ford focus 2010 update

I bought this Focus about 6 weeks ago to use it as a run around and apart from doing some basic maintenance (fluid changes, filters) I only planned on replacing the stock radio but ended up doing a few other simple jobs that did not take a lot of time but made a difference to the look of the car

1) Radio upgrade Cost ~£300

updated the stock Sony unit with a Carplay Sony unit, it is double din. but really single din at the back and had some issues with the provided mounting plate but drilled some holes in the side and that solved that issue

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2) Windscreen wipers Cost £0 as I had all the paints

The windscreen wipers and plastic cowl were really faded so removed them, spray painted the plastic cover with special plastic paint and sanded down the wiper arms, quick grey primer, 2x layers of glossy black and a clearcoat later it looks much better. I also cleaned out 10 years of mud, leaves and spider webs, the little foam strip that sits at the front of the plastic cover (where metal clips connect the 2 pieces) was completely disintegrated and replaced that as well (not that you will ever see it)

I do have to do the plastic covering again as my sandpaper was too coarse and does not look great up close, but at least it is no longer faded

Before

After (also used gummi pflege on the rubber caps but did that after I took the after picture)

 and the rear wiper 

3) Rear license plate, Cost £14

The rear license plate was completely cracked and the left screw was spinning in its fastener, I pulled it out and replaced it with a new rivnut, but had to go up a few sizes (ended up with M6) , 

below picture shows the original fitting on the right and the hole on the left (now fitted with a rivnut)

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4) Wheel centre caps £8

The old ones had completely faded and the new ones make the remainder of the wheel and wheel nuts look shabby now 🙂

5) Service/ Maintenance, Cost £150 

The car has done 72k miles and it came without any decent paperwork related to the service history and have changed the oil and oil filter (both looked decent which was a relief) air filter (which did not look too bad either) and the pollen/cabin filter which was disgusting.

I also changed the spark plugs and this has made a bit of a difference in smoothness when accelerating, I believe it is only due at 90k  but as I do not have an UK owners manual I looked up one up online but could only find the US version, which said 90k

It seems that the Ford's are fairly low maintenance cars, but the US owners manual does not specify replenishing brake fluid every 2-3 years which makes me a bit suspicious

Anyway, all the quick fixes have been done now, there are quite a few small scratches on all side of the car, I am not very good with paint work and detailing but will try and put the polisher on the car to see if that helps a little bit

Just need to give it another really good clean as the interior was pretty nasty and only focused on cleaning the dashboard and the driver side for now.

6) Volvo Engine Cover, Cost £36

Seems a mod that is recommended to keep the water off the top of the engine and protect the coils, not sure if it is really needed but simple to do

7) New Stop Start button, Cost £20

The old stop start button was faded and looked really ugly

The car place I purchased the car from could have easily have done this (apart from the Service and the Radio) and it would have looked a lot more presentable for only a few hours work and less than £50.

I think that is it for now and will try and polish out some of the scratches on the car but won't be doing much more on it (maybe replace the wheel bolts if I get a set of Winter tyres + alloys)