This is a long one.
Cliffs are:
Installing PPF is harder than it looks
The car got a piggy back ride over a hard to find alternator
I drove coast to coast in 3 days and did Pikes Peak in the process
Back before the Sequoia/Redwoods trip I decided to try and learn how to apply Paint Protection Film on my hood.. (I had my freshly painted front bumper professionally PPF'd already) I've never tried to apply PPF or even vinyl before but after watching some youtube videos I convinced myself to go for it. The primary motivator was knowing I was going to drive over 2k miles on the Sequoia/Redwood trip and then back it up with 3k miles to the East Coast a month later.. I figured worst case, the hood would at least be protected for all those miles. The cost was relatively low as well. I picked up a roll of 3M Scotchguard Pro PPF and way more Xpel 2.0 install gel than I needed for roughly $200 shipped. I didn't expect to knock it out of the park 1st try but given everything mentioned, it would be worth a shot.
Applying PPF to a hood is definitely a 2-3 person job. I tried it with just myself, a rigged hanger made from the tube the PPF was shipped in, and my wife for the initial peel back of the film. Knowing I wasn't going to have a bunch of extra hands at my disposal is one of the reasons I went with install gel vs. a slip and tack install. The gel would give me more time to set the film, which I ended up taking full advantage of. The learning curve was a little steep, mainly with squeegeeing technique and knowing just how much residual install gel left under the film is acceptable. I started from the center and worked my way out but the amount of gel you're moving is deceiving to where you inadvertently end up land locking areas. I probably re-set the entire film 3x and when I was done it honestly looked like a total failure. I didn't want to use a heat gun since I have zero experience with PPF heat tolerance. I knew the gel should evaporate regardless so there was nothing else left to do but wait. I did the install 1 week before I left for the Sequoia/Redwoods road trip and I want to say roughly 80% of the gel bubbles had dissipated by then. The first 2 days of that trip were brutal as far as temps go, 100*F+, with the hood in direct sunlight both days. After 2k miles and 5 days the hood seemed to be better but there were still 3-4 problem areas. These areas improved slightly but progress seemed to stagnate. So I finally poked them with a needle over a month later. This did the trick but it left something comparable to a water mark in those areas. In retrospect, I think that the gel probably boiled it's self to the point of no return those first 2 days of the trip.
Overall though the hood looks good unless you're hovering over it and the film certainly did it's job. I also feel like I would be more successful when/if I give it another shot in the future.
Pre and post needle poke
Now on to the 3k mile trip to Philadelphia.. Living in San Diego was never a forever thing for my wife and I. The length of say was always going to be in the 1 year min, 5 year max range. With how things worked out it just ended up being that 1 year min. It sucks to leave so soon but we'll be better of in Philly for now.
Without getting into how expensive renting a truck and trailer is etc., I only considered 2 options for the M5. It was either going to be closed transport or drive it home. Considering it will probably be my only chance to drive across the country without a return trip, it made the drive home option more appealing. I had to do it on somewhat of a time crunch since my wife was flying with our son and needed me home as soon as safely possible. She flew out the Saturday before Labor Day Weekend and I left early in the morning the next day, planning on doing the trip in 4 days. The plan was to do a modified 'middle route' hitting up the Grand Canyon, 4 points monument, maybe Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, work my way through the Colorado Rockies to Pikes Peak then just shoot over I70 to PA. This would involve three 800ish mile days and one 600 mile day.
When I left I plugged in a cigarette lighter voltage gauge and it was showing 11.9 volts. I couldn't remember what it had been on the previous trip I used and but convinced myself that with the headlights, a/c and radio on, maybe that's ok with the voltage drop to the cig lighter. (Yep, you know where this is going) After a bout 20 miles, it went to 11.8, then 11.7. I turned the air off and it went back to 11.8 then a little while later it was back to 11.7.. At about 75 miles in it was down to 11.5 and I knew I was SOL. I decided to get to El Centro, roughly at 100 miles in hopes I could get an alternator in that area. I had 11.1 volts when I got there at 6:30am. In retrospect I guess I could have looked up the voltage on the secret dash menu and stopped living in denial a little sooner. Oh well. I soon found out that getting an alt anywhere around there wasn't happening that day or the next day. So, since I have 100 mile AAA coverage, I decided to get the car flat bedded back to San Diego where I still had access to a driveway, bed, etc.
