Result of First SF-Bay Area PriusChat Meet

First I wanted to say that I think our very first in-person meet was a great success. Thank you V8CobraKid for leading us on the way.

It was a beautiful sunny day in the low to mid 70s and we had a net turnout (by my count) of about 15 cars. 1 Classic, 13 Second Generation and 1 poor unexpecting passerby that we waved in with his second generation Driftwood, just in time for the photo shoot.

This was a lot of fun for Dixie and I to meet all of you. We enjoyed all the friendly faces and different viewpoints. The stories were great, OK so I told a few stories myself, but the information and good cheer was flowing freely. Even the employees that were supposed to be watching parking lot in their electric golf carts came over, gave us an impromptu demonstration on the agility of a golf car - OK so he was showing off. (Electric envy? Maybe he wants a Prius when he grows up?) Such is the impact the the Prius has on the world. After the showing off demonstration, one of them was nice enough to take many pictures for us and we thank him for that.

My thanks to whomever discovered that the golf course parking lot had space for us to take pictures - well done.

This meet was certainly far more successful than I expected and my hopes are that it just keeps getting better every we we get together.

I did a lot of talking about various car care products and methodologies at this meet. And we were asked how we kept our Prius looking so good. I promised that I would tell all online which i will do, but in a set of different posts. Hopefully I will get one or two posted today and will continue until I answer everyone's questions. If I forget to post something I promised you, or didn't promise you, please speak up. The free flow of different ideas one fundamental thing to making us a great nation.

The first post will be about the digital pictures everyone was taking so you should be seeing that momentarily.

My final thanks to Danny for creating the PriusChat environment. You did a great job and the result of this meet is proof that it just keeps getting better. And thanks to all our new Prius friends for such a fun day.

Thank You,
Bob and Dixie.

 

Here is a link to the digital photos my wife and I took today. For those of you that haven't already done so, I highly recommend that you try Shutterfly out.

You can store and share all your digital photos with anyone for free. They will print what you want in a variety of sizes on profession photo paper (exactly the same as for film prints, and their quality is unbeatable. Shutterfly has won every editor's choice and other award you can win in their category. They have great online tools to put banners on your photos and do simple corrections (red-eye, cropping, etc.) and they can also print photo albums, mugs, aprons, hats, cups, and large format prints. They can also burn you CDs so you don't have to use up all your disk space at home and they act as a backup to your hard drive if you do have the disk space.

Dixie and I used to be early employees for Shutterfly and can attest for the attention to detail that they put into their products.

Since the first 10 prints are free you have nothing to lose to try them out and we can all have access to each others huge Prius photo library at no cost.

I hope you enjoy them as much as Dixie and I have.
Bob

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAN3LFu5cuWLJmA

 

OK, I received a lot of questions on the clear bra on our Driftwood Prius.

First I'd like to say that anyone that is interested in getting one, please post here so I can get a count. Based on this count I will negotiate with the owner of Clear Armor andsee what kind of a discount we can get. It is possible to get just one or two pieces but he is most willing to give discounts if we get a lot of people in there and all order the full kit.

Clear bras on automobiles were invented by 3M. It is a clear polyurethane film of various thichnesses that attach to your car via a removeable adhesive. 3M officially calls it Scotchguard Paint Protection Film Solution. Unfortunate it is commonly called by what a local or online reseller calls it but I am only taking about the official stuff here (http://cms.3m.com/cms/US/en/2-168/clelFFC/view.jhtml). This film is so tough that it will deflect small rocks and other debris without damage to your paint. It also makes cleaning up insect strikes much easier (some insect strikes will leave behind a yellow spot that does fade away - you didn't see any yellow spots on my Prius today a a testimonial to that).

Ther 3M film is so clear that you cannot tell its there unless someone points out the very fine line where the film ends. I have never had anyone say anything about a line across the hood if I didnlt tell thiem its there in the first place.

The kit that Clear Armor made for the prius covers the nose, grill, complete front bumper, front valence (below the bumper), both mirrors, all door edges, gas cap door opening and top of rear bumper.

You can have more film made to cover any and all parts of the car. It the pattern is not in thier computer, they will custom make it for you.

FAQ

How much does it cost? I don't know. We were having so much fun watching the install that I just handed him my credit card. If we get enough people interested, he will offer us a discount which I will post here.

