First of all I would like to introduce my self and say hello to everyone. My name is Dave and I am from MA. I have always admired the MB Crossfire and now I have a 2005 blue with 18,378 miles on it. The car looked great, very clean and shinny and the first thing I did was to change the oil and air filters, then I put a coat of wax on it which brings me to my first newbie question. Usually when I put a coat of wax on a car the surface feels soft and smooth. Not this car, the car feels like a car with some paint over spray on it. The car looks very shinny so I don't know if there something about the paint used on these cars or do I have one that might have been repainted? I looked around and I can't tell if ever had been repainted. I put another coat of wax on it and it doesn't seem to get any smoother. I do know there is one little ding that had been repaired and repainted. The second newbie question I have is; I have noticed that the windshield seems to have a lot of minute pits in it, more than a car with only 18K miles should have. Is there something about these windshields that makes them suseptable to pitting, or could the car have been driven through a sand storm or something. I know people who live on Cape Cod (my brother for one) get pitting of their windshields from the sand blowing around. Anyway I look forward to reading your comments.

Dave

 

Not sure about the windshield but our paint surface is like glass when waxed and polished.
My windshield was replaced a couple years ago due to a stone crack and it was in good shape when it was removed other than the crack.
Mine is a 2004 with 78000 miles now.

Welcome to the forum

Gary

 

You need to clay the car first, then polish and wax. The clay will remove all the contaminants, and give you that smooth surface that is the prep for a a good polish. Read some of the tips in the "Detail section" of the forum.

Congrats on your new ride, and welcome aboard.

 

Adam's Detailing Clay Bar

 

Rivetts, welcome to the forum, you came to the right place for all your Crossfire questions and concerns. Good for you on finding a low mileage car. I bought my 2005 coupe last September with 51k+, she's a black beauty. Enjoy your Crossfire - enjoy the forum

 

Clay bar will change your life

 

Looks like I will be using clay bar. I've heard of it but I have never used it. I know Turtle Wax Ice has a clay bar product, does anyone know if it is any good? I really like the Ice car wash and the clear polish. The polish works good on the black plastic parts as well as the painted surfaces.

I had a hunch I would fail emissions test and I did. I was told it is probably because the battery went dead or the battery was disconnected. If the emissions fail and there are no error codes listed, then the battery is the most likely cause. It would be nice to know that if your battery goes dead or is disconnected you have to drive the car at least 50 miles for the computer to reset 3 or 5 cycles I'm not sure which. I only drove the car about 30 miles when I tried to get an inspection sticker. I was told that if the check engine light is not on the car will pass inspection. Well I now know there is one exception. I'm not sure but I will assume the battery went dead over the winter and the seller charged it up before he put it up for sale. While shopping for a Crossfire I read quite a few Carfax reports and saw quite a few failed emissions test, this is probably why. I passed up a 2005 coupe 6sp with only 10K miles for $13.6K because there were a couple of failed emissions test. There were gaps between registration and inspections and each time the emissions failed. I'll bet the battery was disconnect during storage or it went dead.

Hey Coolx I don't see an antenna on your car. I have never noticed but mine has a black short antenna on the left rear fender. Do I have an upgrade in the radio or something, I have the Limited? Or do the coups have the antenna in the rear window?

Time to go buy some Clay Bar.

 

Rivetts, from what I've read, the antenna is integrated in the rear window. I'm curious, can you post a picture of your antenna?

 

It appears that all soft tops have antennas and coupes have the integrated antennas. My antenna looks just like all the other soft tops I've seen. Check out KJ Winston and the twins from Idaho, I have the tripplet. They have a good post under "Roadster Top Cleaning".

I'll be taking pictures soon and make sure I include a closeup of the antenna.

dave

 

Thanks to the advice to use a clay bar my car it work at smoothing out the surfaces of the paint. It is a big improvement but I think I will have to give it another go over in a couple of places. I used Mother's clay bar. It comes with 2 clay bars so I will be able to use a new bar to redo.

I brought back my car to the state inspection station to try and get my sticker and the computer said I have to drive it more miles. I believe the battery went dead or the battery was disconnected while in storage so now I have to drive the car long enough for the computer to recycle so many times. I was told I had to go about 50 miles but that didn't worki. Today I had over 100 miles on it since I bought it but the computer still wouldn't give me a sticker. Does anyone know how many miles of driving it takes for the on board computer to reset?