-DAvo

yeah i can understand your concern but let me part with some of my personal experiences... i admit i got sucked into the whole "toyota genuine paint protection/never wax your car ever again hype" when we bought the aurion... however upon taking delivery of the car this is what i have found 1. the car was COVERED in swirls and light scratches... 2. the car surface did not feel anything like a waxed car should feel like 3. the car did not bead water as effectively as a waxed car should. now seeing as the paint protection apparently costs $900.00 from toyota we were to say the least disappointed.. it was at this point that i decided to take paint protection and maintaince into my own hands.. and have gone as far as prohibiting toyota from washing the car during services.. now perhaps this was my own experience and my experiance only. but none the less it has 100% jaded my view on factory paint protection. any car i purchase in the future i will insist it does not come with paint protection.. just the factory paint job and clear coat and ill take it from there! so IMHO if i was you, the first thing id be doing is stripping off the poor excuse that toyota use for a "paint sealant" and take the condition of your car's surface into your own hands. anyway. besides that rant, to answer your question: a clay kit such as meaguiars or even mothers clay bar will be non abrasive.. all you are doing is essentially "plucking" the contaminants which regular washing mits and shampoo cannot lift off the surface.. unless your toyota dealership is part owned by hardcore car detailers, then i can almost guarentee that there will be surface contaminates on your paint... in terms of using the mild paint cleaner on your clearcoat before you lay down your own layers of paint protection, think of it this way, to get the best protection/longevity/shine/reflection/bond between your surface and the sealant all comes down to the initial prep you do prior to applying that sealant... a bit of the ol "Prior Preperation Prevents Piss Poor Protection" :P and if you are worried about "wearing down" your clear coat layer, have a read of this thread http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4013 hope this helps, as has been said here, you will eventually work out your own car care methods which work for you.. good luck :)

you have a nice bum daryl.... ;)

;) obviously you can get much more hardcore than that, but if you do it right the first time up, you should minimize your work down the track... other tips: invest in good quality microfibre towels, chamois, and lambswool wash mit. allow proper cure time for your wax layers

For those of us located on the west coast: if you are chasing toyota genuine parts then i would highly recommend you go and see Rodney (and only Rodney) at Scarboro Toyota Parts.. he has been amazing at ordering all kinds of strange parts i have requested from him... and was even willing to source TRD parts for me if i was willing! plus he gives great prices!! for servicing: i would recommend city toyota in northbridge... despite the fact that i insisted that they NOT wash my car on three (3) seperate occasions, and they STILL washed the car.. i will go back to them for 2 reasons 1. they were VERY prompt to reply to my complaint that i lodged via email (called me back within a few hours) and i spoke directly to the service manager AND the mechanic who worked on my car, both offered a sincere apology and they have promised me that my car will never be washed through their dealership again unless i tell them to... time will tell if they hold on this.. 2. their mechanical service was excellent! i asked for genuine toyota full synthetic oil, they provided mobil1 full syn at the same price. car is running great, and the service was excellent. they arrange a hire car no worries (top of the wozza prius) so given their faults, i believe their high level of customer service will definately see me back again for my next service :) my 2c

Phone: Samsung Omnia Mount: non - sits in the tray in the centre consol area.. Music: Pioneer AVH-4150DVD... althou i am looking at getting the new AVIC-F20BTwhen it becomes available here... yeew!

looking great there!! nice shine you got going ;) IMO id definately save for coilivers... i thought i'd take the "cheap" route and get springs... ended up buying coilovers within a few months anyway.. haha good luck with it all :) and keep up the polishing!!! :)

im liking it atm mate! but yeah definately colour code the eye lids... as for the number plate backing.. its dead simple. just remove your number plate and all will be clear.. just two bolts to undo to remove the plate holder.. it has 2 press in clips that locate it onto the bumper so just yank it out towards yourself once the bolts are off.. all i did with mine was sand it down smooth, few layers of primer, few layers of white gloss form autopro, and then buffed the buggery out of it with meguiars ultimate compound, followed by scratch x 2,0, then M205, and then finally with lots of layers of nxt 2.0. still holding up great! heres an idea.. if you're keen on the black and white theme, paint your emblem white.....? maybe... but may look a bit tacky.. not sure...

