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How anal are you about your buick.

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humping my tailpipe eh? lol. this thread was to see who here really takes cars of their cars, and to what extent theyll go to, to do it. not to come in here and make fun of the really nitpicky clean people. we dont 'hump tailpipes' cuz we enjoy really clean cars. and are cars are special for many other reason other than being 'deceptively fast' hell, theres no deception about it. people know how fast our cars are. but thats not why we clean em. we clean em cuz were anal. which was the whole point of this thread. You can take your car 4 wheelin in the mud. thats fine. you can do whatever floats your boat :) we just have different views thats all.
 
My GN has only about 18K on it so it is pretty clean. The previous owner took great care of it and there is no rain or snow driving in it's history. I got rained on once so I ruined the streak.:eek:

I am not nearly as particular as some on here.....but that's cool. Whatever makes you happy. I have clean shoes when I get in it, clean up any dirt when I see it, never park it dirty, touch up any chips (underbody as well) immediately and wax it regularly. I NEVER leave it in parking lots and don't take it anywhere "unsafe".

Basically I just use common sense to limit the wear and tear and keep it as clean as reasonably possible (for me).
 
I was a little crazy with my 87 GN when I had it. I would take it out at night when not many people were out in the neighborhood. I would NEVER leave it unattended and everytime I came home with it, I would make sure no one would follow me. Once in the garage I would open my hood to let the heat out of the engine bay. It got to a point that it seem I was not having fun with my car, no matter how much I really liked it. I finally let it go and sold it in 2005. I was disappointed but in a way relieved. :smile: I will buy me another one in the near future, but I'll enjoy my turbocharged 5.0 for now.:eek:
 
5. when shifting the trans from say, reverse to D, i wait FULLY till its completely shifted, before i take my foot off the brake, and depress the gas.

6. when i start er up, i always wait a little bit, to get the oil warmed up and circulating.

7. when shutting my door, i touch ONLY the outer portion of the door handle to shut the door. (and NEVER the glass) and if i have long sleeves, i use my wrist instead, as it is covered with my shirt or whatever.

8. if i get out of my car, but its only temporary, i slowly shut my door, and nudge it half closed. the less full speed impact shuts she gets, the better it is in my mind.

10. when shutting my hood, i grab the steel hook thingy, instead of the top of the hood. less fingerprints.

11. when i lift my tilt steering wheel to get out, i dont let the spring 'switchblade' the steering wheel up on its own accord. I gently guide it there.

12. when putting the key into the trunk, i look at what im doing, and do it very slowly, so i dont miss, and scratch the paint, like you typically see around other cars locks.

15. I make sure, when I get in and close my doors, to grab the arm rest handles, not the pull straps, as they NEVER seem to stay tight, no matter what I seem to do.

17. The second I get done driving her, i always open the hood, to allow the engine bay to get its heat out quicker.

19. I dont use air tools to take off my wheels, as impact sockets are too thick, and they touch the centercaps and scratch them, so i use a 19mm deep socket, wratchet handle, and speed wrench instead lol.

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Wow I can't believe how many of these things I also do and I never really thought about it till now. We have a lot in common. I like what you said about only grabbing the chrome shaft on the shifter. I just replaced my shifter handle as the original was worn smooth and discolored, surprisingly for a low mileage car. After putting the new one on I didn't want to touch it to preserve the brand new look. I think I'll start using your little trick.

To add to your list:
When ever I drive my car some where I always try to park it in the shade. With all of the black pieces, trim, and moldings on gn's it doesn't help to leave the car baking out in the sun which just fades the coloring on those parts.

There are a few other things I can think of I do that are a bit more obsessive than that but I'm afraid to share them.:redface: :D
 
Wowwwww.........

You guys are lucky. It sounds like you all started with nice cars. got my 86GN in a rare form.. The body had 233++ miles w one repaint and the interior is awful... But i still eat outside the car and have my friends smoke outside. I hand wash it and people se the shape and the way i keep it think i nuts... I have dreams of motorbay like PhillyTurbo6 but i have a dd and at this time its a dream... its hard to have it immaculate and enjoy it at the same time.. You guys are really out there in a gd way... Jeff
 
dont worry. just keep replacing parts on it, till shes new lol. or, during the winter, start yankin stuff off, bring it in the house, and clean it. you can use that for a 'familiarization' period as well. to get acquainted with your parts. Im doin that this winter. the snow looks like its permanent now so, i can go ahead and start yankin parts now. first, is my intercooler. :)
even if your car isnt pristine, its no reason to neglect her. keep her clean, dry, and out of the sun, and watch the oil pressure/boost/knock, and youll have her for many many years.

And about 'never parking her in the shade' yes.. i do that as well. Im very conscience about that. if i have no choice, ill back it into the sun, so that the back end is facing the sun directly, so it never reaches my dash or centre console lol.

and psycho, while it would take years to get phillyturbo6's engine bay, you can start with the little stuff like i did. to me, the things that stick out, are what people see first. so make them clean. so far, i yanked the turbo, took off the compressor housing, and cleaned it real good with eagles foamy wheel and rim cleaner and scrub brush. one of em cleaned up like a new penny, the other had to be painted, so i used dupli-colors 'high heat aluminum' spray paint on it and the turbo shield, so they matched, took a green scratch pad from the sink, and lightly cleaned/brushed the up pipe, so it got a real clean, satiny sheen to it. turned out nice. threw on a black maf pipe from kirbans, wire wheeled the inlet bell, repainted the little letters on top of the power steering, overflow and window solvent jugs, semi cleaned the brake fluid reservoir and the other two jugs,
 
dont worry. just keep replacing parts on it, till shes new lol. or, during the winter, start yankin stuff off, bring it in the house, and clean it. you can use that for a 'familiarization' period as well. to get acquainted with your parts. Im doin that this winter. the snow looks like its permanent now so, i can go ahead and start yankin parts now. first, is my intercooler. :)
even if your car isnt pristine, its no reason to neglect her. keep her clean, dry, and out of the sun, and watch the oil pressure/boost/knock, and youll have her for many many years.

And about 'never parking her in the shade' yes.. i do that as well. Im very conscience about that. if i have no choice, ill back it into the sun, so that the back end is facing the sun directly, so it never reaches my dash or centre console lol.

and psycho, while it would take years to get phillyturbo6's engine bay, you can start with the little stuff like i did. to me, the things that stick out, are what people see first. so make them clean. so far, i yanked the turbo, took off the compressor housing, and cleaned it real good with eagles foamy wheel and rim cleaner and scrub brush. one of em cleaned up like a new penny, the other had to be painted, so i used dupli-colors 'high heat aluminum' spray paint on it and the turbo shield, so they matched, took a green scratch pad from the sink, and lightly cleaned/brushed the up pipe, so it got a real clean, satiny sheen to it. turned out nice.
threw on a black maf pipe from kirbans, wire wheeled the inlet bell, repainted the little letters on top of the power steering, overflow and window solvent jug caps, semi cleaned the brake fluid reservoir and the other two jugs, sand blasted the valve covers and clear coated them, and washed my plenum in the wheel cleaner (it was already clean and coated, so it came out perfect) and painted my drivers side valve cover breather the same grey the factory one was. and lastly, i went over and wiped down most of the exposed rubber hosing, and vac line with a wd40 dampened cloth.
the only thing left to do, is replace the jugs with new ones, sandblast the alternator cover, get a new afe air filter, a new heater water valve, and a new hood insulator pad, and shell look real nice. a HUGE improvement over what she was just 4 months ago. totally. when said and done, this stuff will cost next to nothing, and totally improve the overall looks of most engine bays out there.
 
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