New RCZ owner, new experiences, lots of WAFFLE!!!

[ianGT156]

£6.90 - 12x Waxing Polish Wax Foam Sponge For Clean Cars Vehicle Glass
£14.20 - Gtechniq W6 Iron and General Fallout Remover (500ml)
£20.97 - Gtechniq P1 Nanocomposite Polish (500ml)
£18.97 - G1 and G4 Clear Vision Screen Kit (15ml)
£19.99 - C2 Liquid Crystal (500ml)
£15.99 - Large Autoglym Bottle Quality Bodywork Shampoo, 2.5 Litre
£10.49 - Meguiars Luxurious Lambs Wool Wash Mitt
£6.00 - Green Jantex Round Plastic Bucket 10Ltr
£4.99 - OK Bucket, Lava Red, 10 Litre
£10.99 - Farécla G3 Formula Bodyshop Detailer 500ml
£6.20 - 10 Pack of Yellow Lint Free Microfibre Exel Super Magic Cleaning Cloths
£12.99 - Armor All® Tire Foam Cleaner 3x500ml = 3pk
£112.93 - Kärcher K2 Premium Full Control Car and Home Pressure Washer
£16.90 - Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel Cleaner 1 Litre
£15.90 - Bilt Hamber Double Speed-Wax 250ml
£20.50 - Bilt Hamber Surfex HD - 5 Litres
£7.96 - Microfiber Mitt,Ariel-gxr Car wash mitt(2-Pack)

£322.87 - Total. Ooops. And I still don't have any snow foam.

edit: and a Farécla G3 Body Prep Clay Mitt but I don't know where I bought it or for how much.

 

[Plecodoras]

ianGT156

That looks well good, you have done a brilliant job. The colour is growing on me !

and I love the plate.... finishes the car off in my opinion. Twit too woo !!!

I'd be really pleased with the result and the last pic does look fab.

Keep us posted and hope the remap goes well.

My cars still in manufacturers warranty so I'm not doing any mechanical mods yet, but when it's out that's a different story. Still thinking about the decals to put on, Mrs doesn't like what I was going to do so back to the drawing board...

:beer:

 

[ianGT156]

Thanks Mick, you made my day!

I bought the plate from regtransfers.co.uk. Me and the Mrs were coming home from picking up the car. I said to her, "A private plate would look good on the car". Her reply caught me totally off guard when she said, "Yes. I think we should get one". Well then, as soon as I got in I got onto the aforementioned site and searched for RCZ. I was dead lucky spotting ours for just £230, no VAT on it as it was a private sale on the site. Add on all the gubbins though and it was £364.49 in total. I bought it immediately. The current cheapest on there now is RCZ 57 and RCZ 333 both at £1300. It wasn't until a few days afterwards that the too-wit-too-oh struck me as the "wise" RCZ.

I've just read your legendary sensor swap thread. I'm gobsmacked. I'm the person afraid to use a clay bar because I would probably drop it. I once replaced a heated wing mirror on an Octavia, and I thought I was clever!

Thanks again for the compliments, I'm thinking of sticking my rear end on my avatar. So to speak!

:beer: :beer: and a packet of crisps, PLEASE!

 

[ianGT156]

Update on my Remap

I was asked to take my car in this morning at 08:00 for it's remap. I dutifully turned up at just before 08:00 to find the place locked up and the small yard that they have completely full of six vehicles or so. To be fair, they arrived at 08:05 and moved two vehicles out. I sat there until 08:20 until one of the two guys asked me to pop in to the "office", aka a garage.

The first news was that it would take at least two days, not the five hours that I was previously told. In addition, I misunderstood their procedure and was informed that I needed to supply the air filter and the Forge "divert valve" or aka "Blow Off Valve" for them to fit.It was suggested that the part would be about £100. The Divert Valve and Blow Off Valve appear to be different things?? They also need to change some component or other so that the washer faces the other way. What?

They also wondered why I didn't have anybody to give me a lift home. Cornsay Colliery is even more in the middle of nowhere than I already live. I was going to get the bus to Durham, it runs four times a day and get it back later that day. I have to work on Friday and have no spare vehicle. I didn't have the parts. I was quoted £350 for the remap exclusive of these extra parts. I agreed to arrange another date when I got home. This company has never even taken my name, registration, address or telephone number.

