So I totaled my 2006 GP (84k) a few weeks ago, and picked up a 2007 (42k) this week.

I bought it from a Buick dealer (was Pontiac too back in the day). There were two previous owners, and both were local to northern Ohio (I live in suburban Cleveland). When they took it in on trade, they machined the front rotors, replaced the front brake pads, and changed the oil.

Personally I am good with technology but no car expert. I change my own oil (Mobil 1 + Wix) and rotate my tires. I changed my Ranger's alternator twice and know how to use a multimeter. But ask me to tune an engine and I am lost.

Anway, here is what I am thinking I should do (too late at night to take pictures right now):

* Change rims. Current ones have bubbles and corrosion.
* Mount new tires on the new rims. Current tires are stock which are crap. Very loud, do not perform well. Lost 5 PSI since yesterday. Trying to keep at 35.
* Four wheel alignment with new rims/tires.
* Replace resonator. The car is very quiet. Muffler is in good enough shape (stainless), but the resonator is black and rusting.
* Flush transmission. Shifting is nice and tight. But at six years and 42k miles, this may be the right time -- old transmissions need their gunk to shift smoothly without slipping, but young ones need cleaning to last longer.
* Change oil. Dealership did not reset oil monitoring system (47%). Questionable filter. Would feel better seing "Wix" down there.
* Flush coolant. It is dark brown and smells worse than my ex-wife.
* Check power steering. It whines sometimes, but is a pain to get to. Sometimes is quiet as a whisper, sometimes will wake the dead.
* Check rear brakes. I always use the parking brake. I do not trust the parking pawl with 2,000+ lbs of weight. I personally know people where the pawl broke off after many miles and caused problems. Anyway, the parking brake is too tight. I barely push it down and the car just stops. Seems too good to be true.
* Take car to premium body shop to fix several scratches on metal body panels. I want this car to last another 200k miles, so I want innocent scratches fixed right so they do go away and go not grow into problems later on.

Finally, this car has leather seats (heated in front). My youngest child is in a car seat, and they are both slobs in the car (I blame my ex-wife, I am working hard to teach them manners like civilized men). I do not want the hard plastic pushing on the leather, nor do I want food particles or dog fur on my nice leather seats recently detailed. I tried to look for a seat cover, but I only found "universal" seat covers that claim to cover hundreds of cars. Sorry, I want guaranteed results. Does anyone have any advice? This goes for seats and anything else I brought up.