KHIEM

i have a feeling that i can do and have the "power" the trip, yea, just a feeling. However, i dont have any idea about how the road/highway will be, is it a really dangerous highway, or mountain pass, etc.

Since i havent been to Melbourne before, so i think this is a good trip. Moreover, driving saves a bit of money too.

wat do u think?

Thank you for that :).

Yea i think its a bit risky to drive that much. Among 3 of us, 1 is 27 and holding a Full, other 2 (including me) are holidng a P1 and 20 years old.

Well when i drove to Victor Habour last year (i was a 6-month-P1 driver at that time) with 4 friends in my car (so 5 in total), i found that really enjoyable and fun. They did not make any presure on me so i drove comfortably.

What do you think the biggest danger in my situation if I drive interstate like that? Are there a lot of hazard on the way there?

Thanks mate

Hi everyone,

I and my friends plan to drive to Melbourne (we r in Adelaide atm) for this holiday. The total trip is abourt 720 kms one way. The problem is: this is my frist time ever to drive that far. So I m a bit worried about it.

I m on my P1, so just experience driving for only 1 year. Is the highway from Adelaide to Melbourne safe, so that a 1-year-drvier will feel comfy and drive there? We have about 4 people (3 can drive among them) so i think we will change driver every 150-200 kms to avoid fatigue. I heard that will be mostly 2-landed road, but not really sure, cant find any photos of the highway.

We used to drive to Victor Habour, which is 100kms from Adelaide, and drive back to Adelaide in the same day. That was so enjoyable.

So my question is: with a Corolla 05 and 3 young drivers, will there be any warning or danger if we wanna drive to Melbounre? Is there any usefull tip?

Thanks a lot everyone

Cheers

TK

LOL, you're cutting away very very thin layers each time. So unless you buff it EVERY HOUR of EVERYDAY each year, i would say no it would not be gone after 4-5years. Don't worry mate, your headlights ain't going to run off to anywhere anytime soon! =)

Just polish it in nice circles with moderate force, you don't need to apply TOO much force when polishing. Continuous rubs in circles will buff out all the scratches etcetc.

Cheers mate,

I would like to ask about the RIM paiting as well. I saw a Crash repair shop near my place (STC Crash repairer) having Spray Painting something (in their advertising), will they paint RIMs? I want my RIMS to be black but do you guy thing my car will look cook with black rim? Its color is SHIMMER, according to the registration. I dont know if black rims will look good with that color.

I use to have the genuine headlight protectors on the headlamps. Once i removed it, it had this pretty bad haze on the actual headlight themselves. I haven't put my headlight protectors back on ever since.

I doubt the protectors will prevent it from yellowing or hazing, but instead add to the hazing.

After polishing two of them, i still think that the left one is not as clear as the right one, so if i keep polishing it, it'll become clearer and clearer right? (knowing that its becoming thinner and thinner heheh)

So do u think if I keep polish my headlight in a period of say 4 or 5 years, will i loose my headlight tootallly :(... cos its getting thinner :(

The scratches are gone. Autosol is a polishing compound. So it works like REALLY REALLY REALLY fine sandpaper. The scratches won't come back unless you decide to sand your headlights again, heh. But your headlights might yellow or haze up in the future. So just grab the autosol and polish it again! Please note though, each time you polish it using autosol, you're cutting the plastic thinner and thinner.

Btw! Headlights are looking great! Good job!

Thanks KT668,

Yea, i think i have read somewhere saying that everytime we polish anything, we are eating away some of the surface paint so yea, its getting thiner and thiner. But do you think if I buy a headlight protector, which is simply a piece of plastic to place on top of the headlight will prevent it from being yellow or cloudy? or at least it prolong the time when i have to re-polish the headlight.

Thanks

after a couple of days, try washing the car and find out?

id probebly be on the safe side and reapply the autosol after a few months or so... but if it stays clear then you wouldnt need to worry anymore :P glad you sorted it out man.

Cheers mate :).

But then autosol just only makes the scratches invisible, not removing them?

