Presenting the Rally Armor Urethane Mud Flaps. These are a must have for a rally car like the STI. Rally Armor also makes skid plates, mostly things for cars that play around in off-road conditions. These look really good on our cars because it also makes the car look slightly wider, which adds an aggressive stance to the car. Rally Armors make these mud flaps for Subarus, Mitsubishis, and Mazdas.
There's not much to say on the install, everything important is in the video. It was quite a simple installation, and it took me around two hours in total. The product is well priced, looks good, and the quality is great as well.
If you own a Subaru, I would recommend that you get a set of these. I can't wait to test them out in the snow!
Although this is mostly a personal automotive blog, I can't help but wonder how big a part serendipity has played in my automotive journey. There was the whole deal with Hurst Shifters and B&M Racing, where our negotiations to beta test a product for the 2010 Camaro had spanned across seven months. Then there is RevXtreme, a company focused on building race cars. I got to install some RevXtreme products on my 2010 Camaro for the short time I had owned it. Even to this day I vouche for their products, simply because they work, quality built, and as always, the human aspect. I have said this time and time again, customer service is what makes customers loyal, and RevXtreme has excellent customer service.
The Jet Black painted RX Oil Catch Can looks incredibly handsome.
Well, serendipity has come into play again, RevXtreme has sponsored a beautifully made forced induction application oil catch can for my 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. However, because RX is supplying this catch can remotely, there is a bracket we need to tweak to make it work for this car. I don't foresee this to be a huge problem though. I should be able to install this in a couple of weeks, and obviously shoot an awesome MZ style video! =D Thanks Tracy!
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my process in detailing my car. At the same time, I decided that it was a perfect opportunity to debadge my rear badges.
The debadging process was actually harder than I had expected at first. However, after doing it once, I was able to debadge the second one a lot faster. For those of you who are interested in debadging, I'll just say, it's one of the "modifications" that can hardly go wrong. When I say hardly, I mean as small as 0.001%. Now, if you were to somehow screw it up, I would say you shouldn't ever mod your car, ever. If you follow these steps, remain smart about it, and take your time, I guarantee that you will get good results.
Now in the video, I said I used only house hold products. That is not 100% true, as I whipped out my orbital polisher to complete the job (Not everyone has one). If you guys don't know what it is, I would recommend anyone to invest in one. It is an essential piece of equipment if you care about your car as much as I do. I will have another episode up in a couple of weeks about using the polisher, but let's stay on topic.
I suggest you start off with a hair dryer instead of a heat gun. Heat guns tend to get too hot, and I have heard horror stories where the paint actually bubbles? It's not confirmed, but the hair dryer gets your surface hot enough to work. On the safe side, stay with the hair dryer. After the badge has been heated evenly for about a full minute or two, you can proceed by taking some regular dental floss, and wedging it in between the badge and the paint surface. Some people recommend using fishing line, sure of course you can, but I don't fish, I floss though. After sawing your dental floss through the whole badge, remember to reheat the badge when it gets hard to move, you can proceed in pulling it off. When the badge is off, you will be left with the other half of the adhesive. The glue should look gross on your surface, you will need to remove this. Now, this is where people start using products like Goo Gone, bug and tar remover, or other adhesive removers. I'm sure it makes your life a lot easier. However, I refused to purchase something worth $5-10 just for one project that I may never do again. You'd also have to drive to pick up a product like this, and for what? Saving yourself 10 minutes? No! This is what you do, heat up the glue again, and rub it off with your thumb. Now, it's easier said than done, as you will find out, because the glue is very stubborn. However, it is possible to remove most of it off with just your thumbs!
You will get small trace amounts of glue that almost feels impossible to remove with your thumb. That's fine! This is where the 100% cotton cloth comes in. In the video, I actually used a 100% cotton t-shirt that I no longer wear. Eitherway, 100% cotton cloth will not harm the surface of your paint. Heat up the residual glue, and start rubbing the dry cloth on it. You should begin to see the glue clinging onto the cloth. When I did this, it looked like magic to me! Remember, don't be afraid to put some pressure on there.
After removing all the glue, you will most likely be left with some badge ghosting. As you can see in my awesome digital simulation, you just need to clay bar the surface, and lightly polish the surface around there. =D
That is it! No money spent at all. Not even a dime. Just make sure to take your time, and you will get good results.
Also, this video and all future Machine Zealots videos will be uploaded to my new youtube channel. If you would like to see more videos, please support my work by subscribing to my channel, Like and Favorite any videos that tickle your fancy. =D
Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting Spades 1.0.2. Click the above picture for the full size.
