The Summer Prep

As summer time is approaching, and with a new season launching, the Machine Zealots team took the week to get things prepared; starting with a good old car wash. It was a tiring day, we spent almost six hours to wash and clean three cars. A third car? Well, the third car isn't really a Machine Zealots project car, but a car belonging to one of our own.

Puyang washing his white GTI. White cars get just as dirty as black cars.

Close to completion.

A humble guest joins the wash.

Clean and simple.

Just showing off!

While the first two cars were washed at the Machine Zealots HQ 2, the STI was washed at our main headquarters. Washing the STI was nice, but the shiny STI only revealed two door dings! People don't know how to open doors, or that they banged up my STI on purpose. It wasn't a real ding, but just some missing paint; which is annoying enough. The wash itself went by faster than usual because I had some help cleaning the wheels. She did a really thorough job; a lot better than what I could do actually. She actually asked for more tools so she could get the really tough spots. o_____o

We also found a fully built birds nest in the engine bay. A week previous to this car wash, I had realized the STI drank gas like it was nothing; I kept on thinking that maybe because I drove a lot harder, or that maybe I was just driving a lot more than I thought, but it was actually the nest blocking most of my TMIC!

I was thankful that there were no signs of cooked bird's eggs, so I removed the nest, and placed it on a tree. I personally prefer birds over rats living in my engine bay, and I found it funny that a bird would choose an STI for a home. Flattering.

Thank you for your hard work!

The nest was a bit torn up, because I'd tried to remove it before I was told to take a picture.

STI ready to do battle.

Nice clean wheels. They were pretty much dark bronze before this wash.

An end to a tiring day.

Things coming along

Last Sunday, we attended the annual Rev Scene spring meet, and because my STI had not been washed in a very long time, I took some time to wash it before the meet. The weather is finally getting a lot warmer, and we are currently in the process of ordering all sorts of oils for our maintenance season. Washing this car was definitely something I had to do before we did anything else. Believe me.

The car is extremely dirty!

Washed the car at MZ Headquarters 2.

I don't even want to mention how long it's been since my last car wash, it's way too embarrassing. You can try guessing though, but I won't tell. I was shocked to find out, after washing the entire car, that two buckets full of black water was produced as a result of the wash. It was so black that I would lose sight of my hands one inch beneath the surface. I used my foam gun, and lots of soap to ensure I did not harm the surface of the paint.

Black water from washing just the TOP half of the car! The bottom half was worse.

The car is clean, but it could use a detail this summer.

It took a lot of work to get it clean. After drying the car, I had realized there were still some very dirty parts that seemed unwashed. However, getting rid of the gunk gathered from these past months, it will be much easier to clean from here on out.

As I mentioned above, we are gathering materials for a couple maintenance episodes, and some modding episodes. We did indeed attend the Rev Scene meet, so there will be a video on that in the future. We also went to our local Auto Show, sort of disappointing but we have a video planned for that as well. I will update you guys in more detail later.

Rebirth

In an unexpected way, the first episode of the season being a car wash video is quite fitting. It's a preparation of the new year, it symbolizes a rebirth of water, being purified. Then there is the fact that we've never done a car wash video before. Although this isn't a tutorial video, this sort of style it isn't out of the realm of Machine Zealots. Plus, wouldn't it be slightly insulting if we made a how-to-video on how to wash your own car? ;)
I've personally always wanted to make more videos that focused more on stylized editing. This was one of those videos that forced me to do it that way. If I had just shot a bunch of footage of me washing my car, it would be very boring. (Not saying it isn't boring now...) So what am I to do? Well, push my editing abilities!
I've always been a fan of slow motion, but not just any kind of slow motion. I've always wanted footage to be time warped, able to manipulate the speed of footage from fast to slow, and vice versa. This always makes the video look more dynamic and interesting. If you have watched any of Zack Snyder's recent movies, you'll know the style I'm talking about.
This was one of the videos I had the most fun with in a long time. Hopefully you guys enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.

