UndertheRadar

Generally when I see one of those NA units, it’s cause it needs rings. 😩

Maybe it’s road dependant? I have 18” winters on mine at the minute, and the difference between them and my 19’s is night and day, on the roads I use anyway. maybe best for the OP to test for themselves if this is the case.

That V8 your buying has a really good sized boot. I was able to fit 2 small children in it and get it closed in the Ford showroom. probably as well I know the salesmen (saleswomen also available) and now that I think of it, maybe a bit weird they want to know how many bodies you could fit in it. 😂 My favourite V8 noise is always going to be the Merc 63 unit though.

I have factory 19’s and DCC. Your dealer tells lies!!😂

The 2.3 unit is the St/RS eco boost unit. if I was only allowed one, it’s going to have to be comfort. Never thought about it much before I broke my spine, and now it’s at the top of my list. funnily enough, I had a roof vented RA years ago with the 280bhp boxer engine and factory seam welded body. Hated the interior, but what a noise!!

No, I have a westfalia removable Swan neck fitted. I keep the bag with the ball in the spare wheel well, with the wheel. process normally goes Open boot, remove bag click ball into place, trigger boot stand up, hear boot warning beep Then it’s either duck in time, or crack head on boot and then swear at it. I think the bar and a sunroof were the only options not specked on the car when new. Could never understand it as they then only kept it for just short of 5 months. Much to my benefit!!

Most stone chips if gotten to soon enough will be fine with a touch up applied with a tooth pick. Let it sit for a day and do the same again. Then leave for a day and then flatten and polish. The focus received no paint. The wing was hit lightly with 3000 and then polished with varying grades of pad and polish. The mirror cap was just polished out using the nano and a couple of different pads but with a fine polish, as mirror caps and handles etc don’t have a massive amount of paint on them. Sometimes on those items I would use say, a finishing pad with a polishing compound so as not to catch an edge. Good practise when starting, to tape handles and go over them with same compound but on a hand applicator until you get used to the feel of the machine. Just in case!!

My virtual pedal thinks it’s a gillotine. Every time I fit the towball I forget and trigger the boot and it tries to severe my head. Really must stick a post it note to the bag to remind me. 😂

While you have that panel I would use it to practise some wet sanding. Start with something like 3000. You can use water in a sprayer or clay lube, or even soak the paper in a wash bucket with soapy water. A small sanding block will help keep it uniform until you get the hang of it. I had to do 2 sections on that focus as some muppet caught it one day while my wife was in work. it’ll surprise you what you can sand out sometimes. 50/50 shots look well but they can leave you with a ridge that’s a PITA as well on a genuine panel. Rupes have a channel on you tube that’s very informative and helpful if you’ve the time to watch them.

Forgot about type of pads. I would use something like the genuine Rupes pads or something like lake country or hex logic. I would also have a range of foam, microfibre and wool pads on hand.

I have 3 rupes machines. The Rupes 15, the 75 and a nano. It’s easier than swapping plates and pads all the time. So I may have a yellow polishing pad on all of them, but use them to access different parts of the panel depending on access. passes depends on panel and paint condition. Experience will let you see the pad loading. I would prime the pad and do a section, crosshatching as I go. So I’m going to go left to right and then up and down. I’ll do this several times on the same section. Then I’ll clean the pad with the pad brush, and re-load with polish. Trick is with time you’ll get used to when the polish is running low on the pad and when your overloading the pad. The latter will make your progress go backwards. trim pieces depends very much on finish and polish and pad being used. I can run round the superb without issue but my wife’s focus for example has rubber weather strips that are a disaster and need taped. The different sized machines make the trim process a lot handier to be honest. If you have polish on black trim you can remove it with a plain white rubber. This was the focus last time I prepped it for ceramic.

I use the multiple pad route. I use the rupes pad brush to clean the pad after every pass. Last time I coated my wife’s motor I used about 12-14 pads. That’s spread between wool and foam pads and 3 different sizes. When I’m done I Chuck the lot in the washing machine at 40 with just detergent.

It was generic. I was running out of time to make the boat to let him custom map it. I had it run Once I was home and had more time to see what it was making. The map was never adjusted, I was just interested to see what the old pig had gained.

Celtic tuning do some very very good work. I would hands down install their map before I’d fit any box, even the JB4. Go and speak to them first before you make your own mind up. I had one of their maps on my last Merc, which happily ran basically 400bhp and just over 1000Nm of torque for many years without causing any issues. Has to be worth at least a chat with them about it.

I’m still waiting on my damptronics arriving in. They were supposed to be in stock and then one wasn’t or something. Anyway, Bilstein said that they would give a similar ride to the OEM shocks but with far more control. So it won’t bounce all over the place and nose dive on speed ramps. The banging and thumping will be sorted as well. I’m fitting them with standard springs as I don’t want to lower the car any further than standard height. I won’t know until they arrive and I can fit them though as to how accurate that all is.

Have you checked the spare wheel well? Some sort of a heater will aid drying. We used to put really bad Ones into the paint oven after we’d found and repaired the leak. A wee cheap dehumidifier would work wonders.

I would always buy nearly new if keeping. I bought mine 4months old. It was 47k new and with only a couple of thousand miles on it, it stands me something like 28.5k by the time I brought it over here and fitted a towbar. That’s to much of a saving to warrant buying brand new IMO.

Koni’s for non DCC and bilstein damptronics for DCC.

I use their wheel brushes, detailing brushes and wash mitts. I can’t speak for the rest of their products but the ones mentioned are all fine, work and last well.

I’d paint the entire bumper. But it depends on what you expect from it. I can’t deal with ghosting or colour issues, so I always do the entire panel.

Think there was a heat shield or a fuel pipe that used to be an issue for rattling on the bulkhead.

This made me look closer at my own rears. At a year and a half old with just turned 15k they are heavily worn and the discs are showing signs of scoring. Guess what’s getting a set of BSD’s and yellowstuff pads this summer? 😂

As above. Check the drain channel as they get blocked some times and allow the pollen filter to get wet. This then damn near stops air flow entirely depending on how wet it’s become.

Revo do a stage 2 now for the 272. With the inter cooler and intake replaced it’s something like a claimed 400bhp dependant on fuel. I’ll wait until my warranty’s expired first though. Something like an R600 intake with intake pipe and elbow would be more cost effective than the revo carbon version.

It’s not showing in the one touch adjustments. There’s nothing in the worshop section yet either. Few items in adjustments. Scandinavian drl’s and door locks, mirror dip and several others, but no traffic. Whether that’s a sign they can’t do it, or they just haven’t added it yet I don’t know. May be adjustable in coding. Can you download the app free and then check what’s there without an account? Or even ask them directly or on the discussion board maybe.