PowerDemon’s '15 MK7

[EpicTech]

Vouch for the Rupes coarse cutting compound/pad combo. Went behind that with fine, then ultra fine. Maintain with Meguair's ceramic detail spray. Curious about trying Sonax myself. I had heavy swirls and scratches from hand waxing and idk where the scratches came from. The course/fine/ultra fine from Rupes worked great for my paint correction process. I also like Meguair's MF, and show car finish products. I used medium speed and light pressure, the Rupes did the rest.

 

[PowerDemon]

looks sweet! Any plans to track it? Just amazing times those things turn stock out of the box. I made a similar-ish move...went back to BMW with a 6spd Manual M2 Competition(F87 not the hideous new lego car G87 M2). I've been wanting one for a very long time but wasn't willing to pay the comically insane Covid pricing. Still paid way more than I would have liked but is what it is. Unlike you, I wasn't able to keep my R and get the M2 Comp, which to me would have been the perfect combo for my use case. Just not enough garage space and my wife would have killed me anyway.

I would think for the GTI that your selection of pad and product you used on the Camaro would be great as well.
On my old R I used the same Meguiar's MF cutting pad but with Rupes DA Course Cutting Compound (the Jescar products are awesome to though) followed by exactly what you used for polishing with the Yellow Rupes pad and Sonax Perfect Finish. Started the process with Carpro Iron-x for decon, then clay.

Thanks! I’d love to track it but getting on track seems like a bit of a daunting task. Hopefully I can get it out on track soon. I have Dominion Raceway right up the road from me (>1hr) and VIR about 3 hours away. I really want to get on VIR but it appears you have to join a club or something. Right now I’ve really just been focused on getting the car setup the way I want and enjoying it on the streets. That said it’s hard to enjoy it on the in such a setting because it is SO SO capable. On a backroad it’s impossible to get even close to its limits without doing at least double the speed limit. The short answer is yes I plan to get it out on track. Not sure when yet though.

I looked hard at a F87 M2. It checked all the boxes with me being a coupe, RWD, and manual. The only issue I had was at the time (like you experienced) the clean ones were all priced up there with the Camaro. So I had to choose between a used car with 5-15000k miles or a brand new car with a warranty and I could order it the way I wanted. So that was the direction I went. If I could have gotten an M2 new, it would have been a much closer decision. I have heard nothing but glowing things about those cars. Post a couple pics! I’d love to see how you got yours setup.

Good to hear about the pad combo. I think I’ll just have to pick up some more polish and a few more MF pads. I used a HF Porter Cable 5” and Flex PXE-80 3”-1". What did you use for polishers? Also in regards to clay I think I’m going to try that synthetic clay mitt or a Nanoskin Auto Scrub pad. I didn’t like using the Gyeon Clay I picked up. It left some residue that I found difficult to get off. Maybe I wasn’t using enough clay lube? I have heard real good things about the new Rupes polishes so I might give them a shot, especially if it worked well for you.

Vouch for the Rupes coarse cutting compound/pad combo. Went behind that with fine, then ultra fine. Maintain with Meguair's ceramic detail spray. Curious about trying Sonax myself. I had heavy swirls and scratches from hand waxing and idk where the scratches came from. The course/fine/ultra fine from Rupes worked great for my paint correction process. I also like Meguair's MF, and show car finish products. I used medium speed and light pressure, the Rupes did the rest.

Cool! If I go to the trouble of polishing I will be doing a full on ceramic coat. It has made life so much easier on the Camaro and in my mind the hardest part of ceramic coating is the prep work! So if you’ve already done that no reason not to coat it IMO. In my experience the Sonax PF was excellent. Decent cut, excellent finish, and no dusting. You can’t ask for more than that in my mind. I imagine it would take off any wash induced swirls or microscratches with ease. So you did a three step correction start to finish?

 

[EpicTech]

Yes I did.

 

[19birel]

Thanks! I’d love to track it but getting on track seems like a bit of a daunting task. Hopefully I can get it out on track soon. I have Dominion Raceway right up the road from me (>1hr) and VIR about 3 hours away. I really want to get on VIR but it appears you have to join a club or something. Right now I’ve really just been focused on getting the car setup the way I want and enjoying it on the streets. That said it’s hard to enjoy it on the in such a setting because it is SO SO capable. On a backroad it’s impossible to get even close to its limits without doing at least double the speed limit. The short answer is yes I plan to get it out on track. Not sure when yet though.

I did my first HPDE at VIR in February and it was a blast. I went with Tidewater Sports Car Club, you don't need to be a member (I'm not), just sign up through motorsportreg.com, and they did a great job organizing the event. You'll start off in the novice group with an instructor to help get you up to speed, and there's also a few classroom sessions in-between runs. It's not a competitive event or anything so you can go at your own pace and get to know the car on the limit!

Theres another event with Tidewater at VIR Memorial Day Weekend, I'll be there in the GTI and I'm sure a few others from the forums will be as well. I'll put a link below so you can check it out, if you have any questions just let me know, much easier than it seems to get out there!

TSCC Memorial Day HPDE

 

[PowerDemon]

I did my first HPDE at VIR in February and it was a blast. I went with Tidewater Sports Car Club, you don't need to be a member (I'm not), just sign up through motorsportreg.com, and they did a great job organizing the event. You'll start off in the novice group with an instructor to help get you up to speed, and there's also a few classroom sessions in-between runs. It's not a competitive event or anything so you can go at your own pace and get to know the car on the limit!

