how do you guys baby your coupes?

[SilverSurfer89]

do you use any specific cleaners, rags or methods?
what kind of oils and fluids do you use?

just trying to see what everyone does? I strictly use Megiure or turtle wax and for fluids. When my one year maintenance plan is up from nissan, im gonna start using royal purple 5w30.

any also one have any tip on cleaning dirty exhaust tips also? its like im running rich lol they never stay clean

share your tips and secrets for everyone please

[jpfrk]

I park far away from everyone when going to walmart and such. Its worth the walk knowing that someone wont slam thier door into my car.

Castroal syntec due to the chemicals in it. Problem is, need to change oil every 3K. But it has the best effect for long term protection. Don't know much on royal purple.

[SilverSurfer89]

yea parking far away is a must and sometimes 2 lanes unless a friend parks next to me, dont exactly know the brand oil nissan uses other than its just 5w30.

[jpfrk]

yea parking far away is a must and sometimes 2 lanes unless a friend parks next to me, dont exactly know the brand oil nissan uses other than its just 5w30.

Here that. As for waxes: I use whats called a 3 layer system:

layer one: 2 coats of a base wax on top of each other. I use a basic liquid wax. Not expensive. I choose "nu finish" Apply two coats of this.
layer two: 1 coat of a merquires basic stuff. this should bring out the shine more
layer three: 1 coat of a merquires high dollor stuff specific to your paint job. I have the dark slate metallic. So I chose to use a wax specifically for black cars.

All three layers are applied using the "Z" ball you can find in walmart. Oh yea, you need 3 different balls for each different wax. Don't want to use the same applicator for different waxes.

All this was done to my full black Dodge 3500 duelly. But protecting paint, is protecting paint. I plan to use the same technique on the Altima.

[bundy26]

When I had my coupe all I did was a good long wash and then Meguiars quick detailer, couple of hours of work but worth the time.

[SilverSurfer89]

depending on the weather and how dirty it is i try to wipe it down after a long day but im thinking of investing in a car duster as long as it doesn't cause small scratches. swirls shouldn't matter hopefully since its silver and has been claybar'd once and also a second time after the lip and spoiler were put on. i get free washes for a year when i got it but always find myself washing or detailing my car since the people at the car wash suck and just wanna make money and get onto the next one

[mikethemike]

Everything Merguires and I stand behind their products! I have practically everything from them:

Gold Class soap (Im currently using the thick yellow soap. Gives it a nice smooth finish, but if you take care of your car like I do, you really just need the gold class soap so I'm going to go back to that one after this. Just wanted to try it out)
Spray Detailer
Liquid Wax
Wax with pad
Scratch-X
Swirl X

The only thing I dont have which works very well is Mothers Clay Bar kit. I clay bar the car once every 3-4 months. I wax the car every 6 months using a machine buffer. I wash the car literally every week, wiped down with a shimmy and a microfiber cloth.

Since my car is only 6k miles new I havent done the fluid changes yet besides oil, but its just basic procedure. Just stay on top of your maintenance schedules and go with whatever you feel suits your needs.

[Irvxing]

As for washing I use either mothers gold class soap, or turtle wax ice soap.
I use the turtle wax ice claybar kit. Which includes a liquid clay bar and a actual clay bar.
Meguires ultimate polish.
nxt tech wax.
Microfiber cloths and sponge.
For wheels super clean brand wheel cleaner then leftover bucket soap.
tires: extreme tire gel
then meguires ultimate quick wax and detailer. For inbetween.
As far as parking away from people, my car was hit that way probably from someone trying to cut the lot.

[boystar22]

I just wash it. I've been bad and haven't waxed it (ever). I use Mobile One 5w30 with the Bosch 3323 filters (slightly larger and can use all five quarts instead of 4 7/8). Speaking of I have to change my oil this weekend. I also have life-time alignment since both sets of rims that I have are staggered.

[SilverSurfer89]

nice you guys got any tips for cleaning exhaust tips my nismo hasnt been washed in 2 months since i didnt have the car and add the fact that its winter its needs a full detail

EDIT- and this looks like a must for in between washes, saw it on 350zmotoring

http://www.amazon.com/California-Car-Du ... B0009VIQ1A

[mikethemike]

I have one of those but dont use it much. I dunno something tells me rubbing old bits of dirt against your car doesn't sound right. And apparently its not suppose to be washed so that even further concerns me.

