What have you done to your MK 7 today ?

[scanesare]

Cleaned it again and gave it a full wax, except half bonnet, half roof and half rear, on which I tried some new Obsessive Detail products out.  Then it rained!

That's the reason I'll never - ever - understand detailing...

(awaiting to be shot down in flames  )

Don't you ever wash your car then, in the event it might rain?    Do you live in the UK?

Sure. I can understanding washing (in fact I don't do that either  - I take it to a hand wash station once per month maybe) but all the madness of soap, clay, polish, wax, wheel-cleaning for hours, on daily cars, when it can all be destroyed in the next moment is really beyond me.

No I don't live in the UK but that fact (less rain) hasn't made me become more in favour of detailing either 

[monkeyhanger]

Done nowt to the car itself, but just about to dip my toe into the pool of Dashcam ownership (again).

Gone for a Thinkware F770 hardwired dual camera system (and a second for the wife's A1), and crucially, this one seems not to run hot and has an overheating protection system built in. Looks just as subtle as the Blackvue 650 I had last time, good day and night camera performance (Sony CMOS EXMOR camera system) has car battery driven voltage shutoff (so no need for a magic box) and is full HD front and back. It also has lane assist and (for the wife's A1, no point in activating it on the Golf) it can annoy you with warning that you're too close to the car in front if they suddenly step on the brakes.

Someone put it on HUKD at £229 in a Black Friday sale, but managed to find it through a proper UK retailer for £209.

http://caraudiosecurity.com/f770-front-rear-dash-cam-full-hd-speed-camera-wifi-32gb

Fitment should be just as easy as last time, without the addition of the magic box - i'll just have to be more careful with the bootlid cable trunking clips this time! 

Not had any issues with my Blackvue running hot at all. I think that the SD card (write speeds etc) you use can affect that. There was a debate elsewhere regarding SD cards and someone tried a few different speed/capacity ones and some of them made the camera run hot. 

When I was looking, I did consider the Thinkware F770 but it wasn't discreet enough for me, didn't like the profile of the front camera so went with the Blackvue.  This one was released a couple months ago and looks very good.  https://lukashd.co.uk/product/qvia-ar790-wd-2ch-dash-camera/

What are these card issues? Does running a card with a slow write speed generate heat when it struggles to keep up with the speed the camera is hoping to write to? Certain makes run hot? Or a fast writing card runs hot?

I use the Sandisk ultra 80Mb/s cards in all my devices (and will continue to do so unless I find out they're an issue with the dashcam). i'll be looking for a replacement as the 32Gb card that comes with will be too small.

I found a few reviews from F770 users in Arizona having no issues after 6 months or more of use, so the unit should be good for pretty much anywhere on a temperature basis. Blackvue and Lukas costs have shot up due to the weak pound, the F700 seemed to be pretty good at everything for £100 less than I can now get a Blackvue 650 or Lukas 9750 unit for.

[Booth11]

I can't remember exactly which card it was allegedly causing the heating up, but it wasn't the fastest iirc.  I use a pretty fast card and no issues.  This one https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01DYN56OY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[ashleyman]

What are these card issues? Does running a card with a slow write speed generate heat when it struggles to keep up with the speed the camera is hoping to write to? Certain makes run hot? Or a fast writing card runs hot?

I use the Sandisk ultra 80Mb/s cards in all my devices (and will continue to do so unless I find out they're an issue with the dashcam). i'll be looking for a replacement as the 32Gb card that comes with will be too small.

I found a few reviews from F770 users in Arizona having no issues after 6 months or more of use, so the unit should be good for pretty much anywhere on a temperature basis. Blackvue and Lukas costs have shot up due to the weak pound, the F700 seemed to be pretty good at everything for £100 less than I can now get a Blackvue 650 or Lukas 9750 unit for.

Have a read here. I did a bunch of testing with different cards. I've now settled on using SanDisk Ultra 128GB cards as they're a good balance between speed and temperature.

http://www.vwroc.com/forums/topic/15755-blackvue-camera-deal/page-13

[Booth11]

Cleaned it again and gave it a full wax, except half bonnet, half roof and half rear, on which I tried some new Obsessive Detail products out.  Then it rained!

That's the reason I'll never - ever - understand detailing...

(awaiting to be shot down in flames  )

Don't you ever wash your car then, in the event it might rain?    Do you live in the UK?

Sure. I can understanding washing (in fact I don't do that either  - I take it to a hand wash station once per month maybe) but all the madness of soap, clay, polish, wax, wheel-cleaning for hours, on daily cars, when it can all be destroyed in the next moment is really beyond me.

No I don't live in the UK but that fact (less rain) hasn't made me become more in favour of detailing either 

It's ETTO, but a bit of rain does not destroy anything. It just lays down a temporary layer of surface dirt, which, if on a car that has been well prepped and protected ,is easily shifted with a regular maintenance washes.  You can have a daily car and keep it in good order. 

[JoeGTI]

While I wouldn't quite subscribe to scanesare's approach, I'd somewhat agree that the detailing lark is largely soul destroying at this time of the year. We had a relatively dry week last week where I am (cold and frost) but my car still got destroyed! The mucky spray generated by the thawing frost (gritted roads) makes a real mess of it.

[Booth11]

It's winter, cars get dirty. I find summer as bad in some ways, with splattered bugs, tree sap and pollen dust everywhere. They only real difference in the winter is the cold weather is less conducive to car cleaning. 

[fredgroves]

I once read that a layer of dirt can conceal you from policemen or speed cameras, just like Sly in Rambo or Arnie in Predator.

My amazingly dirty car must be why my licence is clean :-P

[Watts]

I don't view my efforts as detailing as such but I do like to try and keep on top of the cleaning at this time of the year. Just for the one day when the sun is out and the Tornado Red absolutely glows. Definitely worth it. Probably. And I'm now off out to give it a good wash whilst there is some daylight left

[mcmaddy]

It's worth washing at this time of year to get rid of all the salt and also to check the idiots who open car doors onto your car