ilogikal1

Without knowing your budget or what you already have, if anything, I'm just going to throw everything at you. Personally, I'd do a pre-wash: Assuming you have pressure washer; Snow Foam lance (there are considerably cheaper versions available, they're all the same so find the cheapest source you trust). Snow foam - it's important that you get 4-8% solution hitting the panel so you'll need to measure the flow rate through your lance and do some maths. I posted a guide somewhere on how to do that if you can search it out. Foam on a dry car, leave to dwell for a few minutes and rinse thoroughly with the pressure washer. OR if you don't have a pressure washer, citrus pre-wash would be better but don't expect miracles without a p/w. Personally I prefer to do the wheels first (with its own dedicated wheel bucket) but others prefer to do them last or as they do the rest of the car. My deep clean process on the wheels is the same as the rest of the car (more details for each follows, but in summary - foam, rinse, wash using these, rinse, de-tar, rinse, fallout remover, rinse, clay, polish, protect). For deep cleans I also prefer to remove the wheels to attack them properly rather than leavingthem on the car. Wash: Car Chem 1900:1 shampoo, 2 buckets and a proper mitt, pad or sponge (yes, I said sponge!). Rinse. Degrease/APC - attack all plastic trim with an appropriate brush at this point. When doing the wheels, use this to properly clean your tyres using a more appropriate brush. Rinse. Tar remover. Rinse. Fallout remover. Rinse. Clay - either use shampoo and hot water with a cloth or get a Bilt Hamber clay bar to save of needing a dedicated lubricant. Rinse. Dry. Beer. Paint cleaner. Polish - Scholl S20 for heavier cut if needed, Scholl S30+ for single stage or jewelling. If polishing by machine: Lake Country Hydrotech - tangerine for heavier cut or crimson for single stage or finishing, both 5.5" and 4" pads with an appropriate backing plate (I use Flexipads plates) are recommended for a Z - are my current go-to's but I'm told by a trusted source that Scholl Spider pads are better still, although yet to confirm this for myself. If polishing by hand: you'd benefit from using appropriate pads still (medium or light cut), but you'll get limited results by hand (and sore arms), so don't expect miracles again but do consider using a filler glaze and a wax to finish (more on this later). Work in small areas and always check your work with appropriate lighting and a proper panel wipe down/IPA wipe down to remove any remaining oils. Glass "polish" (this is just a deep cleaner, not a polish by any means). Glass cleaner. More beer. Protect - the optons here almost endless here; For glass, coatings are worth the effort and difficult to get wrong but can be pricey. Sealants are cheaper, a little easier to apply but don't last as long. For trim, coatings are worth the effort and difficult to get wrong but can be pricey. Sealants are cheaper, no easier to apply and don't last as long. For wheels, it's really not worth considering anything other coatings. It's just not. For metalwork (exhaust) use your wheel coating. For tyres, this. For the paintwork - wax is easy to apply but shorter durabilty, acrylic sealants are about as easy to apply and about as durable these days, spray sealants can vary from very easy to apply to a pain in the arse and fall off instantly to last a few months, and then you've got various coating options in a similar vein - typically the more involved it is to apply, the longer it'll last. There are so many options, I've not linked ot anything... yet. As mentioned earlier if you're polishing by hand and/or you've still got swirls/RDS you want to mask, use a filler glaze and a decent paste wax - the oilier the better (within reason) for this. If your paintwork is immaculate by this point, you've got a garage and you're confident to apply it then a ceramic coating is always a good option and can last a couple of years, but is a higher outlay. If you let us know your budget (which no doubt I've just blown on the above), and preferences I'm sure we can offer some specific products for just about everything. Also if you want some guidence on some of the stuff I've mentioned that you don't have already, I'm happy to expand on anything. And then once you've done the exterior, there's the interior to think about too....

Give it a deep clean with something something like AF Ragtop Cleaner or APC and a stiff brush - rinse thoroughly and repeat until you’re happy that it’s clean. Then protect with A303 or Gyeon FabricCoat for awesomeness.

Someone’s had a (poor) go at filling the damage in the fourth picture. That and the stone chips will need paint, there’s no amount of detailing will fix that. If you’re confident, you can have a bash at it yourself, but if you’re not it’ll be better living with it as is until you can get to a body shop rather than making it worse. Third picture (assuming you mean the three spots - I’m on my phone so the pictures are a bit small!) looks like someone’s had a better stab at filling chops previously but not quite finished the job. If they’re standing proud of the surface (and it looks like they are) your need to wet sand level then polish up. However it doesn’t look like a good colour match, so they’ll always stand out. If you’re getting paint anyway it might be an idea to get that panel seen to at the same time.

Centre caps should always match the wheels for me.

