richy

I use both in fact. I use ZC for the wheels, barrels and wells and ZP for the tires as it does a much better job of pulling the brown out of the tires.

Duragloss makes a foaming interior cleaner that is really good. It would probably help the wheel too.

Zep Purple degreaser from Home Depot cut 4:1. Spray on, scrub, power wash off. Lots of brown gunk gets removed.

I was driving past a Ford plant today in Michigan when I saw about 5 brand new 2013 MX's drive out. They are gorgeous; especially from the back. Can't wait to see what they do to the MKX!!

Congrats on your new ride.

Wash, not cars.. F'n autocorrect.

To keep them clean and easy to crash, get yourself some Collinite 845. Best wax ever!!

I consider it to be soft the way mine has chipped. Mine didn't need polishing when I got it (new) so I've never really put a heavier compound to it to see how it reacts. I've filled in a scratch I've got and will be wet sanding it and compounding it out over my vacation time in a few weeks so I'll find out then. Have you registered on a detailing forum yet? You'll learn a ton there. I am an administrator on Live2Detail.com and I'm also on Autogeekonline too, although they try to sell you everything under the sun. L2D is not sponsored by any product or online store (it's privately owned) so you get honest feedback there. Join up and you'll get lots of great info. To the poster about touch up paint: DrChip is great, but truthfully, you can buy touch up in a bottle from your local paint supply house (look for the place the body shops buy their paint from) at a better price and get a lot more quantity. That's what I do.

The manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to shave weight. They're even getting rid of CD players as nobody uses them and it shaves more weight. The CAFE standards are a bitch!

I'm running the latest version of SYNC. I hardly ever use the GPS in my daily driving and in fact, for 99% of the time, I have the display screen on the home screen showing all 4 corners. I love this screen as I can put on seat cooling(or heater) and adjust my radio too. My disappointment, like others have mentioned, is when the home screen is on, the song title does not display and only the stupid message "entertainment". Well, yesterday I was driving in Detroit and had to take a short cut, so I used my GPS and kept it on that screen and not the home screen. I was listening to 94.7 WCSX which is a HD radio station. To my amazement and delight, the bottom left corner of the display was showing the song title. I switched back to the home screen and :gone. I then tried the full window for the Climate section with the same station still playing and the song title displayed as well for that window. I then tried switching to a station that is not HD, but does have the RDS song info. NO song display for that station. So, in summary, the song title will display in the single information line of the bottom left corner if the station playing is broadcasting in High Def as well as the display is on full window for Nav, Climate or Phone. Makes me wonder why they can't do it for the Home Screen too? I hope they correct this mistake in the next update.

I think Karcher makes the Simonize pw's for Crappy Tire. Just check to see if it will work with a Karcher. Compare the ends of the wand (where it connects to the handle) to see if it's the same as the Karcher or not.

Totally pass on the dealership products. They choose them for profitability, not performance. Duragloss 105 is a great sealant, especially if you use the 601 bonding agent prior to, although that is a "nice to have" not a "need to have" step. For leather, no contest, Utlima's Interior Guard Plus. Can be used on leather and plastic and actually makes your leather feel softer. I've had clients call and tell me that. Both are available at Autogeek: http://www.autogeek.net/duragloss-total-performance-polish.html http://www.autogeek.net/ultima-interior-guard-4.html (there is a bigger size of the UIGP too if you want) Also, I suggest you pick up a rinseless wash. It is the best way to do maintenance washes as the risk of marring the paint is less than using a bucket and mitt method. Get this stuff and some good quality microfibers to go with it: http://www.autogeek.net/duragloss-rinseless-wash.html And again, bigger sizes are available for this product too. A similar one which is also amazing: http://www.autogeek.net/optimum-no-rinse.html Hope that helps.

Duh, what was I thinking? The advice remains the same, regardless of where the seam is.

Thanks bud! It is only weeks old. The last step is to get a LOGO in place and I'm working on that now.

A line down the middle?? Sounds like they did a seam there and when you waxed it, the wax dried without being removed in the seam and that's what your seeing. Seems like it to me (pun intended, LOL). If that is the case, you need to wash the area with Dawn diswashing soap to remove that wax residue and then dry it well. I would use a high quality sealant like Duragloss 105 which you can get at carquest or places online as well. Sealants do not show like waxes do, plus they offer longer protection than waxes do as well. You can always steer a little clear of the area with whatever protection you're using just to be safe. If it's not a seam, then I have no idea why you'd get a line down the centre, but it seems logical that would be the reason.

Chris Pace is the owner at Eshine and is a very nice fellow. Call him and explain your situation/experience level and he will suggest what will be most helpful to you for both vehicles.

Dr. Color Chip has a great kit for filling in scratches and chips. Rubbing compound may do it too if it's not too deep. The key is whether you can feel it with your fingernail or not. If yes, too deep to compound usually.

I like it as it makes the car look taller. However, the downside of painting it is that it will be at high risk for stone chips and parking scuffs against curbs and whatnot. It may not look that nice for long, LOL.

Any body shop can match the paint, and in fact BOTH the dealer and the body shop will get the paint from the same local paint supply house, so don't be worried about that. Proper paint prep is more important than anything IMO.

My summers were downstairs in the basement and nowhere near the proximity of the winters, so that was not the case. You're right, the only sure way to tell would be to deliberately drop one down low and see if/how long it took to pick up the signal. Another task for my lengthy to-do list, LOL.

I had the weirdest experience with changing over to my winters and back. I did not put TPM in the winters and only rarely did I ever get a warning message about it. I have had no warnings since putting the summers back on and they appear to be working fine. I checked the pressure on them prior to re-installing them anyway, so it's not like I'd get a message. So, it appears they are working correctly with the original wheels/tires.

Cindy and Eatinitup, 2 great informative posts! I hate being hot in a car! Thanks.

So you got wax on the plastic? Go to Home Depot and get some Zep Citrus APC. Get one of their sprayers too (they're good!) and mix it 4:1 water to Zep. Spray on, agitate with your wash mitt and rinse. That mix should do it for you. If not, try 2:1, but you probably won't have to.

Me either, it always goes back to whatever I was listening to whether it was radio, satellite or an input.

My package arrived yesterday. Kinda anti-climatic after having it done at the dealer. Gotta drop the new one off to them in the next few days. Or, maybe I should make them wait 6 months and blame it on Ford?!?