Spiney

Spiney again, I wanted to add something. We just picked up a 2012 Fusion SEL NAV. We bought it at CarSense in Exton PA. They are a large late model, gently used Superstore chain. Our car was poorly detailed for pickup. It was full of waterspots and the wheels were dirty. I watched when we were there, they washed a SUV and set it out in the just sold area dripping wet. So as soon as we got home I broke out my Spray bottle of Optima Waterless Wash. I bought a 32 ounce concentrated bottle. You mix 1/2 ounce if I remember correctly, to 28 ounce of distilled water. I wiped her down using several clean MF towels. Then because it was too cold for regular wax I gave her a coat of Optima Quick Wax. I also cleaned up the wheels with the Waterless Wash. The car looked 110% better. It looked new. I can't wait for a warm day or spring so I can Clay the paint and either seal it or paste wax, or both.

You can read about detailing your car for weeks by going to Autogeek.net and checking out their users forums. 3 years ago we bought a garage queen very well maintained 96 SVT Cobra, black. Anyone with a black car knows how hard they are to maintain. I went to Autogeek and learned all I could. I now have a shelf full of products and a Griots Garage 6" random orbit polisher / buffer with a selection of proper Lake Country Foam pads. When I have the time I use the 2 bucket method along with a foam cannon to really suds the car up. The least amount of touching the car, the better chance I won't scratch it. 1-2x a year I clay it with the Maguiar's clay kit. I use a product called ONR as my clay lube. I forget what the O stands for but the NR is No Rinse. It's a waterless wash product that you can dilute to use as a clay lube or a Quick Detail spray. Just remembered. The O is Optima, the manufacturer. I've had 3 back surgeries and 1 failed neck surgery, hence the screen name Spiney. So sometimes it's literally a pain to haul out the hose and buckets. When I'm feeling like that I take my wife with me to the self serve car wash bay. She sprays and I wipe down with a mitt, after a. Dry good initial rinse and soaping. We then use special waffle weave guzzler MF towels I bought during the BOGO sales at Autogeek, to pat dry the car dry. When I wash at home I use the leaf blower to dry. Again less contact, and no drips. I do use a California silicon blade on the windows. Another good tip for drying is to use the open hose with just flow, not spray to flood dry the car. It seems counter intuitive, but by doing this the water will Sheath off a proper maintained paint. Another tip is on an almost dry car, you can dry and shine using a quality quick detail spray and quality clean MF towels. Stay away from cheap towels, though some people on Autogeek including Pro Detailers Swear by the bulk pack MF towels from Sam's Club or Costco. On my mustang after correcting the paint with the buffer, I wiped it down with a 20% Iso Propal Alcohol and distilled water mixture. Then used a Wipe on Walk Away Sealer called Ultima Paint Guard Plus. I did one coat, and hour later a second coat, and after letting it cure overnight added a 3rd coat. That leaves a protective very slick and shiny coat that last 6 months. I Maintain it with Ultima's Quick Detaler, which acts as a booster coat. The founder of Ultima developed the Clear Coat process for the auto industry. His sealers, QD's and waxes have a UV inhibitor to protect the CC from the suns rays. Biggest thing you must do is carry a clean MF towel in a ziplock bag to keep it clean and some Quick Detailer of your choice. Maguiar's, Mothers, Ultima, Optima, Wolfgang, etc. As soon as you see bird poop on you paint, liberally spray QD on the poop, let it soak, and gently remove it from the paint. In hot sun bird poop will eat through clear coat in as little as 5 minutes. I'm also a fan of a wax, little known outside the car fanatic world. It's called Colonite 845. It was originally developed to protect the glass insulators on power lines. It is known to provide a very long lasting shine and protection on car paint. I use it on my truck and our Volvo before its demise. I don't use it on the Cobra because we drive it very little, it's garage kept, and wax unlike sealer attracts dust. I could go on, but I've already worn out my finger on my iPad.

My wife's 98 Volvo V70 threw a timing belt, bending some valves. This made us decide to repair or replace. I wanted to repair even though it was $2500. But since it was a 98 with 118K miles my wife said cut our loses. So we went searching for a replacement. I wanted to buy a 2003-4 Mercury Marauder. I found some with low miles in the $12K range but she felt they were too big and wanted something newer with a warranty. So we headed off to CarSense a used car Superstore chain in the mid Atlantic northeast area. Ours was in Exton, PA. We fell in love with a 2012 Electric Blue Fusion Sport, but it was sold 5 minutes before we got there. So we went for the best bargain on the lot, a 2012 SEL NAV Candy Apple Red with every concievable option but park assist. It has 17,600 miles and we paid $17,660 for it. I'm into performance and couldn't get over the loss of the fine Blue Sport model. It had only 8,500 miles at the same price. But our Red SEL NAV has really grown on me and my wife loves it. Besides we have a pristine 96 SVT Cobra in the garage to fill the need for speed. Ive never had anything newer than the 98 Volvo so the NAV & Sync is like a new Christmas toy everytime we get in it. Still finding new things it does. The hardest thing for me will be to not want to mod it. But in order to preserve the warranty and the fact it's my Wife's DD, I'll squelch that urge. I'd like to start by replacing the chrome grill with something sporty looking, not a fan of chrome. She does want the front plate mount removed if it doesn't leave 2 big holes in the front bumper. Guess that's it for now. This will be our first weekend that my wife isn't working, so we can sit and figure the NAV & Sync out. One more thing. The dealer tried to push a 3rd party extended warranty. We declined, and seems like it was a good move. We have a mechanic we fully trust and in his experience anything other than the Factory extended warranties are a bad deal. So I'll be checking with Ford on that. Also Carsense offers a free lifetime engine warranty as long as you keep up with all scheduled maintainence and change the oil at 4 months or 4,000 with Castrol Oil. I know the warranty is really backed by Castrol. Glad I found yet another Ford Forum to spend time on. We are now an All Ford Family: 90 Ford Ranger 2.9 V6 5 speed handed down by my dad, our 96 SVT Cobra 4.6 DOHC 5 speed, and the new to us Fusion. Wanted to upload a pic, but I guess I don't have those priveledges yet. The choose file is greyed out.