cal3thousand

You indicate that you are not the only one driving the vehicle? What's the average MPH you are logging? if its not more than 25 MPH, don't expect good MPG; expect average. And if you average 10-15 MPH, don't expect anything and be happy with what you get.

If the motorcraft is cheaper, go for that one. Cardone is a rebuilder/remanufacturer, so that unit at best would be a motorcraft unit that was reconditioned by Cardone. (I worked at an Auto Parts store on and off over 10 years and although Cardone is a good rebuilder, they don't manufacture new parts)

Good job! Looks awesome

That looks absolutely sick. I totally want to black out my lights, but I'm on a lease and have yet to make the ultimate decision. So, what was all involved in removing the adhesive? Did it just take a lot more baking or was there some more insight involved?

I have a Cobra Guzzler waffle weave (green) that dries my whole car. Granted, that is during ONR washes that don't take much drying OR after sheeting the water off with a hose. The WW towel isn't soaked afterwards either, it just feels damp. If you have "buckets" of water standing on your car after washing, you might want use a second towel.

Compounding is for severely damaged paint. It's like half way between polishing and wet sanding. You are "cutting" with a compound to level the paint. Definitely no need. Glaze is another coating that usually goes on before wax. If your car looks like its showroom fresh, do what I did: With the money that you would spend on a detail, spend it on detail products that will carry you for awhile. I bought a nice set of Microfiber towels ~ $50 32OZ. Optimum No Rinse (ONR) - $16 some spray bottles ~ $20 2 buckets ~ $15 ultima paint guard plus (UPGP) - $40 I use the ONR (1-1.5oz to 2 Gallons) with 2 buckets to wash the car in my carport. Washing one panel at a time, I dry each section as I finish washing it. One bucket holds the ONR solution and the other is your rinse bucket. Rinse in the Rinse bucket and drop the Mitt back into the ONR bucket while you dry. I have a spray bottle of ONR mixed to double what they say for Quick Detailer Strength and I use that as clay lube. After you dry each section, inspect for sections that may need claying (any imperfections that did not wash off). Clay it and dry the section. Make sure to use a Waffle Weave towel for drying. And DO NOT drop your towel. Treat it like prison soap! Any dirt that contacts it will tend to stick and you will end up scratching paint. You could complete the wash and clay in 45 minutes to an hour. The beauty of ONR is you do one section at a time and can stop and restart at any point. If you do need to polish (which I doubt) the time would be now. I just started with the UPGP at this point. This stuff is easy as all heck to use and one bottle will last 5 years if you did your car every week in it. It takes about 15-20 minutes to cover the Edge in this stuff. Basically, you spritz the applicator 2 times to prime it. Then you coat your car in this stuff. It goes on clear and you need to make sure every bit it covered. Your hood for example with take 2 primer spritzes and maybe 2 or 3 more. Whole car takes like 15 spritzes or something. If you don't want to use UPGP, there's plenty other sealants and waxes you could try. Wax will last 1 month, while this stuff lasts about 4 months. Do a search on it and see for yourself. PM me if you want to chat about it. Here's a pic of my hood paint surface after the second application of this stuff:

Front fascia takes 15 minutes to remove. Most of the work here is splitting the lights, modding and reassembling. 8 hours is a good estimate, but it's not 8 solid hours of work. Could be done 4 hours if you are proficient.

You're talking about 12V electrical outlets? I don't see how they could have changed to not work with devices as it is based on a standard.

Tires are a major contributing factor for NVH. Especially as they age, some tires do not hold up as well as others. I don't have specific experience with these tires

I thought ordering for 2011 was ceased. On top of that, some colors are on hold due to Japanese sourced metallic flake (Candy Red Metallic especially). Maybe the other ones were cancelled due to lack of popularity. I sure wish they would have made the 2011 with Carbon Metallic.

Don't want to jump CanuckG35's answer, but with such a new car you might not need much of a polish. If Claybar is necessary, than a light polish might be in order after to take car of micro marring. Unless you have lots of marring, I would Wash and Spot clay, dry, polish as necessary, then seal. If you don't want to use a sealant, you can glaze and wax or just wax.

It sounds like this Simoniz GlassCoat is similar to the CQuartz in what it does. But they seem very secretive on what it actually contains. You can still use waxes, but it seems like you have a semi permanent sealant on there already. How does it do after washing? does the water bead and sheet off?

I think it looks great. How many coats is that? More coats will smooth out the finish.

I didn't push them in too much. IIRC, they wanted to sit even deeper in the groove, but I didn't feel that was going to make a good connection. If you shake the housing with your hand before popping them back into the car, you can assure yourself of the connection. Unless you're going offroading, if it survives the shake test, it should stay while driving.

Mine do the same thing. You can't really tell the difference on mine versus before. In the OE configuration, light was skewed to one side more. I can't really see the difference currently, so I don't mess with it any more. I'm sure there's a way to turn the bulbs... Just not sure it's quite worth the work.

I can't answer from direct experience. But here's what I know (or think I know ) 1) Fuse #35 with a fuse tap kit (hint: search on amazon) 2) Find a exhaust shop that will let you try a couple fitments to test out how it would sound. If you are looking for a mild upgrade, let me suggest swapping out the rear collectors for a straight through design such as Magnaflow. 3) When you use wider tires, your handling won't be "ruined", but it will definitely change. Generally, slalom type maneuvers will suffer, but your lateral grip should increase slightly. You'll hold the road better, but quick switch back moves will suffer due to the wider contact patch. Additionally, the extra weight of wider rubber will have an effect on acceleration. Check the difference in tire weight to be sure you can live with it.

Just updated to v2.8 last month ... looks like it's time for v2.11. I tried using voice, but when I say "services" I just get this screen we see here.

Looks awesome. If I had to get a 2010, it would have been a black Sport model.

Best MP3 player I've used is my phone: MyTouch 4G aka HTC Glacier. It does Pandora, Grooveshark, Google Music, MP3s, YouTube etc etc all through Bluetooth and all skip able using the touchscreen or steering wheel controls.

This is why I wish Google Translate could quickly translate between US measures and everyone else's within a chunk of text.

I'm hoping and praying for this. Because I really enjoy the car otherwise. I've also been modding it slightly (all easily reversible so far, but I don't want to put $400 worth of tint on the thing yet as I'm not 100% sure on keeping at Lease-end)

Aftermarket will work. Beware though, the spray pattern on the stock ones is pretty good. If you get aftermarket, make sure the spray pattern is fan-like and will cover your glass properly. Nothing worse than not having enough fluid on parts while too much on others. My plan is to take mine off, and give them a coat or two of touch up paint to body match them.

Can either one of you tell me off the about how long the section you cut out was? I'm guessing about 6 inches, but I don't want to walk out to the car right now its 80 degrees out. Sorry to those experiencing any hotter. EDIT: I'm also nominating this thread for sticky stardom!

Thanks for confirming that one. Looks like I'm going back for another update. I'll let them know this one didn't take properly.

It won't peel from washing. I've washed my volvo grille a hundred times and its still like the day I painted it.