IQ called Patience

[G-Norman]

A hello  to fellow IQ owners.
After a long wait to get our IQ from Toyota Tunbridge Wells, we have our little silver car.  It took much longer to get delivery, as Georgina's parents viewed this car for us at Motorline Cardiff, and the had to do a stock transfer between branches.  Holds up where that they didn't put the V5C document with the car when it went onto the transporter, but was able to tax the car in the end as they had a scanned copy with the registration documents.

This is Patience back in her new home 

Only issue when picking up Patience was that it seemed that the passenger wing mirror casing got damaged (unsure if this was doe in transit or when in the work shop), so waiting now to the dealer to get back to us and booked in to have this replaced.

We have a thing for really clean cars, so what better start is to give her a good scrubbing...
Most difficult thing was trying to find a shaded area to work, our parking spaces was a big no-no being in direct sun and with temperatures in the high 20's 
Lucky no one was parked in front of the house, so bagged that space and that provided the necessary shaded work area.

Good wash and then with the industrial fallout remover.

Love how it turns reddish purple, and you can see the embedded contaminates just dissolving away.

Time to clay all body panels and windows.

I leave my clay in hot water to keep it malleable.

Not too dirty as the fallout remover helped.


Going to give the exterior a good detailing, be going over deeper scratches with a bit a wet sanding, paint chip touch up, and going over the whole car a good machine polish (DA).
Once the body work is nice and shiny, I think a visit to my favourite PDR (Paintless Dent Removal) to get a few dents removed.  Lots of little jobs here and there to do, but looking forward to getting our little car just right for us 

Simon & Georgina

[craggle]

Looks a lot like my car, iQ3 I'm guessing by the wheels. Similar age too.

Enjoy it, looking very good already after a good clean, really need to find the time to do the clay thing on my car again. Any plans for upgrades or keeping it fairly stock?

Craig.

[G-Norman]

Yes, it's a little IQ3.

Looking to do a few minor upgrades, and discussing what options we would like.
Few things we have thought about are:-
Eibach lowering springs
Interior light upgrade
Additional sound deadening/proofing
Replacement front Speakers
De-badging the rear

Going to keep it stock looking, but definitely would look better reduced ride height 

Simon

[G-Norman]

A bit of work with the polisher today (front end and roof), still got the doors, rear quarters, boot and rear bumper to finish off.
Couldn't set-up my inspection lights while working, as I would have ended up obstructing the public walkway which is in front of where we live.
Used a powerful hand held torch as a substitute.



Common problem with the headlights clouding/hazing over.



Gave them a quick going over with some Menzerna polish, and sealed with some Poorboy's sealant.

Looking much better and should improve light output


Simon

[G-Norman]

Was booked in this afternoon with Ed at Ultimate Tinting in Tunbridge Wells.
Decided on this tinting company based on many recommendations, on different forums.  The back window cost me £60 to have done, and it was done in an hour.


Decided to get the rear window tinted to match the little side rear windows




Really happy with the work done and it was good to watch how the profressionals do this.
Now we have improved privacy in the rear and it be cooler for when Norman (our jack Russell Terrier) sits in the back 

Simon

[Soeley]

Excellent write up so far, keep them coming :)

Welcome to the forum 

[G-Norman]

Thanks Soeley 

We really enjoying driving our IQ, and it gets better the more we use her, and it has a big car feel for such a little car.

Our makeshift car mats, now I wish that I had kept them old spare rubber mats from our previous cars...

Thanks to the courier company, there is now proper protection!

[G-Norman]

A tricky day to be machine polishing Patience, as the weather wasn't playing ball, with on-off showers.  Resulted in taking all my gear into the dry, bring it out, into the dry, and this went on and on...

Here some colour sanding in progress.  Didn't want to have clear coat failure, by sanding way too much away, as I couldn't remember where I had placed my paint thickness gauge.  
Generally find that the clear coat is pretty thin out of the factory, compared to aftermarket spray jobs.  
Looks like there was some battle scars on the rear bumper, and that both corners of the rear bumper has been scraped.  Did as well as I could to soften the edges on the scratches, and I could already see that there is evidence of over aggressive polishing on the n/s, so only sanded this a very small amount.

The look on people faces, while I was sanding away on the paint was priceless 



Final areas worked on today were the n/a rear quarter, boot lid, rear light clusters, and rear bumpers.
The blue masking tape makes the IQ look a little bit like the BMW i3 


The newly tinted windows are already started to settle and look much better than the day there were fitted.  

After a long battle with elements, we finally have a polished and protected IQ.
Sorry of the bad pictures, as my photo taking skills are rubbish 


De-badged rear end, makes polishing and washing (no snagging on the drying towel) so much easier.


Simon

[Soeley]

Looking good. I know what you mean keep thinking of removing the 'iQ' Badge, snagged the 'Toyota' on a good while ago so I was driving a 'Toy' around for a while before I removed it.