thanks Lee, yeah i got it done a while ago just haven't had the motivation to go and take photos of it... birthday pressie to myself is partly sitting in my garage atm.. still a few more parts yet to arrive... and yeah i dont sleep much lol... will try and get some daytime shots, althou in my defence.. the pics of the coilovers earlier in my thread were taken during the day :P :P :P unique - yeah it would definately, but it would also burn a nasty hole in my bank balance :P maybe later down the track when i really have nothing else i wanna do to the car :P plus from doing some research into it a while ago, the only place here in perth that does sunroofs offer 1 model only to fit the aurion.. and its not my taste (twin glassed sunroof)

signing in to the grille club. yeeeww! im liking it better now compared to when it was all chrome..

couple of minor changes since last time i posted here.. got my chrome grille painted... left the outer edge chrome and had the rest done in a metallic gun metal... also finally got some pics of the interior footwell lighting that i had done as well... they look blue in the photo but their really a 5000kish white colour... and then gave her a wash tonight with a layer of meguiars ultimate quik wax.... will be undergoing a pretty major mod in the next month or so, will have the first parts of it by tomorrow.. yay! also showing the stance she now has... sitting lower than when she only had springs.. much nicer IMO..

price drop! $300.00 local sale!!!

thanks lee :) having a great day so far (even at work!) yeah coilies couldnt be better! loving the ride more and more everyday!! :)

took off my front mudguards (after scraping them on a mofo of a driveway) and repainted them... then whilst watching the tour de france, hit them with a good few passes of ultimate compound and scratchx 2.0. very impressed with both compounds cutting ability... didnt even wet n dry! here are some b4 and after shots... :P not perfect but good enough for me... now just waiting for the nxt 2.0 layer to dry before i apply a clear contact protectant :P now to be more careful of steep driveways :P Before: After:

bump, will take offers! time to grab some near brand new springs people!

well those of you in perth will know what the weather was like today.. (http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDW28001.txt) but i still stuck to my schedule and washed the aurion inbetween showers... drove her out of the garage, quickly washed and rinsed her, then parked her back inside still dripping wet.. then did all the drying inside... also layed down another layer of nxt 2.0 so nwo all i need to do is wash and maintain with ultimate quik wax for the next 2 weeks until i apply another layer :) also applied autoglym glass polish and rain x to all windows, topped up the water tank with rainx additive, and cleaned the inside of the car.. car is now sitting peacefully in her garage, with the wax curing nicely.. ready to be driven out in the mucky rain and crap tomorrow :P

time to start saving.... B)

:o :D :D :o brings the whole meaning of "bling" to a new level.. now to clearcoat over it all and lock in the sparkle ;)

i dunno, it might just be my car but ive never had a issue with fogging windows in my aurion... all my interior windows are cleaned using meguiars no smear glass cleaner.. what i normally do when i get in the car and its really cold outside (8 degrees and below) is i drive until the engine warms up, then turn on the heater (without pressing the AC on) at the hottest setting. let it warm the inside of the car up, and then simply turn off the fan while still having the temperature knob at the hottest... i find while driving along the warm air drawn from outside (possibly within the engine bay) keeps the interior warm enough to not fog up while being pretty comfortable... just my 2c on this...

