What did you do to your Blackwing today?

[KatyTxCT5V]

Here’s my car being foamed with soap and it’s struggling to stay on the car due to the ceramic coating and glass coating, lol.

 

[tmc]

Here’s my car being foamed with soap and it’s struggling to stay on the car due to the ceramic coating and glass coating, lol.

Did you coat it yourself? I've done wheels in the past and I think I'm pretty clear on the process to "do it rightish" on the paint, but will remain pretty uncertain until I do it at least once.

 

[KatyTxCT5V]

Did you coat it yourself? I've done wheels in the past and I think I'm pretty clear on the process to "do it rightish" on the paint, but will remain pretty uncertain until I do it at least once.

I did coat it myself over 3 yrs ago using GTECHNIQ Crystal Serum Light, topped with GTECHNIQ EXO on everything, less the glass. I polished the glass and installed GTECHNIQ G1 Clear Vision. Everything is holding up quite well, but the car is garage kept, so expected to last.

The expensive cost from an installer is the time it takes for paint correction and how labor extensive it can be. The hardest part IMO is the paint correction time. I have purchased everything necessary over time to do on my own.

My car is not my daily driver, my garage is climate controlled and I upgraded the lighting. Over the last year or so, my time has become more precious. For example, I recently purchased a new BMW X5 for a DD. Due to the lack of time, I had someone else paint correct and ceramic coat while I was traveling. I will be coating all the glass this weekend myself.

I used to be afraid, but I practiced on my wife's car first, read many how-to articles, etc. I have GTECHNIQ applied to 5 different vehicles and some that sit outside. Their coatings IMO last as long as the surface is prepared properly.

 

[huemangos]

Got the rest of the cf stuff on and summers on it. Then we got some mild blizzard white out conditions this weekend.

It's no longer my daily and I've got a dealer appointment coming up cause of the rattles in the headliner.

 

[MiCaddy]

That color looks gorgeous a truly eye catching marvel! Rims amplify and tint completes it.
I’d love to know your tint brand and %’s . . .

MiC

 

[huemangos]

That color looks gorgeous a truly eye catching marvel! Rims amplify and tint completes it.
I’d love to know your tint brand and %’s . . .

MiC

25 percent all around with 50 on windshield I think. It's llumar stratos if I recall correctly

 

[rubberduck]

I actually just scheduled an estimate to get one installed. But my understanding is a water softener replaces calcium and magnesium with sodium. It doesn't lower the TDS.... If I get a DI system for washing, the softener doesn't extend the filter media life.

Maybe sodium doesn't leave the stains calcium does?

I only just started researching all of this

I bought a lot of the components from Obsessed Garage and some other warehouse hardware stores. Using the CR spotless filters. I don’t touch the car after the final rinse and zero water spots. In Arizona it’s impossible to dry the car fast enough in the summer no matter what time of day or night it is.

I suggest buying an inexpensive TDS meter from Amazon. The total gallons of water that is achievable for any filter is dependent on starting TDS. I see one manufacturer, RV-Mods, uses 110 TDS and that’s unrealistic for most people. If that’s you, you’ve won the car wash jackpot.

In my system with water TDS of 160, I get 240gal total output (I have a water meter in my system) for $120 in resin. At 40gal per wash that is $20 per wash. For me, time is a non-renewable resource and it’s worth it.

The RV-Mods DI Pro 100 Compact uses 1 cubic foot of resin and claims 4000gal. Based on my CR Spotless DIC-20 system with about 1/4 cubic feet of resin I would get about 1000gals out of the 1 cubic foot. The moral here is don’t pay much attention to the gallons rating. There is no magic here, one resin is not going to yield 4X over another. I have a friend in CA whose TDS is 320, he is screwed for using these systems to wash a car. I suspect the gallons vs. TDS curve is nonlinear. Fortunately he only wants to use it for cooking.

I also use the water for my espresso machine and add minerals back in to achieve the proper water.

 

[coffee_time]

I paid for full car PPF and take my car through automatic car washes lol. Haven’t hand washed my car yet. Probably never will.