Now, I've been on the quest for gold for a couple of weeks now. It just looks good on a black or white car. Most importantly, I have yet to see a Camaro with gold wheels. I MAY BE the first, when I get them of course. These are TSW Nurburgrings, painted gold for the concept. I have contacted a vendor who also does powdercoats and paints the wheels he sells as a service. He said I could make them any color I want! =O
Honestly, these wheels are great looking, and probably one of the best bang for buck wheels out there. They are averaging around $350 per wheel out in the market, and they are FORGED! Another great aspect of these wheels: they are super lightweight. I believe the stock 20" Camaro wheels are around 30-33 lbs each, whereas these Nurburgrings are only 25 lbs each. Shedding a good 5 pounds per wheel is a lot, if you add it all up. I have decided the largest wheel size I'd go would be 19", so that should shed off another couple of pounds. =D Eitherway, if I made you guys excited, I'm sorry... these wheels won't be on this car for at least another year lol. Heck, I'm teasing MYSELF by making these awesome concept images =(.
In other news, my tune is here. Yes, the mods are piling up, but for now, that's it. All packages have been delivered to my door. I might tune my car this weekend though. So stay tuned for the full story and review!
Stock Camaro image from Tire Rack. Luckily, they are using the V6. Obviously, there are some differences compared to my stock car, but it works.
My ideal finished project car in my mind so far. I think gold wheels might be the way to go on this car. Can't really decide. Black, Gunmetal, Bronze, I just don't know.
Eitherway, I have most of the mods already done on this car. I have the Front Splitter, Logo Blackout, and Light Blackouts already applied. I have the Caliper Paints, Rotors, Grand Sport Stripes, in my house and ready to go. All I'm missing now is the Rear Spoiler, Window tints, Wheels, and Coilovers for lowering.
UPDATED: These are O.Z. Racing wheels, but sadly, they don't come with the right lug nut specs. I would prefer this style of wheel over the previous one though. Too bad =(
For a while now, I have been trying to add splashes of red to my black car, as seen in my engine bay. From the get-go, I didn't exactly want to make this car a full blacked out car. You know, full window tints, black wheels, blacked out lights. For one thing, it would be too hot over the summer lol. But the real reason is, I like contrast. I think blacked out cars are awesome, and they look so stealth you sometimes wonder what car it is. One time I was driving home on the highway, and I see in my rear view mirror, this shadow of a car. I really had no idea what the make and model of that car was, and this intrigued me. It wasn't till the car passed me, that I realized it was a Mazda 3. From that day on, I realized what a blacked out car can look like, and it looked good.
Personally, however, I wouldn't want my Camaro to be a full blacked out car. I think there is beauty in its lines and shapes, and to black it out would be sacrificing some of that edge. So far, I have left all of the chrome trimmings in place, just so I could have some contrast. Well, like I have mentioned in the beginning, I have been wanting to introduce red to the car. I plan to paint the brake calipers red for sure, for that sporty look, but I also felt like it needed more. I came across an old website, Camaro Decal Store, where I originally got my tail light black outs, and the side marker black outs. I remember dealing with the vendor, Reggie, and he was just an awesome guy to work with. So I decided to check and see if he had any new inventory. Turned out, stripe kits were available now! Then I saw it... he had these fender stripes that would be perfect in my mind. You see, while I want some red on my car, I also want to avoid putting too much red. The OEM style rally stripes was a no-go for me, they occupied too much space. These fender stripes, however, were perfect for my needs. I made a concept drawing on what I hope the final product would look like.
The red stripe on the door isn't part of the package though. I just added that to balance out the fender stripes. Also, I took the liberty of painting the calipers in this concept. Personally, I think it looks more aggressive, but at the same time, it looks like a completely different car. That's what's stopping me from doing this, I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with different yet...
In the meantime, I am still waiting for that mod I purchased a couple of weeks ago, so stay tuned.
Well, work has been slow, and I miss modding my car, so to keep myself being productive, I've decided to play around with planar tracking and other visual effects. As you can see with my other videos, I love taking the time to edit them, making them a bit nicer to watch.
This is just a concept intro scene for future videos. I'll most likely be working on making it better over time, so just call this concept version 1.
This is going to be a fairly long post, mostly because it took me quite a long time to finish what I am about to talk about: taking proper care of your car. When it comes to maintaining your car, proper cleaning is a big part of it. When I first got my car, I wanted to make sure it was kept as perfect as possible, so I bought a proper detailing kit. Obviously, over the months, I've gotten rock chips in the paint, and other damages, so it was far from perfect. This made me a bit less motivated to keep it nice. However, since winter is coming, and my car is mostly parked outside, I wanted to make sure it was properly protected, so I spent the weekend detailing my Camaro.
Soon after I bought my Camaro, I joined a Camaro forum, and many of the members swear by the Adam's Polishes line of car care products. So I thought, "Hey, why not give them a shot?"
Conclusion? I love it.
The full detailing process took me about 20 hours, spread over three days. I took some pictures of my process, hope this may be helpful for some people:
Friday - I gave my car a proper wash. Hosed down the whole car with water, knocking off all the loose debris. Secondly, I used my foam gun and soaked the whole car in soap. I let all the soap soak and drip off the car. This lubricates the whole car and as the suds slides down the car, it brings more dirt off with it. Rinse all the soap off with water. Then foam gun the car again, and wash the whole car with the two bucket car wash technique with Grit Guards (You can search this online). Make sure you use two seperate wash mitts: one for the top half of the car, and the other for the dirtier bottom half. Rinse again with water, and dry.
