Dunc's Mk2 Leon Cupra R

[duncinascoob]

Cheers gents. I do like a white car. But only when its clean! LOL

Had every intention of doing full paint correction on it this week but as usual no time
The bottom of the doors need hours spent on them. Looks like the previous owner used a brilo pad to clean the sodding thing. I didn't even have agressive enough pads and compound with me to tackle some bits! Not looking forward to a full correction but hey ho, will be worth it in the end.

I've just spent the past 2 days (on and off) removing all the contaminents from the paint and giving it a quick machine polish to clean it up. Then some werks acrylic 3 stage treatment to try and keep it protected over the winter.
Pics to follow.

I'll attempt a full correction next year around March / April time

Got a PM from Awesome to say that the springs and ALK will be with me soon so will see when I can grab some spare time to fit them as well as the parts I already have here.

 

[duncinascoob]

As promised. Pics from the last few days.....

Stage 1 was get it clean

First up, a good power hose to remove anything loose


Next up a quick snow foam with some Avelanche to loosen anything else



Power hose that off ready for a wash


Clean with poorboys super suds (two buckets and washmit as usual) and rinsed off again



The car didn't actually look too dirty to start with but clearly it was LOL


The front grilles were cleaned with some of this

And wheels and tyres were given a quick once over with 3M and a megs brush

 

[duncinascoob]

Next up was removing any contamination.

I've long been a fan of tardis so it was first.
Removes tar like you wouldn't believe


There wasn't actually too much tar on the paintwork. inside the door sills seemed to be the worst but they soon had no tar at all


Even with this done there was a lot of contamination though. The paintwork was still rough and there was small rust spot all over the place. So it was on to a product I'd not actually used before. Gyeon.
I'd used an alternative iron cut though so knew this was going to work well. And I also recently bought their clay bar with the promise that I could use this along with the Iron. (previous clays did not like such products due to their chemical make-up). I'm happy to report it worked perfectly and removed a stage in the process. Iron and clay in one stage. Unfortunately due to the time of night it was really dark and lighting was lashing with rain so I moved inside at this stage..... not the best as this stuff REALLY stinks!!

It turns a nice purple so you know where and when its working. This also makes it easy to see if the clay has removed everything or not. The pics dont show just how purple this goes


With the clay and iron complete the car was back outside for another blast from the powerhose. It was then left for a while before repeating the process



This gave me a chance to clean the garage floor of the mess left LOL


Back in a dried down with a trusted "bath mat" and left while I ate and watched some of the scotland game

Every panel was now clean, dry and more importantly nice and smooth so it was on to taping up in prep for machine polish.
Will get the pics of this up tomorrow as photobucket is playing up again.

Cheers

 

[Matthew FR]

Next up was removing any contamination.

I've long been a fan of tardis so it was first.
Removes tar like you wouldn't believe


There wasn't actually too much tar on the paintwork. inside the door sills seemed to be the worst but they soon had no tar at all


Even with this done there was a lot of contamination though. The paintwork was still rough and there was small rust spot all over the place. So it was on to a product I'd not actually used before. Gyeon.
I'd used an alternative iron cut though so knew this was going to work well. And I also recently bought their clay bar with the promise that I could use this along with the Iron. (previous clays did not like such products due to their chemical make-up). I'm happy to report it worked perfectly and removed a stage in the process. Iron and clay in one stage. Unfortunately due to the time of night it was really dark and lighting was lashing with rain so I moved inside at this stage..... not the best as this stuff REALLY stinks!!

It turns a nice purple so you know where and when its working. This also makes it easy to see if the clay has removed everything or not. The pics dont show just how purple this goes


With the clay and iron complete the car was back outside for another blast from the powerhose. It was then left for a while before repeating the process



This gave me a chance to clean the garage floor of the mess left LOL


Back in a dried down with a trusted "bath mat" and left while I ate and watched some of the scotland game

Every panel was now clean, dry and more importantly nice and smooth so it was on to taping up in prep for machine polish.
Will get the pics of this up tomorrow as photobucket is playing up again.

Cheers

Some cleaning job, love the snow foam, any snow foam I've purchased is sh*t lol, maybe it's the ad on bit to the lance that sucks?
Lovely car though

 

[duncinascoob]

Finally photobucket is working again
Time for some pics of the machine polish....

Bonnet:-


Wing mirror:-


Doors:-


Roof:-


With time running out it was on to the protection stage.
I opted for Werkstat Acrylic. Very easy to us and the results look good and last well. Not the deepest shine but white is a bugger to do at the bert of times LOL
3 stages, prime, jet, gloss.
Windows done old school with Autoglym glass polish.








Job done for now.

 

[duncinascoob]

Also a quick before and after on the tailpipes:-


After a bit of Autosolv and then some megs metal polish

 

[duncinascoob]

Also on Tuesday I had the bottom lip of the front bumper wrapped in gloss black
Its not stopped raining since so no pic as yet.

