Paint protection film is a special clear layer that you put on a car's paint to keep it safe from scratches and damage. It helps the car look new for a longer time.
A radar detector is a gadget that helps drivers know when police are using radar to check how fast they're going. It can warn you to slow down before you get a ticket.
A laser jammer is a device that helps drivers avoid getting caught for speeding by confusing the police's speed detection equipment. It makes it harder for them to get an accurate reading of how fast you're going.
The Ford Mustang GT500 is a very fast and powerful version of the Ford Mustang sports car. It's known for its impressive speed and performance, making it a favorite among car lovers.
The Shelby GT500 is a super-fast version of a popular car called the Mustang. It's built for speed and excitement, making it a favorite among people who love powerful cars.
The Nissan GT-R is a very fast sports car that uses a lot of technology to perform well. It's known for being able to handle corners and go really fast on the track.
Expel is a company that makes special films to protect car paint from scratches and damage. Many car lovers use their products to keep their cars looking new.
The Ferrari 296 is a fast sports car that uses both a traditional engine and an electric motor to go faster and use less fuel. It's part of Ferrari's new line of cars that are more environmentally friendly.
The Cybertruck is a unique electric truck made by Tesla. It has a very different look compared to regular trucks and is designed to be tough and high-tech.
The No Flip Rule is a rule that stops people from quickly selling their new cars for a profit. It helps keep the cars with real fans instead of flippers who just want to make money.
The Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray is a new type of sports car that uses both gas and electricity to go fast. It's designed to be powerful while also being a bit better for the environment.
MSRP means the price that the car maker suggests you should pay for a car. It's like a starting point for how much a car costs, but the actual price can be higher or lower depending on various factors.
The Subaru Forester is a type of SUV that is great for families and people who like outdoor activities. The 2025 version probably has new features to make it even better.
A trim level is like a version of a car that has different features. For example, one version might have more technology or nicer materials than another.
A built-in screen is a display that is part of the car's dashboard. It's not something you can take out; it's designed to look nice and work well with the car's interior.
A boxer engine is a type of engine where the cylinders lay flat and move in opposite directions. This helps the car handle better and can make it feel more stable when driving.
A CVT is a type of automatic transmission that doesn't have fixed gears like most cars. Instead, it can change smoothly through different speeds, which helps the car use fuel more efficiently.
The base trim price is the lowest price for a car model, without any extra features or upgrades added. It's what you pay for the simplest version of the car.
The Ford Bronco Sport is a tough little SUV that can go off-road, which means it can drive on bumpy trails and dirt paths. It's designed for people who like outdoor adventures but still want a comfortable ride.
The Nissan Rogue is another SUV that is popular because it has a lot of room and is easy to drive. It's designed to be safe and comfortable for everyday use, making it a good choice for many people.
The Honda CR-V is a type of car called an SUV, which means it's bigger than a regular car and has more space inside. It's great for families because it can carry a lot of stuff and is known to be very dependable.
The Kia EV6 is a new electric car from Kia. It's a crossover SUV, which means it's a mix between a car and an SUV, and it runs on electricity instead of gasoline.
Gulf Coast Auto Shield is a business that helps keep your car looking new by applying special coatings and films to protect the paint.
LIVE
Welcome to another In-Wheel Time Podcast.
Hello, and good morning, and welcome to the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show today, coming to you from Gulf Coast Auto Shield's Car Social.
First up, owner, operator, proprietor, and God of cars.
God of clean cars.
John Gray.
Later, Jeff has this week's Motor Minute, and I review the new Subaru Forester of the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
Welcome, Howdy.
Along with Mike out of this World Mars, we always need more Jeff Zeek and chief engineer, David Ainslie.
I'm Don Armstrong, so glad that you could join us on our broadcast today.
Live from Southwest Houston.
John, what's the address here?
11275, South Sam Houston Parkway West.
77031, we are between West Airport and Belfort.
Okay, so come on down.
Just south of 59.
Yeah, just south.
Yeah, first exit.
First exit headed south, man.
That's right.
Yeah, I got it.
How you doing?
Doing alright, man.
Thanks for coming out.
Well, it's a pleasure to be with you.
