Marc's X7, C3 Aircross, Rants, Raves & Everything Else

[Zelandeth]

I do hope you are referring to the Bridgestones that I just removed on the last page Zel!

These CrossClimates I've had before on the C5, although those were the first generation of this tyre by Michelin. The later 'Plus' version has increased tyre tread life and as they wear, it opens the stipes to provide additional grip down to the last bit of tread life, so they say.

I've never really liked the 'summer tyre' where they remove half the rubber you've paid for with those circumferential grooves (trenches more like). So I'm sticking with All Seasons for now - and when these need changing in a 2-3 years (hopefully) I may look at some other All Season brands like the Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons or maybe one of the others that are gaining popularity like the GitiAllSeason AS1

Yep, meaning the way the old ones had perished.

Sadly I never took photos of the damage it seems. They were Continental ContiEcoContact tyres though, date code only a couple of months prior to the build date of the car.

Michelin EfficientGrip were the replacements. They weren't great but were good enough, they at least did wear before they perished away to nothing.

Uniroyal are my tyres of choice these days. Falken I found performed okay but wore really quickly. Avons I've only used once and were thoroughly average, didn't seem worth the asking price.

[GiveMeABreak]

Have to agree with the Uniroyals - I've used the Rainsport 2 and 3 on my C5s and were pleased with those. I found with the C5s, it never really mattered if I had premium tyres on or a mid-range tyre, they all seemed to wear at the fronts very rapidly. So I started to fit upper budget or mid-range tyres as I could fit 2-3 sets of those for the price of every set of a 'premium' brand.

I've gone back to Michelins for the Aircross, just to see what sort of wear I will get on these as a basis for a benchmark, so have recorded date and mileage. With less weight, I'm hoping for a lot more life out of them

[GiveMeABreak]

So tyres aside, I've now noticed the inevitable 'dings' on the paintwork in a few places no doubt from the excuses for a road we have here - mostly stone chips with zilch of the nice tarmac surfaces often found elsewhere

Part 1

So I want to treat these as soon as I can, but if I'm honest it's probably my OCD kicking in knowing and seeing the little white pin pricks in a few places means I have to deal with them now....

• One next to the fuel filler cap - Dealer carelessness.
• I think the dealership caused the one on the top of the bonnet near the scuttle - exactly where the driver's wiper arm would lift up - and has been caused without first putting the wipers into 'Park' mode, so scraping the paint.
• Then there is one on the door edge - caused by me & the gale force wind that appeared a couple of months ago - which ripped the door out of my grip and forced it into the side of a caravanner with a palatial Winnebago taking up 6 car park spaces! (Well, I've got no time for people with 5* hotels on wheels - that's not proper camping. Unless you are trying to erect your tent with non-fitting spring joints that pinch your fingers, using backwards instructions in a force 9 gale in torrential rain in the pitch black dark of night, after 5 hours on the road, that's not proper camping.)
• Then there are one or 2 small ones on the bonnet and one on the side - probably aforementioned stone chips for the bonnet and a psycho shopping trolley warrior for the one on the side

  

So, rant over, the search began for a paint chip solution.

Now I've never had any success with the wretched kits from Halfords or anywhere else historically. It's either too thick, the wrong colour or just sits too proud and looks awful. I've even tried the dealer kits and these are just as bad. My last touch up paint was made up and was better, but just never looks right.

So this time with the new car I was determined to see what developments there have been in paint touch up kits and prepared to spend an evening with Google.

I immediately ruled out dealer and Halfords paint and narrowed it down to 2 choices:-

Chipex (CPX)	ColorNDrive (CND)

So after reading various reviews of each and a few videos, I opted for the basic CND kit. Although they do similar kit sizes between the 2 brands and are similarly priced, there is more than double the paint content in the CND kit. Further, I did not like the sponge brushes that CPX supply - they are just beckoning to make a mess and I can't be doing with that. I prefer a micro brush, as my objective is to get the paint in the actual chip and not on the surrounding bodywork where possible.

Secondly, the CND kit looks far more professional - and provides proper cloths and towels for the job - none of those silly little affairs that a fly couldn't blow his nose in.
Both brands supply their proprietary 'levelling fluid' to level the excess paint, however the CND kit also supply a blending paste for colour transitioning if needed when applying to paint on older cars that may have faded. Plus they also supply a good quantity of Carnauba wax for finishing. A special blending cloth and a microfibre cloth as well as a sponge and levelling rubbing rectangle are also included along with a pair of gloves .

