilometres travelled. Concern yourself with confirming the that the car has been serviced regularly and to the manufactures specifications. Also remember that supercars that don’t get driven much and sit in garage tend to have more problems than those that get drive regularly. To me a car that is driven often is generally more loved and cared for than one that sits in a garage. I know that applies to my F355!

Fun in the sun

One event that I am looking to attend now on a more regular basis is the supercar get together on the third Sunday of every month at Le Montage in Lilyfield.

It runs from about 9am to 11am and is open to anyone to attend. There is coffee and breakfast and plenty of cars on display as you can see.

It is really amazing the sheer variety of cars that attend, both old and new.

Lamborghini

and even US muscle

So, if you are in the vicinity on the third Sunday of the month and you are a petrol-head it is well worth your while to drop by and see what is on display.

You won’t be disappointed!

Bathurst Bash

I was lucky enough to be invited over the weekend on a run with some other supercars out to the Bathurst 12 hour. We started early Saturday morning at Windsor and then proceeded along the Bells Line of Road to our first stop at Windsor.

We stopped briefly at Mt Victoria and Tanara before making our way to Mt Panorama Bathurst.

We lined our cars up with some other exotic cars and bikes for general display and then headed off to enjoy a pit tour of one of the Ferrari Teams.

We did have to cut the tour short because part of the benefit of going into the exhibit with our cars was that we were able to do a lap of teh circuit.

So, with the trusty GoPro mounted inside the car I captured the above video to give you a feel. It wasn’t a high speed lap it was a parade lap but it was still the highlight of the weekend for me as it was something I had been planning to do with the car at some stage (achievement unlocked).

We had dinner at the circuit and headed off to our overnight accommodation at Duckmaloi Farm, which I can highly recommend if you every get out that way.

Once everyone was roused and the extraction of cars sorted we headed back to the Mount to catch the race.

From there we headed back after a memorable weekend out bush at the spiritual home of Australian touring cars.

Broken ashtray

The next thing on my list of items to address with the F355 was the broken ashtray. It had been broken since I had purchased the vehicle.

Basically, the top mould that runs at the base of the ashtray (closest to the rear of the car) had snapped in two locations, as you can see above, basically leaving it detached and floating free which is never good.

The problem is that the moulding at that location is pretty flimsy. The issues is that if you want to work on the centre console you firstly need to remove the ashtray, which provides an opportunity for it to snap. The other way that it gets snapped (as I found out after trying to installed replacement ashtray) is if you tighten the screw holding it in place too tight. Doing that pulls the body of the ashtray down while the top moulding remains seated on the surrounding console. Thus, if the fastened screw is too tight the moulding is being stressed and sooner (in my case) or later it snaps.

The other way that the moulding can snap is when you insert or remove the ashtray cover as this takes a little bit of pushing and shoving to align it correctly and if you are not careful – snap – goes the moulding.

Once the screw at the bottom of the tub is removed the ashtray and the small console to its right will come loose.

To free the ashtray totally you will need to remove the connection (green wire above) at the bottom of the lighter as well as the lamp that runs in the chamber on the side of the lighter (yellow wire above).

With the ashtray totally remove you will see that the lighter is held in place by a metal end cap that houses a spring.

The spring pushed against the underside of the ashtray at one end and against the metal cap at the other keeping the lighter assembly in place.

To disassemble this you need to push the metal housing towards the bottom of the ashtray to compress the spring. While the spring is compressed you should be able to turn the metal housing like a screw.

You will notice that the base of the metal housing is keyed with a number of metal prongs on the lighter assembly that push against the metal housing to keep things in place. Once the metal housing can be rotated, you can turn the housing so these key prongs line up with larger slots in the housing which allow the prong to pass through and thereby release the metal housing from the lighter assembly.

There where some slight differences between the lighter assembly prongs that were part of my car (previous image) and

the replacement I obtained above. Not much difference but my original prongs have a slight indent which seemed to make them sit in their locations better.

Once the metal housing is free from the lighter assembly, you can remove the spring, the lighter assembly and the perspex illumination ring from the ashtray.

The ashtray lid is removed by manoeuvring the arms of the lid free from the guide holes in the tub.

(the arms of the lid have a knob at the end)

(which locates in each of these holes and allows the lid to slide open and closed).

Now you should be left with all the parts separate and nothing attached to the ashtray tub.

If you are going to buy a new ashtray then the part number you’ll need is 64234600, which will include the ashtray lid. Now, interestingly, the ashtray lid is metal while the ashtray tub is plastic. Would have been nice if the ashtray was metal as well because they would have probably prevented the repeated snapping of of the moulding. I’ll have to look into whether I can get a metal duplicate of the tub.

