Project Shaguar XFR

[WRXtranceformed]

Still no updates, apparently the body shop has been going back and forth with Jaguar who keeps sending the wrong parts. I am hoping they just replace the bumper with a '12+ since some of the bumper internals had to be replaced too. Either way I miss my car, you don't realize how much you look forward to jumping into your car at the start and end of your day when you drive something you love. The rental Fusion has been fine but it's a rental...it would bore me to tears if I actually owned that car.

After watching a few videos I may actually bake the headlights in this car and black out the housings like I did on my Subarus and the TL. Most of the new gen Jags have darkened housings, the chrome / orange reflectors REALLY stand out on this car. What originally held me back was thinking that it would be a pain to take these out (it's not, it's literally three bolts) and the fact that if I screw them up they are $$$. Since I have ZKW-R lenses sitting around, I watched a video on how to replace the lenses in the projector housing and I don't think it's something I want to tackle without having practiced first...so that takes a lot of the worry out of screwing up the light. A simple take apart / paint / put back together procedure I can do in a day. I will probably wait until the fall when it is a little cooler in my garage to do it.

[RawrImAMonster]

Still no updates, apparently the body shop has been going back and forth with Jaguar who keeps sending the wrong parts. I am hoping they just replace the bumper with a '12+ since some of the bumper internals had to be replaced too. Either way I miss my car, you don't realize how much you look forward to jumping into your car at the start and end of your day when you drive something you love. The rental Fusion has been fine but it's a rental...it would bore me to tears if I actually owned that car.

After watching a few videos I may actually bake the headlights in this car and black out the housings like I did on my Subarus and the TL. Most of the new gen Jags have darkened housings, the chrome / orange reflectors REALLY stand out on this car. What originally held me back was thinking that it would be a pain to take these out (it's not, it's literally three bolts) and the fact that if I screw them up they are $$$. Since I have ZKW-R lenses sitting around, I watched a video on how to replace the lenses in the projector housing and I don't think it's something I want to tackle without having practiced first...so that takes a lot of the worry out of screwing up the light. A simple take apart / paint / put back together procedure I can do in a day. I will probably wait until the fall when it is a little cooler in my garage to do it.

If they are anything like the headlights on my car, I wouldn't even consider cracking open the headlight housings. The adaptive headlight motors/control modules in the headlights on my car are super easy to screw up. Even getting condensation in the headlights will ruin them.

[WRXtranceformed]

If they are anything like the headlights on my car, I wouldn't even consider cracking open the headlight housings. The adaptive headlight motors/control modules in the headlights on my car are super easy to screw up. Even getting condensation in the headlights will ruin them.

Yeah that was my initial hesitation, however I am not super concerned about getting a good seal. I would likely scrape out the old stuff and use either OEM Nissan window seal or 3M Window-Weld.

[premiershine9]

Gosh I hope they dont buffer burn the piss out of it ....sounds like I might make a trip down sometime soon now =/ on a happy note, it still looks flawless in the pics after I worked my magic!

[WRXtranceformed]

Yes sir! No worries I made them promise not to wash or wax it! But you should definitely make another trip down to hang out anyway bro!

[WRXtranceformed]

Car is back, repairs were done fine (including readjusting and repainting the exhaust tips that probably wasn't really part of the accident). Of course though, compound got slung on some of the quarter panels and they "washed it off and lightly buffed it with a clean microfiber towel". So I noticed a few hairline swirls, there are now a few scratches near the driver door handle where the grommets on someone's jeans or a piece of equipment or something probably hit it. It's little stuff really....but little stuff is what really bothers the everliving crap out of me. It's to be expected when you hand your car over to someone else I guess. I didn't even get a diffuser out of it

On the bright side, at least I got to minister to the guy who rear-ended me while we waited on the state trooper to arrive. Hopefully someday I will see him in line at the pearly-gates and I can poke him in the ribs and say "I appreciated the scratches and dents, bro" :lol:

[premiershine9]

10-4, be there soon!

Glad to hear the cat is back safe and sound- the scratches can be fixed.

[WRXtranceformed]

Anndddd I just notice today that the powder coating is chipped and flaked off on the exhaust tip they worked on. Awesome....I get to hand it back over to these guys to manhandle the beast

[WRXtranceformed]

So this is the joy I have been dealing with thanks to the "high end body shop".



