Wifes DD 09 Ford Fusion SB

[MrCLRider]

I wanted to show possibly some new guys a little bit about how I clean a car, but really didn't achieve it after looking through all the pics. I have some decent wash pics, but nothing inbetween for interior, jambs, seals, tires..those process magically just happend..LOL.



Started off this morning with a good wash, and then on to the cleaning part.



Wash:

DG901

Proline Grout sponge

misc sponge to scrub windshield and headlights

Two buckets, one grit guard



Wheels:

Megs NXT wash

Megs Apc 4:1 wells and tires

EZ brush

various brushes



Jambs:

Demoted MF

Optimum Instant Detailer and Gloss Enhancer

Megs #40 on seals



Glass:

Excel WW

Meguiars detailers line glass cleaner



LSP:

RBOE

Wiped off with Megs Ultimate Wipe, and buffed with "no name" from DD



Ok, so now for my wacked out pics..I'm sure you can make out the process

I use Gilmore sprayer, with Gilmore shut off for sheeting method

wells sprayed with apc 4:1

wheel all cleaned up with various brushes

Then we magically jump to the RBOE on the car.

all the nice glow and shine is all due to this:

 

[Barry Theal]

looks good man!

 

[Tasty]

Never heard of "Rubbish Boy's" before. How is it...besides expensive.

 

[ohiostate]

Lookin good!....

 

[gtppilot]

Nice work and nice car.



Here is mine (freshly zainoed):

Here its dirty but I just put new coilovers on it yesterday:

 

[MrCLRider]

I like the look with the coilovers..I would love to take away some of the wheel well gap out of hers.



What wheels are those?

 

[gtppilot]

I like the look with the coilovers..I would love to take away some of the wheel well gap out of hers.



What wheels are those?

They are 18x8 Sport Edition ST3's. It was a toss up between those and the Moda MD5's. I went the slightly less flashy route. I had no intention of doing the coilovers until I saw the wheelgap with the upgraded wheels and tires. My original shocks were dead anyway so I just decided to go for it. The tires are Falken 452's.

 

[MrCLRider]

What coilover system did you go with? What year is yours? Can't believe your shocks were dead already.

 

[gtppilot]

What coilover system did you go with? What year is yours? Can't believe your shocks were dead already.

I went with H&R Street Coilovers from allsprings.com. 90k miles is pretty much overdue for any shock/strut. I have 93k on hte car right now. Most of the time you have to figure 60k to 70k you better start thinking about it. The car really rode pretty good all things considered though. Much better now of course.



Oh yeah..it's a 2006 by the way. Forgot that part of the response.

 

[MrCLRider]

Sweet man, what was the price per pair or corner? If you were going to replace the shocks/struts, how much more was it to go with the system?

 

[gtppilot]

Sweet man, what was the price per pair or corner? If you were going to replace the shocks/struts, how much more was it to go with the system?

To go with the H&R system you are talking about $1100 for the parts if you use H&R Springs, H&R Coil Overs, H&R Suspension -- at AllSprings.com. Not sure how much it would cost to have someone install them. I didn't price out stock components but that would definitely be a ton cheaper especially if you go to Autozone or someplace like that. You can get much cheaper lowering kits also, but you kind of get what you pay for. If only worried about looks than there are other options. Check out Ford Fusion Club - Index. Great site and great people. Much like here! Very helpful. Once I put the new wheels and tires on I just had to drop it and once that was decided I knew I wanted to go with H&R for this application. Good stuff and I plan on having the car for quite awhile so I am sure I will get my money's worth out of it. Picking the car up used last summer and on the cheap side helps. Leaves a little cushion for "personalizing" it.



As a side note you will find that suspension pieces for Mazda 6 and the Fusion are often interchangable. Same platform. The fusion is just stretched and stiffened a little for the most part.

 

[gtppilot]

Finally stopped raining long enough to get in a quick wash and Z8 spritz. Threw a little Z16 on and went to take a few pics before the rain could return.

 

[steelwind101]

Nice work, plenty of metalic pop going on there!! Ironically "RUBBISH" is the commonly used British word for "TRASH"!