I have the same problem,the car needs a 50 gal tank to keep the windshield kleen. This is a big problem because I use RT.2 every day.

 

RoadTrip, great job on the mag! Oh, Hilla is a girl! I know it's hard to tell without looking under the bonnet!

 

Got my MINI Challenge race stripes installed today. Here's quick shot.

 

Nice RaceTripper! How are you keeping your brakes clean, do you remove the wheels?

 

I have removed my wheels a couple times to clean them and the brakes, but not lately. Otherwise I use a wheel cleaner and go to a self serve power wash.

 

My problem isn't keeping the brakes clean, it's the wheels. However, some Wheel Armour seems to really help. Brake dust wipes off nicely with a cloth.

 

I'm interested in ways to keep those red JCW brakes looking clean! It's hard to work around those spokes and I don't want to spray harsh chemicals on any of that stuff! I may just from time to time have to remove the wheels to do a full clean up.

 

Zymol makes citrus-based wheel cleaner that is not harsh. It's not cheap, but works well. That, in combination with a power wash, should do the trick.

I don't worry about it. I just use off the shelf wheel cleaner -- spray on and wipe off. It has never caused me a problem.

 

Sikamini - Glad you enjoyed the Feb issue of "MINI Bit of News". I thought Hilla was probably a girl - sorry for any misunderstanding...

RaceTripper - Good to see you at MINI StL on Saturday. Love the look of the new checkered stripes and we were also checking-out your JCW steering wheel - Very Nice!

I'm still interested in my own MINI (don't get to drive my wife's very often...). We were looking a the new Midnight Black Metallic swatch - no cars yet. We were also looking at some other options I am considering and trying to decide between another S or go JCW. I just need to sell my '92 Corvette (keeping the new '08) and I can order my own MINI.

By the way - I use Griot's Wheel Cleaner which is approved by BBS and other wheel manufacturers. It should not be used on the wheels / brakes if they are hot, but otherwise it works pretty well.

 

Yeah, it was good running into you and your wife. I'm real happy with the Challenge stripes. My wife gave me the JCW steering wheel for XMas. I love it.

Now I want to get the JCW carbon fiber dash.

For that matter, nothing should go onto hot wheels/brakes.

 

RoadTrip, go for the JCW! Okay I'm biased.

PS Hilla wasn't offended, she's sometimes a bit of a tomboy!

 

Hey good people of Week 32, it's been a while. I'm happy to see the thread is alive and well if not by volume of posts then at least by variety of posters.
Sorry I haven't been posting lately.

Weather out here in California has been downright chilly by our standards. I've heard the ice warning BONG at least a half dozen times over the last month. Mornings have been consistently in the high 30s to mid 40s where I live. Brrr! Yes, I can almost hear the snickering from those who live in snow country!

Quick question that I'd like some feedback on:

I scraped up my right front rim on the curb, coming out of a parallel park space. OUCH, I hate that but I have no one to blame but myself.

Anyone know of any products out there that works similar to a touch up paint, except on rims, to cover up the scrape marks? or better?

Hope all is well with everyone and their MINIs!

 

I discovered today that the car warms up MUCH quicker without the heat on. Guess I'll try and forgo it (if it's warm enough) until the engine warms up from now on.

 

I had not tested when to turn on the heat, but I usually just turn on the seat heater when I get in, and drive for 5 minutes or so before turning on the heat. The seat heater keeps me warm until the car is warmed up.

 

Does anyone else have the auto AC? I have a question on the AC auto button function, but I won't go into it yet.

Anyone in the colder areas have any problems with the cold start rattle issue. Just curious since it has appeared in several threads. I've also notices that some have had this issue in the warmer climates. On cold mornings here in Houston, which are not that many, I don't turn Hilla off once I start the engine and have not noticed any problems. One reason I started to do this was because I read that the software maybe pulling a trick on the engine if you turn it off after moving it a short distance. I really haven't wanted to do the logical thing and test it on a cold day and see what happens.

Hi kechman, sorry to hear you had a little rim problem. Was there a lot of damage?

 

I have Auto AC.

 

I have it.

