So in my last post, the car had finally been returned to me. BUT, truth be told, I was not happy with one thing.
Take a look at the car when I had it sent back to Omori Factory shortly thereafter.
Looks good you say? Well so Sawanobori-san, the guy Nismo Omori Factory entrusts to detail their show cars, was kind enough to find time to do my Skyine after he took care of the Nismo CRS cars that came back from the Nismo Festival. I was especially happy to learn that he also added some PGP windshield protection as well - this I suspect is some kind of ceramic coating so that works for me!
The issue are these Nismo LMGT4s. You see, these are lighter (and rumor has it, less rigid) than the stock Enkeis, which might be good in terms of losing unsprung weight. HOWEVER, this car has the Digital Adaptive Steering (steer by wire system) which is set up using all of the OEM parameters - car weight, wheel and tire weight, tire grip, suspension, etc. - and so when I swapped out the Enkeis for the LMGT4s, it felt really artificial, even in Sports+ mode where feedback is heaviest and most accurate. So, I quickly decided I wanted to put the Enkeis back on.
Except the guys at Nismo did not want me swapping the tires back again - something about how the bead gets weakened and so I was happy to have the car live at Omori Factory while they also ordered new OEM tires.
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| Was nice to be the ONLY customer! He he he... |
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| HAD to add this photo.... |
So when I went to pick up the car, I saw this:
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| My LMGT4s, ready to be hauled home. |
Pretty interesting - apparently new tires have a slick protectant coating and Omori Factory has these tire wraps in order to prevent the floor from getting slicked up.
From the side, just because I could. I started wondering if I could do this at home too...
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| Photo courtesy of Miyata-san, Chairman of the Z31 Club |
Once I got the car home, I did a full inspection of the detail. It was pretty good, but Samanobori-san, like most Japanese detailers, uses
Echelon, which I found to be hydrophilic, not hydrophobic. The theory here is that instead having water bead up, instead water forms into big puddles that then slide off the car, leaving the paint dry.
Normally, this would probably not be a problem for most people. But I am not most people. First, my cars do not see much rain, especially the GT-R and now this car. Second, I do believe Japan is several years behind when it comes to car detailing products. Hence while waiitng delivery of this car I had done some research in my spare time, and ordered the Advanced Graphene kit from Adam's (and now I hear that there are now even better products on the market... oh well...)
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| Kit contains surface prep (far left) to remove oils and other contaminants before application of the graphene ceramic coating liquid. |
So yes, I know that before applying a ceramic coating, you are supposed to remove the existing protectant/sealant. However, I did not do so this time for the following reasons.
1. I'm lazy; or maybe just getting older and less energy, etc. Oh and it's cold out now.
2. I heard that layering ceramic on top of ceramic can sometimes work
3. Given the hydrophilic quality of the Echelon coating, and my experience with the Elgrand where the guts of a dead bug were seemingly absorbed by the hydrophilic Echelon coating, whereas I had to resort to a chemical buffing to remove, I was hopeful that similarly, the underlying Echelon would soak up the Adams coating. And if Adams is hydrophobic, then prevent water based dirt from being absorbed into the paint.
4. Life is an experiment. If this extra bit helps to protect the car and the paintwork becomes slick (the Echelon does not feel slick, it is more like a clean plate fresh from the dishwasher) - I like slick paintwork!
5. Presumably the paint has been corrected of all blemishes, but if I mechanically remove the Echelon, there is a risk that I would end up leaving scratches.
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| Obviously you can't tell, but even immediately after application the paint felt slicker |
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The Adams kit also contains this UV light - the graphene compound has elements in it that glow so you can tell where you did NOT wipe off completely!
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I also had this sticker Dino had given me, I was trying to figure out if it made sense to apply to my car somewhere. In the past, I was lucky enough to get a Speedhunters sticker which I applied to the GT-R (and it's still there!).
Not sure if this is legal, but I wonder if I could run around like this? LOL.
Anyway, I am taking things very slow with the application of the graphene ceramic coating. Will update here when done, with my impressions! And yes, when the car was temporarily back, I also applied several products to the interior to provide protection to the leather and Alcantara. I will update fully on that once I finish the rest of the car! Here's to a wonderful 2025, 2024 was just too crazy!
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