MK7 "Random / "Stupid" Questions Thread"

[JTM88]

I deleted my dcc for coilovers. Now that this car isn't 80% track use, I miss my dcc and now I'm going back.

The b6 damptronic shocks are compression only adjustment, not compression and rebound as I understand, so they would not perform nearly as well as the oe dcc.

I would look at a set of used dcc shocks if price is the only concern.

I thought it was the B4 damptronic shocks that only had compression adjustment.

I don't mind spending the money, I just want the best bang for my dollar.

 

[kyLman]

sigh....
Had an indy replace the waterpump assembly this wekk, with OEM, but I think it has a failed thermostat already. Car will reach 200 on the dummy gauge for half a second, and then start falling. If I idle with full heater on, itll drop to the first 1/3rd of the gauge. I feel like if it were the sensor, it would be a little more eratic.
I have OBD11, if I pull coolant temp on the app, if the sensor is bad... wont it fluctate all over the place? Is there a way I can rule out the temp sensor before I call the indy dealer back? Or is this pretty open and shut case for sticky therm?

Picture below is after driving 18 miles at 30+ minutes run time, full heater on though.

 

[victorofhavoc]

I thought it was the B4 damptronic shocks that only had compression adjustment.

I don't mind spending the money, I just want the best bang for my dollar.

When I contacted bilstein two years ago I was told the b6 are the same function/design as the b4, just a shorter stroke. In the non electronic version they have a higher damping rate because they assume a stiffer spring is in use, but in electronic format it's virtually the same, just adjusted for the shorter stroke so they feel stiffer.

I believe dsc (I think that's their name?) did some testing and identified the bils aren't dual rate adjustable, just single. This goes along with similar beat-around-the-bush statements I got from Bils directly. They now sell their dcc controller via apr. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm considering giving it a go later this year.

I haven't heard of any oem dcc shock failures, though. You're the first person mentioning something go bad that I'm aware of, and from what I understand of the design the dcc should outlast the static shocks. Are they leaking pretty bad? How many miles do you have? Did you trim the bumpstops a lot?

 

[Anthony3o55]

First question is... do you own or have access to a "decent" polisher? If not and you're thinking about getting one check the video below from Mike Phillips.

The only way to do paint correction is with a polisher. I would recommend a 15mm DA polisher to start with a 5" pad.

As far as pads, it all depends on how bad your paint is. If you just have some swirls, a decent foam pad will take care of them with an All-in-One polish, or a "coarse" and "fine" pad combination with a mild compound and a decent polish. I have used almost every brand out there, and right now I am using Rupes and Lake Country pads. For polishes I still have a few of the Optimum Spray polishes, but a few years back switched to Sonax products.

The Sonax Cut and Finish is a very good one step polish, you can use that with either a medium foam pad (the Rupes Yellow) or the Rupes Yellow wool pad. My favorite is Perfect Finish and the EX 04-06 for one step. You need to tape all the black trim with Sonax polishes though, which is the only thing I dislike about them.

If you want something simpler, Rupes have color coordinated polishes and pads so you don't get confused and use the wrong polish/pad combo. Their Yellow is medium cut/finish, White is Final step (if necessary), Blue is coarse/compound.

The kit in the below link is pretty much what you would need to polish a car with heavy swirls.
https://www.autogeek.net/rupes-lhr15-mark-iii-polisher-kit-sonax-bigfoot-combo.html

Rupes 15mm Bigfoot, selection of Rupes pads, and Sonax heaviest compound and Perfect Finish for a 2 or 3 step polish. Not cheap, as Rupes is one of the best, if not the best in the market and the model sold in that link is the latest MK. If you're buying, I would suggest the MKII as it is an excellent machine and it is priced down (used to be around $450 when it was released).

If you are tight on budget, even the Harbor Freight DA long throw will work, especially since you will probably use it once. I'm adding this one, not my favorite but I think it is because I don't have much time working with one, is the force rotation Harbor Freight polisher. It is a work horse, but you need to know how to handle it. Rotaries are awesome as well and I use them for the final step on very soft paint like Mercedes black paint, but in my opinion, not beginner friendly.

As far as waxing, you can't screw up waxing unless you do it under the sun and leave the wax for hours. Since you are in FL I would suggest you either wax your car on a monthly basis, or step up to a decent sealer or coating once you correct the paint. Remember that when you correct the paint you are, in fact, removing clear coat from your car. And our cars don't have a lot of it to begin with. The half-life of polyU clear coats is 5 years, which means that if you didn't seal or coated the car when it was brand new, and have not wax the car on a regular basis, in 5 years you will have 1/2 the thickness that was sprayed at the factory. This is measurable with a paint thickness gauge. Checking against the thickness of paint at the door jamb.