[HuyyNguyen]

All done last week/this week
Just ordered 12 quarts of NS-2 Transmission Fluids to do a Transmission flush.
Ordered 2 gallons of "Blue" Nissan Anti-freeze coolant to do a flush on that also changing my 08 stocked green fluid to the new and improved blue. including http://www.nissanaccessories247.com/alt ... 9MP-AM006P
Ordered a new OEM in-cabin air filter.
Did my engine oil a couple days ago, Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 with a Bosch oil filter(Ran out of K&N and I wanted to change ASAP )..also was out of Pennzoil Ultra which I normally used.
Took all my wheels out and thoroughly cleaned the inside of the rims and between the lug nut holes after washing my car last week :P
Bought Sylvania's Headlight Restoration Kit for my family to use.


Saving for these to do Summer-time Detailing.
http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-porter ... mover.html
http://www.autogeek.net/pinexkit.html
http://www.autogeek.net/invisible-glass ... combo.html
http://www.autogeek.net/brinkmann-swirl ... light.html

Been searching for a really good Car Cover that protects against sun, rain, cold, etc. under $150 with attachments against the wind (I hope)

Wash every other week or every three weeks, even in the cold
Been just using Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo & Conditioner when washing the car with a microfiber hand glove and drying with a microfiber towel. Meguiar's interior wipes and Vacuum. Put Black Magic's Wet Tire Shine Spray and Rain-X Rain Repellent when everything's done

[AlexM.]

Gold Class soap
Turtle Wax Synthetic Polish
Turtle Wax Synthetic Wax
Cali Car Duster
Soap and water for the wheels and exhaust
Synthetic Oil - Maybe I should start doing my own oil changes like the rest of you guys

[SEismyG]

I bought a detailer kit on Amazon, you can look up Meguiar on Amazon and it should come up. $40 will get you a lot of stuff. I park far away when I drive my coupe but then it just draws more attention because people are wondering...hm wonder why that guy is parked away from the crowd? I throw towels or shirts over my electronics b/c i have a navi system and hide anything valuable and they should leave you alone. Then again, my car got keyed right near the door handle by a hater. Can't protect you car completely unless you lock it up, like what I'm doing. ABSTINENCE! It hurts but you're protected 100%

[Hussain]

I park my car in the 100+ degree sun, park it in the rain, scrape it coming in and out of my driveway each day, haul a** each day, use 87 instead of 91 premium gas, never polish, never wax.... and the car holds up really good!

not to troll or anything. just saying these cars are built really good and if you baby it, it'll last forever... but I plan to trade mine in for a truck or something fast in a couple years.

[Towncivilian]

Castroal syntec due to the chemicals in it. Problem is, need to change oil every 3K. But it has the best effect for long term protection. Don't know much on royal purple.

You are completely wasting your money running a synthetic oil for only 3,000 miles. Use any name-brand conventional oil for Nissan's 3,750 mile "severe service" oil change interval, there will be absolutely no difference versus a synthetic for such a ridiculously short interval. Out of curiosity, what oil filter are you using?

[mmkeller]

I use Turtle Wax wash w/wax in it. I use this for the wheels also. I also have the Turtle Wax duster that I use 2x a week. For wax I use 2 different kinds. Zymoil Carbon for darker painted vehicles, and Zaino 5. I've used other waxes but was not satisfied. Zaino is like a wonder drug for paint(eliminates 95% of swirls), I use this about 3x/year. Zymoil for the whole car 1x/year, usually before summer, wheels(2x/year). I use Armour All in the engine compartment, also for the tires. Clay bar for the front bumper once a year although finding this is not working as well as road rash is getting worse. Allot of microfiber towels from Goits Garage and Zaino. Oil is semi synthetic from Nissan and change about 6k miles.
I never let my wife drive the coupe, she doesn't like how low it sits. Park not to far away from others. The coupe sits in the garage all the time.

[jpfrk]

Castroal syntec due to the chemicals in it. Problem is, need to change oil every 3K. But it has the best effect for long term protection. Don't know much on royal purple.

You are completely wasting your money running a synthetic oil for only 3,000 miles. Use any name-brand conventional oil for Nissan's 3,750 mile "severe service" oil change interval, there will be absolutely no difference versus a synthetic for such a ridiculously short interval. Out of curiosity, what oil filter are you using?