The replacement ashtray I obtained as second hard so the first thing I did was give it a good scrub using dishwashing liquid to get any dirt and dust off it. I then sprayed the tube with silicon spray to rejuvenate the patristic and make it less attractive to dust. I removed my existing ashtray cover, touched up a few scratches with matt paint and then also coated it with silicon spray.

I reassembled the lighter assembly, spring and metal housing. I left the ashtray lid off which have been a mistake in hindsight. I then re-attached the wires and then inserted the ashtray lid. I then screwed the ashtray tub back into place in the car. It was only then that I noticed that the right hand side of the moulding on this replacement ashtray was also now snapped through and the left side was looking like it wasn’t far away from doing the same.

I therefore loosened off the mounting screw, thereby hopefully relieving the pressure on the, as yet, unbroken left hand side. So the replacement ashtray is in but I’m also back to square one thanks to not being careful enough. Annoying.

If you look closely at where it has snapped you will see that it is not very sturdy at all. In reality, it isn’t a case of if it will snap, it is a case of when looking at the construction.

So I now have my original snapped ashtray out of the car and I’ll try and work out how best to mend it and apply that learning to the unit that is in the car now. Simply gluing the pieces together will only allow the situation to re-occur. I need to come up with some simple and small reinforcing arrangement that I can easily implement with the unit already installed in the F355.

Annoying, but these are the things you learn with cars like this. I’ll post back when I have a solution that works.

Shiny

After being a good little boy for the year I decided that a Christmas present was in order. i therefore purchased a Random Orbital polisher to attempt paint correction and polishing of my cars.

I figured the best way to get started was to purchase a kit that included all the basics. I went with the:

Car Care Products RO polisher DAS6-Pro kit plus

The only question when you purchase this kit is what sort of pads you want? Figuring that Merzerna polish was included I went with the Merzerna pads.

As you can see from the above image, the package includes a polisher, 3 x polishes (500, 2,500, 4,000), a number of polishing and cutting pads as well as 2 x backing plates. Everything you need to take your detailing to the next level.

Before polishing my daily drive, which I am practicing on before I get ANYWHERE near the F355, I washed the car and clay barred the area that I planned to polish to ensure it was as clean as possible.

Now after watching plenty of detailing videos I knew that my first attempt should be using the least aggressive option. I therefore went for a polishing pad and the 2,500 polish. I knew this wasn’t probably going to take out any defects in the paintwork but it would give me experience using the machine. As expected it took out some minor defects and gave the surface a nice polish but I needed to go a little more aggressive.

My nest step was to move to a foam cutting pad with the 2,500 polish. I did this on my bonnet and saw that it removed all the swirl marks and light scratches that I had put into the paint work over the years by using incorrect washing methods. However, it still left some water stains, which meant It would need to even more aggressive.

Rather than re-doing the bonnet I decided to try a more aggressive cut on a rather large scratch I’d had for a long time on my passengers fender as you can see in the above image (just above the wheel).

This time I used a micro fibre cutting pad (a little bit more aggressive than a foam cutting pad) and the 2,500 polish. Once I had completed the area with the 2,500 I reworked the area with the 4,000 to remove any fine scratches I may have put into the paintwork using the 2,500.

As you can see from the above photo I was able to completely remove the scratch. If you look very closely in the light you can see where the scratch was, but to the naked eye it is pretty much invisible. It is pretty impressive the result you get when done correctly. The panel now had no scratches or swirl marks at all!

Of course, once you have completed polishing you need to seal the area to protect it. For this I used Permanon.

Thus, my test polishes have been successful. I am happy with the combination of the micro fibre cutting pad and the 2,500 polish to tackle deeper imperfection. My next challenge is going to be the roof (which will difficult to access with a polisher) since it contains similar water stains that I failed to remove from the bonnet on my test runs. Also being a large flat area I’ll get a better idea if my combination of pad and polish (followed up by a finishing polish) really work as well as I think.

The results soon.

My car has no engine

Every year around this time the F355 has to go in for its regular annual service and registration. Over the past few years I have a number of issue taken care of at this time as well. Last year it was the CV boots which you can read about here:

https://blog.lovethe355.com/2013/12/annual-service.html

This year was going to be different because it is now time for the belts to be changed for the first time under my ownership.

Every 3 years or 15,0000 kms it is strongly recommended that the timing belts be changes on the F355. This is not so much to do with belt wear but more to do with the fact that they stretch. When this becomes extreme the belts can slip a cog which could mean the timing valves (running off the belts) get out of whack which is very bad for the engine.

Here’s the view looking at the engine from the seats back. Wheels 1 and 5 are for the inlet valves and 2 and 6 are for the exhaust valves. Both of these run off a separate belt as you can see.

So there are three belts that need to be changed along with generally wheels 4 (idler) which provide tension on the belts. These idler wheels tend to wear over time and should also be replaced as part of the service.