You know, we come out here once, twice a year, and it's fun.
Yes, it is.
Yeah.
Kind of a thing.
You know, I have to tell you that, so when I got here this morning, John pulls me aside, have you seen these?
Some very interesting AI stuff.
And he's got a little smirk on his face right now, because I've called him out, I guess, on it.
But I mean, you know, I said he's got too much time on his hands.
He says, no, I really don't.
But I do manage to find a moment or two that I can scroll through the AI stuff, and it's pretty funny.
You know, for whatever reason, people seem to think that I like that sort of stuff.
We know you do.
And I do.
They're exactly right.
Yeah.
I guess my clients, I mess around with my clients and my friends and whatnot, and we trade some text messages back and forth that may or may not be appropriate for the younger audience.
Yeah.
Well, good.
You know, it's good to know that because now I'll start including you on some of my stuff.
Well, and do it.
And will I?
Yeah, absolutely.
And will I?
I don't want anything gross or car wrecks or morbid.
No, I don't do that.
I like funny.
Yeah.
Well, so do I.
And the occasional lady now and then may, you know, you never know.
The dog kind of gets it where they're both.
You get both.
What, the ladies in the men?
That's you, Mars.
The ladies and the funny.
David?
David, you got to bail me out on this one.
Don't start laughing.
He needs a mic sock, Mr. Mars.
Do I?
Who do?
He does.
He needs a mic sock.
Anyway.
I got a sock.
I'm sure that you do.
And I don't want to really know about it too much.
But anyway, let's talk about what you what you've got here in the shop.
But first of all, let's talk about what Gulf Coast Auto Shield does.
I don't want to turn this into some big commercial because it's really not.
Because I just find that I find that it is interesting that, you know, you you kind
of tiptoed into this for the mutual friend of ours by the name of Steve Kingsley.
Yes.
We're at Custom Crosterio.
Custom Crosterio.
Yep.
And Steve calls me on the phone.
He says, hey, man, I got this guy I want you to meet.
He's doing detailing back in the back.
Okay.
And that's where it all started.
That was a great place to start too.
That was.
A lot of really good clientele come in there.
That's obviously how you and I met.
And a lot of my, a lot of the first customers that I had and a lot of the, especially
momentum Porsche when they were back down here by custom car.
And yeah, that was a that was a really nice jumping off point.
And now we're, you know, we've got three shops now.
We have a have a shop in Sugarland, which mostly focuses on our, our wholesale
stuff.
We work with a couple of big dealerships in Sugarland, the new Porsche store
and then the Sewell Audi.
And then we have this one and then we have a West Houston store.
And there's there's a few more things to come.
But most of what we're doing, you know, when I started this thing, I wanted to
not focus on so much on detailing and car cleaning and whatnot.
Even though that is what we do, I wanted to focus on protecting the cars.
And, you know, any sort of protection from the standpoint of pain protection
film, coatings, window tent and built in radar detector, laser jammers,
all that falls into the protection category, whether it's protecting you
or your car.
So, yeah, going into it like that, I think was different.
But it, it worked for us.
You know, it's funny how things evolve and to not dwell on it too much.
But, you know, my relationship with Steve Kingsley goes way back before he
used to work for a company in town called Marco Polo.
And it was back in the day in the 70s when people were putting custom
car radios and stereos, Ken Woods, Al Pines, all that all that stuff.
Yeah, all those.
And so that company went out of business and Steve didn't have anything to do.
And he put a little square one inch box ad in the Saturday Chronicle and,
you know, installed custom car stereo for $49.95.
And he had no money.
So he bought it all on consignment and sell it all out, install it that day
and then start all over again on Monday.
And it's truly amazing because that's all that he did.
And he made himself wealthy ultimately by doing that because what happened
is that one guy tells another guy and another guy tells another guy.
It's typical in our circle that that happens.
I mean, my story is similar in the fact that I worked for Chevrolet dealership.
It was all enamored by Corvettes, bought a Corvette, had a friend of mine
that now is a friend of mine that was in the Corvette Club that I joined
just because I thought, well, that'd be cool, join the Corvette Club.
And one thing led to another.
We are still very good friends.