I decided straightaway, "f*** this for a game of soldiers".

I had a look around the web when I got home and found http://durhamremaps.co.uk/. They also have a rolling road and do before and after graphs. They will fit the new air filter, supplied by me, they recommend Pipercross. They answered the phone immediately and asked me for contact details. The guy called me by my first name, which I really appreciate, and asked me if I wanted a morning or afternoon appointment. They will also give me a courtesy car. They charge £295.

Lesson learnt. Fingers crossed.

PS To be fair to North East Remaps, I think they're really geared up to doing Stage 1/2/3 mods. He told me that they race themselves. He showed me under the bonnet of one of the cars in the yard. It had two long fat blue pipes and a big intercooler, apparently costing something like £1000. I think it was a plain blue Ford Focus, I didn't really care at that point.

 

[ianGT156]

Remap News

Hi all, yesterday I took my car for her remap.

Caveat Emptor. I know very little about remaps. I just had expectations of getting more power, torque and probably improved MPG. If I make any statements that are wrong, it's because I don't know any better! Any "stock" figures I refer to are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_R ... ifications

Off I went to Durham Remaps in Gilesgate Durham. I arrived half an hour early, mainly to avoid traffic. I sat in the car and watched the guys getting the place ready for the day. They operate out of a small modern business unit.

As I sat in my car, waiting for 09:00, I heard a noise, getting louder and louder. I'm fairly certain it was a car on a rolling road. It didn't sound like a car engine, it was rather weird, liking a low howling noise. I think it was probably the combined noise of an engine and the noise of the rolling road. I later learned that it was a "BMW" on the road.

Well in I went at 09:00. The charming m'laddo knew I was checking in an RCZ. He'd clearly clocked that the gorgeous looking Coupé bearing the RCZ plate was an RCZ that was booked in for a remap. Seriously though, he was the epitome of good customer service, charming and helpful. I was asked what I wanted from the remap and immediately said, "more power", perhaps I should have asked what the options were but I doubt I would have chosen a different option.

I took my free courtesy car, an 07 Ford Focus TDCi and passed the next six hours by gorging on a (crap) large Tesco breakfast. A trip back home to do some wonderful unpaid "e-learning". A trip back to Durham. Sitting in the car waiting and watching people in Tesco's car park. Spending money in Matalan, Poundworld and Tesco, again. By the way, that Ford Focus interior had the most cheap nasty looking plastic that I have ever seen in a car.

At last they phoned me to tell me my car was ready. I was about 60 seconds away and did a wheel spinning red light start, a J turn, a handbrake turn and a power drift into a single car parking space outside their workshop. Errr, hang on, I just drove there actually.

M'laddo greeted me again. He really is a very nice young chap. He told me all about what they actually did. They reset the car to stock before doing anything else, then they do the first rolling road test. He was in the car himself. They do the test in fourth gear. They accelerate up to the rev limit at 6450RPM. I'm judging that figure purely from the graph. I asked him what the highest indicated speed was. He was quite certain that it was 131mph. He told me that it is quite scary in some cars. In one particular Merc, he was doing an indicated 200mph+.

They fitted, for free, the Pipercross Air filter that I had bought. My current mileage is 34K. I really have no idea if they do anything else other than flash the new parameters to the ECU. The previous guy who I was going to give this job to said that all sorts of things contribute to the final engine output figure. He said that resetting the spark plug gaps and changing the tyres could have an effect.

So to the result:

Here I'll quote the 1) Peugeot claimed figures first, 2) Engine actual figures pre remap and 3) Engine actual figures after remapping.

All figures show the RPM peak. For power I'm using "HP" as opposed to "PS". For torque I'm using Nm as opposed to Lb ft.


