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See, it looks lovely when shinny and clean. Respray gets my vote rather than a matt wrap. I hope your budget can stretch to making it into an absolutely mint example (just a spray away) :)
 
I still think you would get pissed off with it wrapped. Cleaning it and trying to keep it clean is going to be a pig trust me.

Looks the b0llocks in the pics mate :)
 
Went over to AmD to try and find the cause of my intermittent boost problem.
The problem I'm having is the car will intermittently not make full boost, for example you pull off a roundabout, 2nd gear accelerate boost builds to 22psi, 3rd gear 22psi, 4th gear 15psi, close the throttle back off a bit and accelerate again in 4th and it will hit 22psi.
It doesn't seem to be gear related as it's done it in other gears.
As well as seeing it on the gauge you can also feel it holding back.
As you'd expect during the during the road tests today it behaved itself and the vacuum tests we're all ok and showed no leaks so we are now ruling out the actuator, for now anyway.
One thing we did find was a fault code relating to the pre cat lambda probe, it could be that if the sensor is playing up it might be causing it to cut or reduce fuel and therefore reduce boost, we've cleared the code so now it's just a case of waiting and see if it comes back.
The car has smelt like it's been running rich for a while and the exhaust tip never stays clean long, and I've noticed some marks on the rear bumper around the exhaust that look like it's been spitting a bit.

Also today I went over to legend vehicle specialists in Gravesend to weight up my options on the paint work, now these guys are not exactly cheap but the quality of their work from what I've seen is very high, we're looking at a full front end and rear bumper respray, I've got a couple of other places I still want to talk to so nothings getting done just yet.
I think I've ruled out the full body wrap now, I've seen a picture of a Leon in matt grey and to me it doesn't work.
As a temp measure we are looking at doing something a little bit different with vinyl just on the bonnet, no it's not fake carbon :)
 
Regarding marks on the bumper around the exhaust - when my old turbo was on the way out I was getting little black spots on the bumper and part of the tailgate. Might be worth taking your TIP off at the turbo end and just checking for shaft play. Mine was also starting to sometimes not build boost, as you describe. Hope it's not that but thought I should mention it.
 
Cheers mate I'll check that, might be worth doing that before I go too far with other plans :think:

I went to see another body shop today about the paint work I want sorting, this guy came highly recommended by a friend who details high end performance cars, we're looking at respraying everything below the window line i.e, bonnet, bumpers, doors and wings for £1300.
All the panels are straight and there's no dents but it is starting to show signs of it age as any 9 year old car would and I want it to look perfect :)
We've had a long think today and really I cant afford to buy what I want, RS4 or M3 so if I was to sell it I'd be looking at something like an S3, Also I really need to replace our other car with something a bit more practical which I wouldnt be able to do if I replaced the LCR.
But it's still in the back of mind if it's worth spending £1300 on it :think:
Nothing's going to happen till spring so I've got a bit of time to decide what to do.
 
Sorted a couple of little jobs I've been meaning to do for a while.
1st one, replaced the broken boost gauge

The bezel cracked which was stopping the needle from moving.
I stuck with the same gauge to save buying a oil temp gauge but I've sprayed the bezel's black rather than the silver that they came with.

I need to clean the glue off from the tape on the temp gauge :rolleyes:

Next job was the rear ARB, one of the centre brackets has been moving

So I've refitted it, I might drill through the bracket and rear beam and bolt the bracket in place to stop it moving.
I also changed the drop link's from the firm setting to the soft setting, it was surprising how much a difference it made, it really did feel softer at the rear and the creaking noises from where the car was so stiff have stopped :)
 
Been a bit lazy on the cleaning front recently




Autobright direct Magifoam








One of the benefits of sealing your wheels properly, this was just after a soak in snowfoam and then just water pressure from the jet wash










Yesterday I borrowed my mate garage and set about trying to bring the bonnet back to life, the lacquer has gone flat again :(


Not the best lighting but it was better than doing it outside.


50/50




Still needs more work and I couldnt get the scratches out but at least the gloss and reflection is back :D
 
What snow foam are you using these days Darren? I went for the Clean Freaks one this time round and its the best I've used yet, and there's been a few. Hope the car's running well? How the latest splitter holding up?
 