A much needed car wash

Since June 16th, the day of my first Autocross, I haven't had a chance to wash my car. As you may have noticed, it was raining non-stop. On the days that were good weather, the forecast for the following day was rainy again.

Finally, we get a full week's forecast of clear skies, so Puyang and I spent some time giving our cars a well deserved car wash. The STI definitely needed the car wash, especially from the brake dust that the Hawk HP+ had produced.

Before: Brake dust caked onto the wheel. Giving the Gold BBS wheels a nice "bronze" finish.

After: Oh hello Mr. Gold, I had almost forgotten what you looked like.

You can see that shine!

Puyang's GTI had been through a lot too. Due to his dedication of breaking in the engine, he had been driving the car a lot in rain and shine. White cars seems like such an easy color to wash, compared to black.

Puyang inspecting the paint.

After our hard work, we thought it would be a good idea to take some pictures of these clean cars, while we had the chance. So it was time to cruise around, and shoot some photos.

Puyang taking some pics of his car.

GoPro for the win!

Food for our cars.

All in all, it was a pretty productive weekend. Most importantly, we got to take in some sunlight, and take these beauties out onto the open road.

Just some minor Details

As always, when you pick up a used car, you must first make sure all the maintanence and safety inspections have been done. Secondly, always clean the car well. No one, not even dealerships, will ever be able to get all of the filth and grime out of the car built up by the previous owner.

Thankfully, the STI that I have bought only has 15,000 miles on it, which means only 15,000 miles worth of sweat, food, and other odors that may have accumulated over this time. However, the previous owner did not know how to properly wash a black car, and it was delivered to me with millions of swirl marks and "cobwebs" all over the clear coat.

You think this is bad? It looks even worse in the sun!

It was inevitable, I had to do something about this! I proceeded to use the same line of car care products from the Camaro.

Weekend of detailing.

If you read my previous detailing post, you would know that detailing takes time, and has many steps. First you have to wash the car from top to bottom. The cleaner, the better. Secondly, your car SHOULD be under cover, but not completely necessary. Next, you start the clay bar process. This will prevent any micro particles from being polished along the surface of the car while you run the polisher.

Clean claybar.

DIRTY CLAYBAR, JUST AFTER ONE PANEL!

Next run the polisher, and cut the clear coat to the amount that you want. This made the black paint look really rich and deep. Finally, you wax and seal your clear coat, and your car should look really sharp!

I also took this opportunity to debadge the rear of my STI. When you debadge a car, especially a used car, you will be left with some badge ghosting. The reason this happens is because the area under a badge is in perfect paint condition, while the rest of the surface is exposed to the harmful effects of nature, weather and car washes. After you remove your badge, you can see the contrast between the good and bad surface.

Since I was polishing out the blemishes, it was a perfect time to debadge!

Before: Badges are on, and the surface is very scratched up.

After: Debadged, polished and waxed.

Close-up shot of where the "Impreza" badge should be. Like a mirror!

Close-up shot of where the "Subaru" badge should be.

So much cleaner in the back without badges, much easier to wax and polish.

I have a couple of DIY videos coming up for you guys to watch in the next couple of weeks. The debadging will actually be an episode, and I have a few more tips that could save you money. You won't even need to buy any "Goo-gone" or any adhesive remover. More on that later.

Winter sucks, Camaro awesome

I haven't washed my car since my blog post about Adam's Polishes products. Needless to say, my car is filthy. Anyway, the weather here is completely crap. It's been cold, icey, and snowy, therefore the salt trucks have been super active, and my Camaro is a daily driver. Sigh.

Well, I had some free time this weekend, and I just decided to give the car a good wash. No detailing, or tire dressing, but I just had to get all that crap off of the car. Wanted to show you guys just HOW dirty my car was.

I wash my car with two different wash pads, one for the top half and the other for the bottom half. I use two buckets, with grit guards, and I change the water and soap for the top and bottom half of the car as well. The pictures above are just from the bottom half of the car. LOOK AT HOW FILTHY THAT IS! All of that dirt and grime washed off my Camaro.

Good to see the car is back to black.