I didn't bother with paying a few £s more for the next size up kit as there is no sense in ordering double the paint as it won't keep for years.

The cost was £34.99 and this included DHL Express shipping to the UK. It seemed to come from Turkey originally so, maybe this is their European distribution centre - luckily no delays with all the fires.

ColorNDrive Basic Kit:

Links:

ColorNDrive
Chipex

So all I'm waiting for is a night of deep Zen Meditation and a clear, dry day before I shall be begin tackling the job.

In Part 2 I shall put some before and after photos as soon as I have had a chance to 'experiment'....

[RichardW]

If the paint is anything like on our, or my Parents' 2017 Picasso, you are onto a looser - it's so thin it scratches to the undercoat soon as look at it. Which really stands out on our blue one as the u/c is white - which you might think is good for my Parents' white one. But no, that has black undercoat

[GiveMeABreak]

Cripes! It's definitely the white showing through, but I think this can also be the clear coat. I know on other vehicles I've put a bit of Mantis on and it's removed the surface clear coat scratches.

I wouldn't be surprised though - the paint is really quite soft it seems - and along with the penny pinching, maybe they skipped a coat or two along with my rear cup holders, glovebox light, and driver grab handle!!!

[GiveMeABreak]

Time for a quick rant whilst waiting for the paint to dry on the car after using the ColorNDrive paint kit this afternoon.

Here’s one worthy of room 101: Cadbury’s and their so called ‘Boost’ bars.

Boost my Ar*e!

Anyone remember when these first came out and you felt totally stuffed and sick after gouging on one of these?

[Hell Razor5543]

'Boost' used to mean boosting your energy levels (well, sort of), but now it means boosting Cadburys' profit margins!

[Gibbo2286]

Probably got Jamie Oliver (dick head) in the design team. Mustn't eat too much sweet stuff.

[mickthemaverick]

The only boosts I have ever had have come from a turbo and a supercharger so not qualified to comment here!

[GiveMeABreak]

Part 2

So all I'm waiting for is a night of deep Zen Meditation and a clear, dry day before I shall be begin tackling the job.

In Part 2 I shall put some before and after photos as soon as I have had a chance to 'experiment'....

Ok so I thought I'd tackle a couple of the chips yesterday.

I tried the one next to the fuel cap and the scrape from the windscreen wiper arm damage.

I waited about 5 minutes and 'levelled' off the painted chips with the solution, but I think I was either a bit too vigorous or the paint hadn't dried enough as some of the paint came out of the repair on the fuel flap chip. So redid the fuel cap one again and left it overnight.

Anyway these are the before and after pics so far. I haven't used any of the supplied polish or wax yet and may not need to.

Before	After
Before	After

I've another 2 to do, but so far I'm impressed. The paint colour is a perfect match and only a miniscule amount is needed. I just have to remember not to use the pressure washer for a week. So based on the results so far I can recommend the ColorNDrive system as a winner.

[mickthemaverick]

Looking good so far Marc! I'd be tempted to use the polish whether or not it needs it, simply for ongoing added protection!

[GiveMeABreak]

Well the Aircross is booked into the dealers next Wednesday for a leaking rear high level brake light.

It seems to be getting a lot of condensation and now water ingress inside the lens. On closer inspection, I can see that the rear windscreen washer nozzle is rather bizarrely incorporated into the lens! I though it was a screw to hold the lens on at first, but no, the jet nozzle is to one side and surrounding this, there appears to be some 'spider web' type of stress fracture surrounding the lens where the nozzle protrudes.

So no doubt this is where the water is coming in from - either from the nozzle somewhere or from water ingress when it gets washed or from the rain or water being 'sucked' back in through the cracks.

So going in for a warranty replacement and whilst I was at it, they asked me if there was anything else that needed doing - so I just blurted out that the Stop & Start failed on the way home after the last time it was booked in for this job.

I told them we made it back through one temporary traffic light, but on approach to the second one - it had stopped working again .

So I told her they had it in last time for this but it was a waste of time. So they are keeping it for 2-3 days and giving me one of the new C4s that have not long come out.

That will be fun to test out - or will it?

[Paul-R]

Petrol, diesel, hybrid or full electric? (Just guessing - I've no idea what range of motive power is available).

[GiveMeABreak]

This is the 1.5 Blue HDi DV5RD engine Paul.

[Paul-R]

Is that the same as in your C3?