I'm still using the Autobright Magifoam, I tried some of Kleenfreaks other bits and I wasn't that impressed with it.
The cars still not running 100%, we think the pre cat lambda sensor needs replacing, boost is still bit random and it's drinking fuel like a fat kid eats cake :)

The current splitter is doing very well :) I'm hoping to get the car in for a respray in the spring, when it goes in the splitter will be taken off and inspected for and damage to the resin,

We're also looking at replace the wife's car soon with something a bit more practical, my plan is rather than using the Leon when ever we go out together we'll talk the new one, this will allow me to virtually take the Leon off the road during the winter although I don't have a garage :(
Recently I grown bored of driving a modified car, It's too low, the ride is hard, the roads round here are awful and I'm constantly worrying about it getting damaged.
With this in mind we are looking at crossover range of soft 4x4's, We looked at the new Vauxhall Mokka yesterday which is a really nice well spec'd car but it's a bit out of our price range and they are fairly new still so there's not many used ones around.
We've also looked at a lot of Nissan Juke's which meets all of our needs and you can pick up a well spec'd used one for reasonable money, We're going to see the bank then going to book a test drive, I've been told they are a bit gutless but if I want to drive something fast I'll take the Leon out :)
 
I'm still using the Autobright Magifoam, I tried some of Kleenfreaks other bits and I wasn't that impressed with it.
The cars still not running 100%, we think the pre cat lambda sensor needs replacing, boost is still bit random and it's drinking fuel like a fat kid eats cake :)

The current splitter is doing very well :) I'm hoping to get the car in for a respray in the spring, when it goes in the splitter will be taken off and inspected for and damage to the resin,

We're also looking at replace the wife's car soon with something a bit more practical, my plan is rather than using the Leon when ever we go out together we'll talk the new one, this will allow me to virtually take the Leon off the road during the winter although I don't have a garage :(
Recently I grown bored of driving a modified car, It's too low, the ride is hard, the roads round here are awful and I'm constantly worrying about it getting damaged.
With this in mind we are looking at crossover range of soft 4x4's, We looked at the new Vauxhall Mokka yesterday which is a really nice well spec'd car but it's a bit out of our price range and they are fairly new still so there's not many used ones around.
We've also looked at a lot of Nissan Juke's which meets all of our needs and you can pick up a well spec'd used one for reasonable money, We're going to see the bank then going to book a test drive, I've been told they are a bit gutless but if I want to drive something fast I'll take the Leon out :)

I love our Passat CC for that very reason.

When we moved house at the beginning of the year I went without a garage for a period - really hard to keep the car healthy through the bad weather. I'd think about investing in a really good quality car cover if you become fortunate enough to have the car as a weekend/summer car - my discs in particular took a real kicking. Hope the car returns to its best very soon :)
 
It's only ever been used as a weekend car since I've had it, I take the train to work so I dont really need the car but I cant let it go :) Hopefully having and driving a "normalish" car will make driving the Leon even more fun.
I think I will have to get a good cover for it :rolleyes:
 
Had a go at polishing mate, did my charge pipe. It came out really well, other than some scratches that were underneath the paint. I'll upload some pictures now in my RR, you should take a look at the amateur lol! Might sound stupid too, but do you have to have a pressure washer to use snow foam? Also how often do you do it, every wash or like once a month say?


Sent from my iPhone
 
The quality of the charge pipes under the paint is very poor, You will struggle to get all the scratches out.
I've found wire wool and autosol works really well on the charge pipes but don't use it on the manifold ;)

You do need a pressure washer to use a snow foam lance, most pressure washer have different lance fitting too so buy your pressure washer before buying the foam lance.
During the winter if the cars really dirty I use it for every wash, in the summer I only use it if it's got really dirty.
 
The quality of the charge pipes under the paint is very poor, You will struggle to get all the scratches out.
I've found wire wool and autosol works really well on the charge pipes but don't use it on the manifold ;)

You do need a pressure washer to use a snow foam lance, most pressure washer have different lance fitting too so buy your pressure washer before buying the foam lance.
During the winter if the cars really dirty I use it for every wash, in the summer I only use it if it's got really dirty.


I'm quite pleased with my effort to be honest, can't help some scratches in it, and from a distance it looks really good! Took bloody ages though! I skipped 2k aswell as I only had 1500 and 2500.


Sent from my iPhone
 
You can get foam guns to use without a pressure washer. I got the Gilmour Foamaster II recently, it has Hozelock attachments so will attach to a regular hose. I've been using it with Auto Finesse Avalanche, you don't get as much foam as with a proper lance and pressure washer but it still works well as a pre-wash.

For a very quick wash if the car isn't terribly dirty I sometimes cover the car with the foam, fill a single bucket with hot water, use a lambswool mitt with the water to agitate the foam then rinse it with filtered water. Good result in very little time and no need to towel dry.