How long does it last? Other vendors offer a 5 year warranty. I received a limited lifetime warranty when I had these guys install it for me.

Will it turn yellow? Not in the 10 years it has been on the market.

How do I clean it? Just like the rest of the car.

Do I need to wax it? No, you do not.

Will my paint fade under it? No it will not fade. There are UV protectants in the film.

What if my car needs accident repair? The film is removeable. Insurance companies will normally pay to have it replaced.

Isn't it not as clear as the competitio. No. It is just as clear. As most of yu saw on my Prius, you can't see it on the car, only the fine line where it terminates. The 3M film is somewhat opaque before application (as I showed today with that sample piece I passed around) but is crystal clear after it is properly applied.

Can I use it to protect my very expensive headlights? Yes. That was the first automotve application for the film before they figured out that it would work on the paint just as well.

Does it reduce the light from my headlights? No t will not noticeably reduce the headlight output, but I did not have instrumntation to test it. We just tried it by eyeball and it looks great. Again, if you saw my car today, you saw that my headlights looked crystal clear despite the headlight film being so thick (30 mils).

Would you recommend the 3M film to your parents and close friends? I already have.

Is the competition any better? Despite all the bragging, I have not seen any proof that they are any god let alone better than the 3M film. Its your choice, use he time proven leader who invented it or a Johnny-Come-Lately that applies a clear adhesive and makes boastful claims. I asked myself, if they are so good then why do they only have a 5 year warranty when I can go to Clear Armor, have them install it and get a lifetime limited warranty.

Did 3M really invent this silm to protect US attack helicopter blades in the Gulf War from the severe abrasion of the sand? Yes, they did, and it was a complete success.

are you really goig to try and get us a discouted price for us? I already have negotiated with the owner. He just needs to know if we can get enough people in there and he will offer us a good discount. Just let me know if you are interested (not a commitment to buy anything) and I will work it out with him.

Bob

http://www.cleararmorinc.com/products/

 

You are welcome, Kash. I am so glad you enjoyed the photos. Thanks to everyone figured out to get us all aligned in such a cool way, this will make an excellent historical photo.

Bob

 

Alan,

Nice shots. I like the cropping. I was thinking of how to do it myself, and you have shown me the way.

Thanks,
Bob

 

Here are 5 of the same photos I previously posted, but with very severe cropping. I that think this enhances the look opf our cars.

Enjoy.
Bob

PS If you order any photos from Shutterfly to be printed, they will be printed at the original full resolution.

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAN3LFu5cuWLJug

 

Hi Dave,

It was great to meet you today. We got quite lucky with the golf links parking lot and the photo shoot. I'm sure that we will have more opportunities to do this with you in the future.

Bob

 

Bob, How do you keep your windows so clean?

Well, I'm glad you asked. I have been testing two company's car care products seriously for 15 years now. The two companies are Malm's Chemical Corporation and Stoner Solutions. The products I spoke about and even showed a few of you at the park were made by these two companies. No, I am not and never have been related to either one and no, I am not being paid or compensated by them.

I am inherently a lazy person and I insist that my car be in top condition. These polar opposites probably reflect my Yin-Yan/Libra personality in general, always trying to exist in the balance between extremes.

What to do? How about research the best products, give them a long term test and select what works best, keeping an eye out for those that are most economical of my time and money. That's the plan I started with in the mid-seventies and I still find myself analyzing and testing products. I am quite happy that I did, and am happy to share the results with friends, old and new.

The beautiful, crystal clear windows you noticed were the result of Stoner's Invisible Glass. This stuff is excellent. It really removes all the road gunk, bird droppings, those yellow spots (I don't even want to know what they are and that invisible film of grime that helps all the dust and other stuff stick so well to our beautiful, sleek and aerodynamic windshields. The result is a panoramic view out of your Prius that is better than when you first bought it.

Better? Yes, I think so. It seems that most dealers just use ordinary products to prep the cars. When I picked my Prius up, it looked great. When I sprayed some Invisible Glass on the windshield and wiped it once, there was a massive opaque white film that clouded the glass.

Oh, boy! I said to myself. Well, actually it was more like Houston, we have a problem (I never claimed to be "normal"). Nearly out of breath, because I just had to run inside to get the cordless phone and call my contact at Stoner, I explained The Great Disaster as this poor woman listened to me patiently.

