Nearly 2-decade-old Hyundai Sonata V6 being restored: Update

The entire interior, including the boot area, was sprayed properly. Now, all the old rust spots are completely gone.

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Time for the weekly update.

The paint process was technically completed on Thursday, 29th Feb, 2 days ago. The car has been drying since. What's more, it rained heavily today here so we got the paint done just in time!

Water drain area had slight surface rust. Cleaned up and painted. (Red is just a reflection)

Entire interior sprayed, including the boot area.

All the old rust spots are now no more. The car is good to go for the next decade!

The spares situation hasn't improved. I pushed the local Mobis exec to write to Hyundai management. He took WIP pics of the car to add to the story. He spoke with the Mobis outlet owner as well. I'm writing to Hyundai Mobis from my end as well. Here's hoping this ends soon...

Finally, I decided to go for Mannol ATF since they have a specific SP-III grade that corresponds to Hyundai/Kia specs rather than the multigrade Motul stuff. I got a response from the company directly so it's almost too cheap, at less than ₹850/L. Saved a bomb not going for the Hyundai ATF! Also got coolant and brake fluid for the car from Mannol.

As for engine oil, everyone recommends 5W30 but Hyundai recommends other grades for temps exceeding 38°C. Below is a screenshot from the owner's manual.

After some hunting, I managed to find some semi-synthetic 10W40 from Mobil. It seems as though the higher temp grades are not made fully synthetic.

I ordered a 3M Headlight Clear Coat so that the headlights don't yellow out again after I've cleared up the current yellow layer. It took me a lot of research to get there. This one review covers everything I found during my research:

I was in a fix regarding the car audio. I'm not an audiophile when driving, at least not when there's a sonorous V6 under the hood, but one of the stock speakers has distortion and tearing even at normal volumes. Rather than mess with the stock wiring, I'm going to replace the speakers with superior ones. I like the factory look anyway.

Watch this space for more...

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