My Jaguar XJ X358

[JimC64]

Unfortunately she's been neglected over the weekend whilst I had fun in the F type, see here...... Jaguar F type weekend

She'll be getting love n attention over the next day or so.
I also plan to wash her carefully over the weekend ( if the weather brightens up a little ) then a coat of PB Blackhole topped with 2 coats of BLACK wax from Chemical guys

Jim

[JimC64]

14th June 2016
Well, had the car in at Prestige this morning with a view to getting the cam belt, tensioners and water pump replaced, this should be done at 105k miles, I'm at 102k so now would be a good time to do it.
She's booked in for 4th July for this and also for checks on sticky ignition barrel as well as replacing the fibre optic cabling in the boot to see if that will resolve my intermittent sound issues.

On a happy note, coming out of the local shop this evening I was stopped by passer by who commented "it was one of the nicest Jags he'd seen in a while".......
Thanks very much I replied with a big smile on my face....lol

06th July 2016
Well dropped the car off yesterday and left her for the full day, collected around lunch time today.
The cam belt, tensioners and water pump all done ( fresh anti freeze of course ) so that's all good for another wee while.[IMG]http://www.************.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_dance-cpatch.gif[/IMG]
The ignition barrel sticking issue was also resolved, now smooooth as butter, a real joy to turn the key at last!
The fibre optic cable was replaced in the rear of the vehicle too on Evan Trinh's recommendation for my intermittent sound issues, so we'll see how that goes In the fullness of time I guess.......I'll report back

09th July 2016
As some of you know I had the car detailed around a month ago, they did a really good job too, very well pleased.
In the meantime it's suffered a scratch or two and there were also some RDS that were unable to be removed. In an effort to firstly repair these little scratches and or to preserve the finish achieved by detailing so far, and moving forward..........

I spent several hours today, firstly washing and drying her, with the intention of applying Poorboys Blackhole ( a filler glaze ) and then topping it off with Chemical guys BLACK wax ( designed specifically for Black coloured cars using nano technology )
The Poorboys Blackhole I know well, an amazing product and one any black car owning enthusiast should try. I was interested to see the CG Black wax and how it performed too.

The PB Blackhole smells gorgeous and is easy on / easy off. Having said that I forget sometimes just what a LARGE car she is, took around 2 hours. The Chemical Guys BLACK wax is
also easy on / easy off and also took around 2 hours, suffice to say my arms are hanging off, lol
As the weather was definitely not playing ball, I went to the local car park under cover, it's usually deserted and most enthusiasts use it for this and small DIY jobs of one sort or another....

Anyway, here's the results for those that are interested....



09th August 2016

Back to today, I took the car into my local Kwik Fit as they have a Hunter road force balancing machine just to check. I'd been advised that there was a little wear on the inner edges of the front tyres, possibly a toe in misalignment issue.
I had intended to put the fronts on the rear and swap the rears to the front as well as correcting the issue................well,

It turns out that the fronts are down to around 2.5mm and the rears are at around 4.5mm. I hadn't realised I've covered around 17,600 miles in that time!!
So fronts for the bin and I'll keep the rears to re sell on Ebay /Gumtree etc
New rubber all round and went for the Dunlop SP Maxx ( J ) and got a great deal, £556.00 for the 4 so that job's done. By the time I sell my old 2 tyres it'll be a cost of around £460, decent price really.
Onwards n upwards and will see what next week brings

18th August 2016
Gave the engine bay a wipe over tonight and added the leaper to match the JAGUAR lettering. A little spruce up and the addition of the leaper makes a nice subtle difference I think, well pleased.


23rd August 2016
As I had the car in a week or so ago getting new tyres fitted I noticed a slight weeping coming from the rear diff, thought I better get that checked out pronto
So in at Prestige today and had the following done

New coolant pipe as original was corroded ( preventative measure ) and obviously coolant checked, changed etc
I had an oil and filter change only done a very short while ago, so also took the opportunity to get the air filter and fuel filter replaced whilst I was there.
Lastly the rear differential pinion seal was replaced to cure the weeping and oil level checked & topped up as required
That's her prezzie for August, lol



Jim

[JimC64]

Well, nice day yesterday and got loads to do on the car in the next few weeks........
I've been thinking about getting her tidied up a little more and to that end gave her a thorough wash and left her wet, then broke out the clay bar and went over her again from top to bottom, windows n all ( she's a bloody big car! )
Afterwards, washed again and then dried

The clay bar did not lift much to be honest so she was in decent shape as regards that side of things. There are of course plenty of swirls in the paint and I'm really itching to try my DA Polisher and may give her a go a little later to see what we can achieve.
As I had the car detailed only this time last year, it really is a crime that she's got so much damage on her. Bear in mind that as a daily driver she's in and out of quarries all day long where it's either up to her axles in muck or having sand / dust etc blown off her, so really doesn't help.

Broke out my Poorboys DA polisher 900 watt heavy duty machine and my Auto Finesse correction kit.
The Auto Finesse correction kit is nicely colour coded in terms of product and pads, so great for a newbie.
Here's what I was working with to start with....bootlid before......


Absolutely shocking and yes I am ashamed!

I skipped the most aggressive no1 restoring compound and went straight to step 2 using the Polishing compound with the yellow pad.
This achieved decent results but needed refinishing as expected, so onto step 3 using the refining compound with matching pad and wow, what a difference.......

See a 50/50 shot below.......