Peugeot stated spec

154 hp @ 6000 rpm
240 Nm @ 1400 rpm

Actual Pre Remap

155.8 hp @ 4995 rpm
244.3 Nm @ 3967 rpm

After Remapping

181.9 hp @ 4917 rpm 16.7% increase +26.1 hp
300.7 Nm @ 2374 rpm 18.7% increase +56.4 Nm

The results are a bit disappointing on paper. I haven't really had a chance to test drive the car yet. I managed an average speed of just 26 mph on the way home from the garage due to city traffic. How do people live in cities? I did get one short sprint to a figure "slightly 50%+ ish" above the national speed limit. I think that torque increase was making itself felt. Of note is that my new torque figure of 300.7 is higher than the Peugeot claimed 275 of the THP200.

My mpg is crap at 27 something compared to my average of 36.6 but that is based on such a small mileage (16 miles) and the city average snail driving speed.

I think I'll take her for a proper drive tomorrow and keep this page updated.

I am very pleased with Durham Remaps and their service. I would definitely recommend them. One more relevant point, it cost me the £295 quoted by them but that didn't include VAT, the actual total figure was £354. They did fit the Pipercross air filter FOC and the courtesy car was FOC too.

Any questions, please ask,

Ian :beer:

 

[neilgsxr69]

Interesting :eusa-think: I would hope you will notice the difference in the drive and hopefully you'll get better economy. I haven't got any figures to quote on my remap I just know there's hell of a difference at the peddle end :dance:

My mate who did my remap said the quality of the program makes hell of a difference different remap writers alter different parameters so some remaps may be better in some areas than others. He has seen cars that have been remapped and were ruined and almost un drivable.

 

[ONLY AEK]

I ve Been There some years ago..

Very nice diagram it seems to be a safe good result

Do you know whats your new turbo pressure?

 

[ianGT156]

Thanks AEK.

Nope, I haven't got a clue what the turbo pressure is!

All I know is what the rolling road printout shows above. By the way, the image is just a photograph of the graph they gave me. I don't know what "Total ratio 3.825" means, any ideas? Also, "Weight 900.0" is clearly not the weight of the car, she weighs something like 1355–1474 kg I believe.

 

[tianorth]

Fuel figures might be a bit low at them moment, as the car might have had it stats reset, which it might have to re-learn how the car is driven.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[ianGT156]

An update on my post remap fuel consumption.

I've used both trip computer settings. Number two is total consumption since I bought the car and number one is consumption since my remap. Both figures are remarkably similar. Figures from new also includes the miles since the remap. I do drive with a heavy right foot and love overtaking. I can't be doing with your average motorist who is content with driving nose to tail behind a truck at 45mph on a 60mph road. They seem to love driving in convoys, two/three/four vehicles together. They drive me nuts and have been doing so since I was 21 years old. Anyway.. back to the subject....

Figures since bought: Average speed, 37 mph - Average mpg, 36.6 - Distance, 1386 miles

Figures since remap: Average speed, 37 mph - Average mpg, 37.1 - Distance, 303 miles

As you can see, my mpg has increased by less than half a mile per gallon. It's probably statistically insignificant. As a reminder, I was asked by Durham Remaps what kind of remap I wanted. I immediately said "more power". I am doing a brim-to-brim test at the moment. All I need is to find the last fuel receipt, where did I put it? Damn dementia :eusa-think:

Tianorth: Many thanks on the comment about the car maybe re-learning how the car is driven. That wouldn't have occurred to me in a month of Sundays.

So much more important is how does she drive? Well she pulls better in 3rd/4th/5th/6th gears without a doubt. I was impressed last night that in 6th at 65mph, she fairly quickly reached 80mph. I haven't had much opportunity to check the difference in 1st and 2nd as my daily commute doesn't normally afford the opportunity to floor her properly. She was already like lion poo off a shovel, she's probably more like cheetah poo off a shovel now.

Instantaneous MPG readout

I have some questions for you luvverly drivers. My normal commuter route includes 30/40 and 60 mph limits. I have noticed some bizzare effects. When driving at 30-50 mph, 3rd and 4th seem to be more efficient than 5th and 6th. At 60 mph, 4th is often better than 5th and 6th. Sometimes on a straight, 6th is best. With an eye on economy, I find myself using 5th/6th ... a brief bit of power and then coast for a while, and repeat. I think I should ignore the instantaneous mpg and just use instinct instead. I'm sure that the undulating route complicates matters.