You now need to remember that the above view is looking at the engine from the cabin. This means the belts are effectively right behind the seats. Thus, the only way to change these components is to drop the whole engine out of the car.

Most people are horrified when you tell them that the service requires this, and it can be a nasty surprise to a new owners who doesn’t know but luckily I was well aware of this fact. Dropping the whole engine out does have plenty of benefits in that it allows to examine and access every area of the engine quite easily. Given that basically with a Ferrari you a paying for an engine and getting a car thrown in, it makes perfect sense.

So, it was off to Racing Red to let Sal work his magic on the car. However, before the engine could be removed I also wanted to shock absorbers reconditioned.

if you look at the photos taken during the pre-purchase inspection you will see that the shock absorber was leaking at the top. This was evident on the right rear and luckily had not deteriorated further but now was the time to get it sorted. This meant the shocks needed to be removed and repaired first.

With that done, up on the hoist went the F355 and out came the engine. Well, there was a lot more to it than that but it really didn’t take Sal that long to free the engine (with me as an interested spectator).

Engine from left rear.

Engine from right rear

Right side of engine.

The good news is after removing the covers and inspecting the engine everything was good and in fact quite clean. There are few extra minor things that need to done such as remove an unused hose clip and fixing the handbrake bracket (which had been reversed) but all in all nothing untoward which is a relief.

The only surprise turned out to be the insides of the airboxes where the paint had bubbled away from the surface and simply flaked off. That would mean cleaning as much off as possible, priming and respraying the inside of the airboxes prior to re-assembly. Not a big deal but now is the best time to take care of this.

When I last left the car the engine was still out waiting to returned to the car. Once that is complete all the fluid need to be replenished as well as everything reconnected and checked. There are also a number of smaller hoses that Sal changes because after a number of years they perish and having them do so as you are driving home is no fun. Better to change these before they become an issue!

I plan to pick up the car early next week when there less traffic. Yes, this service will be expensive but normal standards but changing the belts every three years is required to keep the car running optimally, prevent premature failure and above all maintain its value. I therefore have no issues with having this service carried out every three years as required.

So with re-conditioned shocks and a full serviced engine I am looking forward to the drive improvements and I’ll post all the details when I know shortly.

Nanolex vs Permanon–further info

I posted recently comparing Nanolex to Permanon 4 months after application here:

https://blog.lovethe355.com/2014/12/nanolex-vs-permanon4-months-on.html

Given a spate of really wet whether recently I took this opportunity to take a photo of my bonnet from dead centre after teh car had braved the weather. The left hand side of the above photo has been treated with Nanonlex 4 months ago and the right Permanon also 4 months ago. Today, as you can see from from the photo, much of a muchness. No real discernable difference.

The next challenge I have set myself when it comes to detailing is paint correction! More on that very soon, so stay tuned as I think there will be plenty of learnings.

Nanolex vs Permanon–4 months on

About 4 months ago I applied both Nanolex and Permanon to the bonnet of my day to day road car. I recorded a video of the water shedding ability and then posted about it here.

https://blog.lovethe355.com/2014/07/nanolex-vs-permanon.html

In essence, at initial application, Nanolex had a greater water shedding ability.

At the point of application that is all well and good but what about over time? It has now been over 4 months since I did the initial application. Since then the car has been driven every day through rain and shine, washed regularly but with nothing else done to the bonnet.

The above video shows the water shedding capabilities of both products after this time period. What the video perhaps doesn’t show well is the fact that both sides of the bonnet now (unsurprisingly) don’t shed water as well and in fact shed it at about the same rate.

If you compare that to the original video above you can see the difference 4 months of wear and tear produce.

My conclusion is that after an extended period of time both Nanolex and Permanon end up at the same location when it comes to protection. Nanolex is certainly produces a much more noticeable result initially but in the long run tends to same result.

Given that similarity I have to say that my preference is still for Permanon as it is much easier and quicker to apply than Nanolex. You also don’t need to let it ‘set’ like you do Nanolex. The Nanolex treatment requires application of a cleaner and the gel which takes longer and requires more ‘stuff’. All you do with Permanon is dilute some of the concentrate with water and spray it on. You can also use Permanon on any external surface on the car, where Nanolex is limited to the paintwork.

Typically, after washing and rinsing the car I spray it with Permanon and then use a micro fibre towel to dry the surface while also applying the Permanon. Once the surface is buffed dry you are good to go. Nanolex requires the surface to be dry first and then the treatment applied, then needs to be left for 30 minutes or so. Although it produces great results, this simply takes longer and over the long run doesn’t seem to provide any major benefits over Permanon.

So there you have it. In my testing after 4 months of normal usage both Nanolex and Permanon produce the same results when it comes to protection. However, my preference is for Permanon because it is an easier and quick product to apply while effectively doing the same job,