Nice Jim! How about a full view of the car so we can admire the "big picture?"

 

Jim,

I note that last year you had your Callistos repaired after you suspected they were buckled.

Could you please elaborate on the type of defects that were identified, if they were on several wheels and places, how they were fixed (by cold forming with a press, or hammering? followed by annealing?), and what was the cost?

 

Thanks Don, although she was pretty clean today, too dirty for pics I think...lol
I clay barred the windscreen and rear screen today too, nothing much came off all things considered but enough to make the process worthwhile I'd say.
I'm hoping to have a 4 wheel alignment done, Red growler grille badge and R grille badge fitted, as well as window tints done by the end of the week, will update then.

I have a friend with a DA220 rotary polisher and may yet attempt to further refine the paintwork too, scary stuff!


One of the wheels had a repair prior to me purchasing the car I believe, may have been a crack and it's been professionally welded I believe, decent job, on the inside of course and has held with no leakages / issues.

Whilst on the Hunter 4 wheel alignment machine they balanced it out much better for a smoother ride.
If I'm honest, I'd love to replace them, but costs prohibit at the moment

 

Both stunning cars !!

 

Thanks Rab, good to catch up again today, your car's bumped up a level or two recently too with all the changes you've made
New wheel centre caps and wheel bolt covers on the horizon, hubs n calipers redone in time for the meet, full interior valet....NICE

 

Glad you opted to go for the red callipers and centre caps as it makes it look like a different car !
REALLY NICE :}
Cant wait to see it when the windows are done too !!!!

 

Cheers Jim,yeah its getting there buddy,one thing I WILL have to do is get the paint out for the callipers as yours today just stood out so much ! WOW !!
Ok ill be opting for silver again but its going to be much nicer against those new wheels {and caps and bolt covers AND....lol}
Cheers for today and hopefully catch up soon.


Rab

 

Well, called in to Prestige Jaguar today to get my 4 wheel alignment done, now runs straight n true, all good
Also got them to supply and fit a Red Growler grille badge, really looks nice, maybe a little meaner
I also took an R grille badge with me which they fitted at the same time.....

Going to try and do a little more work on the paintwork and take some pics over the weekend hopefully.

Lastly - went in to see Mr Tint about my window tinting, totally bummed to find out that as I have rear laminated glass they can't tint them
Oh well..
The upside - told them about the meet in Crieff coming up shortly and negotiated a £120 window tint voucher!!
All good

 

[QUOTE=JimC64;1224687]
[B]I clay barred the windscreen and rear screen today too, nothing much came off all things considered but enough to make the process worthwhile I'd say.[/B


I never thought about cloying the front and rear glass. Guess it does nothing for the fine scratches, but may help with the night time haze.

 

Hmm, the title is misleading I guess, I'm NOT a detailer, far from it, but this is about as close as I get....
Over the past few weeks, the paint has been detarred, the windows and entire car clay barred to remove contaminants.

I've since painted my hubs n calipers probably about 3 times ,( initially went with black as was on the car, then more recently 2 coats of Red topped with Ferarri Rosso gloss red )
The wheel centres replaced with red centre caps and wheel wells cleaned and blackened.

I've also recently had a new Red Growler front grille badge added, as well as an R badge ( I'll take the stick now...lol ) really adds a splash of colour
The paintwork has been cut to minimise scratches ( not perfect, but much much better )
It then had a coat of Poorboys blackhole, and today another 4 hours saw another coat of PB Blackhole, topped with nattys blue paste wax, tyres blacked with Wet n black

Pic heavy, see below....love a shiny car!!!...




























Far from perfect, but perfect from afar....lol

Thanks for looking...... __________________
Cheers
Jim

 

Service light came on today, so I guess the oil's getting ready for a change!


Just did an oil / filter change today and reset the service light, all good for another little while.
I need to get around to detailing the engine bay and adding the chrome leaper just above the JAGUAR lettering I painted red, should be nice.

 

Well, as some of you may know, I've been chasing down a shake from the steering and also from the pedal when braking for some time now.....

I've replaced practically all the front suspension bushes as well as the rear some time ago.
I've also replaced the front pads and discs as recently as around 6-8 weeks ago and still it persists.

The wheels have had new rubber all round, wheel balanced and hunter 4 wheel alignment all completed, still there.
Whilst on the Hunter machine it was pointed out to me that I had a few small flat spots on the wheels ( nothing significant, but there all the same ) and one has actually been weld repaired ( good job but concerning all the same )
After everything I've done, there can't be much more that it can be..........

Well, A few days ago I looked out a reputable wheel specialist and had a discussion with him about it, as well as refurbishing the faces etc he does a lot of wheel flat spots and buckles, so I went to see him.

He lives and works out of all places, Crieff, around a mile away from where we will meet on the 7th June. He had a look and said he can probably make most of it go away as if it were never there, although the worst one will be challenging to say the least.
Its a bit of a bummer as I've paid a fair amount and have just had them refurbished ( finish wise ) and this process may affect that, but needs must

The plan is, to get the wheels off the car Sunday, Connor will take the tyres off and I'll deliver the wheels to him to work on for the Monday.
I may actually go down and watch him work if possible, I'm keen to see the process and if my wheels can be saved.

I'm hoping so or it looks like there'll be a new set of wheels on my horizon soon.......keep you posted

 

Hi Jim,

Your current wheels problem is annoying, especially coming after your previous repair.

It seems to confirm that the Callistos are definitely fragile and may be subject to small deformations (flat spots) even when not severely damaged with bigger buckles or craks due to potholes.