And these bits are all here ready to be fitted

Awesome ALK
H&R Springs
diverter valve
smoker side repeaters

Oh and the triple r front splitter

 

[kevscupra]

Nice Cupra R
The black bottom lip, triple r splitter and H&R springs will improve the looks. Are you getting any side skirts? The side skirts line up well with the splitter.

 

[duncinascoob]

Cheers Kev, Yes I am planning the oe earo side skirts and rear mud flaps.
Agree the side skirts will level the car off well.
Have a price etc from Dave at Sere etc but going to wait till after winter before the side skirts go on.
Apparently we are going to get a bad winter this year with considerable snow so I'm in no hurry to fit them.

Luckily we have a Pathfinder so I won't have too much trouble getting to work but the wife will still need to take our eldest daughter to school so she will use the leon if the weather is bad.

 

[Al]

You need to ditch the Arnold Clark reg plates min!

 

[duncinascoob]

Suppose I should also add some comments about the car now I've lived with it daily for a few weeks.

The car seems a great compromise car. Its quick enough when you want it to be but is also happy to sit in traffic and be mondane and not intrusive for every day life. Its very easy to live with and looks pretty good. This gives me the balance I was looking for with regards to cost, performance and looks.

Insurance wise - It cost me a whole £50 to change the policy from the 05 plate FR+ I had previously (9 months left on the policy). I was previously £300 / year. No points, 9 years PNCB but both my wife and I had small claims this year after someone hit my wife when she was reversing out the drive and someone hit my previous leon when it was parked and unoccupied - they didn't leave a note funnily enough!

MPG - I've been pretty pleased at the fact its average return is 30mpg. Varied driving but lots of gear changing and hills so not the best for fuel consumption. I had expected mid 20's.

Issues - Not really too much to report to be honest.
The more I push the car the more I realise that handling is the biggest issue.
Turn in is poor, steering feedback is not grear (too light). I'm hoping that lowering the COG with springs will help and the ALK helps turn in a little.
I'm also considering a change of wheel size as the R's 19" aint helping. I'll keep my eyes out for a set of cupra wheels etc and see what I can find.

The airbox is also a terrible design!! LOL Nothing that can't be fixed but what a hassle just to change an air filter as well as restricting access to everything else.

Plans - Looking at Cat Back systems to give a slightly better note.
Other than whats been done / bought / mentioned already I don't have any real plans.
IF I pick bits up cheap enough I may look to progress beyond stage 1 but I will probably only do this if the clutch needs changed anyway. Never say never but given that its a daily driver and I still have my Impreza in the garage with over 550BHP (If I ever get round to putting it back together LOL) the R doesn't really need any more power.

So very happy with it so far and the small bits I've done have simply enhansed a car that was very good "out of the box"

 

[duncinascoob]

You need to ditch the Arnold Clark reg plates min!

Hahaha. Why? That would cost me money and would bring nothing to the table! Unless you tell me it would give me 20 more ponnies???
I have already changed the Arnold Shark tax disc holder as it was big blue and ugly!
Told them not to even bother with a big ugly yellow sticker on the rear window LOL

 

[Al]

Because it looks ****!

 

[duncinascoob]

Since when did you turn into a fassion icon?? LOL You've changed!!!

Been looking at private plates for all our cars so will wait till we decide what we are getting and simply fit the new plates.

For what its worth the experience with Arnold Clark Seat Newcastle was fantastic!! Completely changed my opinion of them!! I've had issues with Citroen and Ford in Aberdeen, both were bloody useless and after sales were terrible but can't rate these guys highly enough. The common theme I see is that dealers in Aberdeen are pretty ****. Town and County probably the worst, particularly the Subaru dealer when they had it. Sales, parts and after sales all poor. To be fair the Seat dealer in Aberdeen has been good so far with previous car, not made up my mind if I will be going there for anything with this one.

 

[duncinascoob]

After giving the car a quick wash on Sunday I fitted the new diverter valve.
Then I decided I'd fit the splitter... So much for waiting till after winter LOL

 

[Damon_]

Lovely car mate.

Nice mods too

 

[springer]

Good choice,had mine just over a week and loving it.Not had chance to give mine a good detail yet though.

 

[Lew]

I love them seats!

 

[simon128927]

Nice car buddy. I used to have a white cupra before I got my red R really nice in white.

 

[duncinascoob]

Cheers for the comments.

Well the plan for the engine to stay standard didn't last too long.
Insurance renewal is due on Monday so got quotes based on some mods.
In the next week or so I plan to collect engine mounts and HPFP from Al
Still deciding on exhaust before I buy one next month.

Then I think APR Stage 1+ and see what the clutch says to that.

Still need to fit the springs and ALK so might try to get some time to do that at the end of the month.

Probably need a couple front tyres too, the Conti Sports are still OK but lots of water on the roads and feel its time probably for some F1 Asymetrical 2's.

Now - I believe the map is not adjusted for the intake (so same map whether I run panel filter on cone such as evoms) bit it is for the HPFP. But can I fit the fuel pump and drive off boost to have the map done?
I have a revo dealer on my door step but if I go APR I will need to drive from Aberdeen to Glasgow.