WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR BRZ TODAY?

[Yoshoobaroo]

Went to AutoX Saturday

Thanks @turtlesharkshooter for the awesome pics!

[aaron_latimer]

Honestly was super nervous to polish/wax my car. Thankfully the compound I used isnt too aggresive. So it helped a novice like me. One day I'll be pro at it haha. Check it out.

[6ixbrz]

I may have gone a little over board here, but I deep cleaned my stock wheels and put a protective coating on them to help with future washes and brake dust.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by aaron_latimer

Honestly was super nervous to polish/wax my car. Thankfully the compound I used isnt too aggresive. So it helped a novice like me. One day I'll be pro at it haha. Check it out.

we've got a few threads for this, both showing off, and asking questions!

couple notes for the future:

yeah, it usually takes me about 1-2 full days to do a car-- i'll usually try washing/claying the night before, and then it leaves the entire day for buffing and waxing, with time to clean up the interior while the wax is setting up in the end. last time i did my car, i was doing it at 4-5hr stints at night, it took me a full week.

did you use the same bucket/soap/mitt on the wheels as you did on the rest of the car?

did you clay bar the car after washing but before buffing? claying the car makes for the best paint setup-- it will strip off any contaminants in the paint, which means you need to do less work with the buffer to get a nice finish.

i use the larger 'professional' buffer from HF(harder to learn with, but can offer better technique in certain circumstances, you got the right one for starters), i usually leave it at about halfway on the speed, but then bump the trigger to dial in the speed i really want the pad to spin at..

it looks like you did most of it outside, car detailing is best done in the shade. for that, i usually empty out the garage and park it in the middle of the two bays, or set up some canopies over the car. the reason it's best done in the shade is that it keeps the paint and body panel temperatures consistent across panels. buffing heats up the paint and 'moves' it around on the car-- all things equal, if you're buffing a scratch that goes across an area that's in the shade, but also in the sun, the same force/time spent into the buffer to correct the scratch in the shaded area will be 2-4 times more force/time than the sunny area will need.

i've also found that working outside doesn't have the greatest of light-- i strapped a 4' led work light to a hand truck so i could see the blemishes in every panel. in the past, i've used halogen lights sitting on the floor, or those drop-down 'work lights' to see where blemishes are and how far i need to correct them. it becomes very easy to miss parts of the body that you regret later not addressing!

one of the techniques that i always try to teach people is to treat the paint as a very firm clay that you're smearing around on the car body. pushing in one direction and then pushing the opposite direction can help balance and fill in blemishes that just straight moving from one side to the other won't fix. for me, it also helps understand that if you put way too much pressure in, it can cause damage to the surface, just as sticking your finger into the side of a clay pot


and lastly, i don't really ever use all 3 steps. i vary everything based on how bad it really looks. compound is the most abrasive, polish is least abrasive.

for things like bird poop stains, and scratches that are very obvious but can't be felt with a fingernail, a compound is really needed, or double the work with polish (i usually just either put some compound on a towel and work it by hand, or will use the machine and do a double-pass with polish to get the same effect). for water spots, and scratches that can be just barely be seen, the polish is all you need.

you're going to notice this in about 2-3 days now, but painters tape is your friend. any black textured plastic pieces that you might have accidentally bumped with the buffer pad and the compound/polish are going to turn white in those spots(i haven't met anyone that can do a whole car and not hit a few of them). so before you start, it's best to cover over all those spots with blue painters tape to minimize the damage(and blue painters tape doesn't like to release if it's been out in the sun for a while, another reason to do it in the shade!). those pieces can be brought back by mothers Back To Black, or similar products, but it's really a pain to use-- it requires multiple recoatings, and seems to wear off very fast.

and lastly, i hope you had fun! there's ways to do it faster, and there's ways to do it slower. but the most important thing to take away from it is that there's a million different ways, techniques, and products to do it, and they all end up with the same result!

[N_Raged]

Changed the oil for upcoming track days. First time doing it myself on this car, easiest oil change I've ever done - no engine covers, no cartridge filters (my Saab had).

[SUSPECT_BRZ]

I drove it to work, owned it for almost two months and there is only 600KM on the clock...

[Kiske]

Spent the weekend prepping the ol' Turbo kit for sale. Just waiting on a couple of replacement silicone couplers to arrive. Hope it will bring just enough to let me finish my other engine build. :P

[MrSkubi]

Got this. Now it's off to ceramic coating. Can't wait to finally install it

[thomasmryan]

nice pipes.




flushed the clutch system with fresh fluid. it needed it.

[N_Raged]

New pads and fluid

[weederr33]

Changed my rear brake pads after 52k miles. Man, I love how easy it is on the Brembos!

[JD001]

Originally Posted by weederr33

Changed my rear brake pads after 52k miles. Man, I love how easy it is on the Brembos!

Can you see the state of pads without taking the wheels?

[weederr33]

Originally Posted by JD001

Can you see the state of pads without taking the wheels?

Actually yes! I can get a good idea of how low they are. If you peek at the top or bottom of the caliper you can see. Of course, not for the inside pad though.

[JD001]

Originally Posted by weederr33

Actually yes! I can get a good idea of how low they are. If you peek at the top or bottom of the caliper you can see. Of course, not for the inside pad though.

Brilliant design!! It'd make quite a few forum members very happy..