Bill Sites and he is very much included in the whole Hemi hideout thing.
It's truly amazing that the car culture kind of feeds upon itself.
We support each other.
We do these sorts of things and it's really good.
And for you, your partnership with Steve Kingsley got our partnership going
because Steve sold his business, but you started your business.
So it just goes to prove what I felt all along that relationships are everything.
Yes, they are.
A guy showed up here this morning and he actually works for another competitor shop.
Man, come on in. How are you doing?
Everything is going.
Be as nice to people as you possibly can.
Go over and above every time you do a job for somebody.
And you never know.
People start to handle your advertising for you.
We know about that.
It's really worked out well.
We've been very, very fortunate.
I'll tell you that.
We have some of the best clients you'll possibly meet.
I've met some great clients of yours.
And I've met them here.
I haven't seen them since.
But great guys and great conversations.
If you want to have car conversations.
And the fun thing about coming here, it's a different car setup.
It's a different clientele that I'm used to.
And it's not the regular typical cruise-in.
Because our cruise-in, basically our cruise-in circle is much older.
And they've got more classics.
They have some new cars too.
But it's mainly classics, customs, restomods, that sort of thing.
So it's a different clientele.
But we all have the same passion.
And it makes a huge difference in all of our lives for all of us to get together and talk.
Hey man, I really like that.
Or steel ideas.
Man, I sure like the wheels on that Porsche right there.
Would you get those?
Yeah.
That kind of thing.
So what do you got in the shop today?
Well...
He's got his car.
It's my car.
Yep, our car is here.
I did sell my GT500.
And I miss that car every day.
I think about that car.
What Ford put together in that package was just...
They don't make that car anymore.
They don't.
Every four, five, six years they'll have a new GT500 come out.
We'll see.
It's getting about time for them to release something else.
And there's been some test mules running around apparently that have been spotted in the Detroit area.
But I can't imagine it being much better than what they had because it was serious.
Obviously it was fast, but it would handle and it rode well.
They did all of the things.
Right now that GTR right there is interesting.
That car is a...
I believe it's 2023.
And it was purchased new off the showroom not too long ago by one of my regular clients.
As a 23 mom?
23 or 24, yes.
And they came out with it again for just a couple of years.
And from what I understand, those cars are really, really fast.
I've never really...
I drove one, one time, but not...
You know, I didn't drive it very hard.
But we have a Ferrari F12 back there that we're doing a lot of work on doing a stealth paint protection wrap.
So it would look like it has matte paint.
The most interesting car...
That's what it's called?
Stealth?
Expel Stealth, yeah.
Now over there in the corner, and this car belongs to this gentleman right here, Justin Rountz,
who I'm extremely fond of, him and his family, is a 4GT, 2006 4GT.
And that is absolutely...
If you look at that car, it's still relevant today.
Look at the design and the performance and whatnot.
That car is just...
I'm over the moon about that car.
We did a full paint protection film wrap on that thing.
And the guy drove it.
They had it before, Justin.
It had about 6,000 miles on it, but it is unbelievably clean.
It's just an absolutely wonderful car if you're not over 6'2".
You're 6'2".
Yeah, a little cramped up.
A little cramped up.
I can't remember when they came out with that car and they were racing it.
One guy that was...
I can't remember who it was, but they had to kind of put a bubble on the top of the roof.
You remember that?
Yes.
So his helmet would fit in there.
It wasn't Ken Miles.
No, it was so...
I know who you're thinking of.
I can't think of it either.
Yeah.
But man, inside and out.
And that's the only car I've ever seen with a stock Macintosh head unit for the stereo.
Really?
Yes.
It legit has a Macintosh stereo in it.
Justin's got several other cars.
He's got McLaren, not McLaren, but a 911 GT3, I believe.
He's got a Aston Martin.
Nice.
English guy.
He's a pretty cool dude.
He's got a lot of cool stuff.
You know Lawrence of Arabia was an English kind of guy.
Yeah, we know.
Hmm.
Don't go there.
Don't go there.
He didn't have any cool cars.
No, he didn't.
Cut him.
And we've had a 296.
There are 296 in the back.
