Played with Rosie this weekend. My landlord joined in the fun. There was a small depression on the passenger side door panel and once we got the glue to the right temperature, the popsadent did actually raise it up so it is almost invisible. I took a before picture but not the after one yet so will post both later. For the Big Depression on the driver's side fender, however, more professional help might be needed. It doesn't interfere with driving though, and I don't want her to be too beautiful -- someone might take her!
Used quite a bit of WD40 to remove gunked on stuff like old registration sticker glue and something on the dashboard cover. I also used it on the rubber trim below the windows, on the bumpers, and on the tirewalls. Everyone was amazed at the results and I do have pictures of that which I will publish soon. Also, the front turn signal light covers were a little hazed looking and I thought I might want to replace them later and just for the heck of it, I squirted them with WD40, wiped, and Voila! No more cataracts. There are some cosmetic things I can live with and some I can't. Noticed a crack starting on the top of the dashboard cover near the defroster vent, which apparently is one of the first places this kind of stuff starts, so got some black auto goop to fill it in and maybe keep it from getting worse. Also bought her a cover to give her some shade. I read the box, it mentioned the volvo 200 series, got it home, tried it on, it was a size too small -- they must have meant sedans although they did say up to 16' but Rosie is a little over that, went back and exchanged it for XL and now Rosie is nicely covered, looking somewhat matronly, but her complexion will be better preserved.
The next thing I want to do is get out there with the Klasse all-in-one and shine her up. We were astonished at how good her paint is under the haze which incidentally came off with the WD40 treatment of the trim and bumpers.
I also had the realization that this is almost as good as owning a horse. You can talk to it. You can give it a rubdown, pet it, feed it, water it, buy toys for it -- it takes you places, it is very needy but very dependable, stable is nice but not necessary, etc. etc., and actually, in my case, it's a little cheaper. Thank the Lord for some sun finally. On coming out of my local Strauss (discount auto) store where I am practically on a first name basis with the help just because of all my browsing, I looked over and thought -- oooh, a Volvo! [one tends to do this when one is an owner]. Looks good. Went over to take a look -- it was mine! I didn't tell Rosie that I hadn't recognized her. Hurt feelings in a horse or a car are not a good idea.
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4 comments:
It's amazing what WD-40 will do. Also, apparently, kerosene. My car had a set of factory service manuals with it, and it included the steps for doing the dealer prep. Several of the steps involve washing down the exterior--ALL of it--with kerosene.
Wacky buncha Swedes...
I guess that's a no-smoking zone! I guess with the new acrylic paints one can get away with it, but it doesn't last. Rosie's nose looked great for about three days. Now I am starting with the Klasse All-in-One. It's not quite as simple as it seems in the directions (nothing ever is) but I can see it is going to be great. The CPO (compulsive previous owner) did neglect the exterior in terms of waxing and polishing. But if I persist with the Klasse, I can see that it could have a really glassy finish.
Your Jarn looks terrific by the way with his new lights and deep black trim. BTW, how do you get the accent in? Do you use Word editing?
Oops--sorry I didn't see your comment until now, but as you see up above, if I have anything like umlauts or other weird Europunctuational marks, I use Word and then cut and paste it into Blogger.
As for the deep black trim, a lot of that is just the exposure on the camera--it looks better in pixels than in real life. The side trim did turn out well with the Kiwi dye, but the bumpers are a different material and it didn't quite do as well. I've taken to dousing them with silicone spray, which seems to be doing a better job.
I assume your Volvo is named Rosie?
Rosie is a cursed name in our house. We had a dog named Rosie that we had to return to the adoption group because she was vicious. Then we got a MINI Cooper last year and named her Rosie. I just returned her to the dealership because she had all kinds of mechanical problems!!
Hope you have better luck with your Rosie!
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