Detailing and advice sought

I did think of messaging RCZ1 with these questions but I decided that would be very bad manners for a newbie. So I'm asking here instead.

Just over four weeks ago, I did my first proper decent car clean since I first bought a car 34 years ago. That was a 1.3L "A Reg" Austin Maestro. Rapidly moving on...

I have what I'm fairly sure is "Iron Fallout" on my car. Almost all of it being on the boot lid. I used my Gtechniq W6 Iron and General Fallout Remover two days ago. First of all I used some India Pale Ale to remove any wax present. I'm a bit paranoid about the fact you must not let this product dry out so I only left it on for about ten minutes. I gently rubbed the gel in with a microfibre cloth first. Unfortunately only two out of eight bits turned the magic purple colour and disappeared with cleaning. What did I do wrong? Please tell me that these iron spots are on the surface and not the bodywork. They all look the same and can be felt with a fingernail. I'm fairly certain that the beer removed any wax coat.

This is what I intend to do from s̶c̶r̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ the beginning. I've worked up the courage to use a clay bar for the first time. This is my plan, all credit to RCZ1. The important question is, should I dewax the car first, and if so, how?

1. Jet wash
2. Snow Foam
3. Jet wash
4. Handwash red/green buckets with Autoglym Quality Bodywork Shampoo, lambs wool mitt
5. Jet rinse
6. Hand dry
7. Claying
8. Iron fallout removal
9. Determine if polish required, do if need be**
10. Apply Bilt Hamber Double Speed-Wax
11. Apply Bilt Hamber Double Speed-Wax if enough elbow grease available
12. Apply Bilt Hamber Double Speed-Wax so long as arm is not gangrenous

** Should I polish again? I'm not sure it will need it but does claying suggest polishing will definitely be required?

I suppose you might be curious why I want to have three coats of wax? Well where I live is 1000 feet amsl in the North East of England. In winter, our roads, especially the A roads that I use a lot, are gritted at least weekly. Sometimes even fourteen times weekly. The salt played merry hell with my old white Hyundai i10, especially at the back. Just 20 miles to work turned the car from freshly washed white to brown. It was totally demoralising and basically I stopped washing the car in winter. I'll never buy a white car again.

Well I've built up to this next question. Should I be thinking of a sealant or coating? Is it worth paying somebody to do it?

I'd happily spend £300ish to get a professional to do it but maybe that figure is unrealistic. Perhaps I'd pick somebody who would do an inferior job to myself so it might not be worth the risk?

New Subject. I bought a plonker magent

Rozie attracted another envy plonker last night. I'd just passed a layby where a car was parked with it's headlights on. I then had to brake and stop due to a very short stretch of roadworks with temporary traffic lights. The lights were on a fairly steep uphill right bend. The parked car pulled out from the layby, flashed me, or maybe the traffic lights and sat on my tail. Like six feet behind me. Well the lights eventually changed, despite no oncoming traffic. I had no idea if this was a ham sandwich.

I have had a "police car" sit right behind me when I had my 205 GTi. I'm sure he was trying to provoke me. I accelerated away very easily and the crappy Ford Escort was left for dust. It then flashed me rapidly, so I stopped. It turned out to be an ordinary plod in his own ordinary car on the way to his ordinary job at Manchester Airport. I actually told him that my car constantly attracted morons who drove too closely behind me. It suddenly clicked that I'd inadvertently suggested he was a moron. The silly bar steward had absolutely no powers of course so he "kindly" let me off with a verbal warning. Stupid git.

I digress,

Back to the car sitting just a few feet behind me. As soon as the lights changed, I accelerated quickly to about 64 mph. My new acquaintance drew back to about two car lengths behind me. People who drive dangerously close to me have always urinated me off. Normally I slow to whatever speed is required to frustrate them and get them to safely overtake. It was dark though and a dodgy road. I was becoming pretty certain that this wasn't a police car.

A sharp blind left hand bend and a change to 40mph limit was ahead. I took it at 40 because I know I can. The lowlife dropped behind a bit but not for long. I was then on a longish straight of 560 yards in this 40mph limit. A 30mph limit lay ahead.