If you are going to coat, it is done right after polishing... making sure you remove all the left over oils from the polishes. After that, all you will need is a sealer, waxes that are not formulated to be used over coatings will not stick to them, it will flake off like dandruff. There are plenty of coatings out in the market... for that blue I would suggest Kamikaze Miyabi followed by maintenance with their Over Coat Liquid should last you for the rest of the cars existence. Or Adams Graphene Extreme with their Spray Coating every 6+ months. This two coatings work great on blue colors (red, green, primary colors and mix of them) For silvers the Kamikaze ISM coating would be better.

Good thing is that they provide decent "how to" videos on their websites to follow along.

Sorry for the long post, it is Friday, very slow at work... bored, lack of sleep, etc...

Thank you for the all the information. It definitely open my eyes on what to expect and I been watching countless videos.
I do have a polish machine. It's a 6inch Orbital Buffer that I used before just missing a 3inch Polisher to get to the small areas. I'm not even sure if the polisher I own has that velcro material to attach a pad. From what I remember the last time I used it I used a wool bonnet.

I have already purchased a clay bay, clay lubricant spray, iron removal and a surface cleaner to removal the oils before I put on the ceramic after polishing.

I have this week off work to focus on doing a paint correction on the car just before Eurotripper.
I checked out the Kamikaze Miyabi coating but sadly they don't sell them locally. I may go with the Adams Graphene Extreme and their Spray Coating IF I can find them locally then I would do Kamikaze coating.

I washed the car today to get some dirt off before I start the process this week and found my paint being a little worse than I thought as in scratches. It's not nail deef but just regular swirls from washing and I guess as a daily car. I wash my car every 2-3 weeks. I never shined the light on the car and looked for every single defect. The only place that really bad with swirls are the piano black pillars and the spoiler clear coat is already peeling. Needs to be repainted. I'll try to save it to a little when I polish.

I may go with Rupes Compound and Polishing since I saw it at a local shop and it sounds so much simpler. Unless I can find the Sonax tomorrow at a store.
This is so much to take in all at once lol. I'm still confused a little bit with the Sonax.
Sonax cut & Finish is a one step, meaning that it does cutting and polishes at the same time?

Here's some photo's I took today. What you think? Thanks in advance.

the orbital i have

 

[Maiden69]

2011 SS huh? We like too many of the same cars lol. If I were to own a Chevrolet, this car in that spec is it.

That car was great, I still prefer my 2004 turbo GTO over it because it had awesome visibility vs the super high hood of the Camaro, my last one was a 2020 SS 1LE that I had to trade for the GTI when my daughter decided to have a stupid growth spur and couldn't fit comfortably in the back seat. I worked as a sales rep at the Boerne Chevrolet dealer, and they allow me to buy it with the discount when I gave them my 2 week notice. I wish I could had figure out a way to keep it and get the GTI, but couldn't afford 2 new car payments at the time.

It's a 6inch Orbital Buffer

Mmmm, that is only good for spreading wax, and even so I would rather do it by hand. Do get an actual polisher if you can.

I checked out the Kamikaze Miyabi coating but sadly they don't sell them locally

I just checked, the Euro Tripper is the first week of Feb, you have time to order from Esoteric, they ship super fast. Adams also ships fast. I think you can find some of their products locally, but I would suggest you call as most of them hardly carry ceramics coatings. At least that was a few years back, they use to carry the wash/detail spray/wax/and some spray products.

This are the 3 dealers in FL. You also have Autogeek HQ in FL.

As far as doing the job, here are the steps I use.

1. wash with a strong soap
2. decon with an all purpose cleaner (Power Clean from Optimum)
3. metal decon - Ferrex from Optimum or any other
4. Clay bar if needed, if not too bad a clay mitt/towel will work great with ONR at double concentration
5. polish (1 step, 2 step, 3 step, 4 step... whatever is needed or whatever is on your goals)
6. clean the surface with a good IPA based liquid, I use Optimum Paint Prep as I have plenty still, and it is compatible with their coatings.
7. Coat the car with the coating of choice.
8. depending on the coating, apply sacrificial layer to protect the coating until it cures. In the case of Optimum, I apply Opti-Seal an hour after the last panel was coated.

Keep away from the elements as long as you can...

I forgot to add, Optimum has a very good beginner friendly coating, Optimum Gloss Coat.

As far as your paint, there are a few deeper scratches that I wouldn't recommend trying to completely remove. swirls should be easy with Rupes yellow wool pad, then either finish with the Rupes white on either their yellow foam or white foam. This you will need to test, there is no way to know which combination will be best without testing. But, you will NEED a DA polisher, you won't even get to first base with that orbital.