Im going to stick with OEM Nissan oil filters. Thats what the service manager highly suggested. Unless you know of a good quality option I don't know about. AS per the non synthetic, you are right when I think about it. I will use castroal oil, because that is what I have had good experience with. I use it in my jeep, but the jeep gets synthetic 20/50, because I change the oil in that once a year. Thats where the long term stability of the oil comes into affect. Jeep gets driven MAYBE 1000 miles TOTAL in a year.

Whats your advice on the car when I get up to say. . . 20,000 miles on the motor? start thinking of a synthetic and maybe do oil changes every 7000-7500 miles?

[SilverSurfer89]

finally cleaned my exhaust tip and what a difference now i just need to get a good polish for it to bring out the shine. To clean it i used mothers chrome cleaner for wheels, a small bristle brush, 1 used rag to wipe it of, and a clean rag to finish it off

[jpfrk]

finally cleaned my exhaust tip and what a difference now i just need to get a good polish for it to bring out the shine. To clean it i used mothers chrome cleaner for wheels, a small bristle brush, 1 used rag to wipe it of, and a clean rag to finish it off

If you want to, go check out a product called "neverdull" or possibly "brasso". But this is major elbow work and high maintence constant shinning. As in, keep it in your trunk all the time.

http://www.nevrdull.com/

[wade001]

Im going to stick with OEM Nissan oil filters. Thats what the service manager highly suggested. Unless you know of a good quality option I don't know about. AS per the non synthetic, you are right when I think about it. I will use castroal oil, because that is what I have had good experience with. I use it in my jeep, but the jeep gets synthetic 20/50, because I change the oil in that once a year. Thats where the long term stability of the oil comes into affect. Jeep gets driven MAYBE 1000 miles TOTAL in a year.

Whats your advice on the car when I get up to say. . . 20,000 miles on the motor? start thinking of a synthetic and maybe do oil changes every 7000-7500 miles?[/quote]

If you've been using synthetic for a while dont switch back to regular motor oil. You could have problems. You want something good? Get AMSOIL signature synthetic with their synthetic filter. about $70 and you will be good for around 15k, they make the best IMHO. I've got almost 25k with my second oil change and not one problem. Going to have it sampled and tested though.

[Towncivilian]

There is absolutely no problem when switching back and forth between conventional and synthetic oils. That may have been a potential issue when synthetic oils with different basestocks (group IV or V oils) were new on the market and could have seal compatibility issues, but that is not an issue any longer. How would you explain synthetic blends if there were such issues? Amsoil's products are excellent, yes, but as you say you must have used oil analyses at various points during an oil change interval to ensure the oil and filter can go the distance. Be sure to get a TBN (total base number) during your oil analyses, otherwise they are not of much value as you don't know how much active additive is left.

Castrol Syntec and OEM Nissan oil filters are sufficient for 7,500 mile OCIs on a clean engine (which yours is, no doubt). You can start 7,500 mi OCIs now if you wish, or run conventional for a few short OCIs (3,750 miles) to eliminate any break-in wear faster. Either way is fine.

[wade001]

Switching back and forth is not a good idea IMO. going from syn-reg ok maybe. but back n forth i dont agree. regular oils can contaminate/not protect as well the engine internals and create deposits. I was talking to my amsoil rep and he explained the saying "my car runs worse/burns oil now" as synthetic oil has better properties it cleans out/moves the diposits/etc. causing the car to possibly burn oil. He said the only real way to prevent an issue would be to have the engine flushed and then put the synthetic in to reduce possible issues. I've done the switching thing before, and burned oil. dont know a whole lot about Synthetic blends,but are pointless in my opinion as well as they neither incorporate the full benifets. Even companies that claim to be full synthetic aren't necessarily truly full-synthetic. I've had issues with mobile 1/castrol syn in the past. I only want to test my oil (6k on it) for curiosity, but thanks for the note, i think they include that. Dealers saying come back every 3k is just the old myth, engines are much better now and can go 7k fine on a change. Mine runs like new , I want my car to last as I'm keeping it.

Back to topic? I spend hours detailing my car. my last detail i spend 20+ hrs for a complete job. Have the title of owning the cleanest car on campus n damn proud of it lol.