Once back, I tried all the local parts stores. O'Reilly's and Autozone could only special order it with a month ETA. Pepboys had one in their system.. in Puerto Rico. Napa was closed. Carquest had 1 Bosch unit in their system and could get it to me by 4pm the next day with a deposit. Dealership parts counters were closed. No LKQ in the area had M5s and a used alt at this point wasn't a great idea. There were a few Bosch units in the LA area on Ebay but none of them were willing to do a local pickup, even though 1 had that as an option. I even tried to match up the I6 alt at Autozone to see just how far off it was. Side by side they were close but the mounting would have been off by at least a half a belt tooth. The 540 alt, being liquid cooled as apposed to the M5 air cooled alt was not an option. So, I went with the Carquest option. This made me a little nervous because I've dealt with quantity of 1 really being quantity of zero in the past. I did call the dealership the next morning and they only had 1 in the U.S. that would take a few days to get. Carquest actually came through. I had the alt in my hands at 4:15pm Monday and I was on the road before 6pm with high 13 volts displayed.
I decided to save the Grand Canyon for some future trip to Vegas, especially since it was still going to be dark by the time I got there. Since 4 points monument was on the way regardless, I went to see if I could visit around sunrise before they officially open. Closed didn't just mean bathrooms and services closed, it meant the road to the monument was closed so that got scrapped. Mesa Verde Colorado was a hard maybe since the road leading to the larger cliff dwellings is currently under construction. If I started to get tired I would stop there. I felt good getting into that area of Colorado so I went the full distance to my main point of interest, Pikes Peak. I reached the summit about 17 hours and 1100 miles after I finished swapping out the alternator.
Colorado in general is beautiful and Pikes Peak was awesome. It wasn't crowded and anyone in front of me pulled over, allowing me to pass. I reached the top in about 35 mins, vs. their estimated 55. I was able to drive at a speed that was fun but still very safe. The last thing I needed was an accident at that point. The road and views along the way definitely exceeded my expectations. 14,115 feet is the highest I've even been outside of an airplane and it was very cool to be there with the M5. It also felt great considering the trouble and distance prior to. From the there I finally stopped in Colorado Springs to spend the night. By the time I went to bed I had been awake for 36 hours, not super bad but not super good. I got 11 hours of sleep in that night.
Other than enjoying a couple sun rises and varying landscapes from my car, I didn't do anything else interesting on my way home. I drove 850ish miles to just east of St. Louis then 850ish miles to Philadelphia. I'm sure I missed a lot but any extra time I spent was at the cost of other people's time. I ended up completing the 2800 mile trip in less than 3 days. 9pm EDT Monday to 7pm EDT Thursday.
The car did very well other than the alternator issue. I had probably over 1000lbs in the car including myself. You can see the car tucking rear tire in a few pics. My 100lb dumbells rode shotgun on the floor, most of my tools, 2 ton steel jack, 4 truck jack stands were in the trunk and my back seat was full. I didn't calculate MPG but I was seeing 21.5 indicated at the top of Pikes Peak, 21.7 going into Kansas and 21 by the time I got home. I didn't spend much time with cruise control on in my home state of PA.. Not bad considering the weight, 3.45s, headers and a rough tune. A day and a half after I got back, I checked the oil level, tire pressures and sent it another 120 miles round trip to the beach with my wife and son.
Wolf Creek Pass Overlook in Colorado. To me this looked like the set of a real life Land Before Time.
Pikes Peak
West Kansas
Missouri
Bonus pic of my son from the beach trip I took a day and a half after I got back to PA.
_________________
95 SLE... a keeper. 241k miles. Low and Slow.
97 BMW 528i
98 Infiniti vq35'd i30: 13.3@104mph, 30MPG Hwy (RIP)
02 Jag X-type
03 BMW M5
05 Chevy Cobalt LS
07 Infiniti G35s 6MT (Sold)
07 Ducati Monster S2R 800 with DS1000 swap
83 Yamaha IT175K
72 Yamaha DS7: '74 RD250 swap, JL chambers
Info on dropping a 92-99:
Here.
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