Pretty tired around 9pm but wanted to continue, there was still plenty of available light, just not usable light for this kind of thing, so......
I had managed to get the bootlid, rear bumper and rear wings, the roof and passenger side doors completed as of 9.22pm
I'm now hoping for a decent day tomorrow to allow me to get onto the front wings, bonnet and drivers side doors to complete the look.

Once completed and perhaps in the next week or so, I'll look to go over her again with Poorboys Blackhole and then seal it in with Chemical guys BLACK wax which is specifically designed for, well.....black cars, lol

Today.....
Well back on it today, around a 5 hour shift from 12pm to a little after 5pm for the remainder, see below results.......

Bonnet 50/50










Having put my back out quite seriously around 15-20 years ago I still suffer somewhat and have to be careful. Anything too strenuous, lifting anything too heavy or awkwardly or just too much in general plays havoc, and now I'm suffering a little bit, hopefully calms down....

Is she as good as done by a professional detailer?
No is the short answer, but 14 hours or so of love and attention certainly makes a difference. It's not hard to see why it costs around £300 - £500 for a decent detailing job!!

I did it for the pride in my vehicle but couldn't do it for someone else, or as a paid job I don't think lol.

I still have to apply the Poorboys Blackhole and top with Chemical guys BLACK wax at some point, but she'll do for now

So this detailing business using a DA to correct the paintwork has taught me to appreciate pro detailers even more than I did before. It's also taught me that I need 2 things.....
1. a better camera phone or a dedicated camera
2. a photography course is needed

The pics unfortunately don't do her justice as she's much better in the flesh

Next up in the next week or so?

1.Hopefully the transmission service if I can get her booked in
2. Wash, dry and apply the PB Blackhole and CG BLACK wax
3. Wheels off and repaint hubs and calipers

Thanks
Jim

[ollysteve]

Hi Jim,

Do you stay in Cumbernauld?I live on the back road to Croy I've an A6 and I swear I've seen your car in Asda's car park?

Cheers

Steve

[JimC64]

Hi Jim,

Do you stay in Cumbernauld?I live on the back road to Croy I've an A6 and I swear I've seen your car in Asda's car park?

Cheers

Steve

Hi Steve, how are you?

Yes mate I stay in Cumbernauld, Blackwood

I guess you're obviously talking about the Jag and not the A6?

The reason I ask is I used to have that plate on my Audi A6, I still have the Audi and it's my wife's car now, T15 ESS so you may also see her about



Doesn't look quite as good as it did then mind

I'm guessing you're around the Smithstone area or perhaps Croy itself?

Next time you see me flash the lights, say hi

All my best Steve
Jim

[ollysteve]

Bloody hell mate you live like half a mile from me! I stay in Drumglass Steadings just under the arches I've the black C7 A6 WH03OLY I will do mate just waiting to get my bonnet painted due to chips away blow in before I bought it and the laquers peeled grrrr!

I had an A4 2.0TDI BRE before small world on the BRE front lol

Cheers

Steve

[JimC64]

Bloody hell mate you live like half a mile from me! I stay in Drumglass Steadings just under the arches I've the black C7 A6 WH03OLY I will do mate just waiting to get my bonnet painted due to chips away blow in before I bought it and the laquers peeled grrrr!

I had an A4 2.0TDI BRE before small world on the BRE front lol

Cheers

Steve

Bloody hell, small world right enough AND getting smaller it seems lol

I'll keep my eyes open for you, love those C7 A6's, really nice cars and black is of course the best colour too

Cheers
Jim

[JimC64]

started to get out the PB Blackhole, microfiber towels, Chemical Guys BLACK wax and applicator pads and set to work. I was mindful that the PB Blackhole was running a little low and that it would be close, sure enough done the bootlid, rear wings and bumper and the roof and it was gone, typical!

Had a quick check and as it turns out my local motor factor has supplies and only 3 miles or so away, so jumped in the car and got that sorted.

Came back and got the rest done, she is a bigggg car lol, only finished applying and buffing the Blackhole around half an hour ago, a quick cool drink ( its so warm here ) and get this added. That constitutes a break before I put another hour or two in to seal in the finish with CG BLACK wax.

Meantime, here's a few shots of her and a little 50/50 shot too for reference purposes. The metallic flecks now really pop........

Sky shot in bootlid.....


Roofline


bootlid again


50 / 50 shot of the bootlid
It's not the best 50/50 purely because I spent last weekend buffing out around 90% + of the swirl marks etc, but, even that said if you look really closely to the left of the PB bottle there is a section I taped off ( more or less half the bootlid )
There's a definite line!
I find it particularly amazing that even after all the hard work is done with the buffer, this product can still raise the shine another level or two, fantastic product


Now I have to go and do it all over again with the CG BLACK wax lol

well I went back out and followed through with the CG Black wax to seal in the shine, another few hours took me to around 6pm
Was it worth it?

Yes and no. The shine is amazing, the results superb and speak for themselves, but god I must be getting old, aches n pains here there n everywhere lol
This is definitely the last, no more.....

See a few pics below....




Clouds in bootlid reflection


drivers door






This is definitely the last, no more....

That said, I'll be repainting the calipers on Sunday now, then booked in on Thursday to Prestige for brake fluid / power steering fluid change and differential oil change too

Then that's definitely IT.

DONE
Jim

[ollysteve]

Looks stunning Jim well worth the effort I'll have to pop round and see it in the flesh


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JimC64]

Thanks Steve, anytime mate, always good to catch up with another car enthusiast

Jim