We're doing a built-in radar detector on that laser jammer setup for a regular client on
that one.
How long is it?
I'm going to talk about this car right here.
It's only because it's close and I took a look at it.
That's a stealth...
Yeah, on the front.
They're not done with it yet.
It's an Audi right here.
Did you talk about the Audi?
Yes.
Because you've got the rear door is a different shape.
Yeah, that's a satin paint protection film.
So basically, people come in.
They want to change the look of their car.
Matte paint is very, very expensive.
You know, it depends on what model you're buying, but it can run $10,000, $12,000.
A real paint job.
Yeah.
And from the factory, obviously.
So if you want that same look, you can do...
We can do it through Expel Stealth.
And the cool thing about that is you're protected.
You have a 10-year warranty on your film and you're less likely to get rock chips and whatnot.
If you buy a matte car, yeah, you've got the look, but you still got to protect it.
Because there are very few guys that can fix or repaint or do something to repair that type of paint job.
It's very, very difficult.
You know, the matte is kind of a fad thing.
It was in the hot rods for a while because they were in the primer.
Yeah.
And then it kind of comes in.
So, you know, five years from now, you may think, huh, that fad's gone.
I'm really tired of that.
You don't want to re-paint it.
Take it off.
Exactly.
Take it off.
Yeah.
It's a little bit of work to take them off, but...
Yeah.
Anyway.
It's easier to paint.
Come in here.
Like, where Mars lives, they go in and they want to have, you know, a primer red matte finish.
Just like you would have in your garage in 1965.
And can you do that?
Do they want to have that, or is that just what they have?
No, well, yeah.
It's a little bit above.
Yeah.
Some of them, that's what they, that's the look they're after.
Yeah.
I want a primer red.
They don't.
They don't.
Really?
Yeah.
That's a thing?
Well, it's in the swamp.
It's a whole lot easier to see.
I'm happy to look.
It's for detection.
You get to detect.
I thought that was maybe just a Port Arthur thing.
Well, he's close.
He's in Niederland.
Yeah.
Well, we only could call it Niederville.
Niederville.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm with you.
Well, that's, that's redneck.
Get up and do it.
How are you still?
That's kind of redneck, but I'm with you, man.
I could, I could get down with that.
You fit?
So, yeah, there's all kinds of cool different things.
Hey, there's no, something that's evolving now is, is, is, you know, you've got wrap.
So we do, we do, we do a little bit of color change.
Like a ball, shot, cola, kind of, kind of wrap?
Not really that.
Although I do.
I'm pretty well known around town as being a rapper.
I can bust some rhymes if that's what you're looking for.
It's exactly right.
It's, we got room.
We can see what kind of moves you got to go with them.
I don't, I used to wear Buster Brown.
I have zero moves.
I have zero moves.
I'm the most boring rapper in town, but no.
But you're thin.
You're thin though.
I'm too tall to be a rapper.
Yeah.
I am.
Skinny white guy.
That's his name, his stage name.
Skinny white guy.
That is my name.
S-W-G, for short.
But, you know, you got these vinyl wraps and color change
that people traditionally use to cut change colors on a car.
You know, it just doesn't last in Houston.
If you're going to have your car outside for any length of time,
UV damage just kills it.
It's great for a year and a half, two years,
especially if it's on a darker color.
Yeah.
That's just like the wrap that you put on our truck,
you know, with all our logos and stuff on it,
you know, over there in Port Arthur
in the middle of all those chemical plants.
I mean, you can almost go out there
and wipe the corrosion off of it.
Yeah.
Well, hell, he was evacuated
when one of the explosions happened over there.
And then it turns into the rust color,
primer color.
Right.
That didn't come from somebody trying to do that in a garage,
mixing the meth with the red primer.
No, no, no.
We've got warehouses for that.
Oh, got it.
Or trailer homes.
Yes.
Primer with meth.
There you go.
Uh-huh.
And we get the right color.
Well, anyway, so now you've got...
Just to open the can.
The next thing that's kind of starting to become
a little bit more popular is color paint protection film.
So you've got a long warranty on it.
Much better.
It's thicker.
And you can change the color of a car,
but it's got a warranty on it.
And it just lasts a lot longer now.
