DFB's Garage

[DFB]

Two filthy Ranger's to deal with this week. Compared to last weeks chilly 13 deg c, the sun was out and an almost perfect (for me) 25 deg c and a light breeze. Perfect detailing weather then.

Wildtrack was first, muddy after traveling into flood affected property. Thankfully, the old mans property is being covered by insurance, but there is still plenty of stuff to clean up beforehand.





I used a decent variety of product today dealing with this car. Brake Buster straight up for the tyres and in the foam cannon for wheel and wheel arch cleaning. I've also got Gyeon Wet Coat to refresh the wheels and some McKee's Rubber Mat Cleaner, which I use to deal with the floor mats during the wheel cleaning phase.



Because of the terrible state the roads are in at the moment, both from floods and general neglect, they have been spot patching a lot. As such, there is a lot of tar being deposited on cars at the moment. I chose to treat these tar deposits as I moved around the car cleaning the wheels, TarX softening the tar before being blasted away with my pressure washer.

The rest of the exterior was dealt with a pre-soak with NV Snow, then a contact wash with the lovely Shine Supply Shift. I also need the assistance of some Koch Chemie Insect Remover. I also needed to apply some Wet Coat to the lower panels of the car, it's about time to reapply an LSP to this car. OG Drying Aid was teamed with a Gauntlet towel.

The interior needed more than the usual wipe over with an interior detailer. Today's choice was the excellent P&S Express, teamed with a brush, towel and compressed air.





The seats were dealt with Bowden's Leather Love and a VLB brush. Gyeon Glass took care of the windows, Koch Chemie Guf went on the now clean floor mats and the interior spiced with Auto Finesse Aroma.

Circling back to the exterior, I sprayed the wheel arches with Hyper Dressing, using the same product on the side steps and mud flaps. I then dressed the tyres with Duragloss 253.

Next, it was onto my Ranger.

Now, having a single cab Ranger with a large tray means that people seem to like to borrow it when their useless dual cab pickups can't carry much more than a box or two. I mentioned the flood cleanup, well with the limited carrying ability of his Wildtrack, the old man grabbed my Ranger to collect up a variety of flood damaged items.

My Dad is in no way a clean freak. I would say that I don't know how we are actually related, but I know I got my "clean jeans" from Dads mother. Everything had a place in her home, move something and before anyone could notice, that thing was back into place. I lost her far too early in my life, I would have loved to have known her better.

So, it came as no surprise to have my car returned looking filthy. I would rather that than him attempting to "clean" it.







Similar process here, using Brake Buster to deal with the wheels, tires and wheel arches. A quick top up of Wet Coat as well. Rubber mats cleaned as above.

Exterior again dealt with a pre-soak of NV Snow, contact wash with Shine Supply Shift, Drying Aid Meguiar's HCD. Tyres dressed with Auto Finesse Satin. I have also been wiping the outside of the tray down with Carpro Ech20 lately as well.

Interior cleaned with a combination of Express and Koch Chemie ASC. Windows dealt with Gyeon Glass.

Four and a half hours. A bucket full of dirty towels. Two clean Ranger's. A tired DFB.

[DFB]

Splashed out on a new chainsaw, so of course I did.....................

[DFB]

This is something I have wanted to make a move on for a while..........



With any cordless tool system, the cost is all in the batteries. The actual tools themselves are almost an afterthought when it comes to cost. I have a variety of Makita tools; a drill, angle grinder, impact wrench, blower and radio. My introduction into Makita was the drill, which came in a kit with three 1.5ah batteries, which I later added a 5.0ah battery. All three of the 1.5ah are basically done now, the only one that has any stamina is the 5.0. It's the fact that I'm up for new batteries that I have decided to move onto a different brand.

A large tool retailer had a sale last week on Milwaukee. This was a cashback sale and not a direct discount as the brand doesn't like to have their tools discounted. I ended up putting the cashback credit into another M12 battery.

There were two tools I wanted to add to my collection, but first I needed to decide on what was going to be the power source. The combination M12 / M18 Rapid Charger with a M18 5.0ah battery was what I settled on. As mentioned, I included a M12 3.0ah battery as well.



The first tool I wanted is the Compact Heat Gun, which I put to use straight away applying labels to bottles.



