25GTT

Hi Guys, Bare with me on this one... I sold my skyline a few years back and purchase a black 2005 Ford Escape. Whilst over the last 3 years she has treated me so well, only once a year did i get my friend to give it a full detail, between that it was lucky to have maybe one/two washes per year. I had paint protection put on a while ago which kinda helps i guess. I just had some holidays and won my footy tipping so I installed some nice speakers and gave her a really detailed wash and she came up beautiful. It kinda rekindled my love for the mid range SUV. So now i am thinking of following in your footsteps, i dont want to go ALL out as lets admit it, its no GTR but a bit of TLC wouldnt go astray. So i used to wash, polish wax. 3+ years ago with the skyline but now I am really confused..... there is soo many options. Now i need your advice, I know that there are much better brands out there, however I am happy with justing Mothers and or Meguirs. I have just put a wash and wax of mothers from Repco and now wanting to know what next. I saw they a special on repco.com.au in their catalouge "Meguirs Paint Resoration Kit" for $44.99 Am i best taking back my wash and wax and getting this? It doesnt contain a polish though, it does contain a "compound" is that the same thing? All i was really after was the wash, polish, wax but as mentioned I am now soo confused for what used to be a nice day buffing the car and making it look good. So..... lead me in the right direction. Keep my budget under $50 if possible please. P.S. i have lots and lots of wheels cleaners and interior trim stuff so yeah, just the paint products advice would be great! I have read lots of the threads on here and have learnt a lot from all of you, clay bars being the main thing, would now love your thoughts on a good "general detail"

Hope i dont sound to stupid here, but what about radio channels? I remember the original HU in my car could not find my radio channels, is it worth checking with the US ones as well or is that problem now old skool?

Nice work marc, good info there mate as always. With my new flatbar (albeit 2 months old) i get 12 months of "servicing" which we both know is really just a quick clean and relube of the chain and some pink lube from the Rock n Roller brand on my brake levers etc. When my 12 months are up, I am on the hunt for all the good stuff. Even though it is just a quick relube my roadie feel soooo much smoother when it gets done, i get it done about every 8 weeks.

Yeah level 31 now with Commando and still is a good challenge and enjoying the game. Dont think i will play through again but definately keen to see further DLC's for it. Cant beleive i took 3 weeks of annual leave to play this for sometime and some of you guys are on your second way through. In my defence i have completed all but one side quest so far. Most of my add ons are for the turrent cool downrate, so basically means less time for me to have to wait for the turrent to be used again. Sometimes it is a case of deploying it and running away for it to take care of everything but that only works to a certain level.

WTF it even has a "tuning zone" on it, how much tuning can one piece of paper do? Wonder if Apexi has a power FC for this as well?

So is that level 50 in the 1 run through or have you finished the campaign and doing it again with him?

nice, just on level 12 commando, i tried zero but wasnt too impressed so went back to commando. old habits...... Hmmm i wonder if shes good?

Scandy what's the key glitch? Just arrived in sanctuary and haven't used my key yet.

Markos dont let TTT see your post below about training at home being simple: "Max and Martin both started lifting at 15, so 5 years all up. Max only started powerlifting in April 2010, before that it was lifting for Soccer and Basketball, Martin simply trained at home until 10 months ago" It could be misread to make us beleive that training in a gym has actually been of benefit.... *shock*.... *gasp* :-)

Finallly got it in the mail. Cant wait to play it, last time i was this excited was about 3 -4 months ago when i bought Diablo 3...... what a let down that was, i hope i dont get the same reaction from borderlands. I have even avoided trying to watch youtube funnies and walkthroughs so when i play it, it is a completely new experience. I even have 3 weeks off work as of next week! Monday morning the fun begins!!

From what i see the brand "MucOff" is meant to be good for cleaning the bikes. Oddly enough though when i go to my local retail stores they use all different kind of oils and lubricants. Cant remember what page or where it is but Marc gave a really good run down of how to clean and lube the bike plus what order. If he does it again and a mod is reading PLEASE STICKY IT, i am forever trying to dig up that post :-)

Wow, so who gets Perez old spot? Ricciardo? I so want him to do well!

You are all aware that not every facility/gymnasium makes their personal trainers pay rent or sign a sub contract/lease style agreement dont you? As a suggestion some of the local government style Leisure facilities would be the perfect place. This means that you could earn a healthy hourly rate and study to work in rehab or strength and conditioning if you like. Markos - in regards to the girl that you know having issues with leaving, i think there may be some more information required here. As a rule of thumb, lets say Les Mills Body Trainer for example, you have 3 months to gain clients, money does not just start coming out of their account before a mutual agreement is organised and signed off similar to a "sub contracter" style situation. At any time did she tell the gym manager owner she was leaving and in which case did she sign the correct forms to do so? I know its a techinicallity but generally they do stipulate. If it is a chain of gyms running multiple sub contractors (PT's) sometimes it can be difficult noting who is coming and going. For all we know the PT manager may have thought she was on leave, either way the contracts generally stipulate that is up to the individual to sign off the cancellation of the lease, similar to a gym membership you could say. Of course I have heard of some nightmare situations like this, but what i generally find is that it comes down to technicallities in the contract signatures, where the leasee did not read it correctly or even misunderstood for most cases.