Theres another event with Tidewater at VIR Memorial Day Weekend, I'll be there in the GTI and I'm sure a few others from the forums will be as well. I'll put a link below so you can check it out, if you have any questions just let me know, much easier than it seems to get out there!

TSCC Memorial Day HPDE

That sounds great! Thanks for the information. I’ll definitely give them a closer look. Do you use track insurance? If so who?

 

[19birel]

That sounds great! Thanks for the information. I’ll definitely give them a closer look. Do you use track insurance? If so who?

I don't use track insurance, though I know a lot of folks do.

I decided to forgo it because I have ~15yrs of karting experience and figured that as long as I'm not going "ten tenths" that I'll be able to stay out of trouble, I'm also driving a cheaper r-title car I rebuilt so after crunching the numbers I decided to go without.

I'm sure the guys in the Tracking/Autox forum can give more input on companies they have actually used.

 

[MonkeyMD]

I've used Open track, just because you can do it all online. I like convenience. If you track a lot, then you can get a yearly coverage instead of individual track day coverage which can be much cheaper.

 

[MSH]

I looked hard at a F87 M2. It checked all the boxes with me being a coupe, RWD, and manual. The only issue I had was at the time (like you experienced) the clean ones were all priced up there with the Camaro. So I had to choose between a used car with 5-15000k miles or a brand new car with a warranty and I could order it the way I wanted. So that was the direction I went. If I could have gotten an M2 new, it would have been a much closer decision. I have heard nothing but glowing things about those cars. Post a couple pics! I’d love to see how you got yours setup.

.....I used a HF Porter Cable 5” and Flex PXE-80 3”-1". What did you use for polishers? Also in regards to clay I think I’m going to try that synthetic clay mitt or a Nanoskin Auto Scrub pad. I didn’t like using the Gyeon Clay I picked up. It left some residue that I found difficult to get off. Maybe I wasn’t using enough clay lube? I have heard real good things about the new Rupes polishes so I might give them a shot, especially if it worked well for you.

My M2C arrives on enclosed trailer from FL on Saturday so definitely will. Here it is parked next to one of the new G87 M2s. The seller of the M2C I'm buying it from is a Tech Lead at a dealership in FL and they just received their first allocation. I just think they are tragic looking. The only mod I'm doing straight away are new wheels which will go on next week. I'll keep the stock ones for winter with some DWS06's

On polisher I still use my old school Porter Cable! I do want to try one of the Nanoskin Autoscrub's. I kind of follow some of the products the Obsessed Garage uses and they seem to like them.

 

[Daks]

Most likely a wicked car, but man.... It's ugly.

 

[Daks]

It looks like someone kicked a beaver in the face.

 

[EpicTech]

I like the prev gen way more

 

[PowerDemon]

My M2C arrives on enclosed trailer from FL on Saturday so definitely will. Here it is parked next to one of the new G87 M2s. The seller of the M2C I'm buying it from is a Tech Lead at a dealership in FL and they just received their first allocation. I just think they are tragic looking. The only mod I'm doing straight away are new wheels which will go on next week. I'll keep the stock ones for winter with some DWS06's

View attachment 278993

On polisher I still use my old school Porter Cable! I do want to try one of the Nanoskin Autoscrub's. I kind of follow some of the products the Obsessed Garage uses and they seem to like them.

Sweet! What wheels and tires are you putting on? I’d really like to get a set of the Apex VS 5RS for the Camaro one day.

Yeah I am a big OG convert lol. He is right on with 95% of the products he sells. I just picked up some of the OG Tire Dressing to try it out. I tried Chemical Guys VRP and Gyeon Tire but both had tire sling for me. Hopefully it lives up to the hype and the $$!

 

[PowerDemon]

Most likely a wicked car, but man.... It's ugly.

Tbh I don’t think it’s that bad.. The M3/4 are worse.

My biggest problem is with the automatic trans it weighs 3900lbs

 

[PowerDemon]

Finally finished the 1500 mile break in on the Camaro. Changed the engine and diff fluid. Decided to try out the launch control for the first time. The car has a legitimate two step system in it from the factory. Put it in track mode, hold down the accelerator, let it get happy, then dump the clutch.

Check out all the crap on the magnetic diff plug

It is setup automatically to target 3700rpm and a 10% slip target so I left it there. It was defiantly more than 10% LOL. Thing spun all the way through the 60’ for sure. Due to the tall gearing the car should do about 63mph in 1st gear. However for some reason I ran into the rev limiter (fuel cut) either just before or right after 60. You can see the dip in the acceleration on the dragy. I am pretty confused about that. Maybe the car is spinning still ever so slightly and it gets to the limiter just before it is actually at 60? I don’t know.

It was only my second time doing it and this was my result. I am sure if I figure out the limiter problem, run less air in the tires, and had some more heat in them it would go 3.8x-3.9x. But I really don’t like launching it lol. Too much mechanical sympathy. Anyway here you go.

Just goes to show you what AWD and an automatic will do for you. I know there’s cars on here with 250 less horsepower that would smoke me to 60. Chevrolet says the manual car should do it in about 3.7 seconds. That is with 1ft rollout I assume. Not bad if that is the case. I’m pretty pleased with it.

If I can find a good road I’ll be running a 60-130 soon.

Sidenote: Driving it the way I do this thing is ridiculously thirsty. I average around 12 and my best has been 14. Definitely smiles per gallon not miles per gallon I knew it would be bad going to a SC v8 but DAMN!

Thanks for reading as always

 

[Diggs24]

12mpg, dayum. Worth it tho.