danja

Cheers Dutchie. I put a Whiteline front sway in a VT Commodore a few years back, it was great, but the cost an arm and a leg in labour because they have to drop the whole front cross-member on those cars to get the front sway on - so I know how the labour costs can end up ;) Glad you're happy with yours, IMO suspension mods are among the best bang-for-buck you can spend on your car, far beyond anything you can do to the engine or bodykit/wheels etc. Only other thing I'd say that comes close in bang-for-buck are stereo mods.

Personally I use this stuff: http://www.carcareproducts.com.au/product/...rate/default-33 It's quite reasonably priced and works very well, lasts forever because you only need about 2 capfuls for a whole bucket, and smells like cherries to boot :) The other big tip (which you may know already) is to use the 2-bucket method of washing. This just means having two buckets, one with car wash shampoo in it, and the other just having plain water. When washing, dip your wash-mitt/sponge in the shampoo, then use it to wash the dirt off, then after doing a panel, rinse the mitt in the plain water bucket. This rinses the dirt and grime into the "dirty" bucket, and stops it getting back into the "clean" bucket where it will end up going back onto the car and leave micro-scratches in the paint work.

From what I've read/heard about it, it sounds like a design fault in the pedals being manufactured by CTS. At the end of the day it's Toyota's responsibility to ensure that both the design and QC of the parts they are using in their vehicles is up to standard. In this case it seems as though one or both of those boxes wasn't ticked. Given it sounds like it takes some time for the problem to manifest, and even then the failure rates are quite low (5 cars in however many thousand or million produced with this part?) I'm not too alarmed by this, even if it did effect the Aussie market. All said and done I'm impressed Toyota decided to setup up and deal authoritatively with the problem, and hasn't buck-passed too much. It's no small thing to completely shutdown production for several weeks. Add the cost of repairs to existing vehicles, this is going to be a very, very expensive exercise for them. Expect the next-gen Toyota pedals to be designed by a NASA engineer and laser-cut out of space-grade titanium - it'll still be cheaper than going through this process again!

Are they readily removable without messing up the paintwork? Also, which part lights up??

I'd argue that anyone who hears the word "torque" and then thinks they need a breaker bar to do up a sump plug, should probably just leave it to the professionals True, you don't always need a torque wrench to get the desired result, but it never hurts either provided you know the right torque spec.

Looks spanky! :) Are you running the stock shocks with that setup? Also, if you don't mind telling, can I ask how much it all cost? DIY fitting or installed by a shop?

Torquing doesn't mean over-tightening, it means tightening to specification. If you look at pretty much any factory workshop manual, it'll have a torque spec for just about everything - from something like 120Nm for wheel nuts, to 5Nm for the screws that hold the dash together. Sump plugs are usually around 25Nm, and its a much better idea to use a torque wrench to get it right than to guess by hand, because what "hand tight" means to you, might be completely different to what it means to me - even the same person can change depending on how tired they are etc. Have you ever gone to undo a tap you did up the day before and said to yourself "Damn, I turned that tap off tight!"? And yes, having a suitable washer is also important.

...or just torque your sump plug properly next time :P

Hey, it's your money I'm not bothered how you spend it - as you noticed you got a slightly better price on the car, so I suppose you could rationalise it as "part of the package" :) They claim there is a warranty on the paint, so if it does get marked from bird poop, tree sap etc they'll in theory detail it out for you - I have heard some horror stories about trying get actually get the warranty honoured though. My suggestion would be to wax your car every 3-6 months anyway with a good quality canubra wax regardless of your protection package, and make sure you wash the car with a wax-friendly detergent (which they seem to give you with the package I gather?) every 2-4 weeks. That way you'll be doubly insured - and your car will look great! I have heard of some people who think they can get the paint package, then not wash their car for 3 years and expect it to be in perfect condition - just ain't gonna happen

Wow, I just purchased exactly the same car! 2010 Levin ZR, manual, graphite. I paid $30,000 driveaway, with tint, floor mats, weather shields (the things that go on the windows), and boot liner. I opted out of all the protection packs they try to push on you after the sale has been made. They really are a huge scam. The paint protection is just an application of wax, the fabric protection is just ScotchGard - both of these things you can do yourself for a tiny fraction of the price. Rust proofing is unnecessary on a modern car unless you subject it to really extreme conditions like driving on salted roads or through salt water. Many dealerships are selling electronic rust-proofing these days, which is a box which bolts to your firewall and is supposed to "charge" the chassis such that the electrochemical reaction which causes rusting does not take place. The science is basically sound, but real-life reports of their effectiveness are very mixed. Either way, if you did want this you can buy the unit yourself for about $150 and install it (or get a sparky to do it) and come in well under the $500-odd the dealer will want. The last one they tried on me was sound deadening, which is the bitumen-based spray on stuff you can find at auto stores - they apply it to the underbody. Again if you wanted it you could do it yourself, or have it done professionally for much cheaper. I found the car to be pretty quiet stock, so didn't bother. Anyway, car arrives in about a month - looking forward to it! My first car was an AE82, so I feel like I'm going back to my roots. The car I'm parting with is a 2004 Commodore SS, so it's going to be an interesting transition ;)