But it's expensive.
But it's...
Tell you that.
It is a solid color.
It's not like putting like a pearl sheen
or like a pearl paint.
It has everything.
Every color you can imagine.
Can you do a tiger stripe or something?
I don't want to think about that.
But you could print it.
You could print it on a wrap.
We could have my guy at Underground Graphics.
He could print whatever you wanted to
and we could make a kit for it.
What is the most unusual thing
that you've put a coating on?
Not necessarily a car.
Like a trailer or a motorhome or boat.
Support piers.
Steel support.
Painted support piers down on the coast.
We put an industrial coating on
to protect it from rusting.
And other environmental concerns
down there on the beach.
That's the most interesting thing.
Car wise...
It's hard to say.
These cyber trucks are...
I would say that they're interesting.
But now you see them all over the place.
Right.
I mean, as far as coatings go,
I think that probably that GT back there,
that 4GT is the most interesting unusual car
because there's just not any of them left.
There's no straight lines there either.
But it's just absolutely stunning.
We've got one of those cyber trucks down there
in our part of the world now
and it's got a purple and light and grey camo thing on it.
It's not primer red.
No, no, he's moved up to the purple.
He's got the purple camo.
He's got that on his Porsche.
You know what, now that I think about it,
we have a primer red wrap.
There you go.
We could do this.
I'm thinking.
We're going to take the in-wheel time truck.
Yeah.
And that's what we're going to do to it.
You know what I think?
Just a small logo.
Maybe some red flames, maybe.
No, that dates us.
Old people want flames.
Nobody does flames anymore.
Put that on Becky's car.
Do you think we could open a shop
down in Niederland, Niederville?
Yes, absolutely.
Niederville.
Yeah, there would be no clientele whatsoever.
They're all after this interview.
It would be very low overhead.
They're all working shift work over at the refinery.
Yeah, those old boys got some money.
Yeah, they do.
You have to change the name.
They do.
Change the name to Golf Coast Hoopty.
Or you know, and running it would be Buddy and Sissy.
Bud and Sissy.
That's exactly right.
Yeah, I so badly want those stickers from my truck.
Okay, well, we'll work on that for you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And we may call on you again during this two hour time.
By the way, speaking of which,
I want everybody to know that we're here
for the entire broadcast today.
So this guy here is available to take questions
and to joke with and to have fun with.
But I have a serious conversation about coming in here.
But I just want everybody to know
that if you want to just cruise in
and have a good time and sit around.
The sun's come out.
The sun's come out.
It's a beautiful morning.
The kids, come on out.
Don't touch the cars, but enjoy the ride.
Come on out.
Thank you, boys.
Thank you.
Talk to you a little later.
You bet.
Sounds good.
John Gray, our guest, right out of the box this morning.
Just ahead of review of the Subaru Forester.
Plus, Jeff's Motor Minute,
when the in-wheel time car talk show continues
right after this break.
This is what we go through here.
Jeff just loses his train of thought.
It's the best hot rod, best classic, and best modern classic.
Tailpipes and Tacos Christmas Edition
will be held Saturday, December 13th, 8 to 11 a.m.
at the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex,
located at 703 West Grand Parkway,
just south of the Katie Freeway in Katie.
Oh, and don't forget to bring the kids.
There'll be special trophies and goodie bags for them, too.
It's the Tailpipes and Tacos Christmas Edition 25,
Saturday, December 13th, 8 to 11 a.m.
at the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex
at 703 West Grand Parkway in Katie.
Enjoy, get a free breakfast taco,
and enjoy the camaraderie.
In-wheel time will be there, too.
We invite you to join the In-Wheel Time Live Talk Show
every Saturday, 10 to noon Central Time here on In-WheelTime.com.
YouTube and Facebook as well.
Check us out.
It's free.
And don't forget 30-minute podcasts from our shows.
Can be had from your favorite podcast store.
Next week, Tailpipes and Tacos cruise in.
And don't forget to bring the kids.
We invite you to join the In-Wheel Time Live Talk Show
every Saturday, 10 to noon Central Time
here on In-WheelTime.com.
And then, the Tacos cruise in happens
on the Loopy Tortilla out in Katie.