Do you think that this may be due to the rather thin rubber wall of the 255/35R20 tyres or to design/fabrication/material issues (e.g. only five rather thin spokes, or maybe a too soft aluminum alloy) of the Callisto?

Cheers,
Serge

 

Paydase, probably a combination of the larger 20" wheels, soft aluminium alloy and the low profile tyres!
Never had any issues on my 19" Audi alloys with the same profile of tyre?
To be fair though I don't know what the previous owner put the car through, how they drove it, looked after it etc

 

I had my car into my son at Kwik Fit today and he rotated my wheels for me, we checked them as we did it.

Three of them have minor flat spotting ( nothing major, but won't help )
The fourth ( drivers side front ) is the worst with 2 noticeable buckles in it.....ARRRGHHHHHH
Anyhow, placed this on the passenger rear and drove home, it is much improved to be fair ( not perfect, but much better and the shaking whilst braking is all but gone )
I genuinely think that either getting these fixed or a new set of wheels will resolve the problem......At the very least they're probably 90%+ the cause and would be eliminated.

Things on my list, either to do or would like to......

Wheels either repaired or replaced £300 - £1600
Front bumper respray £300
Bonnet respray £300
rear bumper respray £300
Chrome vents replaced £60
Need to get to the bottom of the drivers side window wind noise!!

I'm sure the list will grow, need to be added to in time but that's about it for now

 

Well, a beautiful day today and spent a few hours with the XJ before catching up with an old mate of mine

Spent an hour or so with just with the mesh grilles and front bumper foglights inserts.
The chrome was looking a little dirty, so out with some products.....

Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner
1" paintbrush
spray bottle APC

I liberally sprayed the APC onto the mesh grille and foglight surround chrome inserts, followed by a good amount of Sonax wheel cleaner, then agitated in small area with the paintbrush.
It took some time to go over the whole area, several times and from different directions, but the grilles now GLEAM in the sunshine......well worth the effort.

The rest of the time was spent on the interior ( already in decent order ) and so it was a thorugh clean on the windows interior, dashboard, seats, followed by a vacuum....job done for now

 

Hey all,
as some of you may know, I've been suffering with a steering wheel / brake pedal shake / judder
The front and rear suspension components have been replaced, new front pads and discs replaced, new tyres etc, not much left....
I believe the wheels are flat spotted / buckled and so visited Craig at Alloy Wheel Repairs Scotland today.

It's not high tech, more old school, checked and refurbed by a trained eye with specialist knowledge, it's NOT quite as simple as it looks.
Craig spoke at length on the different metallurgical properties involved, the heat process and powder coating ( not a favourite of his ) flat spots / buckles and dings etc

My wheels, as it turned out were as follows...
2 had approx. 3 or 4 flat spots and 1 other had 2 flat spots, nothing major in themselves but put together on a set of 20" alloys and noticeable when driving.
The worst has had a weld repair at some point and still had several flat spots, all needing attention.....
I watched as he checked, checked again as he heated and then began the rounding out process, very interesting but scary to see your wheels being treated this way, but it is what it is.......

See vids below.....
http://vid140.photobucket.com/albums...pslosewkvy.mp4

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3iczb4vav6...11655.mp4?dl=0

Certainly an interesting process and good to see a knowledgable man like Craig at his work.
Took the wheels back, refitted the tyres and balanced them properly and then fitted to the car, of course went for a test drive

The steering shake is all but gone, very very minor compared to what it was, a massive improvement to say the least.
Having said that and now having been advised of the weld repair and after repairing the flat spots and buckles, although they are significantly improved and will do the job for now, making driving much more enjoyable, I will probably be on the lookout for ether....

At least one replacement 20" Callisto OR perhaps a new set of wheels at some point.

Much happier though at the moment

 

I need to have that done on my truck; the Jag drives smooth as butter, but no matter how much I get the RRS balance, I still have a slight shake. Good to see this Jim!.. Glad to know it helped out substantially!..

 

Hi all,
after a few changes / updates along with some detailing work completed recently on the car, I noticed increasingly that the chrome louvres with a bit pitted and tired looking.

I decided after trying to clean them up and failing ( most of the look was down to small pit marks / stone chips and the like ) that they had to be renewed.

I started the search and came up with Adamesh for replacements at £59.99 PLUS £5.00 delivery, so £64.99 total, they looked good and would do the job.

I decided though to check further and found another source, a young embryonic Ebay shop, called Jagrange, they were £49.95 + FREE delivery
Better still using their website direct meant a price of £44.95 + FREE delivery, so £20.04 CHEAPER than Adamesh
Checking with Mark at Jagrange the parts are EXACTLY the same as from Adamesh, a no brainer.

So I took a gamble and ordered them yesterday, they arrived today, very well packed at 12.30pm.....all good.
Here's a few shots of the new parts, the old parts, new v old AND installed on the car........

Old parts on the car.......Ok so they don't look terrible from here, but they are stone chipped and pitted, losing their lustre.





Here's the new parts c/w 3m tape pre installed and in their protective packaging





Here's a better new v old picture, you can see the pitting / stone chips v the shine and clarity of the new part...





Here's the new ones on the car........





Removal of the old parts wasn't difficult, it was simply a case of very gently prying them away from the car, a little piece at a time.
The paintwork underneath was fine and un damaged, a quick clean up and left to dry for 10 mins then simply removed the 3m backing and carefully applied.......Job done.

The car was all washed and dried beforehand, wheels cleaned and tyres treated etc

Really makes a noticeable difference......for me anyway..lol

Thanks
Jim

 

Snapped this pic yesterday as I managed to catch it just right, still a baby in mileage terms but a cool pic nonetheless.