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cars don't rust in Texas? are you insane...I grew up in Corpus Christi and my first car rusted out in less than 2 years. On Padre Island and Mustang Island we drive onto the beach and park in the sand. Cars without rust are the exception. Do people not drive onto the beaches in Florida? Cars don't rust in West Texas and maybe North Texas but South Texas is bad on cars.
True. A couple of hundred miles from the Gulf you don’t see any rust, though.
Finished putting together my passenger rear door after dent repair and door lock actuator fix. After I put it back together I noticed that the passenger rear window is no longer working. I didn’t really do anything to that while working on other parts of the door. Still, it had been working previously so I must have messed it up somehow. I can hear a relay clicking when I try to open or close, but no action from the motor. I don’t use that window much, but it is irritating that it is no longer working.
Did my front passenger door lock actuator. Surprise, it’s quite different from the rear doors. Actually, I broke the actuator trying to get it past the window rail. Found a replacement on ebay for $100 and ordered that. Decided I’d put the broken one back in just so the door would latch. Slathered it up with duct tape and it works. I’ll probably replace it with the one I ordered once I get it.
Also, my driver rear actuator that I had previously fixed started doing a “triple click” when unlocking. It did not do that when I first fixed it. I had wrapped the motor assembly for that in duct tape also to hold all the workings together. Despite the triple click does still work for both lock and unlock.
Found out after the fact that I could unbolt the top of the window rail, giving me a lot more room. Also, somebody had posted a bunch of good pictures of front door lock disassembly. Unfortunately I couldn’t find them until after I was done.
True. A couple of hundred miles from the Gulf you don’t see any rust, though.
LOL he must have been having a bad day at the bakery. I know what you mean or meant, and the topic was more about the repair.
Cars even rust in California, but wouldn't it be safe to say that as a general rule, they rust much less, than say on Cape Cod? Sometimes peoples' responses here surprise me. The last was about a cabin air filter reminder.
I could be totally wrong but the times I visit our Irving office, I never see any rusty cars.
El-LS430
Irving is in N. Texas and if it’s a local car then it’s rust-free. One thing we do in Texas is drive pickups. Without a pickup we improvise. Here’s two 2x8 plywood sheets in my LS. The plywood has a moving blanket to protect the trunk floor and another moving blanket over the wood where the trunk lid is. I removed the corner trim piece from the drivers side taillight, attached a ratchet strap to it and a metal loop on the trunk floor and easily “trucked” the boards plus other things home. Next up are 4x8 sheets of plywood.
LOL he must have been having a bad day at the bakery. I know what you mean or meant, and the topic was more about the repair.
Cars even rust in California, but wouldn't it be safe to say that as a general rule, they rust much less, than say on Cape Cod? Sometimes peoples' responses here surprise me. The last was about a cabin air filter reminder.
I could be totally wrong but the times I visit our Irving office, I never see any rusty cars.
Well I did pay a premium CA price for my car 2 years ago (13k w/ 103) but, on a lift w/ panels removed, zero rust. Sun is the killer out here. If it's not garage or covered, interior def takes a hit. Maybe the electronics too.
Today I touched up dozens of stone chips, primarily in the hood.
I also sanded down some paint that had adhered to the top of the clear coat where the car had scraped up against something. Originally I had thought that the paint was scratched all the way through to the grey primer. Today I noticed that I was able to scrape a little bit of the grey off using my fingernail, which meant it was actually on the surface. When I wet-sanded it with 2000 grit, the grey came right off. It should polish out. Some of the grey is on high points of the door and quarter panel. I will have to be very careful not to cut through the clear coat while polishing.
Today I touched up dozens of stone chips, primarily in the hood.
I also sanded down some paint that had adhered to the top of the clear coat where the car had scraped up against something. Originally I had thought that the paint was scratched all the way through to the grey primer. Today I noticed that I was able to scrape a little bit of the grey off using my fingernail, which meant it was actually on the surface. When I wet-sanded it with 2000 grit, the grey came right off. It should polish out. Some of the grey is on high points of the door and quarter panel. I will have to be very careful not to cut through the clear coat while polishing.
Nice, a year ago I took a business trip and got some nasty stone chips on the hood. Didn't realize what a big deal it was getting touch-up paint (online is even more than going to a dealer). Had to wait and it was drop-shipped from Sherwin Williams Automotive. I have moonlight pearl so it was two tubes. I'm actually surprised how well the tint coat does match, and I'm ok with the touch ups being slightly "proud" of the chips. But a couple along the rear trunk are almost invisible since they were small chips...
Today I wet sanded my sun damaged hood. Frist 800, then 1200, then 1500. Tomorrow 2000, then 3 compounds. Hopefully the result is worth the effort.
I masked off all high points on the hood to prevent burning through the paint with sandpaper. I only use sandpaper on flat or almost flat sections. I will stick to compound for the high spots and will go easy on the high spots with the coarser compounds. Also, I recommend a random orbital sander/polisher as it doesn’t cut as fast as a circular polisher. I use a Porter Cable orbital polisher that I got from Amazon.
Last edited by jherr; 07-16-18 at 08:31 PM.
Reason: added additional details
Just renewed my headlights this weekend.
They were not bad before I started mind you...but oh man....they are "factory new" now! Very pleased with the Sylvania headlight restore kit.
The pic speaks for itself.
Just renewed my headlights this weekend.
They were not bad before I started mind you...but oh man....they are "factory new" now! Very pleased with the Sylvania headlight restore kit.
The pic speaks for itself.
To make long story short, took her to dealer for alignment. Was told that she need rear camber arms ($1000) to correct the alignment, and battery ($200). They said they need to jump the car to get her into the service area. We never have problem starting the car since we bought her about a month ago so this was a surprised. Did not have any problem starting on the way home, and no problem when wife drove her around to run some errands.
Not sure what to do with the rear camber arms, but if she need new battery, I am going to get AGM battery.
07-14-18, 09:05 PM