Just on that article, To be honest i have only been watching formula 1 tightly over the last say 4 years, so whilst i dont think i have the knowledge nor no where near the experience of some of yourselves in F1 nor the writer of that article, I would say thats not a bad track record of accidents over 18 years. Whilst what happened last race was definately a brain fade, the issues and accidents the writer mentions surely cant be a surprise when driving a car 300km/h over 18 years. After watching the Senna movie witch i thought was amazing, it gave me insight into the concentration levels they endure over the 2 hour period not to mention the physical force. I am by no means a Schumi fan but i dont think bringing up accidents from the past (in approx the 8th or 9th paragraph) should validate any points the writer is making, otherwise the amount of crashes i have seen Hamilton involved in over the past 4 years would warrant him out of F1 if the article is anything to go by. Sorry for the rant guys

"ABC make the best DB's IMO. The Hammerstrength ones are too large for their weight, limiting ROM, I have no ABC though, but a few Hammerstrength at my gym" Yeah good point, the hammer strength dumbells are somewhat wider than abcs haven't had a hammer strength shear from its handle yet though which is why I'm so biased for them, and they look great plus don't damage the flotex flooring as much due to the rubber coating. Unfortunately I can't say the same about others. Each has their own pro and con I guess,

Being a gym user I am a bit biased, but i see a lot of people coming from home gyms, joining commercial gyms to assist with motivation and also social aspect. Go to your local gym around 10am and have a look at the people that are there, some around the 40 - 50 year olds, some retirees, some mother groups etc so there tends to be a large social aspect as well associated with the gyms. In regards to motivation, if i use the analogy "you go to a library to read, you go to a nightclub to dance" then you go to a gym to train. it s a very broad analogy as no doubt we have been to nightclubs for other reasons, but you get the drift. Once you arrive at the library you know you are there to read, once you arrive at the gym your mind knows you are there to train. Unfortunately with many cases of home gyms you cannot escape family requirements and questions, eg cooking dinner, feed pets etc sometimes people can use these excuses not to train in their home gym. I could then begin about the equipment being far better at a "good" gym compared to a home setup. There are many more points to the advantages of using a gymnasium not based at home, what might work well for you, wont work well for others. No doubt there are many points for working out at home. Unfortunately what i see however on a regular basis, is people leaving their home gyms to train in a commercial gym.

From what i recall Good Life, Fitness First, Virgin and Next Generation use either ABC or Hammerstrength as mentioned, the ABC dumbells are then rebranded to show "fitness first" for example on the endplate. Both of these brands are nice, personally though I prefer the Hammerstrength. There are other American and European brands that I have seen come through time to time but nothing that has really caught my eye and at the price of these two. Based on TM7's comment that is the major thought when going through the gym manager/owners mind when purchasing the dumbells. I tend to go with the Hammerstrength range as previously mentioned. Why? Because the actual dumbells are not individual plates on metal pole so to speak. Instead it is a large mould with a lovely black rubber finish. Long story short, the more smaller pieces the more chance they start to become lose and you have to organise your gym instructors to tighten and retighten them before they fall off. You can use locktite as much as you want, but when someone drops a 40 kilo from chest high, the loctite has no chance. My recommendation to most gym managers is to pay the extra and get the hammerstrength. Unfortunately though as you mention not all large gyms though get the good stuff, so lets pray they have a good legal team should something go wrong.

Figjam, truth be known I can get some as cheap as your friend. However I would run into the same problems as buying say a grade 2 r32 gtst for an extremely cheap price from a jap auction, case being ....... You generally wouldn't (in a commercial environment) Picture 50kilo dumbells sheathing whilst they are above your chest on your tenth rep and the Db plates fall off on your chest or even face. Buying cheap crappy dumbells or barbells in a commercial environment really shows a lack of duty of care from the owner. Fortunately most commercial gyms I go to the quality of dumbells are good.

Did I read 250 kilo bp? "The human body is an amazing machine"

Just thinking though chest pressing them would show a limited range of motion as you would really only get a straight up motion because they would hit wouldn't they if you try to bring them in? Anyone use them and if so would for, don't tell me bicep curls

Haha dez your boxing ring with dumbells in it has everything

I might be able to help you with this or at least provide some reasoning. Dependant on the main target market of the gymnasium really and their budgets associated. They are not cheap and for the amount of people using them in a commercial style setting can be negligiable. For example, expect to pay about $3 - 4 per kilo for a basic dumbell. Working with a 40kilo set (so 80 kilo at $4) is $320, then theres 42.5's then theres 45s then theres 47.5s and the 50s. Being a large facility with a membership base over 3000 members we use what i beleive one of the best dumbells out there, the "HammerStrength" range which comes in quite a large set up to the 50 kilo mark. expensive but beautiful dumbells none the less. The worst thing being is that if you are in a remote facility then you need to also factor in courier costs etc. Now the other thought of a gym owner can also be the following, if i keep the dumbells maxed out at 40kilo any steroid/beefcakes who like to throw the equipment, well they can go somewhere else as I am targeting the main population, the die hards can go to a die hard gym You see, as heavy weightlifters, you are not the majority of the population which is really what a succesful owner wants. When showing the average member around do you think the owner wants to show the "avg member" a freeweight area full of massive people yelling, grunting and groaning? no. as it can be quite overwhelming to a new average customer. So although i beleive 40 - 50 kilo dumbells should be in gyms to assist a minority in a commercial gym, i can understand the thought process if not, unfortunately it does not boad well with weightlifters but that is pretty much it in a nutshell.

Not really so to speak, Although the military and doctors used it for sometime, it was originally used to assist in the study of statistics of mass populus. Hence the reason for its inaccuracies on individuals Then again schools could be considered a mass populous.

Whose doing it? Is it better than Diablo 3?? not that hard to be better with all the connection issues i had i gave up but would love to know about the gameplay. Couple of friends are starting on it now and want me to join but not sure if i need a break from all the click click clicking and the Diablo 3 style of game.

got mine from ozgameshop.com for $45 special edition with extras.... well shouldnt say i got mine yet, its on the way technically. Am hanging out for it.