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Well, it was Friday night, but switched back to the OEM wheels and Xi3s, for the impending snow storm (we got about 6-8", so it was well worth it).

It isn't overly fun carrying 8 wheels & tires (took off the Cobalt's ZIIs as well) up from the basement to the garage, and then 8 more back down. The Cruze's OEM wheels and winter tires are a solid 10.8 lbs heavier than the MSRs and Fuel Maxes.

 

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Planning on taking the Cruze (and the Cav) to get their first wash of the winter...been lagging on that one quite a bit. Ooops.

 

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This was on the 27th, but...

Replaced the interior/trunk lights on the Cruze with 75 lumen 5-SMD LED towers. Bought the LED for the license plate, but it was dark/cold by the time I did this.

 

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Yep, real easy. There's a small slot for a screwdriver or small interior trim prybar, and it pulls right out. Then you just swap the bulb from there. I did it outside, at night, without a flashlight.

 

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Replaced the license plate bulbs with the same 75 lumen 5-SMD LED towers.

 

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That looks great.

Agreed. I'm assuming the Z-spec grill doesn't have the blockoff plates on the back? I love the look of it, but I've always wondered about the affect on aero.

 

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Yeah, ours being a diesel, aero is important...I'd really love if someone did a windtunnel comparison of the factory and the z-spec grill, haha.

 

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Saturday my wife went and got it washed, taking advantage of the 40 degree weather. Nothing worse than having a car freeze after washing it in the winter!

 

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Swapped on the MSRs/Fuel Max's, changed the fuel filter, and gave the interior a quick vacuum.

 

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Having my wife take the Cruze to the car wash to get the last touch-free wash before I start hand-washing it for the spring/summer/fall. Need to have that underbody blasted one last time to get the 400,000 lbs of salt they threw on the roads in March/April, for no reason, off there.

 

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Took ours to Lowe's to pick up 15 40lb bags of Mulch.

They weren't entirely convinced we could fit 15 bags in there - considering we did that last year, I assured them it'd fit.

One guy asked how it was in the snow, as he was looking to get one. When we made the side comment this one was a deal, his reaction was priceless - as was that of the other guys helping load up the mulch. "Man, it was so quiet when you drove up!". We had a good laugh about that.

 

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That paint just melts off the heat shield after a week of drying lol I used engine paint up to 500 degrees !

500 degree engine paint isn't high-temp enough. That's meant for engine components, like a block, or valvecover. Exhaust components can be upwards of 800 degrees.

A lot of exhaust paint, even, burns right off. You also have to cure it in a certain way, not just spray and drive it as you please.

That said, the only exhaust paint I've seen that really seems to work well is VHT FlameProof, and it's critical you follow their curing instructions to the T.

Your other option is ceramic coating, but you need to remove the part for that.

 

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Followed the curing instructions and so far so good !

Sent from my HTCD200LVW using Tapatalk

Looks good! I like the pop of color underhood. Is the car red? Or is that your accent color through-out?

 

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Cleaned the interior on the Cruze yesterday. Sprayed out most of the crevices with air (blow gun from my compressor), then Vinylex'd the plastic surfaces, vacuumed the seats, fabric dash/door trim panels and the carpet, as well as the trunk carpet. Saving the leather conditioning (and seat vinyl cleaning) for a later time. Had to wash the Camaro, so I didn't really want to spend too much time doing this, since I hadn't planned on doing that to begin with.

 

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Apparently ours will be getting a new tire. We have AAA, so the tow truck is en route - and my wife called Discount and they are ordering the proper Fuel Max (which is listed, specifically for GM - so I'm guessing this will be the OE tire with the lower tread depth). Tire will be there in the morning, and the car can stay there overnight.

That is one **** of a hole too - and relatively high up on the side wall. Don't know what she hit or where, but wow!

 

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The Cruze doesn't come with run-flats.

This.

Was the TPMS signaling at all?

The TPMS sensors on the MSRs don't work

 

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She probably picked something up on the way to her destination (where it was definitely flat right about then) and it went flat quickly. She walks out of the house on that side of the car, so she'd have noticed the tire being flat prior to getting in - or at least I'd hope she would.

They had the car done nice and quickly Saturday though, so that was a plus.

 

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Wife took the car into the dealer today. Still having issues with our side-detection system not working (even since we took it in last time to fix it under warranty), and also have a check engine light that my scanner won't read.

Even though the car is only at 20% Oil Life Remaining, she decided to get the oil changed too. I wasn't overly thrilled with that, but I guess if it's there why not? *shrug*

Got this as a loaner (since the side-detection repair is technically a repair to a warranty repair), nice truck. It's going to be hilarious when my wife (who is 5'3") rolls up to yoga in that tonight.

 

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Put ours on the dyno! Along with the Camaro and the Cobalt.

 

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Run 1 was 135.76 HP and Run 2 was 136.89 HP. They couldn't get an RPM reading off the injectors, and getting a mag pickup on it (without lifting it up, when it was already strapped down) would've been overly difficult and time consuming. So we ran it against wheel speed - which meant no torque number.

Good thing is I can calculate engine RPM (Being I know gear ratios and tire diameter), and thus, calculate torque. Once I get the full run data, I can export it and do this.

Of note - the car will run up to 102 mph in 4th gear before it stops (at about 4500 rpm). Clearly there are two more gears - but that's what it lets you do, though you may not be able to actually hit that before shifting with wind resistance.

I'll post up the torque figures and dyno curves when I calculate them.