S60R - Vinyl Wrap

As my winter break is finally wrapping up I managed to get some time to take a few shots of my new wrap! This wrap was done by iDetail here in northen New Jersey. It is a full panel off wrap using 3M Intense Gloss Blue. On top of the blue wrap, I also had the shop wrap the trim around the windows to give it more of a Polestar look. 

These shots are from the Skylands Manor in Ringwood, New Jersey which is one of my favorite sport to shoot during the summer and fall. (This was my first time visiting the park during the winter.)

For anyone wondering, the cost of this wrap was around $2700, which is a lot, but definitely worth it for a better than paint way to change the color of your car.

850R - Better and Brighter Tail Light Installation

The greatest enemy when working on an older car is time itself. Over time things like rubber and plastic degrade due to exposure to the elements, its just something you cant control. I ran into this issue originally when removing the new taillights that we had purchased from LKQ Greensboro. The 850 Estate that I removed them from had dry, cracking, rear trim. I had hoped that this was a isolated case, but when I went to install the new lights on the 850R I found that the rear plastic on our car was also in a sad state of brittleness. This discovery did not hamper the installation, however I had to take extra care to remove the panel clips and make sure the plastic wasn't being stressed. Unfortunately in this installation I ended up cracking one of the rear speaker grilles.

Removal and installation of the tail lights is a simple process, needing only an 8mm socket, and extension, a small ratchet, and some thin hands. The upper light pieces are very easy to remove, as both of the 8mm bolts are unobstructed by any trim panels or wires, and this piece can be removed only be removing the rear tweeter cover.

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The D pillar cleaned up after removing the upper light assembally.

On the 850 wagon the lower tail light assembly is where the real fun stuff is. To get the the bolts holding the lower section, almost all of the trim pieces around the rear hatch need to be moved. On the drivers side I had a much easier time with this process as many of the clips were already broken or moved already. (I am assuming this is from one of the many rear repairs done by the dealer at some point). To get to these bolts you will certainly need a ratchet extension and some thin hands. Almost all of these bolts you will need to put on and off using your hand so that they do not fall down into the abyss below the light assembly. To make matter worse, the light harness that comes out has a much shorter loom length than the upper light, making it much harder to move it out of the way when trying to grab a bolt.

The new light with the red corner piece installed vs the old piece.

The lower light removed from the drivers side. A lot of junk has built up behind these over the years!

One thing I have to say is that being able to work on a junkyard car before your own is a great learning experience. This process is pretty straight forward, but knowing what tools I needed, and how the lights were attached before hand took out any guess work I had to do when swapping the housings out. The passenger side took me a bit more time as one of the panels that I easily removed on the drivers side was being very stubborn and required me to blindly undo a bolt using my hand instead of the socket. For this job I really recommend that you purchase a magnet-snake tool that can grab any bolts that may fall down into the car during this project.

A comparison shot: new on the left, old on the right.

Overall the project took less than an hour. Even someone with little mechanical skill can get this done. Unfortunately by the time I finished it was already getting dark so the final shots do not accurately show the progression from old to new.

As a note, I would like to mention this will probably be the last update on the 850R until January when Steve and I return from our college winter break. Hopefully then we will be able to work on installing the exhaust as well as the new intake manifold. Do worry though, updates on my personal vehicle (my 2012 S60 R Design) will still be coming over the break. Have a happy holidays!

S60R - Holiday Charity Laps at Virginia International Raceway

While the United States may not have a track that is easily open to the public like the infamous tourist days at Germany's Nurburgring, it is still nice to be able to take you car to a track every so often and really scratch that itch for performance driving that road cruises never will. Every year Virginia International Raceway does charity laps where in they allow you to pay a one time entrance fee (donation) to run on the track in a group of around 30-40 cars. All of the proceeds from this event go to benefit charities such as Toys for Tots this holiday season. While they do not let you fully track your car, the speeds dictated by the pace car are more than enough to put some serious stress on your cars without risking a crash or spinoff. The way I explain it to people is that these events are more of a glorified Cars and Coffee, with a nice track driving portion to look forward to. While cruising to the event with Andrew in his G37S we happened upon a brand new Aston Martin DB11 that was also heading to the event and ended up adding him and his co-worker to our run group that day.

My car set up in the paddock.

While the run went fine, I found myself holding back due to the limitations of my Pilot Sports having lots of wear. Afterwards I also feel like the stock Volvo brakes just aren't up to snuff for hardcore driving. Its hard to say how the car would have done just because of the wear I have put on it in the past year. I wouldn't be surprised if I need new pads and rotors some time soon.