 

[ngoni]

I paid for full car PPF and take my car through automatic car washes lol. Haven’t hand washed my car yet. Probably never will.

Oof. My PPF guy told me only "touchless" car washes and even then keep them to a minimum.

 

[MiCaddy]

25 percent all around with 50 on windshield I think. It's llumar stratos if I recall correctly

That's nice advertisement photo for Llumar products. I'm most likely going with a well-respected installer group that uses Llumar Platinum Plus.

miCaddy

 

[Triplejs]

New shoes from 41 Forged. Pics don't do it justice, lighting has not been good. The Nitto 555s are also good looking
20X10.5
20X11.5

 

[coffee_time]

Oof. My PPF guy told me only "touchless" car washes and even then keep them to a minimum.

That's way overkill. I've been using auto carwashes for 10 years with PPF. Never an issue. XPEL (the company I had it done through) said the same thing.

 

[BW56M]

Got mine out of winter storage today and stretched it's legs some. When I got home, I pulled into the garage and the system did an OTA update. Don't know what it was for, but I sure pray it does screw anything up. At least I got a message saying that the update was successful.

 

[so 650]

I also use the water for my espresso machine and add minerals back in to achieve the proper water.

That's some hardcore third wave coffee nerd stuff there. /jealous

 

[so 650]

Bath day. I was feeling bad about how dusty it was, after a visit to Cadillac of South San Francisco for oil change (I know!) and looking into warranty replacement for the taillights (they have some smudgy junk + condensation inside, and yes, GM is going to replace them). Feeling bad because my car was dirty and it was a freaking Blackwing club meet at Cadillac SSF - there was a maverick noir frost 23 5BW with a CF hood, as well as several CPO manual 5s, and an Escy-V. All sitting in the service entry.

(also played with my Chemical Guys garden hose foam cannon for the first time and had so much fun I washed my son's car too, getting the cement dust out of the new scratches he put in it last night in the same parking lot he scratched it up in before ... luckily this time it's just in the plastic bodywork of the Crosstrek)

 

[sgray944t]

Yesterday I installed Seat Jackers, by Desert Does It. This cars driver's seat didn't adjust the squab enough for my long legs, nor tilt the front upwards enough to support said long legs.

I added an inch of height to the front of the seat, and it's glorious! Took a while 15 minutes to add another dimension of comfort to this thing. I also have them in my F150 Raptor.

Thank you for posting this! Just picked a 23 with base seats (was intentionally looking for them) and did a back to back drive vs a car with the full semi aniline sport seats. The only thing I felt lacking was the sport maybe lets you sit a little deeper into the back and therefor has a smidge more knee support. I’m also tall, so just picked up these Seat Jackers based on your post.

Next project that will get the ergonomics perfect is a steering wheel spacer for the stock steering wheel. Gonna have to figure that one out myself as it seems no one makes one at the moment.

 

[wfdeacon88]

That's way overkill. I've been using auto carwashes for 10 years with PPF. Never an issue. XPEL (the company I had it done through) said the same thing.

My view... The touch car washes definitely swirl up paint. Now, PPF.. maybe less or no swirling, not sure. "Experts" typically say to avoid the touch less primarily because they use strong soaps that will degrade and remove ceramic coatings usually. I enjoy controlling the inputs, technique and washing the car at home so I don't use either but that's just me

 

[nordique14]

The only thing I felt lacking was the sport maybe lets you sit a little deeper into the back and therefor has a smidge more knee support. I’m also tall, so just picked up these Seat Jackers based on your post.

Which ones did you get? There are several ones for GM but nothing specific for CT5 or any Cadillac.

 

[EB4BW]

Changed the engine air filters on my 4BW for the first time.

If the job were quicker I would have returned the current filters to the housings, but after taking it apart there was no way I wasn’t installing fresh filers.

 

[MiCaddy]

Which ones did you get? There are several ones for GM but nothing specific for CT5 or any Cadillac.

6’8” here.