Saturday - I spent half the day using the claybar on the whole car. Look at the above picture: Clean claybar on the left, and the dirty claybar on the right. That crap is what came off the car AFTER my long car wash! If your car doesn't feel as smooth as glass after you are finished claybarring, then you didn't do it properly. After the claybar process, my car felt so clean. You don't know clean until you have claybarred. Also, do not forget to claybar your windows, it makes all the difference. You'd be suprised at the amount of crap that stays on your windows after your wash.
Sunday - This was my longest and most tiring day. I spent the day cutting, polishing and waxing my finish. I won't really get into the details of this, but let me tell you, this is the first time I've done this, and there is nothing to worry about. If you do this properly, you won't screw up your surface. Heck, I own a black car, so if I'm not scared, you shouldn't be scared either.
Look at this picture, no trick photography here. This photo was taken with my iPhone 3GS, it doesn't even have a good camera, and it can pick up the scratches in the 'Before' picture. After cutting and polishing the finish, it looked flawless. Wow, thumbs up for Adam's products!
After the polishing, I went into the final step: waxing the car. With Adam's Machine Super Wax, it was a breeze. I waxed the whole car in 30 minutes.
Results? 110% satisfied.
I'm not getting paid for praising Adam's Polishes, it's purely beneficial for you readers. If they had sold me some bad products, believe me, I would be on their tails, especially if it had ruined my car. The honest truth though? Adam's Polishes has MY trust, and MY loyalty from this day forward. Great products, great customer service. Like I have said before, I am 110% satisfied, and the only way I feel I can pay them back is by spreading word of mouth. Also, if you need any more convincing, just remember that this is my first detailing attempt, and I did it on a black car.
A week ago, I mentioned that I was very happy with this tail light blackout kit that I'd bought from The Camaro Decal Store. However, apparently I didn't think my car was dark enough lol. So this week, in the mail, I recieved a set of blackouts for my side markers on the car. For those of you who ask the question, "why even bother getting a blackout kit?"
I say, "why not?"
The fact of the matter is, the Camaro is a nice looking car, so why not make it nicer? If you have seen some of my previous pictures, you would, and SHOULD agree that Black and Chrome hints have a very nice visual contrast. In that sense, blacking out anything that isn't black or chrome should make perfect sense. I've asked people what they think of my blackouts. The guys think they look sleek, and cool, because lets face it, you can't go wrong with black. The girls like the blackouts too... but not for the same reason. They like the perforation on the blackouts, because it lets "shiney" reflections and light go through. Not quite the point of the blackouts, but I'll accept comments of any sort lol, Ladies ;). Here are some pictures of the new blackouts, funny thing is, I had to circle the areas of the blackouts for a clearer picture.
Yeah, you're probably bored of me talking about the same product over and over huh? Well, I won't ramble on much longer. However, I will say this, if you own a Camaro, I'd suggest you click the link to The Camaro Decal Store. Very good products for bargaining prices. Also, excellent customer service, if you have any questions about the products, speak directly to Reggie. I haven't dealt with such a good salesman in a long time.
A couple of weeks ago, I met up with a friend who owns an Inferno Orange Metallic 1LT 2010 Camaro. He has owned his Camaro for about a year, so the number of modifications done to his car are far more than mine; both performance and cosmetic. One of his mods was a tail light black out kit. It really made his car look more aggressive. I asked him about it, and he told me it costed $30. A small cost for a lot of gain. So I go to eBay, and bought the black out kit from the Camaro Decal Store. If you are planning on buying a set, please hold no reserve. It is an easy install, took me around 30 minutes for all my lights. The seller, Reggie, is very trustworthy and has gotten a lot of positive comments ;)
Take a look at the picture. For a black car, I kept all the chrome pieces the way they are. I just like the contrast of the black and chrome. Some people I noticed, can't stand the chrome. So they sanded down the chrome and painted it. However, if you are an owner of a BLACK Camaro, I highly recommend you keep the chrome. Black may be one of the only colors that doesn't make chrome look tacky.
But I should give fair warning, that shouldn't give you the impression you should OVER chrome your car. I admit, when I first got the Camaro, I wanted to chrome a lot of the car... it would have been a big mistake, and thankfully I did not go down that road.
As you can see in the close up shot, the blackout isn't a typical tint job. It is actually perforated cling on vinyl. The install job just requires you to clean the surface, heat up the vinyl, and stick it on. Don't worry about making mistakes, because the backside of the vinyl is not adhesive, so you can re-do it as many times as you want. Once you get the product in the right position, you just rub a towel over the blackout to create a static charge. So far, it is held on quite nicely. I really just love the new look.
My most recent modification is blacking out the Chevy Emblem for my car. I had a friend do it for me. He's a professional Detailer and he had some spare Black Vinyl, so he spent 30 minutes or so helping me with the mod. I am very pleased with the result. The blackout really makes the Chrome of the Chevy emblem pop out. Making the car look sharper overall.