And another tool that I have needed a few times has been a rotary tool. I just need to add some attachments to make this a really handy little thing to have at my disposal.



The best thing about the Milwaukee brand tools.............they are RED!!!

[DFB]

For a variety of reasons, I fell out of bed in the grumps today. My alarm not going off didn't help either. It wasn't until I started to do some detailing that my mood improved. Probably because I had a couple of new products to try..............



With this order, I wanted to gather together three of P&S's dressings and pit them against one another. P&S make hundreds of different product lines, as such they do tend to double up in some categories. A lot of that is due to the brand catering to a wide variety of detailing industries, from commercial car washes to people like me playing in their garage.

Today's test subject was an impromptu wash of the Ranger Wildtrack. Surprise, surprise, my Ranger was needed again to collect flood damaged items that would not fit into the useless tray of a dual cab. Having had its monthly full detail last week, it didn't need much attention, but I needed the distraction, so the Wildtrack was it!

I mixed up a fresh batch of Carpro Reset in the foam cannon, using it to clean the wheels and wheel arches, P&S Undressed on the tyres. I then gave the car a rinse and foamed with the remainder of Reset in the foam cannon. I haven't used Reset for a while, returning back to it today was a reminder of just how brilliant it is compared to the countless other soaps in my cabinet. It's still easily the best soap out there!

The interior got a quick vac and wiped down with ONR. Attending to the glass, I decided to try out my new bottle of Koch Chemie Speed Glass. This product is scented like Koch's other interior products, an odd fragrance that is a grower.



It was then time to have a play with two of the P&S dressings. First up, Shine All.



Shine All is designed for "high gloss" and longevity. It's said to be suitable for interior dressing, but I would probably not be inclined to use it as such. This dressing is a runnier liquid that can be sprayed directly on the tire, but I would still spray it into the applicator. The "shine" it provides is not a grotesque slickness, in fact it's probably just about right for my taste. Not to my taste are those applicators that I got from another supplier, just very average.





Next up, P&S Shape Up. This product seems to be a competitor to Meguair's Hyper Dressing, meaning it can be used across a variety of interior and exterior plastic surfaces. Today, I used it as a dressing for the wheel arches. It wipes down to perfection, leaving a natural sheen.



Having had a play with some new products and tools was what I needed today. Just waiting to see what condition my Ranger is when it's returned.

[Big Dave]

100% agree about Reset, it wasn't till I decided to try and use up some Mother's California Gold that I realised how much better Reset is. Although I did achieve similar lubricity to Reset by mixing a cap full of Duragloss Rinseless Wash with Megs Gold Class. I can't even remember why I tried that.

Sent from my motorola edge 20 fusion using Tapatalk

[Azure]

This is something I have wanted to make a move on for a while..........



With any cordless tool system, the cost is all in the batteries. The actual tools themselves are almost an afterthought when it comes to cost. I have a variety of Makita tools; a drill, angle grinder, impact wrench, blower and radio. My introduction into Makita was the drill, which came in a kit with three 1.5ah batteries, which I later added a 5.0ah battery. All three of the 1.5ah are basically done now, the only one that has any stamina is the 5.0. It's the fact that I'm up for new batteries that I have decided to move onto a different brand.

A large tool retailer had a sale last week on Milwaukee. This was a cashback sale and not a direct discount as the brand doesn't like to have their tools discounted. I ended up putting the cashback credit into another M12 battery.

There were two tools I wanted to add to my collection, but first I needed to decide on what was going to be the power source. The combination M12 / M18 Rapid Charger with a M18 5.0ah battery was what I settled on. As mentioned, I included a M12 3.0ah battery as well.



The first tool I wanted is the Compact Heat Gun, which I put to use straight away applying labels to bottles.



And another tool that I have needed a few times has been a rotary tool. I just need to add some attachments to make this a really handy little thing to have at my disposal.



The best thing about the Milwaukee brand tools.............they are RED!!!

My first cordless drill was a Milwaukee brand back in the late 80's. Unfortunately, it's internal plastic gears died early. I switched to Makita (again late 80's) and eventually went on to Dewalt. Now though, the Milwaukee cordless tools (and batteries) seem to be the best in the biz. Unless things change, I'll be holding off for a large Milwaukee purchase as my Dewalts die off.