 

Great! I've had the autoAC on all the time, and I started looking at the documentation just to experiment. The auto light on the button and the Auto on the small dial is on. Also the little snowflake button is on. I was wondering if the autoAC disengages simply by pressing the autoAC button and shouldn't the autoAC light and the word "auto" go away from the dial if it's turned off. If it doesn't go off, is it possible that I have set it to remain on continuously. I looked in the manual, but I may have missed something. I'm thinking I have the preferences set to keep the autoAC on, am I on the right track or totally lost?

 

If you want the Auto A/C to disengage completely, click the fan button until the display goes dark. If you want the fan to run (i.e. to heat, defrost, etc) but the A/C to stay off, disengage the button with the snowflake icon. That's how I use it.

 

We use the AutoAc the way RaceTripper describes - works fine.

On the cold start rattle - we have had it twice. Both times we were parked with her nose up hill (on a rather steep hill). Both times it was less than 20 F outside and we had driven her 20+ miles (engine at normal operating temp).

I don't know why parking on a hill would matter - it may just be coincidence. Anyway we've had it twice and it is a nasty sound.

It's 50 F here today and the roads are clean from the recent rain, so I took the Corvettes out for some exercise. Would love to be motoring in the MINI, but my wife has it at work. Not that I am complaining about exercising the Corvettes...

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

ok, here's a twist to sikamini's question re: auto AC.

I have auto AC and it works similar to other cars I've driven with the same feature. By pressing the auto AC, the snowflake button ie. AC, also engages by default. That means the compressor runs (you can feel it vibrate in the cabin when idling and the idle rpms go down, too). 99% of the time I manually switch off the snowflake button ie. I don't want the compressor to run, I just want to control the temp via fan and, if necessary, heat.

My questions are:

1) is there a way of defaulting settings so the snowflake does not automatically turn on with the Auto AC?
2) if I can manually disengage the snowflake, what's the difference between Auto AC without snowflake, and just when the little dial shows a temperature when the Auto AC button is NOT on? It seems like temperature control is always on anyway, so Auto AC on without snowflake seems like it functions the same way? confused.

see what you started, sikamini?

by the way, the physical rim damage is relatively small (2 inch scrape) but I can still here that awful metal to curb/concrete sound in my head. Ouch.

 

What's new crew?

Everything seems to work as y'all described. Does the word "auto" go off? Kechman, I was wondering the same thing about the diff with or without the snowflake.

 

whew. I thought I was the only one.

We are starting to ding up Trooper a bit now. Last week it was a rim scrape. Now I get a small surface scratch on the right rear tail light area. What irritates me is that I park on the sixth floor of a six floor covered garage at work, corner spot, favoring away from the adjacent stall of course, and of course I still get scratched. What's a person to do to avoid the clumsy oafs of the motoring world? Then to continue the trend, my wife drives the car Monday and she bumps the car behind her getting into a parallel park spot! Another cosmetic surface scratch.

Looks like once the weather gets better, I will be getting the porter cable polisher out and trying to get the multiple scratches out with Prima products!

Thanks for letting me vent.

BTW - anyone heard of this? It was raining cats and dogs yesterday and my wife claims to have activated the wiper (not intermittent mode) and it did the following: wipe once, wipe three times, wipe once, then normal single wipes. Curious to find out if anyone has experienced this.

 

Sounds to me like the washer got activated. Maybe she did that without realizing.

 

I didn't drive Phantom over the long weekend, so didn't have a chance to check out options on the auto A/C. Here's what I believe, which is the same as what Kechman8 has reported. When the auto A/C is in "auto" mode, it controls the fan and air temperature automatically to keep the cabin at a constant temperature. That seems to happen whether or not the compressor is running (snowflake switch). The snowflake switch simply cools the air when the temperature is set low, or dehumidifies the air when the temperature is set high (like in the winter).

I believe that when the system is not in "auto" mode, it's just like a manual system... fan speed must be set manually, and same with the temperature setting. That seems to happen when I change where the air is being directed (buttons on the right side of the control panel).

So, I tend to just keep it in "auto" mode and keep the snowflake button turned on. I like the dehumidified air, though - clears the windows a lot faster in the winter.