The car had done 20000kms in Nov and after 6 months the odo is only at 23500. I know guys who have done 23K in a year or so, while it has taken me 3 years. Anyway, tons of sewage has flowed along the Buckingham Canal (ok, its just a fancy name for the Cooum that flows through Chennai
) during this time and its time for updating this thread.
Dents and dings :
During the last 6 months, the car took a hit on the left front door, from an Amby, just opposite Loyola college on my way home from work. Partly my mistake too, so did not pursue it much with the Amby guy.
A long-shot view :
The dent in close-up :
Would appreciate it if the experts can suggest the course of action (MASS or private body-shop) and the estimated damage to the wallet.
There is also this hit on the rear bumper that I took from an M800 driven by a lady who could not brake even though 4 cars in front of her easily could. Ofcourse, nothing surprising here because instead of looking at the road ahead, she was busy chatting with her co-passenger.
The bumper hit :
A close-up shot :
John had a look and says that the dent can be pushed out with a stick or something. The MASS guys said the bumper would need to be removed and heated to bring it back to shape. Need to get this done also.
Engine breathing :
Only when n_aditya mentioned about looking for a K&N filter cleaning kit, did I remember about the K&N filter that I had plonked in the car a year or so ago and which I assumed was fit-and-forget. He jolted me to the reality that it needs to be cleaned and so at the last track day, just took it out and saw that it was caked with dust.
Dusted it off a bit and cleaned it with a cloth, but still there is quite some muck that needs to be removed. So, I will need to get that cleaning kit ASAP, and more importantly a weekend in Chennai to do the job.
Wash n Wax :
The car was getting neglected because of my almost weekly visits to Kerala and it did not have even a wash for many months. A comment from madan80 when we met at the TidelPark signal about the looks made me determined to correct this. Luckily I got a weekend at Chennai around that time and so gave her a good wash.
I have always been a big believer in polishing my cars (the hard way using Waxpol wax polish) atleast every few months, but with the Baleno, I never got around to doing it, which irritated my wife no end. She would go, "You would spend hours polishing that 20-year old M800, but don't find time to polish this car".
Anyway, I decided it was time I invested some time for this activity and got a Waxpol liquid polish and after the wash, polished the car. With the liquid polish, it was oh-so-easy and fast to polish the car. And to top it, the gleam of the car was to die for.
It has been a month since I polished the car and the car is still looking neat. All I need to do is dust off the car once in 2 days or so and it looks good. Would highly recommened waxing to anyone who likes to see their car looking neat - it is worth the extra effort. Should make it a practice to wax the car atleast once in 3 months.
Only thing I regret is not having taken some snaps of the waxed BlackBeauty.
Next planned is an FE check - been a long time since I checked it.