[DFB]

My first cordless drill was a Milwaukee brand back in the late 80's. Unfortunately, it's internal plastic gears died early. I switched to Makita (again late 80's) and eventually went on to Dewalt. Now though, the Milwaukee cordless tools (and batteries) seem to be the best in the biz. Unless things change, I'll be holding off for a large Milwaukee purchase as my Dewalts die off.

Like most things, tools seem to move in cycles. When I started getting into tools in the early 2000's, DeWalt was the top dog. Then it was Makita who seemed to be the leader. Now, for whatever reason, it's Milwaukee that is at the top of the game.

[Bosko]

Like most things, tools seem to move in cycles. When I started getting into tools in the early 2000's, DeWalt was the top dog. Then it was Makita who seemed to be the leader. Now, for whatever reason, it's Milwaukee that is at the top of the game.

If you didn't know already


Makita is one of few remaining power tool brands not owned by a larger corporation. Fein and Hilti are also independent. There are very many hand tool and tool storage brands that remain independent.Jun 25, 2020

Techtronic Industries Co Ltd (TTI) As it turns out, TTI owns Milwaukee Tool and a host of other power tool companies. It also licenses the RIDGID* and RYOBI names for cordless power tools (Emerson owns RIDGID). TTI stands for Techtronic Industries Company Limited (TTI Group).

[DFB]

Today is the XR8's 8th birthday!

















I'm ashamed to say that I can't even remember the last time I drove it. The cars NOT going anywhere though!

I placed a generic order on 25/7/2014 for an FG-X XR8 Auto, signing an old school handwritten contract as no official details and prices had been released at that stage. The official order was placed on 08/9/2014 and I signed a proper contract on 10/10/2014. The car completed build on 17/11/2014 and was delivered on 11/12/2014. I also requested all the build sheets and stickers to be retained, which I now have copied and stored in a folio.



My engine builder was Mr. SV..........



I remember the first time starting the car up in the showroom after it was unloaded off the truck and before it was cleaned up. I gave it a healthy boot full of throttle, the exhaust bark reverberating around the showroom and resulting grins all round. I have a pic taken of me a few days later on delivery day as I started it up and gave it another rev, the look of excitement and joy on my face paints a thousand words.

While I never asked, I'm pretty sure the salesman was younger than me. I say that because after I took him for a ride around the block in it, he told me in a very concerned and fatherly way to "be careful with it". Perhaps having the DSC light strobing away within minutes of that drive around the block had something to do with it? :lol In a way, from that moment on, I knew this car had to be respected, the power and torque unbelievably strong.

Not that I was intending to have the DSC light strobing within such a short period of ownership, I think the green tyres might have had something to do with it............or just too much excitement for the most powerful car I had ever owner................and still the most powerful car I have owned. The only car I have driven that has hammered harder than the XR8 is a Jaguar F-Type R, another 5.0 Supercharged V8. I can feel the similarities between the Ford and Jaguar V8's, they have such a relentless delivery of speed, the supercharger wine and the instant throttle response when getting on the gas.

Now, I just have to find some time to actually drive and enjoy it!

[DFB]

I have been using my EGO 765 for both detailing and gardening work. For drying a car, I still think my Big Boi does a better and more thorough job, but when I'm limited for time, the EGO is handy to just grab and go.

However, the long tube best suited to what it was actually designed for, as in blowing leaves, makes it somewhat cumbersome to use for car drying. Enter the stubby nozzle -



There are a few different companies selling stubby nozzles for leaf blowers. I wanted the one Obsessed Garage sell, but it's ALWAYS out of stock and I actually delayed this purchase waiting for it to become available. I was literally one day too late in attempting to place an order. :doh

The Apex version looks more substantial, having been designed for future upgrades and attachments. In the end I couldn't wait any longer, so I settled on the Stubby Nozzle Company's version, which is a single piece 3D-Printed design and is actually shorter than the Apex unit.



The Stubby Nozzle Company also sell the BlowerBand silicone rubber protection tip from their Amazon and Ebay stores to go with the nozzle. These are available in a variety of colours, I stuck with the EGO green. This band slips onto the end of the stubby tube, offering a layer of protection between the tip and the paint. It looks good too.









The standard issue tube is massively long in comparison -





Can't wait to try it out!

Sure as day follows night, the Apex version will be back in stock tomorrow.