What have you done to your car today?

[Fastcarguy]

I am considering getting a roof rack for functional reasons. Canoes/ kayaks in the summer and skis/snowboards in the winter. A local shop quoted about $400 for parts and labor with a 1 year warranty if it falls off my roof for any reason. The rack I'm looking at is the Thule 480 Traverse, in black. I could also mount a cargo box to these to increase cargo capacity on long trips. Thoughts?

 

[HuskyGT]

Did an alignment and oil change.

Later today I'm planning on detailing it. I'm also saving for a couple of flowmaster mufflers, as this car is painfully quiet. Got to hear those 300 ponies.

 

[CyborgGT]

I am considering getting a roof rack for functional reasons. Canoes/ kayaks in the summer and skis/snowboards in the winter. A local shop quoted about $400 for parts and labor with a 1 year warranty if it falls off my roof for any reason. The rack I'm looking at is the Thule 480 Traverse, in black. I could also mount a cargo box to these to increase cargo capacity on long trips. Thoughts?

I'm not into the roof rack life, but the versatility of that model sounds like a good choice, and the cost isn't bad. If it doesn't fall off within a year, it probably won't later.



I just got done installing a new VTEC solenoid. My RSX was throwing a code for either that or the oil pressure switch attached to it. It's rare for those things to fail, so it could have just been a clogged filter, or the fact that the gasket was leaking. I did have an oil pressure switch on the transmission go out on me a while back. But since the car's got 203,000 miles I just replaced the whole thing. Peace of mind. Painted the heat shield high-temp black to help against corrosion, but in hindsight I should have shot the entire solenoid in high temp clear to preserve its new appearance. Oh well. Nice and easy job, and wasn't too expensive.

 

[fortbo]

This explains it pretty well, it's much louder in person than in the video, but you get the idea of how good it sounds.

 

[CyborgGT]

That is glorious!

I finally ordered the last two gauges I needed to complete my hidden glove box cluster for the wagon project. Don't mind the dirt, it's a junkyard box I used to get the design down.

Wideband, exhaust temp (of course, AEM came out with a digital EGT gauge right after I bought that analog one), fuel press, oil press.

 

[Grayfox]

Replaced the standard chrome lug nuts with some black ones.
The new ones are a little longer so they stick out of the wheel a little which I do not mind at all.

Before

After

Comparison between lug nuts

 

[Leicht]

Change the oil filter and motor oil at 5000km

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

Fitted LED side lights drls and fogs

 

[Grayfox]

Fitted LED side lights drls and fogs

You are a horrible person if you were using that place to clean your car.

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

You area horrible person if you were using that place to clean your car.

The car went through a full paint correction and maintance detail the week before it just needed a jet was to get the dirty off.

 

[Grayfox]

Was on Wednesday.

But did a decarb of the engine, changed oil, changed oil filter.

On the weekend I will most likely change coolant.
Got a new thermostat ready.

 

[Grayfox]

Replaced the coolant and thermostat.

 

[XJ40]

Went to put petrol in it and found this...
Turned out to be a blocked drain so saw to that.

I would have loved to see the look on anyone's face seeing me do this!

Success.

 

[Grayfox]

I changed the gearbox oil and rear diff oil.
I now smell like cat pee.

On the plus side, shifting is now smooth, despite the 4mm of metal shavings that were on the magnet

 

[MedigoFlame]

Replaced the muffler and rear shocks on the Sportcross.

The rear shocks were "fun" to do.... Had to basically take apart all the trim and carpet pieces out of the back to access them.

 

[SVX]

Replaced the muffler and rear shocks on the Sportcross.

The rear shocks were "fun" to do.... Had to basically take apart all the trim and carpet pieces out of the back to access them.

I had the same with my car. Removing the interior to get to the rear shocks actually took longer than changing the shocks themselves.

 

[MedigoFlame]

I had the same with my car. Removing the interior to get to the rear shocks actually took longer than changing the shocks themselves.

Haha, seems to be that way with wagons. Upside, easier access. Downside, much more stuff in the way. Definitely didn't help that there were a bunch of hooks bolted down holding the carpet.

 

[DesertPenguin09]

I have a 2015 Toyota Corolla LE in dark grey. I have taken the crappy plastic off the wheels to discover relatively pristine black steelies with shiny (probably not chrome) lug nuts. I've seen basic cars around town like Civics and what not with what looks like steelies as a factory option and I like the look. A bit of classic but all business.

Mine have a bit of rust on them so I worked on getting it off with a Brillo pad but it's mixed with soap so I need traditional basic steel wool to get into the little crevices between the nuts. Then I plan to paint them black since the rust cleaning created scratch marks. I've seen a bunch of videos on painting rims without removing the tire and it's easy, just stick a bunch of index card around the rim and if you wanna go crazy tape newspaper to that and fully cover the rubber to prevent any overspray. Two coats on each rim can be done with a single can and that should be enough. Maybe one coat of clear coat to keep it from getting dirty as fast?

