Car Detailing Series

I've been blogging infrequently for a good portion of 2 years now. And I just realized that I have yet to do a write up of this particular passion in my life--- my car. I don't drive a fancy Porsche or Corvette, but I do drive a car that is incredibly fun and handy. My 2008 STI, my All Wheel Drive baby. Not only do I enjoy driving the car a lot, but I also have lots of fun cleaning it....strange right??? Nah...I'm one of those people that take pride in doing things myself. So, I'm going to post a series of instructions on how to properly maintain your vehicle whether it is a Civic or a Dodge Caravan.

The first post will be how I go about cleaning my wheels. Now not every car has fancy wheels, but a person should still take the time to properly clean them every once in a while. You can go to Wal-Mart or Advance Auto Parts to get your cleaning supplies, but here is my list of products that can be found at www.detailersdomain.com:

3M Adhesive Remover

P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel Formula

A couple of buckets (soap, water, and to sit on maybe)

A "Boars" hair brush

Various Sponges

P21S Polishing Soap (go light on the clear coat parts this is an abrasive)

Menzerna 85rd
Menzerna FMJ

Some random microfiber towels (for the buffing and drying of wheels)

Cleaning Procedure:

1. Here is what I did first sprayed them all down with P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel formula. I let them all soak in it while I was working on the first wheel.

2. Got the soap bucket and the boar's hair brush started the brush the dirt and grime off the wheel.

3. After that was done I used the 3m adhesive remover to get rid of the bug/tar/leftover brake dust/grime and adhesive from the weights.

4. Rinsed off the wheels with a sponge.

5. Dry them good.

6. Used the P21S Polishing Soap on the clean wheel to polish them up lips, inner
wheel, face of the wheel. (go light on the clear coated parts)

7. Rinsed them down again with a sponge.

8. Dried the wheel good.

9. Polished the lips with some polish that is good for clear coat (Menzerna 85rd)

10. Used the Menzerna FMJ to seal up the inner wheels, face of the wheel, and
lips.

11. Repeat on the rest of the wheels.

For me to complete the above procedure takes roughly 2 hours from start to finish. Not everyone has to do it this way, nor do they have to use this specific list of supplies. The guys from Detailersdomain posted this on IWSTI, and I've been doing it exactly the same for roughly 2 years now and the wheels always look pristine for a good couple of weeks. I wouldn't recommend doing this more than once every couple of months as you can just rinse with soapy water and use a rag and tooth brush in between the in-depth cleaning.

How Mixed Martial Arts Needs to Change its Scoring System

So I've been an avid Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fan for a couple of years now. This includes Pride, Strickforce, UFC, Bellatore, and any other mixed martial arts league. Sometimes, fights will end up going to a judge's decision. Whenever this happens....there is an outrage of how the judges blew the fight for the person that lost. It is in my personal opinion that this will happen no matter what. It's risk that fighters take when they let the fight end like this.

However, like any sport, there is room for error when it comes to the judges making their decision. While I don't have a problem with people voicing their opinions with what is wrong with the judging system, I DO have a problem when said person doesn't have a valid suggestion for fixing the system. Judging in sports is never an exact science, and since the judges are human of course there will be mistakes.

I believe introducing a scoring system that has several methods for grading what happens in the ring. Cory Schafer and Nelson Hamilton have proposed a new scoring system to the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) for their review, and hopefully approval. They named it "Mixed Martial Arts Specific Scoring," or MASS for short. This new system consists of four changes to the traditional 10 point system that is still being used.

Here is a quick overview that is published in this month's issue of "Ultimate MMA" magazine. There is also more in depth description here: www.mmarefs.com

Change Number 1:

All rounds will be scored as follows:

A. 10-10 =Even round

B. 10-9.4 = Marginal advantage

C. 10-9.0 = Clear advantage

D. 10-8.5 = Dominant advantage

E. 10-8.0 = Overwhelming advantage

Although scores of 10-7.5 and 10-7.0 are possible, if the fight gets scored as this a fight this one-sided is usually ended by referee's stoppage by TKO.

Change Number 2:

Scores are based on the following criteria, listed in descending order of importance.

1. Damage inflicted

2. Effective striking and/or effective grappling

3. Cage (Octagon) control

Change Number 3:

When the referee determines that a near submission is in effect, he will signal this to the judges by raising his arm overhead until there is a tap out or until the submission is terminated. When scoring, judges should consider a near submission as effective grappling, and quite possibly, damage inflicted.

Change Number 4:

For the purpose of resolving draws, in addition to the three judges coring each bout, there is a designated fourth judge, the Table Judge. Table judges do not score the bout. Their sole responsibility is to tabulate all technical scores. Technical score totals are used to resolve all draws.

While this new system is still open to speculation, I feel that the creators are on the right path to correcting the current means of scoring fights. There is nothing wrong with the judges that still use the current scoring system, but in my personal opinion the flaws reside in the actual system. The system was designed years ago before the sport had a chance to evolve into what we have today. As with any other sport or office policy, revisions are necessary over time to keep up with the times and changes in the sport.