Winter Prep and Maintenance

[BRZN]

Long story short; my wife and I bought the 2012 1LT from our youngest daughter in August. She's moved to an area of the country where our Volvo XC70 is a much better suited vehicle for her.

Now that the car's ours, a wee bit more care's going to be taken of her.

My Tornador and McCulloch MC1385 Steamer did a great job of cleaning the cloth seats and carpets





Good God how the girl got the interior this filthy is beyond me!

A stray cat had been transported to a young lady that wanted to adopt him. Unbeknownst to my daughter, the cat urinated in the carrier on it's way to its new home. On my daughters return home trip the carrier flipped over in the trunk spilling its contents onto the trunk liner. I cleaned out the trunk and cleaned the liner the best I could at the time, but couldn't completely get rid of the smell. Shortly after taking possession of the car in August I used one of Adam's Odor Bombs in the trunk for the directed 24 hours, and now have two of his Charcoal Bags back there. No more cat pee smell!

The door sills had no protection and were pretty badly scratched up, I polished them out with my Rupes iBrid Nano Long Neck and Adam's Swirl Killer Mini. Then installed a set of GM's Camaro door sill guards for the Gen5




Changed the oil and filter last weekend with 6 quarts of 5W-30 Mobil 1 High Mileage synthetic oil; just shy of 104,000 miles on the clock. I also put on a new set of Michelin beam type wiper blades for the upcoming NE winter.

Next I cleaned and protected the vehicle. Lots of Adam's products got the job done to my satisfaction. I'd done a full paint correction in the spring of 2017 and Ceramic Coated the car with Adam's original 7H Ceramic Paint Coating at that time. I can now see a few areas on the flat surfaces where the coating has worn off. The car sits outside 24/7/365. I plan the do another full paint correction in the spring of 2019 and Ceramic Coat her again, this time with Adam's latest Ceramic Paint Coating.




Wheels Eco Wheel Cleaner, Matte Detailer.
Tires Tire & Rubber Cleaner, Tire Shine.
Rock Guards and all other plastic and rubber trim Tire & Rubber Cleaner Ceramic Boost.
Stainless Steel Exhaust Tips Metal Polish #2.

Paint:
Ultra Foam Shampoo spray down from a Foam Cannon.
Two Bucket wash w/grit guards using Car Shampoo and a Red & White Microfiber Mitt.
Rinsed with Reverse Osmosis filtered water.
Dried with a Master Blaster Revolution.
Visco Elastic Clay to remove embedded contaminates from the paint, Detail Spray as the clay lubricant.
Touched up a few rock chips.
Polished out a scuff on the left side of the front bumper below the side marker and a scratch on the left side of the rear bumper just behind the rock guard. I used Adam's Swirl Killer Mini to correct the defects to perfection.
Ceramic Paste Wax.
24 hours after the application of the Ceramic Paste Wax a Ceramic Boost wipe down.
Glass Sealant to the windshield after a thorough claying of all the glass and a wipe down with Denatured Alcohol.

[redcoats1976]

wow...looks like new.how is the engine holding up with over 100,000 miles on it?what mechanical work has been done?

[BRZN]

Engine's holding up fine. To this point only oil and filter changes every 3,000-5,000 miles with Mobil 1 have been needed.
The only thing's that have been done is an afe CAI and a set of MRT V1 mufflers installed.

[rdanzel]

The paint looks flawless. Nice job!

[StreetRage320]

Looks great. How do you like The Master blaster for drying? sitting outside every day all day how has the interior held up to fading?
Being in a winter climate what do you do for your undercoating?

[BRZN]

The Master Blaster's a beast! Two speeds; 4hp or 8hp of warm filtered air. With the 30' hose on the Revolution model I'm able to leave the unit hang on the garage wall and still reach the entire car to dry. The Master Blaster was an upgrade from a leaf blower I used to use, yea, they do the same job, but the Master Blaster was designed to dry vehicles.

Interior is flawless even after six years of being outside 24/7/365. I keep all the interior plastics protected with Adam's products that have spf. Both his Leather Conditioner and his Interior Detailer.

Under coating? Whatever came from the factory. The under car metal pieces do have surface rust on them, but nothing eating into them. I routinely spray the underside with water when washing the car and scrub the inner fenders best I can. I've lowered the car about an inch, so it's difficult to get a brush in the fender/tire gap all the way around. The driver's side upper wheel arch does have a couple tiny spots where it appears rust is beginning from the inside out, nothing through yet, but it's only a matter of time. I'll most likely get this taken care of next spring.

[BRZN]

Winter Tire/Wheel set up now on.