The cretin decided to overtake. Nothing wrong with that at all and I was grateful to be rid of him. As soon as he passed in front of me, the first thing I clocked was a private plate. Most definitely not a police car! It was a white Merc, a smallish one, probably a "C" class. I very rarely see a Merc driven in anger. They mostly seem to be driven at about 40mph whatever the limit and by people in their seventies.

I decided to shorten the distance and observe what the malaka would do at the 30 limit. He carried on at about 50 where the next bend is, this one a very sharp ight. I don't think he knew the road very well because he very nearly kerbed it on the bend. As I took the corner I could see him accelerating away, very very quickly. I estimate that he must have been doing about 70mph down Tow Law High Street. A 30mph limit for ¾ of a mile. Fortunately I didn't see any dead or maimed people in his wake, though it's possible they could have been thrown up onto roof tops.

Don't you just love Google Earth. I was driving north.

I wondered afterwards why he drove like this? It did occur to me that it could have been a cash for crash scammer. He totally missed a much better overtaking opportunity before he eventually did. Did he feel more macho by overtaking a car doing the speed limit and the driver in front not knowing if it was a police car behind him or not? Whatever reason it was, I won't ever play with a todger head driving so closely behind me at speed.

Well until my next dose of verbal diarrhoea, I wish you all well. Thank you for reading if you actually read this far!

Any answers or comments on anything will be greatly appreciated.

Ian & Rozie :beer:

 

[neilgsxr69]

Yes does happen quite regularly I'm afraid :roll: the Z does seem to attract morons, I've just returned from a weekend away to Whitby and the road to Whitby from Pickering is notorious for both idiots and unmarked cop cars. Friday night damp roads in and out of mist/ low cloud and not to mention the odd sheep wandering over the road I was amazed at the number of drivers wanting to push for a race no thanks! Wrong time and place matey! :crazy: numerous times I was expecting to see carnage around the next bend or over that blind crest. There's a time and place for tomfoolery but some idiots just don't seem to see the dangers let em get on with it I say it's just the poor innocent motorist who they kill or maim that I feel sorry for. :eusa-think:

 

[ianGT156]

Indeed Neil, I've driven on that and most roads on the North Yorkshire Moors at some time or other. Mind you, I was careful to not stray from the path and I found the ambience of the Slaughtered Lamb somewhat inconducive to friendly banter.

On Friday night, the day before my encounter with Mr Macho Malaka Mercedes, I had been looking at some driving clips on Youtube. A few were so called "Karma" clips showing dashcam videos of people excessively speeding and very promptly pulled over by pursuing police vehicles :law-policered:

I remember seeing that happen once to somebody on the M1 but it actually happened to me twice, me being the one pulled over. 'twas many years ago when I was just a lad, barely out of short trousers. Now I've grown up and wear a knotted hankie on my head.

:dance: :twisted:

 

[DKZ5745]

In answer to your first question, yes, you do need to polish & buff before waxing.

As far as idiots go, exactly the reason why I installed Dashcams front and rear on my Z. I had been cut up too many times in the first few months of ownership & decided the cost was worth it.

Have a read of viewtopic.php?f=38&t=5286&hilit=Detailing+RCZ1 if you haven’t already.

If you go down the list step by step, you can’t go far wrong :thumbup:

 

[ianGT156]

Thanks for the reply Pete.

I was dreading having to polish and wax it again, it's so bloody tiring but I do want to do the best job I can.

I've got five products to use that I didn't last time plus some that I did.

1. An "All Shine" clay bar
2. Gtechniq W6, Iron Fallout - will be first proper use after a clay bar
3. Gtechniq P1, Nano Composite Polish (last time I used some very old Autoglym Paint Renovator)
4. Gtechniq C2 V3, Liquid Crystal Coating
5. Gtechniq G1/G2/G4 Exterior Glass Cleaner

The weather forecast isn't good. Rain free but very windy, it might though be easier to hand dry the car and to get drenched from jet spray :crazy:

I've arranged things in order of use but I forgot to include my Bilt Hamber Surfex HD. Overkill perhaps seeing as I'm going to use Autobrite Magifoam as well but I feel I need to get rid of any wax first. I'm going to use the Surfex HD in the engine bay too. The order i will use these is of course, right to left!