Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

Alanstrainor

Bosch discs and ebc greenstuff pads on the front of the e46 done this afternoon. As always, it took far longer than expected. It'll be interesting to see what they're like after bedding in!

RandomAccess

Headlight restoration with wet sanding on a mk v Golf.
Turned out quite well.

GvidoR

RandomAccess wrote: »

Headlight restoration with wet sanding on a mk v Golf.
Turned out quite well.

Any before/after pics?

RandomAccess

GvidoR wrote: »

Any before/after pics?

Yep, can't post them till tomorrow.

Interslice

Cleaned the manky seats with a foam spray thing for carpets out of lidl. They're only dirty seats now! Another can should bring them up nice. Messed up in spraying all the seats first though. Seems to work better, with the bit I had left, if you spray a 1/4 seat at a time and work it in straight away with a sponge.

dr.fuzzenstein

Interslice wrote: »

Cleaned the manky seats with a foam spray thing for carpets out of lidl. They're only dirty seats now! Another can should bring them up nice. Messed up in spraying all the seats first though. Seems to work better, with the bit I had left, if you spray a 1/4 seat at a time and work it in straight away with a sponge.

What you need is a Vax:

Pops_20

Pulled out the Pollen Filters in the Glanza yesterday. I'd say they have never ever ever been changed!

Might keep them for the originality :P

I wonder can these be washed?

RandomAccess

GvidoR wrote: »

Any before/after pics?

Before


After,


Another shot of the before


During wet sanding (passenger side this time)


The bad patches in the photo were transformed and while its harder to see in the photos the lower parts of the headlamps were starting to head in the same direction.

When wet sanding its pretty easy to see how much progress you're making, so you can avoid over doing the areas that don't need much work.

I just need to seal it now, but its not obvious what to use. Theres lots of mixed advice on the web.

wotzgoingon

A Glanza has pollen filters that big and two of them?

Bpmull

@RandomAccess

I have a similar problem with my lights on my mk5 golf. How did you specifically do it. Just wet the sand paper and rubbed it on the affected areas or did you used cutting compound or anything what grade sand paper did you use.

wotzgoingon

Bpmull wrote: »

@RandomAccess

I have a similar problem with my lights on my mk5 golf. How did you specifically do it. Just wet the sand paper and rubbed it on the affected areas or did you used cutting compound or anything what grade sand paper did you use.

I think you wet the light rather than the sandpaper, but I suppose they both might do the same thing.

Special Circumstances

Pops_20 wrote: »

Pulled out the Pollen Filters in the Glanza yesterday. I'd say they have never ever ever been changed!

I've seen way worse on newer cars after many years of main dealer servicing - yours have definitely been changed.

Don't wash em man just get fresh ones, it's the bacteria and mould you really want rid of.

RandomAccess

Bpmull wrote: »

@RandomAccess

I have a similar problem with my lights on my mk5 golf. How did you specifically do it. Just wet the sand paper and rubbed it on the affected areas or did you used cutting compound or anything what grade sand paper did you use.

I used 600, 800, 1200. Got a mixed pack in Halfords as B&Q only had coarser grades.

1200 is pretty fine and will give a satin feeling surface, you could probably go for an even finer grade but I wouldn't say its necessary.

First wash the lamps and mask off the surrounding areas.
If you open the bonnet there is less masking needed.

I put some warm water in a bucket
Splash some water on the lamp to wet the surface, then pass the paper through the water. I wrapped the paper round a dense sponge so it would follow the contours of the lamp. Starting with the coarse grade going front to back I took off the majority of the worn surface. Then with the 800 I changed to top to bottom motion, then finally with 1200 again front to back.

Once this was done I polished it with a dual action electric polisher, a DAS 6 with some three inch pads and some polishing compounds I already had. Menzerna polish, its really intended for the paintwork but any decent polish would do the trick for this.

If you don't already have a machine polisher I would probably just pick up the Meguiars headlight restore kit as that includes a microfibre or wool polishing disk that you can fit to a power drill.

Heres a video of the process, I was a bit more gentle sanding it than he was but I guess thats cos he's done it a lot more often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa3GpmKax1I

Go at your own pace and it will turn out fine.

GvidoR

wotzgoingon wrote: »

A Glanza has pollen filters that big and two of them?

They're not THAT big. It's just a close-up picture. When I was replacing the pollen filter in my Colt, the one I took out was in one piece, but the replacement I got was a two piece, like the one in his picture.

wotzgoingon

GvidoR wrote: »

They're not THAT big. It's just a close-up picture. When I was replacing the pollen filter in my Colt, the one I took out was in one piece, but the replacement I got was a two piece, like the one in his picture.