As it's now April, as promised.... ...something changed, so the only update is that the car is sat some 200 miles away from all my detailing stuff covered in half an inch of dust. Also this makes ilogikal1 very grumpy. Further updates are pending post-apocalypse lockdown release. Maybe August. Maybe not this August... Except for the glass sealant. It's looking much more likely that I would run out of that within the next 30 years than not given that it seemed to give up prior to lockdown. However in the spirit of fairness, it could just have required as wash to revive it (which will still be checked whenever I'm able to), but on current evidence it would suggest that about 2 months is what I got out of it by applying in a manner that is very much against the manufacturers instructions.

Case in point.

Yep, As Headphones says, C1, C4 & C5 are all the same product..GTechniq are open about too; they release it as multiple products because generally people can't cope with the idea that one product can do it all well (jack of all trades, master of none is very much the archetype it's trying to avoid) so release it under products.

Let's just assume that we all accept that one of those is the best for carrying people, for the purposes of this example.... No, I'd avoid other people specifically not to instead.

Making something look as pretty as can be is one thing, one I have a passion for myself actually, but choosing something as vital as tyres on how they look is just vacuous.

I’m submitting this thread as evidence that lockdown is adversely affecting the mental health of the nation. I can overlook davey’s obsession with “pretty” tyres being the most important factor, but when other people agree with him... No, it’s too much. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to choose a set of brake pads based on how they smell.

It’s probably a bit pointless, to be honest, I can’t see it adding anything however I don’t foresee any adverse effects of doing so either as the wrap will sit over it just fine. If you want to try it and you’ve got spare C4, go for it.

Haha, don't get too disheartened, so long as you like them - it's your car after all. I'm not really a fan of light tints either, but I really (really) hate eyelids on any car myself. I just don't "get" them at all.

First thing I’d do? Get rid of the tacky plastic tat glued to the headlights. The clicking on turning could just be a brake shield on the front; determine which side it’s coming from and simply bend the shield back away from the brake disc a little bit. Common issue on these.

Pretty much just taken a new Supra, stuck a bit of the new Griffith on the (very) front end and done a little bit of colouring in from what I can see. I have noticed that not one source has (yet) posted the same renderings as whatever other source they've copy & pasted the words from in the 4-5 years these rumours have persisted though. At least someone is getting some work out of it.

Any cheap and cheerful steam cleaner will do, try to get one with a few different nozzles if you can as that'll determine what it's practical to use it on, but essentially any will do really. Water isn't necessary and you wont really need to rinse afterwards; you can wipe down any chemicals used if preferred. However the only things to avoid with water (if you're not using a pressure washer) is exposed battery terminals and the air intake - both of which are pretty well protected on a Z - everything else should be fine under your avarage tap water pressure (or less), using an open ended hose. A watering can will be absolutely fine.

FTFY.

Essentially what Stu said really. Only thing I might add is if you’ve got a steam cleaner that’s usually easier for stubborn dirt or tight areas. Use cheap micro fibre cloths, there’s nothing too delicate under the bonnet and you’re likely to ruin a few doing this. In terms of protection, for once (and pretty much only one) I would recommend AutoGlym Rubber and Vinyl is ideal - cheap, full of shiny silicones and it’s literally spray all over and walk away. No levelling, wiping or buffing, and cheap as... well AG - but 303 (Stu’s link) is better if you don’t just want to pop to Halfords (in at least 3 more weeks!). And don’t forget to give the underside of the bonnet a once over too to finish it all off.

Pitch it to Netflix. Netflix will make anything, so this would be better than at least 60% of the content!

Those cracks aren’t the result of UV damage (the hazing is though), so simply filling them with epoxy isn't going to address the underlying cause so it’s potentially a short term fix. Having said that, it could be a longer term fix so there’s no harm in trying it. Also just to note that the lenses are polycarbonate rather than plastic - no idea if this makes any difference to how the epoxy will bond or anything so just mentioning it. I’m very much not a fan of tinted wrap on lights by any means but seeing as the lights are coming off and getting fiddled with anyway is there any reason you’re not reapplying the clear topcoat? It would help to mask what the epoxy doesn’t fix a lot better and won’t reduce the light output like a tinted wrap would.

I haven’t seen any of the MCU films all the way through. I lost interest in catching up with them when Disney decided to release one every 12 minutes and never bothered with them.

IIRC Nissan stated the intention was to build something that someone could replicate for themselves with the potential of offering a home install kit, but they had no intention of manufacturing it as a complete car themselves, even then. I don’t see what could possibly have changed that stance into making it a production run over the last couple of years, especially now when they’re publicly stating that Nissan may be downscaling as a business.

If it's on your driveway then it's no different to mowing to lawn and I doubt PC Plod would be interested... but one "expert" says it's non-essential and therefore not allowed at all, aparently.

I mean, priorities and all that!

For some, a bigger concern is that a so-called expert has said that you shouldn’t be out washing your car(s)...

The FCA won’t force them to pay out for non-cover. There will be a massive mis-selling compensation scheme for that instead...