Got my first dent. Some bastard got me in the parking lot at my college (well dont go to school there anymore just work there). Its just a little dimple on the bottom near the door, no paint damage. Probably I am the only one who will notice but still SUCKS. Now I am obsessing about who parks next to me, because for some reason people at my university cant park or drive or alot of other things.

 

I'm the same way, dings bother me alot! When we had our UFO incident, the object deflected off the hood. The clear bra protected the paint from major damage, but there was a small dimple. The dealership got it out with the paintless dent method when they replaced the windshield.
I've also heard that you could try dry ice, I'm going to test my older car one day and see if it works. I'd like to be prepared for those items that insurance won't cover.

 

Ha, I just found out I can open my windows by holding the Unlock button on the remote. Can't believe I didn't know that before.

 

And if you have a sunroof and hold the Unlock a bit longer, after the windows open, the sunroof cracks. Nice way to cool off a hot car before you get in.

Isn't it fun to discover new things about our MINIs.

 

Hi all. Latest for me is that I spent last weekend detailing my car: Dawn, claybar, Zaino AIO + Z5 + Z2 + Z-CS. Then it rained every day this week.

I just ordered the Alta cold air intake and turbo inlet hose. Plus, there is a 50/50 chance that tomorrow I'll order a new set of wheels and summer tires. I'm looking at the O.Z. Racing Alleggerita in white painted finish with a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 tires. My stock Challenge wheels with the Bridgestone all-season tires will be used for the cold weather months.

 

 

I never tried it until you mentioned it. I think I remember reading about it some where, but never got around to checking it out. Just more fun things to play with!

 

Make that 100% chance. Just ordered the OZ Alleggerita white, but instead of the Potenzas I went for Yokohama Advan Neova. I'm going from 48 lbs per corner down to 33 lbs. per corner, saving a full 60 lbs of unsprung weight!

 

Jeez RaceTripper. I'll take your 'hand me down' equipment anyday. You must have a large garage/storage area to stock all that original/seasonal equipment. I'm jealous on many levels.

I'm still really enjoying the Clubbie. Gotta get new tires for Troop' soon, so am starting to shop around the 'net for some good deals. Am thinking about swapping out the rims too, but not with the budget that RaceTripper has!

The car's been rock solid since day one, aside from that darn rear seat squeak. Gotta stop procrastinating and get that checked out by the dealer. I'll probably do an unscheduled oil change while I'm at it (I'm at 10.5k miles now). I'm seeing a LOT more clubbies now in Northern California.

Spring is here and I need to get some more car wash from Detailer's Paradise and other detailing stuff. I think this time I will go with a gallon of their car wash. Love the Prima stuff.


Ok, enough rambling from me. Hope all is well with the rest of you.

 

I read somewhere that if you hold down the switch (instead of flicking it) for the mood lighting, the colors will transition to the next one, and if you stop in the middle, you will get the transition color. I tried it quickly and seemed to work, but not as dramatic as I thought it would be.

 

I live in a 4 Bdrm. brick house with a basement, garage, and no kids. Plenty of storage space for stuff. I'll keep all of the OEM stuff. When I go to sell the car I'll put it back to stock and sell the aftermarket bits separately.

I'm now thinking about pulling the trigger on the JCW suspension. The parts will run me about $1100 and I have a friend willing to help install it all. Hmm...

 

Ha ha! Your life is definitely different than mine! I have two young kids, a 3br 2ba house, NO garage (a car port), and NO basement! All I have is a 8' x 8' storage shed to store stuff! I am definitely storage challenged. I struggle with figuring out where to store an extra 12 pack of beer, much less seasonal tires. More power to you, guy!

 

Oops, meant to say 4 Bdrm, 2 story. Yeah, we have plenty of storage and way more house than we need. We plan to downgrade to something like a 3 bdrm townhouse in a couple years. But having a 2 car garage is always a hard requirement for us.

 

So two or three bedrooms for parts?

 

Just one, plus the basement and garage.

Got some new white running sneakers with sticky black soles today...

 

Sharp! Ultra-fine!

 

Well, the spring on my garage door broke with Phantom pulled inside the garage. No way were we going to get the door up manually. Fortunately, I have a detached garage that is 24' x 24' with two 9' doors. My wife moved her car out of the garage, and I actually turned the MINI around inside the garage and drove out her garage door.

Another great reason to own a MINI!

 

PhantomMC - Glad nothing happened to Phantom.

Everyone - We picked-up our new MCS Convertible on Friday afternoon. While at the dealer we ran into RaceTripper - very nice wheels/tires!!!

As of this morning, the Openometer shows top open for 3 hours 10 minutes. She's got 154 miles on her. I'm not sure what week we were for production (14 or 15 maybe), but she took 6 weeks from order to delivery and the support was nothing like "The 2008 Motoring 32'ers"....

Here are a couple of attached photos, but see my gallery for the good high-res pics.

 

Did you put a set of Challenge wheels on the 'vert? It kinda looks that way in the picture, but I don't remember seeing that at on your MINI at the dealer?

I just bent the lip on one of my rims. Coming home from running errands with my wife, we hit a construction pothole on Big Bend. Aaarghh!!! I pulled the wheel of the car. It looks like only the outer lip is bent. The wheel itself looks true and it has not leaked any air.

 

Nice convertible, RoadTrip2 - now you are a 2-MINI family. I really love the Chili Red with red top and mirrors. Most of the ones I see around here have either a black top or white top (common), but there is one that's all red, and it just stands out! I guess I know what your favorite color is (at least in cars)!

 

RaceTripper - Ouch..... Glad to hear the wheel is still true. I put the JCW wheels on Friday evening. I had ordered them from Morristown MINI who had them on sale for $260 each ($340.00 list). Then I had Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus 205/45/17 tires installed at Dobbs. I saved about $500.00 over ordering the optional JCW wheels on the car, plus we have the Bridge Spoke 16" wheels for winter.

PhantomMC - Yes we are 2 MINI Family now and we like red cars. Nothing against other colors, we just like red. Yes, the Corvettes are red too...

 

I've done a couple of changes this week. I got my Alta CAI and turbo inlet hose installed. The butt dyno gives a thumbs up to the result.

I switched from using lug bolts on my wheels and installed a stud kit from Texas Speed Works. I also swapped the carbon fiber black & silver lettering OZ center caps for silver carbon fiber with red lettering. Looks better with my CR/W.

I've also ordered new brakes pads. I'm getting a set of low dust Carbotech Bobcat 1521 pads for street use, plus a set of Carbotech XP10 (front) and XP8 (rear) pads for track use. My first HPDE in the JCW is coming up in 4 weeks. Can't wait.

I now have estimates for adding the JCW Sport Suspension and the new JCW Aero kit with the brake cooling ducts. That will include re-striping the front/rear bumpers and new clearbra on the front. I hope to have all this done by years end.

On other change I plan to make is the JCW carbon fiber dash kit, but that is after all the performance stuff is done.

 

Sounds like fun! Hi 32'ers!

 

I haven't driven Trooper for a few days (sorry Trooper) and when I stepped on the brake pedal in order to start the car, I felt a LOT of resistance and REALLY had to push hard to get the pedal to move, as if there was a build up of air or something.

Has anyone experienced this before? Should I be concerned? Car runs just like it always has after that. I've experienced this a few times now.

Hope everyone is doing ok!

 

Weird. I haven't experienced that, but my brakes are different than yours too.