[dfwcowboy]

More XPEL pics. They are supposed to be finishing up today with the QC left to go. I'm picking the car up on Monday.

[NYTMARE23]

Looked at it and wished it wasn't put away for winter already...oh well....BRING ON SPRING!!

[jamala00]

Originally Posted by NYTMARE23

Looked at it and wished it wasn't put away for winter already...oh well....BRING ON SPRING!!

Not time for that hear yet, but getting close. It's the main reason I run an all season tire. I don't have to worry about temps, just when the salt comes. The worst part for me is that last cleanup in the cold weather before I put it away finally. Where did you get the foam tire block though?

[NYTMARE23]

Originally Posted by jamala00

Not time for that hear yet, but getting close. It's the main reason I run an all season tire. I don't have to worry about temps, just when the salt comes. The worst part for me is that last cleanup in the cold weather before I put it away finally. Where did you get the foam tire block though?

Totally get that. Mine is strictly a sun and warm weather car since I have my truck or my wife's car as a daily. Temps tonight here are already in the upper 20's with a freezing rain/light snow mix tomorrow
I got my ramps from raceramps.com. They are 14" wide Flatstopper car storage ramps. Since I have a Polyaspartic garage flooring with clear coat, I added a couple strips of double sided tape to each one so they wouldn't slip as I drove on them. Used them last winter for the first time and they worked GREAT! No flat spots!
I know most people just air the tires up, and I'm sure that works great, but I like having the added insurance of my tires being in the cradles of the ramps to conform to the shape of the tires. Better than having to buy 4 new tires after sitting for 6/7 months I suppose..

[LIS]

Dropped mine off for winter storage- underground! Limestone mine that's now used for vehicle storage (among other things).

[dfwcowboy]

I prefer to watch winter on TV

[jamala00]

Originally Posted by LIS

Dropped mine off for winter storage- underground! Limestone mine that's now used for vehicle storage (among other things).

Wow... that is very interesting... I have never seen anything like that before. What do they charge you to park it there all winter?

[jamala00]

Originally Posted by NYTMARE23

I got my ramps from raceramps.com. They are 14" wide Flatstopper car storage ramps. Since I have a Polyaspartic garage flooring with clear coat, I added a couple strips of double sided tape to each one so they wouldn't slip as I drove on them. Used them last winter for the first time and they worked GREAT!

Awesome, thx for the info, I'll have to check them out. The last few years I have just been driving the car up onto cut out pieces of 3/4" plywood. It works, but it's a bit tricky to get them all in the right spot and drive up onto them without them shifting. I've gotten pretty good at it though. LOL

Originally Posted by LIS

Dropped mine off for winter storage- underground! Limestone mine that's now used for vehicle storage (among other things).

Wow... that is very interesting... I have never seen anything like that before. What do they charge you to park it there all winter?

[Joshinator99]

Broke both the 9.50 and 150 MPH barriers!

[LIS]

Originally Posted by jamala00

Wow... that is very interesting... I have never seen anything like that before. What do they charge you to park it there all winter?

This place charges $100/mo for the season (minimum 5 months). There's another one a little further from where I live that's $80/mo, but the floors aren't paved so it's much more dusty.

[jamala00]

Originally Posted by LIS

This place charges $100/mo for the season (minimum 5 months). There's another one a little further from where I live that's $80/mo, but the floors aren't paved so it's much more dusty.

Not bad... That's pretty cool, I love the pic of the car in that place.

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by Joshinator99

Broke both the 9.50 and 150 MPH barriers!

Wow, what a fantastic slip, heartfelt congratulations, Josh

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

Wow, what a fantastic slip, heartfelt congratulations, Josh

Thank you, my friend! Definitely taken a while to get to this point.

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by 2SS Capt

Looks awesome! Did you just wash, clay bar, IPA wipe and then ceramic?

I've done cars in the past but I have also compounded and polished... My daughter has a virtually new Kia Seltos that I am planning to wash, clay, IPA wipe and then use Adam's Graphene Coating on... I want the car to have protection without having to wax every 4 months... It certainly isn't going to be a show car so don't want to go overboard but am looking more for protection...

Will a good wash, clay, IPA wipedown and Graphene coating do the trick (with a Graphene Boost at the end)?

Originally Posted by Falcon Capt

Got the Seltos Graphene coated today, learned a lot and an important lesson, I think in the past I had been wiping off the coating far too quickly (leaving a thinner coat that perhaps desired) but I was always afraid of "high spots" (where the coating basically cures and leaves a water print then you have to go back over with coating to get rid of it (if you catch it fast enough, if not, you are going to be buffing the coating off that portion and recoating)... I think in the past when we saw the rainbowish effect as the solvent was flashing off we were under the impression that was the time to wipe it off... I watched Adam's video on the Graphene application and the guy made it pretty clear to wait until the rainbow effect disappears to wipe it off... I did that and feel the coating is definitely thicker (by the slight stickiness as the towel goes across the surface (they even mention that it will drag a bit until you to the top coat (Graphene Boost) and then it gets super slick...

I did a double coat (about 8 hours apart) on her hood and roof (and a few other areas that will get the most direct sun), going to do the boost tomorrow and it should be good to go... My back is killing me and I was dreading doing this ever since we bought this car but knew it needed to be done... Once it is done, it is very gratifying to see the car look so nice and know that it has a great coating of protection on it... But damn, my back is killing me!

Ok, further update, I ended up deciding to double coat the rest of the car (I bought 2 bottles specifically for this reason), I told my daughter, it is already clean and prepped, if I don't do it now and we decide we need to do it later it will be a 2-3 day process prepping and coating the car, so I bit the bullet today and double coated the rest of the car... Much to my amazement, that single 60ml little bottle was enough to double coat the entire car and still probably have enough to do 1 or 2 more full panels... When you look at these bottles you think it will never do a full vehicle, but once you get going you realize it doesn't take much...

Tomorrow will be the Graphene Boost (top coat which will make it super slick) after a 24 hour cure of the Graphene coating and then it will be ready to go back outside, right now the finish looks like glass (it still has the paint orange peel, but it has a lot of depth with a glass like look), I'm pretty impressed... Look at the front door and front fender! This is a KIA!!! (With my Camaro SS in the reflection...)

As far as the time to leave the coating on, I was setting a timer for 5 minutes after I got done doing the coating application (cross hatched which takes a bit more time), it seemed like at about 5 minutes the "rainbowish effect" was dissipating, I didn't have any issue with "high spots" after 5 minutes and that seemed like a reasonable time at roughly 72°F and probably 60% humidity, your flash time will vary greatly based on temp and humidity...

The finish (before being Graphene Boosted which will make it even better) looks rather "glass-like"... Well worth the effort...



And my damn back is still killing me, but as a car guy, the pain is well worth the gain, I love the end product!!! (Maybe I found my retirement "job", it'll keep me active and take me back to my roots growing up in a body shop...)