Did you turn the cloth over and wipe again, she said very calmly. OK so I felt stupid at this point but I had done my homework. This product was given excellent critical reviews from trusted sources. The Corvette club gave it an unprecedented 100% vote of confidence as well as so many others. I had convinced myself that one wipe would erase all my troubles and I would be silently cruising El Camino Real at 42 MPH, breathing my own clean, quiet air, looking around through the crystal clear panorama.

Did you just pick up the car from the dealer? She asked, never letting on that she thought I had an I.Q. of an 18 year old that failed their DMV written exam six times in a row. Why, Yes! I just got home from picking up the car. Oh, there's no problem, just wipe some more. You see, Stoner is so good that it will dissolve and/or emulsify the gunk that the dealer left behind and probably coated your windows with. When this stuff is dissolved, since it is all suspended in our window cleaner, the cleaner turns white.

Take a deep breath, and wipe again sir. A feeling of calm flushed through my body. Man this woman is good, I can do this. Another wipe revealed a windshield so clean that I ran to tell my wife about it (trust me I need the exercise). OK fine, I'll look at it in the morning.

Bummer. I had to share my discovery with someone. The neighbors weren't home and my wife is the #1 guinea pig for all my experiments so I don't want to push it. Thanks - I appreciate your patience, I told the woman at the other end of the phone, don't mention it, she says (I think she was trying to protect my sense of dignity, for that I honor her).

Finishing off the rest of the car, I was pleased with my work (you'd think that I was the one that invented this stuff). Yes it really was cleaner. Yes the glass at times seemed to disappear (there are plenty of reflections and other lighting anomalies to ruin the effect but you get my drift).

The one thing I did notice was that the inexpensive micro-fiber cloths I purchased at Target did not have enough material to hold all the stuff that Invisible Glass could dissolve (after all its job is to dissolve the junk, its up to me to figure out how to actually get it off the window). They would saturate quickly and leave behind the white film. High quality micro-fiber cloths don't have this problem and they are much heavier so I think its just a matter of you get what you pay for.

The next day my wife came home and reported that the glass was so clean that there was indeed a moment that it did appear invisible. Mission accomplished.

More of Bob's stories on exterior and interior car care are on the way.

Enjoy,
Bob

PS Stoner's motto is "More Shine, less time", lets see how true this holds up for my tests.

http://www.stonersolutions.com/
http://www.invisibleglass.com/

 

OK, I have a few more areas of information to pass along that you guys requested at the meet.

I have already covered clear bras (cleararmorinc.com) and getting the windows super clean (invisibleglass.com).

The next most common questions were about tire dressing, trim dressing, etc and paint cleaning/waxing.

The tires, exterior/interior trim cleaning and interior dressing
are all done with products from Stoner, the same company that makes Invisible Glass. Their products work as advertised for me and seem to be more in line with the results I actually want as opposed to what some marketing department think they can get me to buy.

The best example of this is their tire dressing which is called More Shine Less Time (for tires). I know, a mouth full, but this stuff works. I can say this after more than 10 years of testing it on my exotic cars.

More Shine Less Time (for tires) is very easy to use, looks good, lasts a long time and does not dry out the tires as does many of its competitors. All you need do (after you wash your Prius) is to give the tires one quick spray. That's it, you're done. It will give the tires a nice satin shine without any more labor than pushing a button. It just doesn't get any easier than that. This product is not a dust magnet and has never dried out the rubber on any of my cars regardless of any other factors.

Want a nice shiny coating instead of a satin shine? Just give it a two sprays instead of of one (twice around each tire, instead of only once) and you get that classic shiny tire look.

I gave a few cans of More Shine Less Time (for tires) to my boss some years ago after we performed a side by side test between his vehicle and mine. He was so impressed that he switch over from the big competitor and, like me, has never changed back.

The rest of Stoner's products work similarly well on the interior. Their interior cleaner is a foam that can cling to horizontal or vertical surfaces. Some of you saw me demonstrate how easily it removes the soft rubber heel marks I had in my car in one easy swipe.

I also use their exterior trim dressing, Trim Shine, to shine and protect the black plastic rear air spoiler under the back bumper. Those of you that saw it agreed that it gave the plastic a beautiful satin natural looking shine (only one spray, I don't like it too shiny although it can do that too, if you so choose).