[G-Norman]

Yesterday I went to my PDR (pointless dent removal) company that I've been using for quite a few years now, The Dent Clinic to get some dent removed from the roof, front wing, and door.
Got the majority of them out, but some remained due to their location or there was bracing matter obstructing the removal.  

The worst area was the roof, as it seems someone has been placing tools/items on there. 


Due to some of the dents were above the bracing on the roof, the dents where lifted with glue




Most of the dents wouldn't had been that noticeable to many people, but I'm just a bit fussy/picky 

[G-Norman]

A cup/ashtray thing that we use to have from our Honda HRV, good for the extra bit of privacy of small items that we would keep in the centre drinks cubby area

[G-Norman]

Grabbed more of my detailing gear on Tuesday, so ended up treating the mats to some 303 Fabric Guard.
I've always used this product to ensure the fabric areas are given additional protection.  
Here are the mats drying outside with a treatment of protection, and there is Norman keeping watch...


I'll be treating the seats once I've given them good shampoo 

[G-Norman]

Our door sills are quire worse for wear on the driver side, it's gone down to the primer of some of the scuffs.

Didn't really like the Toyota IQ sill scuff plates from the dealership, so went for some carbon style door sill film from your favourite auction site.
The seller didn't sell a kit for the IQ, so I bought the version for the Yaris.

Took me a while to stick on, as didn't want it wonky or to have air bubbles 

Now we have protected sills

[Soeley]

Wow, you certainly have got an eye for detail 

[G-Norman]

Thanks Soeley 
I'm one of them strange people who use to even fully detail their car before doing a track day 
Simon

[Mark_P]

Hey G-Norman,

Well done on the work you've done with your iQ.  And I thought I was obsessive with polishing and waxing!  I'm usually there for three hours. You've certainly given me a few ideas for future projects especially the door sills and covering them up.

Got any tips for cleaning wind screens to remove wiper judder?  I've got Piaa Super Silicon fitted and the judder is starting to annoy me regardless how much I clean and treat the windows, I also get annoying web effect when the wipers go down.

 

[scrooged]

On 03/09/2016 at 7:42 AM, Mark_P said:

Hey G-Norman,

Got any tips for cleaning wind screens to remove wiper judder?  

I use a clay Mitt on windscreen/glass....never had a problem with wiper judder etc.....

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/clay-bars-detailing-products/farecla-g3-body-prep-clay-mitt

[dash]

Gtechniq G1 on mine and no judder. You need to use G2 to remove the excess after G1 application before polishing with soft cloth. 3 coats G1 recommended on the windscreen.

It's expensive, but long lasting (and you can buy in very small quantities - 5mg - to reduce the pain !!).

Rain water beads off, and above 50mph you can get away without using the wipers 

I would recommend you use the Gtechniq treatment after cleaning with the clay mitt

[G-Norman]

Hi Mark_P,
The methods as described by scrooged and dash are both good.

Quick and simple things that you could try, is wiping down the whole of your windscreen with a diluted solution of IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol)  
Possible clean your wiper edges with undiluted screen wash. 
Hope you fix what causing the juddering, as totally know how annoying it can be 
My neighbours and the postman already think that I'm a little OCD 

Simon

[FROSTYBALLS]

Could try some white vinegar - under £1 from a supermarket

[G-Norman]

On the search for additional storage areas for the IQ this morning...
1st idea which popped into my mind was to see if I could retro fit a under seat drawer, which was from Georgina's last car (Daihatsu Charade).


Before considering removing the passenger seat, I had a look underneath and I was greeted by amass of wires, which lived in the centre of the seat.  The problem would be that when I would try and slide the drawer in, then it would have contact with the wires.  Back to the drawing board for a possible solution I think!!!
Going to contact a few local breakers yard and see if they have any damaged IQ's, and see if I get get the original wiring loom for under the passenger seat and make a jumper/extension cable (this way there will no modification to our original wiring, plug-and-play).  This would effectively enable me to relocate/re-route of the original wiring, giving me full access to install the storage drawer.

Our postman dropped off this at lunch time.


Welcomed additional storage


I also learnt that we had a storage tray under the rear seats 

[craggle]

The storage space under the rear seat is where I keep the rear headrests. Rear vision is improved a lot when they are removed. 

Craig.

[G-Norman]

Thanks for the tip Craig.
We were considering where we can store the head rests, and now we know where.

Simon

[G-Norman]

A big massive Thank You to tarquin (David) this morning for fitting the uprated dome light and 2 mini rear dome lights.
The installation was professional, and like others have said, this is the set-up that the IQs should been like straight out of the factory in Japan.

We now can see where were putting the shopping...

[G-Norman]

There I was thinking that the Toyota dealer would have done one of them over 100 point checks on approved used cars...
I pulled out air pollen filter and it was a tad mucky.


Got a good quality replacement pollen filter, and picked a Blue Print (Japanese parts) item, as I've used their car parts in the past and I know that they are a very good fit and well priced compared to going to the main dealers.

Paid about £10 (inc delivery) for the new filter...

Simon