-DAvo

Hey everyone, Not sure if I should be posting this in the "workshop submission" section, as due to my noobness electrical knowledge I am not sure if the batteries will be different between car models. Basically my situation is - I am wanting to replace my battery for a higher performance battery, as I find myself powering a number of electrical items in the car that were not intended from the factory. (such as a upgraded sound system, HID lights, LED bumper brake lights, interior foot well LED lighting) now i do have plans on adding more power to my sound system with the swapping of my alpine MRP amps to some more powerful PDX amps, and i dont want to be straining my existing stock battery. am currently set up with Alpine MRP M500 mono block, alpine MRP 4 channel amp, Rockford 140Amp Circuit Breaker, Rockford Distribution Block, Rockford RCA Leads, 4 & 8 Gauge Power Cable can anyone recommend a good quality battery which will serve my needs? and am i even headed down the right track in upgrading the battery? Thanks in advance

Ok, so just a quick update, it has been a few days since i last washed my car with meguiars ultimate wash and wax, and today being the day that i apply my wax layers for the week. I have had the opportunity to test the product through some pretty average weather (perth has been cold and rainy the last few days, with the roads slick with dried up oil from the dry break, BUT also with some sunny periods that are just ripe for instilling the ever popular water marks onto your cars surface!) so would just like to post some of my thoughts to help those who are still "umming" and "ahhing" about the product. few observations: 1. The car does retain some "beading" properties, however i found that the product causes water to "sheet" off the car surface instead. That is, after parking the car outside for a good few horus while at dinner, with rain periods on and off, AND parked under a tree (yes i deliberately tired abuse my surface as much as i myself could withstand :P) i found the car to have the water beaded up in small clumps which ranged from 50c coin size beads to small ball bearing size beads. as soon as the car started moving, the water seemed to "clump" together and sheet off the surface. leaving the front, roof, and front fender of the car virtually "water free" 2. in dealing with sun induced water marks. I did park my car at work during the day, in which there was period of dark cloudy showers and also intermitent sunny periods... result - watermarks! yay! now the car surface still maintained a "smooth to the touch" feel of a properly waxed car. windows were definately another issue and need to be hit with some autoglym glass polish to remove the water marks. No major water marks visible on the car body (at all angles of view) arrievd at my car at the end of the day to find the paint work still reflective and deep looking, but poor windows. conclusions: still IMO a superior product to other brands i have used in my time. (not only meguiars but also brands from kitten, mothers, armor all, eagle one) overall i am satisfied with the product, as long as you dont expect it to be a substitue for a good layer of quality wax, you should also be happy with it.. i WOULD like to see a product i the future that will somehow combine more of the hydrophobic properties of NXT 2.0 with the depth and shine from the meguiars wash and wax, as you do sacrifice a SMALL amount of that "water just doesnt want to come anywhere near my car" property that NXT 2.0 instills. but that will be for the future..

thanks for the input daryl, i will definately attempt to fill in the background better on my next photoshoot.. i am pretty happy with the location i have there so will work around it. yeah you should definately travel over to perth sometime mate, i wouldnt say the city is HUGE and busy, but taking a nice spirited drive into the ssouth west is certainly good fun wth great scenery ;) thanks again and keep the comments coming, would love to know how i can improve on them!

waxing your headlights is absolutely fine. i routinely wax over my headlights everytime i wax my car. you are correct in that a synthetic sealent type of wax will be the best. not sure of what other brands may have in the synthetic waxes but i have alwasy used meguiars nxt 2.0 on my headlights. apply it liberally over the headlight, let it set for 10-15mins, and then buff off. ;)

yeah i only park there temporarily while i wash the car, most of the other times its parked inside my garage ;)

so went out tonight and took a few snaps.... :)

i know! :P whats goin on!?!?! whats happening with your ride bro? when we gonna see you up and about again!?