 

[oddspyke]

That car was great, I still prefer my 2004 turbo GTO over it because it had awesome visibility vs the super high hood of the Camaro, my last one was a 2020 SS 1LE that I had to trade for the GTI when my daughter decided to have a stupid growth spur and couldn't fit comfortably in the back seat. I worked as a sales rep at the Boerne Chevrolet dealer, and they allow me to buy it with the discount when I gave them my 2 week notice. I wish I could had figure out a way to keep it and get the GTI, but couldn't afford 2 new car payments at the time.

View attachment 297575

Great looking Camaro, sad to hear you had to get rid of it. I'm hoping I have at least another 10 years of cramming my kids in the back of mine

 

[Maiden69]

Great looking Camaro, sad to hear you had to get rid of it. I'm hoping I have at least another 10 years of cramming my kids in the back of mine

Good luck, my daughter got to the point to be uncomfortable when she hit 10.

 

[oddspyke]

Good luck, my daughter got to the point to be uncomfortable when she hit 10.

I'm hoping the fact that I'm short will buy them more time. Plus it's a second car, which makes things easier. Kids love the convertible though, it gets requested for school and activity drop offs whenever it's just my daughter and me. Hoping she stays interested in cars

 

[Anthony3o55]

Mmmm, that is only good for spreading wax, and even so I would rather do it by hand. Do get an actual polisher if you can.

I just checked, the Euro Tripper is the first week of Feb, you have time to order from Esoteric, they ship super fast. Adams also ships fast. I think you can find some of their products locally, but I would suggest you call as most of them hardly carry ceramics coatings. At least that was a few years back, they use to carry the wash/detail spray/wax/and some spray products.

This are the 3 dealers in FL. You also have Autogeek HQ in FL.

View attachment 297576


As far as doing the job, here are the steps I use.

1. wash with a strong soap
2. decon with an all purpose cleaner (Power Clean from Optimum)
3. metal decon - Ferrex from Optimum or any other
4. Clay bar if needed, if not too bad a clay mitt/towel will work great with ONR at double concentration
5. polish (1 step, 2 step, 3 step, 4 step... whatever is needed or whatever is on your goals)
6. clean the surface with a good IPA based liquid, I use Optimum Paint Prep as I have plenty still, and it is compatible with their coatings.
7. Coat the car with the coating of choice.
8. depending on the coating, apply sacrificial layer to protect the coating until it cures. In the case of Optimum, I apply Opti-Seal an hour after the last panel was coated.

Keep away from the elements as long as you can...

I forgot to add, Optimum has a very good beginner friendly coating, Optimum Gloss Coat.

As far as your paint, there are a few deeper scratches that I wouldn't recommend trying to completely remove. swirls should be easy with Rupes yellow wool pad, then either finish with the Rupes white on either their yellow foam or white foam. This you will need to test, there is no way to know which combination will be best without testing. But, you will NEED a DA polisher, you won't even get to first base with that orbital.

Thanks for letting me know about the polisher and the local locations. I'll definitely call them up. I don't mind driving an hour if they have certain products. Chrome glow is about 35 minutes from me and Autogeek is an 1 hour and 30 minutes but I'm not sure how I feel about that one lol. I'm sure I'll find alot more stuff at Autogeek though.

I may actually buy the orbital polisher from harbor freight that's $89.99. Do you know if the pad size is changeable? or recommend a 3inch polishing machine that's budget friendly as well?

I see this one on harbor freight but it looks like it's powered on air.
https://www.harborfreight.com/3-in-air-polisher-kit-60611.html?_br_psugg_q=3+inch+polisher

Local shops had the bigfoot machines exc. but I'm not trying to spend so much on something I would only do once a year. Sucks that I can't use the orbital polisher I have lol.


Regarding ordering the ceramic coating online. Doesn't the ceramic coating have to be done the same exact day when you decon, cut and polish the car?

 

[Maiden69]

I may actually buy the orbital polisher from harbor freight that's $89.99. Do you know if the pad size is changeable? or recommend a 3inch polishing machine that's budget friendly as well?

The HF DA (Not orbital) is a 6" polisher. All pads should work on it, I have never used HF pads, and I wouldn't recommend them. I would rather suggest buying a 5", but the 6" will be fine.

Forget about 3" if you are thinking about using it for the entire car... it will take you over a week to do it properly, and most budget 3" will not survive that abuse. The one you posted is an air polisher, I combed through Amazon for budget 3" polishers, I think this one, given the reviews would be ok. I would still buy the Rupes pads instead of using the ones that come with it.

