My newest hobby.

I was thinking about hobbies over the past few days and I came to the conclusion that I really haven't kept up on a lot of hobbies and interests from my past.

I used to find things to do that I really liked and throw myself into them. In my past I've spent quite a bit of time doing things like mountain biking, working on bikes, roller-blading, tinkering with computers, web-design, working on cars, etc.

Lately, though, I haven't really had too many outlets that I do on a regular basis. I tend to either be working or hanging around my apartment in various states of activity (or inactivity).

I have decided that this year I'm going to get into auto detailing. Last year I spent a few full days washing and waxing my car but this year I think I'm going to put a little bit more effort into it. (Plus, I'll probably offer to do my family member's cars, too...)

I decided I'm going to spend some time doing this because I love being outside, working on cars but a lot of times I'm too nervous to put a wrench to them in fear of messing up something instead of making it better. I've always done things like putting aftermarket intakes, exhausts, wheels & tires on my cars. However, I'm currently driving my first new car with a warranty so I'm even more nervous about doing something that will mess up my warranty coverage and/or make my car less reliable. I'll probably be a little less hesitant to do things to modify it once the warranty is up (and it's paid for.) For now, though, detailing will give me an opportunity to make my car look better and keep it's resale value high while also spending some time working with cars.

I'm starting to decide what detailing products I want to purchase for my car and to add to my product arsenal to work on other people's cars. (I have a feeling this is going to be an expensive hobby.) My girlfriend got me started with the random orbital buffer that I wanted for this past Christmas which was an awesome gift!

My brother said I can try out my new toy on his beater first. [How nice of him, eh? ;) ] The paint is black and badly oxidized and it can't really get much worse, so it should be a nice first car to practice on. I'm thinking I'm going to start off by doing a little body work on it and then working on trying to get the paint in better shape.

While I'm on the topic of cars: I also just ordered an AVO high flow air filter from RalliTEK for my car, too. I'm hoping that a clean air filter might help my gas mileage which has been suffering lately, probably from the E10 fuel that we have here for the winter.

I also have my eyes on some new 18" wheels and tires in place of my current 17" setup. The original tires are getting kind of scary. In standing water they hydroplane pretty bad. So I'm thinking of selling my current wheels to offset the purchase of a new set of 18" wheels and then just buying decent 18" tires for the spring - fall and getting 17" snow tires on my stock wheels which are still sitting in my parent's garage.