Now, how do we get the paint nice and shiny and keep it that way? Without too much effort? Use Malms wax and their polish/paint products, of course See the next post for details.

http://www.stonersolutions.com/
http://www.malms.com/

 

As promised:

How to get perfect looking paint on your Prius.

Wash your car thoroughly.
Wax it with Malm's wax.
Quickly remove any stuff that may get on it (bird droppings, bugs, tree sap, etc.)
Have fun.

A little more serious about maintaining a fabulous paint job? Want to know how I do it on my Prius and other exotic cars? Then read on.

OK, so you just picked up the most desired car in the world (at least in my world) or have had one for a few years now, we are going to basically do the same thing.

We are going to prepare the surface for its first wax job (just follow along here, its all going to work out in the end
Park the car in the shade and alow to cool off before proceeding.

Flood the entire surface of the car with your water hose and let the water soak in for a minute or two.

Now spray the car with your water hose and get it as clean as possible with just the spray. Pay special attention to the tires, wheelwells, and the entire undercarraige. Do this two or three times or until you are sure that its as clean as is possible.

Wash your car. Use a natural brush, preferrably a boar hair brush, dipping it in Malm's Car Wash Concentrate in a perfectly clean bucket. Just a small amount of Car Wash Concentrate in a bucket full of water will do, all Malm's products are highly concentrated so they are actually very economical.

Start at the top, work your way down. Rinse the car off once or twice, until you are sure that its clean.

If this car has been waxed many times before and still has some wax on it then wash it down with Silicone, Grease and Wax remover (available at local paint shops). If its a new car skip this step.

Next we clean the paint with a paint cleaning clay, available from Malm's and is called de-racer. Malm's was the very first company to sell these cleaning clay bars to the public over a decade ago.

Take a small piece of the clay and rub it over the entire painted surface of the car. Keep the surface wet with Malm's Neetoo otherwise the clay will stick. What does the clay do: It cleans off small pieces of grit and contaminants that washing the paint didn't get off. (Note: Neetoo is what you should carry in the car to gently remove bird droppings and other stuff that gets on the car. If you get something like tar or tree sap that won't come off then use Stoner Tarminator and put a little wax back on as Tarminator will take everything off that paint.)

If you touch the paint surface now it should feel extremely clean and slick, with no grit at all. On a new car this effect is barely noticeable but if you've driven your Prius for a year or three, you may feel a huge improvement.

The wax stage is nearly upon us but first we will perform a very light polishing, even if the car is right off the boat. This step is only done once every few years for many people so don't fret about the extra work, its not hard to do at all. There are two choices at this point, if yours is a new Prius right off the boat then use Malm's Formula 10 Polish & Glaze. If yours is a bit older and need to have the paint freshened up a bit (small scratches and/or haze marks, etc.) then use Malm's Ultra Fine Polishing Cleaner. In cases where you are just not sure which to use, since they are both mild and gentle products, just remember that Malm's Ultra Fine Polishing Cleaner is the more aggressive of the two. If you still aren't sure then just send me an email or contact Jay Kolinsky, President of Malm's.

Go ahead and polish the car with your choice of the above polishes. I prefer to use the small inexpensive sponges that are sold on the Malm's site along with a small tool to hold the sponge with very little effort (its called the Kolinsky Speed Waxer). Follow the directions, essentially polishing one small section at a time. This is a bit time consuming and tedious for some of us, but once it is done you will enjoy a a lot of enjoyable times driving your exotically beautiful hybrid.

OK, now go for the wax. I like Malm's Concentrated Carnauba Wax (this is a rich thick liquid). Read the instructions as it is easy to put on and take off and surprisingly there is a way to apply the wax so that you have nothing or next to nothing to buff off. There is no need to wait to buff as you will only be putting on a thin coat (any more than that is a waste of product and increases your effort accordingly). This wax is so concentrated that a pint could last you for a few years (it has for me). Buff it off and stand back, ooh that looks as good as it feels, doesn't it?

Now you can enjoy your Prius and the admiring glances it will generate for you. Just wash him/her gently with Malm's Concentrated Car Wash (which is so gentle it won't remove the beautiful wax job) and drive away. In this area I find that Malm's wax lasts for months (3 to 6 months or more is not unusual) so you don't have to do it often. When it is time to freshen up the wax, just wash and wax, polish is not necessary unless you need to fix a problem.

Enjoy life, drive a shiny Prius.

Bob