My only real issue with the project is how long it will take because I can't take the wheels off the car. I can obviously do one wheel at a time by replacing it with the spare but that will take forever. I have no way of taking off all four wheels and propping the car up. Any suggestions there or just do it with the wheels on the car? I'm afraid of overspray on the car and have no idea how to protect that safely.

 

[CyborgGT]

Wow, that's quite the architecture in the back of that Sportcross.

I went to the junkyard the other day hoping to find a couple cheap body panels with good paint as a temporary fix, rather than paying to have mine repainted. Or a driver's seat that wasn't torn up. No luck. But I did find this OEM all-season trunk mat. They're discontinued new, and usually go for $40-50 on the used market. I spent two dolla. Gave it a power wash and it's almost as good as new. That white thing is stuck on there real hard, but at least it's not tacky to the touch. And I figure if I keep my tool bag over that bump long enough, the weight and the heat of parking outside at work will flatten it back out.

 

[DesertPenguin09]

Can always throw a drop of matte black paint over that white bit

 

[CyborgGT]

I'll eventually do something about it.

 

[XJ40]

Fitted the new front fog lights that came the other week. £88+vat each from Jaguar, or £35 the pair from ebay. He even threw in wiring parts that I needed too!

 

[05XR8]

I used my car, as a moving van for the last two days. Well, in Japan, it IS called a Mira Van.

A friend that offered to help, couldn't get a ute. So, my stepdaughter's Honda HRV helped to moved the beds.

Biggest surprise, was my car fitting my 24"x26"x68" fridge. Couldn't shut the hatch, because the high point was touching the glass. However, the fridge was flush with the load floor. Amazing little car.

 

[notsofast]

I took my Mk6 Golf Gti into my local VW dealer for its 75k service. Had arranged for a courtesy car and expected a base spec Polo like last time. Couldn't help but laugh when they handed me the keys to a new Amarok. Haven't driven anything that big for a few years so it felt like being at the helm of a ship compared to the Golf. A lot better rearwards visibility then the Golf though. Im driving along thinking 'where is that diesel noise coming from?' and then you realise you're driving the diesel.

 

[MikeyGTR]

Got some new wheels for my R32 GTR... Needs some additional suspension adjustment though so i'm not running so much negative camber..

 

[Stotty]

After the expense of a full exhaust back in April, I've been trying to avoid motoring costs across the year. But I have tied up/fixed some odds and ends on my 996 over the last few weeks... changed the interior lights to LED's, changed sidelight bulbs to LED's, new center console lid and hinge, new front mats, new engine cover strut, replaced the cassette(!!) storage in the center console with a normal storage insert, and fitted some matt silver rings to the dials.

Center console lid was looking really battered, but a replacement part from Porsche, in the correct blue leather, was £400 + vat... usual ridiculous pricing from Porsche But I manged to find a 'leatherette' one on-line for £59... wasn't sure it would work, but it's turned out to be a perfect match.

Silver rings for the dials were from Poland via ebay... inexpensive, but they do brighten up the interior a bit...

 

[Stotty]

Well, after treating her to some new trinkets, she decided to give me a kicking this weekend (ungrateful sod!!).

Took a trip to up North to see my brother Friday. I'd given her a proper 'Italian tune up' on the M6 Toll, and was having a lovely thrash along the country lanes in Derbyshire, when the coolant low warning light started flashing. Slowed for some traffic, and saw some steam out of the rear lid, along with the temperature starting to get a bit high. Pulled off the road, switched the engine off and found coolant pissing out of the water pump.

Bugger. 4.30pm. Friday afternoon.

Managed to find a Porsche specialist in Nottingham on Google, who kindly agreed to put a new pump in Saturday am, and eventually managed to sort recovery out, with the truck picking her up at 7pm.

Picked her up Saturday lunchtime, £700 poorer for the privilege. Ran beautifully on the way home.

Also found a few spots of paint bubbling on the NS front and rear arches that will need sorting.

 

[Grayfox]

Replaced the IMRC solenoid on my mums ford focus
Hopefully

A F style vacuum splitter broke due to it being brittle, quick trip to the hardware store as a quick fix until I can find a part that is better suited to the heat of the engine bay.

 

[Grayfox]

Well one issue fixed, another one rears its ugly head.

Driver side engine mount has collapsed.
Being a weekend, ford spare parts is closed, not that I could change it as I dont have an engine lift.

 

[fortbo]

Dropped off the S4 to get the engine fixed after a blown head gasket from overheating at my last time attack event from a burst coolant hose. The guy working on the car is a friend of a friend who specializes in Audis. He is also shaving the head switch, putting in catless long tub headers, and a smoother intake.