And for those that are here
and you hear all this stuff going on here,
it's not going on the air that sounds this way.
We just trust us it doesn't sound that way on the air.
I hope.
Time now for Jeff's motor minute.
There you go.
So GM ends the Corvette No Flip Rule
for most of the Corvette models.
The AutoMega removed the six month retention period
for 2025 and 2026.
The Corvette E-Ray and the Z06 models,
the vehicles delivered by November 5th of 2026,
remain subject to that original restrictions.
The change reflects GM's recognition
and demand that stabilized most of the variance
for the 1064 horsepower ZR1.
It remains a hot commodity.
Under the policy, original retailers
who sell or transfer ownership
within the first 12 months after delivery
face two consequences including ineligibility
for future reserve of special models
and they void the warranty on the car.
Oh my God.
The manufacturer introduced these rules
after watching the Z06 models
flip for massive premiums over sticker.
Some performance Corvettes change hands
for $50 to $100,000 above the MSRP
in the early days,
which is a far cry from the current situation.
As part of the recent update,
customers are now required to acknowledge
the retention policy by signing a form
and addressing where there's no confusion
and some buyers claim they never saw the original paperwork.
All right.
So here you go.
The demand is settled enough to let the loyal buyers
enjoy some flexibility without feeling speculation.
The ZR1 buyers, however,
the strict one year hold remains firmly in place.
GM clearly wants to ensure that these cars
and enthusiasts will drive them
rather than hunting for a quick profit.
So there you go.
They've kind of loosened it up a little bit,
but then they've kind of kept some of it around.
There you go.
Thank you, sir.
All right.
Time now for this hour's car review.
I had a chance to drive the 2025 Subaru Forester.
Now don't turn your nose up.
Just listen to this.
It comes in many variations.
It's got the base, the premium, the sport, the limited,
the wilderness and the touring.
I had the wilderness version.
This is a small SUV.
Kind of looks like a station wagon,
but they've changed it.
They've jacked it up.
It's a little bit taller than the regular base model.
It has some special features.
This is a five seat, two row little SUV
and it's selling like hotcakes.
And they're probably one of the hottest manufacturers
on the market today.
Exterior changes from last model year, none.
Some minor tweaks, but it was completely redesigned
for the 2025 model year.
Exterior features, sporty off road look
on this particular model now.
We're talking about the wilderness.
White with black trim highlights on it.
It gives it a much more off road look.
And I will tell you that the white paint job
really looks good on this
because it contrasts with the black trim.
Copper colored wheels, don't turn your nose up
until you see this thing.
White letter tires, better than the darker colors.
I really like the white and the black
with the copper wheels.
I like the sound of that car too.
Also, it has overall conservative styling.
It's attractive.
It's a straightforward design.
And if anything was to use any improvement on it,
I would say a little bit more on the wow factor.
Put some bigger tires and wheels on it.
Make it pop a little bit more.
More eyeball.
Yeah, make it pop a little bit more.
Interior, it has a Tesla like big screen.
It's an option, but it comes with this particular trim level.
The built in dash part of the screen really works for me.
I don't like those that are standalone screens.
Yeah, it looks like pop ups like add-ons.
Yeah, on top of the dash.
This one's built in and it really works nice.
Copper headlight trim and copper headlights throughout the cabin
with stitching to match.
Different off-roading seat upholstery.
And I don't even know how to describe it.
It's pretty cool looking.
I wouldn't call it rugged.
Rugged to me.
A rugged look.
Not in the typical version of a rugged look upholstery.
It's very different and it works.
It's comfortable, but it's very different.
As a matter of fact, one of the pictures that they show online,
you can go online and look at it.
It shows that it's wet.
Like it's been rained on.
And I guess to prove the fact that it is an outdoorsy upholstery.
Man, it's very cool.
And you know that the Jeep people are going, hmm, that.
Yeah.
Let's see.
High quality fit and finish throughout the cabin.
Cargo room, small after the second row.
Roof rack will be needed for extra gear.
And that seems to be kind of like a theme,
this particular model, the wilderness,
because it actually adds to the look.
It adds to it to have a roof rack on it.