After several weeks of himming and hawing about how their powdercoating subcontractor "let them down" and how they were trying to locate a new one, I told them that the only way I would be happy is if they go through Evolution Auto who did the work in the first place. I spoke to Evolution Auto this morning and they told me that the owner of the body shop told them they had actually painted over the powdercoating, which is why it chipped off. My boy there was astonished at how dumb that idea was, and they already have it sent out to be stripped and repowdercoated again. I am not so sure I feel comfortable leaving it in this shop's hands but it is what it is until they make it right. Their parking lot looks like an exotic car dealership yet the quality of their work is so poor it is astounding. Hoping I don't have to go through any repair work again soon because I will have to search for a whole new shop to use unfortunately.

I was pretty lucky when I lived in VA, I was acquaintances with the son of the owner of Terry's Auto Body and they did incredible work for me.

[*insertusernamehere*]

You powdercoated your exhaust?

[Beej]

Yeah, I wouldn't powdercoat exhaust stuff it if you can avoid it. I'm surprised a shop even tried it.

My exhaust tips came powdercoated black...after a couple months of street use, they went from semi-gloss to flat...and then after I went to VIR, the stuff was basically melting off and looked awful. I just recently had them redone (shiny chrome-ish this time), and I sent them to Jet-Hot for the work. Much much better.

[WRXtranceformed]

Yeah not a single issue in all of the months I have owned it with the powdercoating changing its finish or melting off. I believe the shop used a ceramic powdercoating which is why. The tips are the only parts that were coated and they don't get hot enough to affect it.

[WRXtranceformed]

Car is finally back, don't seem to be any extraneous scratches or issues I have noticed so I am just glad this whole ordeal is over. I will say, Dan your detail has been incredible; my car still sparkles without a hand wash since the day you finished it. I just take it through the no-touch pay and spray every now and then, and maybe wipe down the wheels every few weeks

I forgot how hard this car pulls too especially at highway speeds. We had a spat of cooler weather and I had just gotten used to how much hot weather compounds the heat soak in this car. 70 to 90mph (on very large open parts of the interstate with not much out there, there is too much traffic now in most of Charlotte to speed) is quite literally a quarter-pedal push and what feels like about a second in Dynamic mode. Hoping to eventually throw a tune on this beast but so many other things taking priority right now.

[WRXtranceformed]

Got these in the mail yesterday! The mirror caps are not listed on Mina Gallery's site but they are available for 2010-2011 XFs. I had planned just on the side vents but Chris & Mina Gallery hooked me up like crazy since my wife bought me their exhaust for Christmas and I already have their carbon hood louvers and front splitter. The side vents went on easily with double sided automotive tape but the mirrors have been more of a pain to install than I expected (mostly my fault). Like the other two carbon pieces I have purchased from MG they are beautiful and were packed very well...the only minor gripe I have is that the weave between pieces is not "symmetrical" (the grain goes different ways on pieces that should match). That doesn't bother me personally and adds to the uniqueness of carbon fiber.

The mirror caps fit perfectly over the existing housings (when you don't try to attach them with double sided tape like I did last night in the hopes of an easy uninstall someday), so I will be sealing them with silicone today and will snap some finished pics when I am done.

[WRXtranceformed]

Here we go! First, a shot of the ghetto rig I set up to make sure the carbon fiber stayed sealed to the plastic headlight housing after I applied the silicone.


A few pics this morning after I had a chance to reinstall and get them cleaned up! (the original shots are high res but there is some haziness that comes through on these photos that doesn't exist on the originals. some of the "cloudiness" in the mirrors are actually reflections from the clouds this morning)








I think it all came out great and they are nice and subtle with the black paint. I think they also compliment the existing carbon fiber louvers and front splitters.

[JPolen01]

plastic headlight housing after I applied the silicone

Did you mean mirror housing or am I missing something?

[WRXtranceformed]

Yeah I'm sorry, mirror housing

[Sully]

plastic headlight housing after I applied the silicone

Did you mean mirror housing or am I missing something?

My civic has carbon fiber headlight, taillight and mirror housings... why won't anyone buy it?

It's got a red valve cover just like a s2000 too.

[WRXtranceformed]

Renewal time! Makes sense and available, but super sweet or super lame? I feel like we had a conversation about this in the Lounge :lol:



Also, I love the cooler weather! 60 degrees feels like I gained 50hp with that massive heat soak of an engine bay

[JPolen01]

Leave the damn license plate alone