Headlights which are buffed will never look the same as the original one. A panel beater can perform this, but i'm not sure of the costs involved. You're probably better off using autosol and polishing it yourself.

There is a guide on using Autosol to restore headlights on ozhonda. I'll go find it and post the link here.

edit - here you go, here.

Yea, i think so J_J

Thank KT668, i have just bought a tube of Autosol and it works for me :). The headlights look just light new, shiny and perfectly clear. I have 2 photos here:

All the scratches just disappear return a brand new look.

However, I have a question: will it be this look forever? esp. after car wash, where water and detegernt gonna wash the autosol out? Does autosol really remove all the scrathces and dirt, or it just makes them become invisible, so that we can see our stuff nice and beautiful?

Thanks everyone

J_J: yea, that sounds really harsh and scary to me :(. Thanks for your tutorial too, i am so so scared by the sandpaper right now so not sure if i m still brave to use them again :(... but i'll try..

Yuro: Thanks mate, i'll try the wrecker if the cost for buffing them is really high

But do you guys think a normal car repairer (like Crashrepair) can do this job? will it gonna be low price?

Thanks mate

The autosol will polish away the scratches left from the sandpaper. Just keep buffing it in circles using autosol and a clean cloth. Unless they are really bad deep scratches? Wet sanding should leave very fine scratches.

Yea, i used the finest sand paper to sand and i think the scratches are really fine, not huge and deep scratches (I hope). I'll go and buy autosol tomorrow and try immediately, hopes that save my headlight. Thanks for that :(...

The instruction in the Headlight restoration kid tell me to use its wet sand paper to sand the headlight to restore it :(...

To KT668: Thanks for yoru answer. If i get my car buffed, u think I should do it in a regular basis? that's quite sad for me :(. How long between each buff do you think? But then why can't we put the UV protection on it after buffing?

How much does it cost do u think? I can't find a store called Autosol like u said, do u know where? Can i just bring it to a normal Crashrepairer or a general car repairer? Do they do this kind of thing?

Autosol is a metal polish, you can pick up a tube from your local Repco store. You polish it just like you would polish a car's body. And just re-apply the process once you find that the headlights are yellowing or fogging up agains.

I'm not sure if the UV protection can be added on again. But I think that is what keeps our headlights from yellowing in the first place.

Autosol, magical stuff mate! =D

Thanks mate,

But what if the headlight has scratches on it (because of those damn sandpaper), will the polish still work? Cos physically, the surface of the headlight is damaged so i affraid that autosol won't work :)

did you follow the instructions exactly?

i read somewhere a while back that you are meant to wet the sandpaper... not just use it dry. check the back of your sandpaper.. is it wet/dry?

Thanks guys for your answer.

Yes, it is wet sandpaper, so we need to soak that into water before sanding and I did it, i soaked in water for about 10 munutes (exactly as what they say in the instruction).

If the first time I sand horizontally, the second time (using finer sand paper) I need to sand in a different way, vertically. It says the second sand should remove all the scratches from the first time, which return the headlight clear and beautiful. But After doing all of that, it looks worse :(.

To KT668: Thanks for yoru answer. If i get my car buffed, u think I should do it in a regular basis? that's quite sad for me :(. How long between each buff do you think? But then why can't we put the UV protection on it after buffing?

How much does it cost do u think? I can't find a store called Autosol like u said, do u know where? Can i just bring it to a normal Crashrepairer or a general car repairer? Do they do this kind of thing?

Thanks all

anyone knows where should I get my headlight restored?

Please help

Thanks in advance

getting worse :(....

I went to SuperCheap Auto (auto store) near my house to purchase a Headlight restoration kit this morning. I forgot the name of the kit, but it has several sand paper (with different number/level on it, depends on how bad are the headlight). I choose the lightest one to start with. I did exactly as the instruction... but after I finished my headlight (left one) just looked very terible :(. Becasue this medthod use sandpaper, so my headlight had more scratches after doing this :(.... I tried to apply the polish in the kit as the instruction told me to do so, but it didnt look any better :(.

