R267PGF 2.0TCT - MOT Pass!

[beko1987]

Thanks for the comments! I only spent 5 hours on it, could have spent alot longer on it! The paintworks covered in little RSD's but comes up quite well with a light polish, the paint is quite soft which helps.

The foam does not leave any residue or wax behind, it softens up thelayers of dirt on the paint, which then makes it wasier to rinse off. Also means I can go round with a brush and clean all the trim lines, door shuts etc as it flows over everything.

With a well sorted car (like the missus, polished, glazed and sitting under 3 layers of hard wax), the dirt sits ontop of all this, so it falls away. When it gets really cold that's what I'll do, just rinse, foam, rinse then go home. The XM should be better at this moving forward.

Jim - been given the green light to pop up at some point, need to work out when though. Cheers for your help!

[captainhaddock]

5 hours.....I ...uhm. No can't mention this. I usually take 5 minutes with a garden hose....

[beko1987]

In the summer, I'll re-clay it, machine out most of the defects, give the paint a cleanse, good polish, glaze then several layers of wax. Polish all the glass and seal that, re colour and seal the trimwork, feed the seals, sand and machine the lights and whatever else it needed.

Back in the real world, I have no time for any of that, so this is the best it's got so far!!

[beko1987]

Well... not 2 weeks after my last post, our lives got turned upside down! Thanks to a rat infestation which made our little girl very ill, we abandoned the flat and moved in with my mum temporarily, whilst we save for soemwhere else.

I moved everything with the XM. It rides really nicely with a washing machine, boxes of books and plates and vacuum cleaners in the back! Sadly though, since there is only space for 2 cars on my mums drive, the XM has been living in my work car park. Now I walk to work, it;s been abandoned for weeks at a time. I've done 260 miles this month, normally that is 400+. 1 tank of fuel has lasted loads!

I had a day off today, so decided to spend it on the car.

First job - tyres. Front passenger had a puncture, and held air well to start with, but this last week itwould go dead flat overnight.





My freindly part work tyre place sorted me out 2 barely worn winter tyres for £40 the pair fitted. I got the pair done as the front drivers tyre was quite old, and hadn't worn at all. Job done though, as it took ages to balance, and now my wheel wobble is completely gone!



This was chucked on the floor. No idea what citroen its off though

And done! 1 Toyo Snowproxy...



and 1 Hankook Kumo Solus Vier!







Very pleased with that! Got half a mind to go back next week after I've been paid and get the backs changed, although the backs are fine, so it would be a bit wasteful!











The sun was out, it was 9 degrees, I had a whole day to myself...

Rinsed and foamed!





I then went round and cleaned the tyres, wheels and tightwork. Foam was rinsed off, and I washed her well.



Barely any protection left!



Old rainx still doing well though





And nothing left on the back at all!



I must have got the car hot when driving about, it went a bit condensationy with the cold water!



I then skipped pictures as time was getting on. Car was dried, then glazed with Black Hole, then waxed with Nattys Blue. Windows were cleaned inside and out (inside was filthy...) and rainx'd on the outside.

I then looked up and the lovely day had turned into



So I very quickly buffed the wax off before it rained and ruined the finish. Tyres were dressed as well

Done!



















Need new wiper blades though. They work fine but stuff seems to be growing on them...





All done. However it spotted slightly with rain, but nothing worse. So I opened the boot...

Has had the seats down for the past 2 months. I thought it was time to make it into a car again rather than a van.







Better















Gave the dash a good vac with the dusting brush, and then a good wipe down



Nearly there





Parcel shelves and pushchair back in





And daddy wagon back together!



Ignored the cubby holes for now!





All done! Can be neglected again now! Got a nice run up to Birmingham then Belper planned in Feb, so hopefully that will do it some good, and bring the fuel economy back. Sitting all week, then doing 50-70 fast revvy miles on a and b roads, then sitting for a week etc has the average MPG at 28.2. That wants to go up!

Still a few jobs to do, mainly the exhaust, remove the heatshield for the centre sphere and clean the engine bay. However Amys car is blocking its oilways up and pressurising the sump so I imagine that will jump the queue. One job I will do this weekend though is front brake pads, they are VERY low. Is there anything special needed to change them, or can I wind/squeeze the caliper pistons in as normal?

[captainhaddock]

nothing special needed for brake pads Sam.
Quite a horror story, about those rats?
RSJ motor factors is where I am currently looking for an exhaust.

[russ92xmsed]

Scrubs up well Sam. Nice one. I must do mine, had to park it under a tree in the road,and the damned birds have used it as target practice.

Calipers wind in normally, if not then might need to bleed them a little. I had to on one of mine.

[Charles M]

Hooray! your car's even more untidy than mine!

Scrubs up well though.

[beko1987]

Was Charles, was!

Cheers for the caliper info, I've got a wind back kit for Amys vauxhall, so will try it with that. Got half a litre of LHM left too so can do a small bleed afterwards.

Tree rubbish and bird poo is the worse. There's a horrible bit of laquer damage on the bonnet now after bird poo sat on it one weekend before I noticed. May wetsand and polish out, but I'd imagine I'd cause more damage trying to fix it.

It's just chucked it down here, she's beading the best she ever has done in my ownership now!







Will try to get better pictures in the morning, but I love beading!

[russ92xmsed]

So do I. A very good sign of a very clean car!
I bizarrely find it really satisfying when it rains after cleaning the car nutty I know!

[captainhaddock]

I hate rain. And the more I polish the sooner it wears off. I've polished one XM in 2013, even bought new wax ...the stuff I had, had gone solid, very strange.
But now, it seems like all the rain has washed all that wax away.
Wouldn't some leather suit that car? Joke, it looks great, better than mine presently!