Ok, so having tested out the new meguiars wash and wax product, ive come to a few conclusions of my own... before you continue reading please note that these are my own personal opinions, the beauty of car detailing is that what one product produces may be appealing to one user and at the same time not appealing to another. its all in the eye of the beholder. So to start off with, my car surface currently has 2 coats of Nxt 2.0, has not been buffed for a good while now as it is getting into winter and ive been away overseas for a while. it was buffed and majority of swirls and marks were removed prior to leaving overseas about a month ago. previously i have used meguiars softbuff wash, meguiars nxt gen wash, mothers california gold wash, and meguiars gold class wash. to date i still use gold class shampoo as my main car wash product. (the product was applied via a meguiars lambswool wash mit, using the two bucket method.) first thing i noticed about the Meguiars wash and wax is the aroma.. while the gold class/nxt/soft buff all have a more "perfume" type of smell.. the was and wax has a very sweet almost candy like smell to it.. Suds - this product foams up like a mofo! awsome suds, i would say better than gold class. still had plenty of suds left after i had washed the entire car and wheels. very very good lubrication, running the wash mit over the car surface was very reassuring that no swirls or scratches would be introduced via the wash mit. Results - astounding. breath taking. wow. The back of the label states that it has "carnuba and polymer" protectants... i have not used a carwash that has left my car surface feeling this slick ever. gold class comes close, but after a wash with meguiars wash and wax, it feels exactly how the car felt prior to the wash with 2 layers of nxt 2.0... (if not a bit slicker due to the daily contaminents being removed) gloss is (to my eyes)deeper and very reflective (see attached photos) water sheeting ability was excellent. removing the spray nozel from the hose and rising from top down with a steady stream of water ment that most of the water was sheeted off the car, with me being able to dry the car to an acceptable level (in my terms) with a single meguiars chamois. points to note: i found that best results were acheived if you let the product "dwell" on the car surface for about 4-5mins. that is once you soap the car up, step away for about 5 mins... go wash your wash mit, clean your buckets, and THEN rise the soap off... in my experience it seemed to let the "protecting" agents of the wash do their job.. recommendation: would highly recommend this to anyone looking to maintain their waxed car surface inbetween waxing sessions. it certainly is NOT a replacement for a good quality wax layer, and i would only recommend this as a "inbetween waxing session" wash. I wouldnt use this wash if i was about to buff the car, as i feel it would be a waste of product.. thats what my gold class wash will now be used for. cons of the product - price. at $24.00 for a largish bottle of this stuff it certainly places it in the more expensive washing products. - availability. being new to the market (in WA at least) it can only be found at certain locations, i suspect this will improve in time Thanks for reading and hope you found this helpful, please post any comments. :) Dave photos:

thanks for the comments, yeah i love the wide angle... its acctually a 10-20 and i find it awsome for car work... at the 10mm end it acts almost to the same effect as a fisheye..

flickr.com/photos/davidchaiphotography/ Vick - DRE unfortunately didnt not attend.. yellow canary prevented him from attending.. :( 5IDER - thanks mate :) mole - yeah i did, most of them are up on my flickr account but will post more tinight

likewise mate, hope to see you for the next photoshoot! love that trd... B)

hey guys, big thanks to all that turned up tonight! was great to meet some new members and also to catch up with some familiar faces! would be super keen to do this al again, i think we have a good location at southperth but am open to any ideas. hopefully we can get even more cars on the next one! (im looking at you and1, chicken, cypher etc etc) anyway, have posted up some photos in the photography thread link so check them out.. anyway stay tuned for the next shoot. will give plenty of advance notice this time so you can shine up the cars! p.s was GREAT to see some other aurions tonight!!! had a "glowing hot gold" sportivo and a "no introduction needed" TRD! yeooow! hope you like the photos

couple of non toyotas

couple from tonight god i love that TRD...

as i said in my past posts. if your keen, try it out on your dads van before touching a paintjob which you care about... and yes the 8006 pad will work

noice! well i will see ya;ll there!! be there or be square!! :P p.s bring a jumper, gonna be a bit chilly tonight me thinks

double post.

mega mega nay. those pads are wayy too soft to be used on a rotary... and i can just imagine that backing plate scratching your paint something horrible when it touches while spinning at speed. dont jump ahead of yourself mate, if your really keen to get onto the rotary, go to the wreckers and buy a old bonnet and go nuts on it. plus you would want to invest in some good compounds like M105 any M205, and pads specific for the rotary too...

oh god why did you have to post that up vick!?!? such a bad influence! :P

so far 1. byw 2. gonzalis 3. mole(?) 4. me (duh) 5. y try 6. toyota freak ive got a couple of mates who will probably rock up too, ones dirving a madass fc rx7 and another a subaru. just a freindly get together to meet other users here! all are welcome toyota and non toyotas :) just pls no hooning. :) would be great to get more aurions in! i see so many hot aurions on the rd but dunno if their anyone on here! so aurion owners... im looking at YOU!!!

yep ive used the wash soap as lube for my claybar.. but only when i know i wont use the bar again as the soap tends to break it down after a while... id say all the meguiars washes are pretty good, im not a fan of the nxt wash thou, as i found it stripped my wax (nxt 2.0) of its hydrophobic properties too quickly.. great for wheels thou! overall i agree, it certainly doesnt suck, but its more of a personal preference thing! - im still loyal to the goldclass but would like to see what the ultimate wash and wax can offer up. (if you think nxt smells good, try gold class!) :)

awsome! no more waiting for rello's to come back from OS!! will be sure to stock up on the liquid stuff... not a fan of paste wax! :(