DFB's Garage

Of course, you knew what was coming.........................



Did it need a wash? Absolutely not. But with a day in leu, of course it needed to be washed.

Tires scrubbed with Brake Buster, wheels cleaned with some left-over Incredible Suds in my foam cannon, Gyeon Wet Coat applied, and rotors treated with Atom Mac. The rest of the car washed with Reset, drying aid Gyeon Ceramic Detailer. Tires dressed with OG Tire.





Apart from Rinse-less washes, this is the first time washing the Jag after being ceramic coated. The coating just makes everything easy, from the pre rinse, to rinsing the soap off, to blowing the car down and towel drying.

Finally, Odyssey Red at its finest! Makes me wonder why nearly every euro luxury car is painted white, black or grey.................





 
Klasse Act said:
Maybe just keep the current Stang

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Klasse Act said:
I'd like to add this to it, supercharger and full exhaust

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I already have a supercharged Coyote in the garage in the form of the Miami powered XR8. And the Mustang already has an aftermarket exhaust on it that was fitted very soon into my ownership. That also answers the first question quoted above. I'm ready for something new, albeit another red Mustang.

I've basically had two days to think this through.......................

I love my current Mustang, but I want something new. Nothing else new interests me at this price point, and I get scared of buying used, which rules out a BMW M2, Porche Boxter/Cayman or Jaguar F-Type which are all considerations. I also LOVE the naturally aspirated character of the Coyote. So, in a way, I have no other choice.

But spending this much on a car was not something I ever expected to be doing. I'm very lucky to have no debt at the moment, I have no children to spend money on, I don't go on holidays, don't drink, don't smoke, don't go out. I work my face off, and to be frank, this bloody car is what has kept me at least somewhat motivated over the last 12+ months. So, what else do I spend money on?

I'm still to visit the dealer and nail down the price, which I will do this coming Monday. My biggest bargaining power will be the S550. With Ford jacking up the price on new Mustang's, that will likely hold or boost the resale value of S550's, not to mention my car is basically showroom ready, the dealer won't need to do a single thing other than sign the paperwork and put it up for sale. As such, I have a changeover figure that will make the situation good for me, and hopefully them as well.
 
DFB said:
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Great shot!

DFB said:
...My biggest bargaining power will be the S550. With Ford jacking up the price on new Mustang's, that will likely hold or boost the resale value of S550's, not to mention my car is basically showroom ready, the dealer won't need to do a single thing other than sign the paperwork and put it up for sale. As such, I have a changeover figure that will make the situation good for me, and hopefully them as well.
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"not to mention my car is in a condition that no Ford that's rolled onto the showroom tile has ever been in before"

There - Fixed that for ya. :xyxthumbs:
 
Tomorow's the day, I'm not a great negotiator, so wish me luck. :xyxthumbs:
 
Good luck Deyon, be patient, be firm, and stick to the deal you want. The longest I've sat there while they threw numbers at me was almost 2 hours, but I got the deal I wanted. I even told them at the start what the numbers needed to be, and I wore them down. I wasn't asking too much, definitely more than they wanted to do, but not more than they could do.

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It was up early for a Miami Monday, or to be precise, a Miami Monday Service.

Confession, I actually skipped last years' service on the XR8. Granted, the car would be lucky to have done 500 km in the last two years, but I felt guilty any way. In defense, I get super anxious handing this car over to someone else, so booking and taking the car in to the dealer is not something I look forward to. I really need to learn how to do oil changes myself, especially considering what it cost me.

Now, I'm not posting this cost break down to complain, rather to show what goes into owning one of these cars. And yes, it had the 135,000km service with only 7208km on the clock. :laughing:

135,000km/108mth Service Price Calculator Service - $215.07

Oil Filter - $16.35
Castrol Edge 5W-20 x 8.5lt - $203.15
Environmental Levy - $25.00

Total Labour - $215.07
Total Parts - $20.40
Total POL - $228.15
Total Misc - $0.02
Total Tax - $46.36

Total Invoice - $510.00 AUD.

Yes, $510 for an oil change, $200 of that for the oil alone. Castrol Edge 5W-20 was an FPV-only oil and was always expensive. I'm actually surprised it got that oil to be honest, it was discontinued quite a while ago. Included with the service is an emailed report of the car along with images of the car on the ramp, tire condition and battery life. And yes, still the factory Dunlop's from 2014.









The car was serviced and ready to be picked up within three hours, which suited me just fine. Back in my care and mind at ease.
 
Today seemed to be Falcon day!

While the XR8 was being serviced, I did a rinse-less wash on the XR6. In this case, the freshly coated wheels needed nothing more than a rinse down............


I'm extremely pleased with this coating so far, the look, feel and water behavior are exactly what I was going for.

Rinse-less of choice on the blue car was yellow ONR teamed with NV Boost v2.