Now I'm not a big roof rack fan at all,
but it works for this one.
What I liked about it, the Easter eggs throughout the cabin.
Oh boy.
They're in the glass, on the floor mats,
they're in the seats.
I'm not going to tell you all of the locations,
but if you go to look at this, look for the Easter eggs.
Does it tell you how many are in the vehicle to look for?
I don't know.
A Jeep does what?
Jeep does frogs?
What do you do?
Well, Jeep's got the grill, a little thing of the grill
throughout the cabin.
Yeah.
The Jeep grill.
Yeah.
You know, the seven slot grill,
but they're little bitty tiny ones.
You have to look for these things.
They're fun.
Overall, high marks for comfort and design on this
Forester.
2.5 liter boxer style four cylinder engine,
180 horsepower, 178 pound feet of torque.
Toe rating, 3,500 CVT transmission.
Manufacturers rating as far as miles per gallon,
24 city, 28 highway for a combined of 26.
I got 25.7 over 356.3 miles.
What I liked about it, the mileage.
What could use improvement?
More power.
Ride and handling.
Comfortable ride quality.
What could use improvement there?
More ground clearance.
I'd like to see it sit up a little bit further than it already does
with bigger tires and wheels.
That's just my opinion on it.
But whatever.
It's always that custom availability that you can do
and change it yourself, you know?
Base trim price, $39,835.
Price is tested, $42,035.
Base model price, $29,995.
Now, let's compare the actual trim level,
the wilderness, to the Bronco Sport Badlands for $42,260.
The Nissan Rogue Rock Creek for $35,380.
That's where they start.
And the Honda CR-V Trail Sport for $40,250.
And that is my review.
Next week, we're going to have the Kia EV6.
So be looking for that when we're out at Tail Pipes and Taco.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
You good with that, David?
He's, he hums.
He's pouting.
He's pouting over there.
I think he's in another world right now.
He's got the pouting lip going.
Hey, if you'd like to get in touch with us,
send us an email.
The address is info at nwiltime.com.
We are back after this quick break.
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About this episode
John Gray from Gulf Coast Auto Shield joins the In-Wheel Time crew for a lively discussion on car detailing, protection, and the unique culture surrounding automotive enthusiasts. The episode features insights on the latest trends in paint protection films and wraps, including the benefits of Expel Stealth for achieving a matte look without the downsides of traditional matte paint. Don Armstrong reviews the 2025 Subaru Forester Wilderness, highlighting its off-road capabilities and unique interior features. The episode is filled with humor and camaraderie, making it a fun listen for car lovers.
Sun on the shop floor, cutters snapping, and a Ford GT gleaming under fresh film—this one is for people who love cars and want them to last. We set up at Gulf Coast Auto Shield with owner John Gray to explore how a protection-first mindset turned a corner-bay detailing gig into three thriving Houston locations. The throughline is simple and powerful: do clean work, protect value, and treat every client like the next referral.
John walks us through today’s projects, including a Ferrari F12 getting full stealth paint protection film for a matte finish without the headaches of fragile factory matte paint. We compare vinyl color wraps to newer color PPF options, breaking down heat resistance, UV durability, and why warranties matter in Texas sun. You’ll hear how stealth PPF can transform gloss to satin, stay reversible, and still guard against chips and rash—plus how ceramic coatings, nano-ceramic tint, windshield protection, and discrete radar/laser installs complete a smart, long-term protection plan.
Car culture ties it all together. From the stereo-shop days that sparked an entire client network to cruise-ins where owners trade ideas on wheels and film, relationships keep the scene alive. We also hit the week’s market note: GM easing no-flip rules for most Corvettes while keeping tight reins on the ZR1 to curb speculation. Then we review the 2025 Subaru Forester Wilderness, an off-road-leaning small SUV with copper accents, a big integrated screen, respectable MPG, and room for improvement in power and ground clearance—plus straight talk on pricing and segment rivals.
If you’re deciding between wraps and PPF, wondering how to keep a new finish flawless, or just love a good shop tour with serious hardware, you’ll feel at home. Subscribe, share with a friend who babies their paint, and leave a review telling us: matte or gloss for your next build?
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