Now that you mention it, I see Toyota written on the mat to compare sizes.

Toyotafanboi

when i done mine (glanza pollen filter) motor factors had them in stock for €15 iirc.

BillJ

My car was losing a lot of coolant so dropped it into Ardfallen in cork who come highly recommended for BMWs and they changed the water pump.

350e, I know they're work is supposed to be top notch but is this expensive? Maybe not, I'm not sure

They also recommended to change the alternator tensioner and belt, I reckon this is a job I will tackle myself. Anyone have any experience of doing it on an n42 E46?

Stallingrad

^ €350 for a water pump does sound at the pricey end of the spectrum alright!

Foxhole Norman

BillJ wrote: »

My car was losing a lot of coolant so dropped it into Ardfallen in cork who come highly recommended for BMWs and they changed the water pump.

350e, I know they're work is supposed to be top notch but is this expensive? Maybe not, I'm not sure

They also recommended to change the alternator tensioner and belt, I reckon this is a job I will tackle myself. Anyone have any experience of doing it on an n42 E46?

That is very pricey. Mine was done when I got the car and upgraded to a metal impeller at a cost of €50, took all of half an hour to change.

BillJ

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

That is very pricey. Mine was done when I got the car and upgraded to a metal impeller at a cost of €50, took all of half an hour to change.

I think the part was cheap enough, about 80 ish. It was the labour that cost a bomb, i think it's at the back of the engine on the n42 which involves a bit more work.

80e an hour labour

Foxhole Norman

BillJ wrote: »

I think the part was cheap enough, about 80 ish. It was the labour that cost a bomb, i think it's at the back of the engine on the n42 which involves a bit more work.

80e an hour labour

Ah I see, on my M54 it's right at the front so is a quick job, going to the rear though would be a decent bit more.

Special Circumstances

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

going to the rear though would be a decent bit more.

I hear they always charge more for that alright.

166man

BillJ wrote: »

I think the part was cheap enough, about 80 ish. It was the labour that cost a bomb, i think it's at the back of the engine on the n42 which involves a bit more work.

80e an hour labour

Water pump on my E38 70 cost me over €550 to get it done! So relatively not too bad...:D

BillJ

166man wrote: »

Water pump on my E38 70 cost me over €550 to get it done! So relatively not too bad...:D

I know it shouldn't but that makes me feel a little bit better :P

Alanstrainor

166man wrote: »

Water pump on my E38 70 cost me over €550 to get it done! So relatively not too bad...:D

Good god!

Mine was 50 for the part, and 45 mins to replace. Topping up and bleeding the coolant was the worst part.

BillJ

Where are people sourcing their own BMW parts from?

I've used micksgarage before but have found them pricey, got robbed on an ABS sensor when someone here showed me the price on http://www.allgermanparts.co.uk/ - €100 vs £29

Micksgarage seem to be same price as them now though when it comes to an alternator tensioner and belt

dr.fuzzenstein

BillJ wrote: »

Where are people sourcing their own BMW parts from?

I've used micksgarage before but have found them pricey, got robbed on an ABS sensor when someone here showed me the price on http://www.allgermanparts.co.uk/ - €100 vs £29

Micksgarage seem to be same price as them now though when it comes to an alternator tensioner and belt

I only go to Micksgarage to laugh at their prices, www.mister-auto.ie is usually the ticket.
But I find I'm going more and more to my local motor factors and even Halfords! :eek::D
Clare car and tractor parts have never let me down so far, they always have it or they can get it the next day and it's been about the same price as online and even cheaper in some cases.

Foxhole Norman

BillJ wrote: »

Where are people sourcing their own BMW parts from?

I've used micksgarage before but have found them pricey, got robbed on an ABS sensor when someone here showed me the price on http://www.allgermanparts.co.uk/ - €100 vs £29

Micksgarage seem to be same price as them now though when it comes to an alternator tensioner and belt

I use OTTO and Car Parts Pros. The latter has pretty much every part, you supply the number and they'll return Genuine BMW options or a cheaper part.

lafors

Gave the car it's first proper wash yesterday.
Changed the grille today from chrome to black. First piece of the change. Would like to change all the chrome to shadowline. What do ye think?

Special Circumstances

Chrome is only for genuine yank tanks, tarmac merchants, and born again bikers ;-)