Definitely would trust Autogeek vs any of the other Adams dealers. You can buy all the Rupes pads at Autogeek as well. Another website to order stuf fat a reasonable price is Detailed Image.

Regarding ordering the ceramic coating online. Doesn't the ceramic coating have to be done the same exact day when you decon, cut and polish the car?

That would depend. If you can keep the car inside, then you can coat the car at a later time, but you should clean the panels with the IPA/Paint Prep prior to start the coating process. When I used to do cars, I would keep them for around 5 days in my garage, decon and clay one day, polishing usually took me a day or two depending on what the customer wanted, a one step can be done in a rush in around 1-1.5 hours, but I don't like to rush at all. Then the next morning I would paint prep the entire car (depending on the polish used, I taped all the black plastic and rubber trim adjacent to paint after paint prep) and start coating, then deliver the car the next day.

 

[bobloblawGTI]

Not detailing related so pardon the derailment, but still can't shake the feeling that my brake pedal has been weird since having the fluid changed in the spring. Does this sound normal?

http://imgur.com/a/dDPvPpj

 

[EpicTech]

Not detailing related so pardon the derailment, but still can't shake the feeling that my brake pedal has been weird since having the fluid changed in the spring. Does this sound normal?

http://imgur.com/a/dDPvPpj

Probably rhetorical but have you tried bleeding all 4 corners?

 

[bobloblawGTI]

Probably rhetorical but have you tried bleeding all 4 corners?

Honestly a good question; had an indie (VW specialized, allegedly) shop do it so I don't know specifically the technique they used. I did have them do it a second time after telling them about the pedal weirdness but it didn't improve anything. Showed it to the dealer the last time I had it in for warranty work and they were pretty dismissive of it as normal; figured I'd double check with y'all.

 

[scrllock]

Honestly a good question; had an indie (VW specialized, allegedly) shop do it so I don't know specifically the technique they used. I did have them do it a second time after telling them about the pedal weirdness but it didn't improve anything. Showed it to the dealer the last time I had it in for warranty work and they were pretty dismissive of it as normal; figured I'd double check with y'all.

sounds more like an issue with the pedal or the booster than the fluid, though the noise when you lift off seems normal. sounds a little off when you press it down. maybe spray some silicone lube on the pedal joint?

 

[Anthony3o55]

The HF DA (Not orbital) is a 6" polisher. All pads should work on it, I have never used HF pads, and I wouldn't recommend them. I would rather suggest buying a 5", but the 6" will be fine.

Forget about 3" if you are thinking about using it for the entire car... it will take you over a week to do it properly, and most budget 3" will not survive that abuse. The one you posted is an air polisher, I combed through Amazon for budget 3" polishers, I think this one, given the reviews would be ok. I would still buy the Rupes pads instead of using the ones that come with it.

Definitely would trust Autogeek vs any of the other Adams dealers. You can buy all the Rupes pads at Autogeek as well. Another website to order stuf fat a reasonable price is Detailed Image.


That would depend. If you can keep the car inside, then you can coat the car at a later time, but you should clean the panels with the IPA/Paint Prep prior to start the coating process. When I used to do cars, I would keep them for around 5 days in my garage, decon and clay one day, polishing usually took me a day or two depending on what the customer wanted, a one step can be done in a rush in around 1-1.5 hours, but I don't like to rush at all. Then the next morning I would paint prep the entire car (depending on the polish used, I taped all the black plastic and rubber trim adjacent to paint after paint prep) and start coating, then deliver the car the next day.

I went ahead purchasing the one you recommend from Harbor Freight. It’s kinda heavy no lie lol. The speed setting 2 seems pretty fast. It goes Minimum, 1 then 2 and so on til speed 6. Should 1 work fine or 2 is recommended?

As in the 3inch. I ended up purchasing an adapter to attach to a power drill for the small areas that are needed.

Purchased the Yellow Rupes Foam Pad for the compound (blue bttle) and Finish it with the White Foam Pad (yellow bottle)

Found a local shop that was about a 30minute drive and got the Graphene Ceramic Coating. They didn’t have the spray. I’ll throw mayb one coat and put a 2nd coat an hour later. If you think it’s necessary. Picked up some sued pads they recommended to use in applying the ceramic coating.

I will be starting tomorrow early morning 7am. Will try my best to get it done all in one shot and leave it in the garage for a night and about a day and a half. My Dad uses it for his C8 so I won’t have the garage long. Weather this week has been super cloudy due to the winter storm up north I believe.

I’m excited as fuck to do this job.
I never done this before but have an idea on what to do.

Thanks for all the help.
Will post a picture once it’s all done.