Do you guys thing the normal Car repairer or any thing like that will know how to buff headlight or anything to rescue my situation :(... it just looks worse than before I started :(....

Here's the picture, I captured by my phone, the cloudiness of my headlight cannt be seen very clearly though :(

thanks for helping guys :(

If you want to change the colour of your wheels, best bet would be to get them powder coated.

This way it lasts longer and will not peel off easily.

You can take off the headlight protectors.

Hi,

Thanks for the advice,

What do u mean by "take off the headlight protectors"??? :(. So we take if off and what do we do next? or change a new one?

Thanks for that

any1 has a clue on this :(.

If I want to buff the headlight, then where can i get it done and how much apprx it would cost me? :(

Cheers

:(

depending on how bad your headlights are, some one told me you can buff them..not to sure tho as i havent done this...take your wheels to a smash repair shop to get them sprayed and just grab some high temp brake paint and wax and grease removed to paint your brakes...all pretty simple

The headlights are not really bad, it is just not as clear as a normal 05-rolla, looks blurry hence depreciate my car :(. Can we just buy and change the plastic thing? not a whole headlight.

If they spray my rims, how much that gonna cost me? how bout the quality of that? Does it look glossy and shinny as if a real black rim?

Thanks for your advice,

my rolla is a 05 one. I think my headlight protectors (the plastic part of the headlight) are quite blurry.... that means when u look into the "eyes" of my car, it's not very clear. I think its because of some scratches by some reasons from the previous owner. I think my question makes sense :D.

second question is: My alloys are sliver, can I get it panted black (glossy and beautiful black)? Can I paint my brake red too? Is it easy to paint rims? How much does that cost and where can I have that done?

Cheers.

I gonna get a pack of 5 of the RJR Champ 15" from Bob Jane on Monday, anyone has any comment? Is that brand name good? I don't know much about rims and alloys so... yea, need everyone's comment and opinion.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers,

Yea, I better go to da Toyota dealer and ask 'em about the key. I afrraid they don't have that kind of key for my model :-s

I have seen this one here: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/3-BUTTONS-REMOTE-KE...1QQcmdZViewItem look very stylish. Do you guys think all the buttons will work and do they sell that anywhere in SA?

It says the key does not come with the transponder chip, we should replace our curent transponder chip in. If my existing key is like that (the one i show in post #1), where can i get my transponder chip?

Thanks

thanks for your answer. I dont know if i can actually get one on ebay cos i dont know how can they have a key that is exactly like mine... do u have any link or website? Can I get the good key from Toyota?

Does anyone knows about this :(

I m just wondering if my type of Corolla, Ascent, has the remote control integrated in the key... I m currently using an external remote (with only one button, press to lock and press again to unlock the doors) with my key. I heard people saying that only the Conquest model has that type of key. Do you guys know where i can find that kind of key? From Toyota Dealer? How much does it cost (roughly)?

Cheers,

Khiem

My key

The legal limit in NSW is 35%, unless ur car is built before April 1994. That is the law 100%.

If your in Sydney, i can recommend a tinter who's family has been in the tinting industry since tinting was available in Aus. I have sent more than 10 cars to him and can vouch for the quality of his workmanship. He is a top bloke and very helpful. To let u kno, I had him tint my car all round at 25%, and after having the car for a few days, I was concerned with the legality of having such a dark tint in regards to insurance (in which it CAN void ur policy should they wish to). Im not willing to take the risk on my brand new rolla. He changed the tint to 35% for me, free of charge. No problems at all. His prices are the best in Syd, for the same quality. Also has a variety of tints available, mirror/black/whatever.

If you want his details, send me a PM or email me: calvin.w@live.com.au

If you want to see my tints first hand, be my guest.

I will try get some photos up this week!

That ssounds great man :). Thanks for your advice. I am not in Sydney, I wish I am... it's kinda hard to find a place to tint down here in SA. I dont know the MidniteExpress is 35% or 25% but it cost a lil expensive to me ($295 - in thi sale season). I gonna get my car tinted soon...