At the moment, I trying to find a small drying towel I like. In that I mean a square, 40x40cm towel that suits my style of drying. The FTW is ok, but grabby. The Creature, again ok but seems to lack softness over time. The Eagle 500 doesn't really suit drying. So, I ordered 3 different towels, two of which I already use elsewhere................



Firstly, the purple Minx Royale, which on first acquaintance is butter smooth, but felt grabby on the paint. Scratch!

Second towel, the 30x30cm Gauntlet (grey towel above). I've used this towel for wheels for a while now, on paint this is more what I'm going for. I've loved Gauntlets from the very beginning, offering a smoothness that most traditional twist-loop towels lack. In the small size, this suits me more than the medium sized version. Hmmm, maybe. I just have to figure out how to denote these from my wheel towels.

Thirdly, the Platinum Pluffle (white towel), which has been my rinse-less towel. Out of curiosity, last week I grabbed one and tried it for drying and was pleasantly surprised. This towel has the softness I want, an even pile on each side (unlike the Creature), is butter smooth across the paint and perfectly sized. I think I have my winner.

With the XR8 now back, it was next in line. I washed the wheels with NV Snow, rinsed the rest of the car and then did an Absolute/Bead Maker rinse-less wash. In this case, I continued using the Platinum Pluffles to dry.



Two clean Falcon's...................



 
And because I had the camera out, may I present my first ever exhaust clip video -

 
Have you tried the Gyeon Q2M Silk Drying Towel, it's my go to dryer, if I'm not using a drying aid. I don't know if this is weird, but I don't want to contaminate it with any chemicals. I have the large, which is probably a bit too large (90 X 70cm), the regular is 55 X 50cm. I also have a silk mitt that I use on the interior only of the glass. I've seen complaints online that it's not as soft as some drying towels, but it's super absorbent, and you don't need to use any pressure, for the roof of the Qashqai I just flick it out, and glide it back towards me, it just seems to "wick" all the moisture off the surface.

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Big Dave said:
Have you tried the Gyeon Q2M Silk Drying Towel, it's my go to dryer, if I'm not using a drying aid. I don't know if this is weird, but I don't want to contaminate it with any chemicals. I have the large, which is probably a bit too large (90 X 70cm), the regular is 55 X 50cm. I also have a silk mitt that I use on the interior only of the glass. I've seen complaints online that it's not as soft as some drying towels, but it's super absorbent, and you don't need to use any pressure, for the roof of the Qashqai I just flick it out, and glide it back towards me, it just seems to "wick" all the moisture off the surface.

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From the look of it, the Silk Dryer is a twist-loop towel. I had the similar NV Supercell, which was extremely absorbent and ideal for the method you outline. But I absolutely hated that towel because of the grabby feel and too-big size. I gave it away in the end.



I still often use the 38x60cm Gauntlet, which is about as big of a drying towel I need. What I'm chasing here is a smaller sized towel that can fit in my hand and used with a drying aid after blowing the car down.
 
Yeah, looks identical to that one, they probably come from the same manufacturer. It is way too big, but I never have to wring it out, just hang it out when I'm done. As I said, I use the flick and glide method for the upper surfaces, and I developed a two handed, unfolded, method for the sides, so that it's completely opened up, but it never touches the ground.

When I'm using a drying aid, like Bowden's, I use their recommended towel, the Big Softie I think. If I'm using something else, and I may get planned for this, I'll grab a general purpose MF from the bulk 25 pack I get from SCA. They're a good single hand size, they're soft enough for the FJ, and they're lint free enough when used with a drying aid.

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Prange said:
Nice! They got it right.
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I'm not sure how accurate it is, but apparently there are similarities with the Ford 5.0 Coyote and Jaguar 5.0. You can sort of hear some similarities in the exhaust note and supercharger wine under load.
 
DFB said:
Today seemed to be Falcon day!


Thirdly, the Platinum Pluffle (white towel), which has been my rinse-less towel. Out of curiosity, last week I grabbed one and tried it for drying and was pleasantly surprised. This towel has the softness I want, an even pile on each side (unlike the Creature), is butter smooth across the paint and perfectly sized. I think I have my winner.
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To me they seem to saturate easily (at which point they start grabbing).

Also, I find that are less thick than other towels, so they absorb less downward pressure.
 
Earlier this week, the chain on the garage door opener jumped off the drive cog. What seemed an easy fix, as in reinstalling and tensioning the chain turned out to be a no go. Naturally, this just had to happen on a public holiday. :doh:

Two days later, the whole motor unit and chain track were replaced with the latest Merlin Commander Elite.

Commander Elite MS105MYQ Sectional Garage Opener | Merlin AU





I like this unit much better, mainly because the chain is hidden, and the track system is a much neater arrangement. It's also much quieter than the old version, which was installed when the house was built back in 2005 and has served a very long and hard life, we tend to enter/exit via the garage rather than the front door.

The only drawback (other than the cost) is all of the existing remotes won't talk to the new unit. I had one in each car, extravagant but worth doing, so I've order an extra two of the newer remotes to go with the three supplied.
 
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