Why I can no longer be an Autopian...

But, I also respect those who obsess over their vehicles. And, in so many cases, I admire their persistence, and the end result!
 
I feel your pain.



Brand new shiney 2006 Nismo Frontier, 535 miles and already has a small ding in the rear bumper.



Granted the ding is not reallky that noticable but it drive me batshit
 
toml said:
The ['00 A8 getting] "sandwiched between a semi and a concrete highway divider" definitely made my jaw drop ....
Click to expand...



Fortunately it was a dealership guy driving it at the time. Or *unfortunately* as my wife and I wouldn't have gotten caught unaware like that (easy for me to say).



As for keeping drivers sorta-flawless, IMO it you simply don't mar it during the wash, and never touch the paint when it's dirty (figure out how to close the doors/trunk/etc. without touching them, it's not all that hard) you can keep 'em *awfully* nice.



For some reason stuff like etching/chips/etc. doesn't bother me the way user-induced marring does. Our cars might have, uhm, "issues" but they don't have any spiderwebs/swirls/etc. so the problems aren't *our* fault. They're just the wear and tear of honest use, and on the older cars I consider it "patina".



truzoom- yeah, when I sell a "nasty beater" the buyer always marvels at how it's "showroom new". It's all relative...





VWdriver- My unsolicited :o opinion is that a car that's gonna really get *used* needs thick paint a lot more than it needs smooth paint ;)
 
I actually had time to get after my daily driver 2004 Black WRX this weekend. I counted 13 door dings. These are ones that you can really see. Three of them are large and scratched down to the bare metal. Sometimes you have to wonder about people. They don't happen at work either, but in store parking lots where I am only there for a short time.



I think I am going to park at the mall one day and just wait until someone opens their door into my car and unload 13 door dings worth of rage on them :soscared: :argue
 
Swirlmark King- Heh heh, I sympathize, having just found a new through-the-paint one on the MPV yesterday.



I think I am going to park at the mall one day and just wait until someone opens their door into my car and unload 13 door dings worth of rage on them..
Click to expand...



Just watch that *they* don't unload 13 rounds worth of retaliation into you ;)
 
I've been off the wagon myself, which is somewhat unfamiliar territory. but there's a theory about acting that whether you play or invent a character, you have to know what that guy has in his pockets and why. likewise, I still know exactly what's up with the cars I drive. every square inch. I'm still the same guy even if I'm not obsessing as per normal and the cars still reflect the process over time.



that all makes sense, right? because with everything I have going right now I'm not into it. and I'm oddly not worried, even though no one around me understands my change of pace. still, I have everything together for my next several projects and it's all just sitting there, organized as if someone just like me had pulled it all together. go figure.



you have my empathy with regard to what happens to cars in the real world. my current daily driver results from the untimely demise of two predecessors, both of which were totalled by weather in an ugly way - a gravel storm in high winds on the front range of the rockies killed my prelude in about ten seconds and my cl was beaten to death one afternoon by basball size hail. it's a bit frustrating since each incident involved driving to the office, so I don't go to the office as often. I mean, it's not like I'd suddenly change personalities and stop detailing.



so this morning while I was writing this, I decided to take the day off. I'm going to focus on a couple of chip repair projects and hopefully have a little time to play with some glazes and a gallon of engine kote I found. my mantra: small miracles - only so many. okokok, maybe I'll take tomorrow off, too.
 
Accumulator said:
VWdriver- My unsolicited :o opinion is that a car that's gonna really get *used* needs thick paint a lot more than it needs smooth paint ;)
Click to expand...



It is a hard decision but you should actually see this repaint. The color and shine and everything are just excellent but the orange peel is pretty extreme and it doesn't get much reflection at all. Hopefully 4 hrs/day in the sun 4 months out of the year isn't enough to fade it. :nervous2:
 
3 ladies were sitting at the pool side of some exclusive resort. The first two were complaining about how difficult it is to keep their numerous jewelries clean. So, the first lady noted that her prefered cleaner being Tiffany's. The second lady chimed in and said that her favorite cleaning people is at Cartier. The third lady was mum throughout the whole conversation. So, the first two turned to her and asked in a condescending tone where she takes her jewelries to be clean. The third replies: "Well, when they get dirty, I just throw them away and get some new ones."



Perhaps, when you cars got swirled/dinged enough, it is time to throw them away and get new ones.
 
For the last two months I've been driving a loaner (232K mile Benz) from my mechanic while he works on the M3. It's been great- I hit it up once with the Cyclo and piled on the 476S. The silver paint looks OK from a few feet away and I just run it through the touchless once a week. Here I am, driving the nastiest-condition car I think I've ever had, and it's still usually the best looking car in a given parking lot. I'm actually falling for the thing...if it didn't have rust I'd make him an offer.



CarWeenie said:
Perhaps, when you cars got swirled/dinged enough, it is time to throw them away and get new ones.
Click to expand...



I've actually considered doing this! I was gonna treat the minivan this way..hey, it's just for hauling the dogs....but I couldn't do it. But I know some people who do it this way and I won't say they're wrong- whatever makes them happy is cool with me.



I *do* take this approach with other stuff in my life though. Why bother wasting time/effort on something I can just replace for a few bucks. Guess it's a matter of what "a few bucks" means to you.



I keep thinking that if I buy a SUV I'll get a used white one or some other color and just treat it like that loaner. Then if it gets nasty looking I'll trade it for another..figure I could tell myself "it's just the used truck". We'll see...
 
I'm trying to stay practical with my new car that I just picked up yesterday. I know I'm going to get rock chips and all the other things a daily driver gets. But why don't we have some type of paint or clear coat that can withstand this stuff? I would think that with all our technology we would have improved paint in the last 20 years. Is there something I'm missing about why they can't do more to make paint more resilient?



I almost don't want to drive my car anymore for fear of someone messing it up in their thoughtlessness. I have my old car still and its almost so bad that if I know I'm going to be parking in a parking lot and walking out of viewing distance of my car that I don't want to drive my new car. And lets not even talk about our crappy *** highways here w/ loads of debris since they never get cleaned and then all the tractor trailor traffic :( Well I wish you all flawless finishes and I'm sure I'll be consulting your wisdom to treat the malodies as they occur.
 
RCBuddha said:
Between Mother Nature (industrial fallout, dust, pollen bird excrement), gardeners with blowers, and inconsiderate people in parking lots, I have long decided it is impossible to have a DD that is swirl free. Swirl reduced? Now that is something managable, and something I strive for. Marring is going to happen, there is just no way around it IMO...
Click to expand...

My thinking exactly. :hifive:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top