bump it up

lol your white car has got to be the most condom-ed white aurion around. 2 coats of GC+ and then another 2 of NXT2.0 i mean i like my car, but i dont love it like that - thats for sure! LOL - but also because when i detail other cars...makes me sad that i dont drive them LOL lame. interesting re super resin polish. ive always been curious about autoglym products - primarily because its the only product the royal family garage detailers use (the mechanics/detailers responsible for the queen's armada of vehicles used for transport). however, there just isnt enough education out there to get the know-how and usage of their products right. directions on the back of the bottle are one thing, having resources to share the secrets to getting the best out of the product is another. and i also find that they dont have their own detailing materials to use in conjunction with their products. they might have them in the UK, but in aust they dont. so u end up buying meguiar's application pads or other materials... there are also lack of products that can be used for serious paint defect removals, most of their products are 'apply with cloth and let the product work itself' kinda thing. so what to do? meguiar's. lol. definately agree with you on their lack of product backing info and lack of a serious paint defect remover.. however my train of thought was my surface has minimal defects (for a daily driver) and i wasnt in the mood to break out the DA and hit the surface with 205... so i was originally out looking for M05, a polish which i could easily apply, let haze over and remove with ease... but none of the stores here in perth that i went to stocked it... ended up with the AG stuff just for giggles and was very impressed by it.. i treated it as users on autopia and other detailing websites suggested.. applied over the entire car, let it sit for a good 15 mins, and then buff off. worked very well and realistically there wasnt a great need for a sealant step (as the AG contains its own sealant) but i will always always finish off with a meguiars sealant/wax to ensure protection. as for applicators etc, i wouldnt use anything else apart from meguiars anyway (i do use the mothers wax attack red pad thou with the wax attack buffer)... as i find their applicators and microfibres unbeatable... but yeah, anyone on this forum should know im a die hard megs fan, but i will say that i was pleasently suprised with the AG super resin and will definately be using it again in the future... i can only imagine what the car will look like with a fully washed, clayed, 205'ed, AG super resin polish, NXT 2.0, and topped off with a Canubra layer would shine like... cant wait for summer.....

Ok so today i decided to step outside my safety bubble that is the meguiars product range, and purchased a bottle of AutoGlym Super resin polish.. now the descriptions were a bit vauge, its name would lead you to believe it is just a polishing agent... not so. it is acctually a cleaner/polish/sealant.. anyway, i washed the car, clayed it, and then applied the super resin polish with a mothers wax attack buffer, let it haze up, and remove. application was very easy, the polish is a similar consistency of Meguiars M07. removal was super super easy. left behind a very nice gloss, even for a white car! seemed to give it a depth similar to when the car had 2 coast of gold class plus on it.. minor swirls were filled in, and hazing which had occured through my laziness these past few weeks were gone. the shine was very clear and smooth. i was very impressed with the gloss and reflections i was getting from this product - even on a white car! i left it to sit for a few hours and then topped with 2 layers of NXT 2.0, will reapply the final coat tomorrow. and then regular maintainence with meguiars Ultimate wash and wax and meguiars ultimate quik wax. should prove to be a very durable combo! conclusion - i think the super resin polish has a place in my detailing kit! very easy to use product which produces very good results.. even thou it is a "all in one" product, i still choose to top it off with meguiars NXT 2.0 for that extra protection and a even more gloss! inter-branding FTW!

just moved the rear coilover adjusters so they dont clang on the rear boot shell. have pretty much found my ideal setting for city driving with the coilovers..

whoo the photo i took of DRE's car got in! yeeewww!

Hey everyone so the scenario is this: i will be taking a drive into the country (3 hours down south of perth to margret river) in a few months, and im a little concerned about stone chips/general crap that will get smashed into my front bumper/bonnet... now i was wanting to come up with a simple DIY temporary protection for the front end of the car... my thoughts so far are this: 1. purchase a few rolls of clear contact paper (the stuff you used to cover your school books with) and just lay some on the front bonnet and front bar... 2. fresh out of possible ideas i want to keep it as cheap as possible (as i dont travel into the country much) but would like it to at least stop major damage from occuring... as my last car got pelted with small stone chips when i drove down south... couple of questions that i have thought of: a. will the adhesive on the contact be strong enough to hold itself onto the paintwork/clearcoat? b. will the adhesive DAMAGE the paintwork/clearcoat c. should i stop being a cheapa$$ and just buy a toyota genuine bonnet protector (although i still dont know what to do about the front bumper) i have seen clear contact kits specifically for cars, but they are pretty expensive (althou in their defence- much cheaper than a respray) any input would be great, if you have your own method, id love to hear it... Dave

ive been running mine at about 6 clicks in from softest and to me they feel better than stock.. i am going to try them at a super soft setting tonight and see if i like it.. but for me, the 6-8 click mark seems to be a good setting..