Larry, I thought that MINI takes a dim view of painted calipers. Looks good though!

 

Annette,

That stinks. I am sure you can find an '06 somewhere for decent cash. Good Luck!

Larry,

Lookin' good! I am definitely jealous of the new exhaust. I am super excited for my new side graphics and roof checkers going on soon!

 

Annette that sucks big time....I love my 2011 and wish you could have gotten yours. There are about 25 MCS on the lot up here at FLOW Mini in Winston and we have a guest room if you wanna do an over nighter shopping trip. I will tell them to treat you right....they do have a used 2010 in pepper white with real fawn colored leather interior and every option except the computer/nav and it only has 20K miles. It has black bonnet stripes and black 17" wheels and it looks brand new.....looks like el kabong!

I stopped by my dealer and they just got the exact same chili red MCS as mine, BUT it had the red color line in the dash and armrests and the red leather/black cloth seats. BOY WAS IT SHARP......If I would have known that was on a truck I would have waited.

Although my beige interior roof and pillars looks pretty sharp too with the leatherette seats and Piano black colorline.

I'll post some pics next week of my redline custom leather shift boots and armrests.


Melangell,

How in the world could MINI USA frown upon adding a coat of paint to your calipers? I showed Flow service manager today my pics and he said it looked great...but then again I was on duty and did have a gun on my hip

 

Ok, my husband talked me down off the ledge and convinced me I wasn't being frivolous by buying a new MINI instead of used. I think part of my problem is that by getting the new one, it makes it really final that El Kabong is gone. I have a tendency to get ridiculously attached to cars, obviously. My mom used to love to tell the story of when I was little and my parents sold our old Ford Galaxy (license plate MMB-773, why I still remember that I don't know) and I apparently stood in the driveway sobbing to the point that the guy almost didn't buy the car .
So I'm going to head to the dealership and psych myself up like when I got El Kabong and enjoy it.
I'll post some pics later,
Annette

 

congrats!

 

Here he is, a couple of quick pics.

At home with the CM, Wulfric. We made sure to introduce them to each other at the dealership first, neutral territory seemed like a wise choice .



At the dealership under the disco ball, ready to party!


Looking forward to blacking out and modding!
Annette

 

Beautiful, Annette! I know what you mean about cars though. I took about 20 pics of mine before trading it and then teared up seeing him in the parking lot as I drove away. I felt like I was betraying him. It had been a wonderful 11 years.

 

Annette!

 

Way to Go Annette!!

Can't wait to see it in person. Whats your interior look like?

My wife is Sooooo bitten by the Mini bug, especially after putting my exhaust on and driving a bit yesterday.

Ugghhhhhhh....she wants her own now

 

I'll take some pics of the interior later, but I pretty much did black on black with some dark grey.(checkered door ring and dash, checkered cloth seats, dark grey color line, anthracite headliner) No chrome other than what it comes with. I really like it, I was worried it would be too dark but it's fine. I will probably add some black and blue coco mats after a while to add some color in if I decide it needs it.
You may as well give in now and get your wife her MINI, it's gonna happen anyway .
Annette

 

Looks good Annette!

Buck

 

Annette,

Are you still planning on a gathering at your place on Thursday?

I am 90% sure I am going to have WayMotorWorks install a rear Hotchkiss sway bar for me while at the Dragon. I just need to book a time slot.

We took a drive up in the mountains today and did some hiking and rock climbing. My 12 year old son didnt complain about the new muffler. In sixth gear @ 60-63 MPH there was a hint of drone in the cabin up a long grade, but nothing horrible. I just sped up and it went away. I also found that when out for a Sunday drive, when the sport button was off, the drone was cut in half.

As for the wife.....we have a 2006 Hynduai "Tuscon" with about 44k miles on it and we owe $8k. I am pretty sure I could trade her into a used non S MINI and keep her payments about the same or a hair higher than they are now.

I just don't think I can afford to service and maintain two MINIs, even if I buy the 100k maintenence agreement for my new MCS. The Hyundai will probably be trouble free til past its 100K warranty, hopefully.

Even if something goes bad the hour labor rate for service and the high parts cost would probably make owning 2 MINIs expensive for us..

But...I'll see how it goes and how many happy owners I meet in our travels and weigh the risk/benefits.

 

Annette that thing looks great love the wheels those are the same type I got Friday I think they lo

 

Yeah, we're still up for Thursday if y'all are. We are getting our graphics done Thursday morning and the tow system after lunch, but that's it.
So when I picked up Mozart yesterday, I was told that if I financed and made at least 3 payments then I get the 100,000 maintenance free. Since financing will only end up costing about $300 I went for it.
Oh, here's a pic of the interior. The pics don't really do it justice at all. You can't really tell the seat fabric has checkerboard pattern or the doors either. The checkerboard on the door/dash area is black and grey so the grey arm rest on the doors really looks nice with it.

Annette

 

The mini looks great Annette! I look forward to seeing it at MOTD.

 

Annette,

I look forward to seeing your car in person. I love your wheels

I think I am getting my sway bar installed thursday mid day so we will be free after that. I take it from your posts that you have an RV and the tow kit you are talking about is so you can tow ur MINI with you?

As far as adding some accents to your interior, check out :
http://www.redlinegoods.com/

I have a shift, e-brake boot and door armrest panels coming in red and black leather with charcoal stripe for accent.

I'll send you pics when it arrives this week....it shipped friday.

Larry

 

No, the tow kit is so we can pull a trailer with the MINI. I have a small 4x4ft trailer that I built a few years ago to haul stuff to the track or wherever with the MCS. We are also going to buy a dog trailer to pull behind the Countryman for going to Schutzhund trials (dog competitions).
Looking forward to seeing your redline stuff installed, they do really nice work.
Annette

 

Well, I was actually able to finish covering my headlight rings and grill trim today. It wasn't that bad after "SlimJimTell" gave me some pointers .

I really like the way the vinyl looks and it makes the whole car look different, especially with the tinted windows and black wheels.

My wife thinks I'm crazy because I used to spend big $$$ buying chrome for my Harley and now I'm covering it up .

I'm told her I'm trying to set a record on how many mods I can do before I make my first car payment..LOL (You need to catch up Annette )

Also, I LOVE the "Auto-Sport Plus" device! Simple install and well worth it.

Ordered a MOTD grill badge and holder today from Gobadges.com

Larry

 

Where u get the vinyl? Is it a pain to put on? I want some for mine. Also what paint for your rotors??

 

Vipyr,

The paint kit is $40 from Tirerack.com and comes in a dozen colors. Very simple to use and easy coverage

The vinyl I bought was called ORACAL and was $40 for a 24'x 10 ft roll. I was advised to not buy cheap vinyl, and this stuff proved to be very easy to work with.

There are a lot of threads on hear about Blacking Out, so I wont try and repeat all that because I am not an expert.

Here is my .02....

Use a spray bottle with about 3 drops of baby shampoo in there. Clean your trim piece really well and cut your vinyl a little over size. Peel the backing off the vinyl and then spray everything with the soapy water.

Lay the vinyl on the trim piece and start using a squeegy to go over top the vinyl. Spray the top of the vinyl too so your squeegy slides. ( I bought a window cleaning squeegy from ACE hardware and cut a 2" piece on my bandsaw)

Here is where I got frustrated and gave up the first time!

You need to wait about 15 minutes as you are squeegying the water out so the vinyl stops sliding and gets tacky. Focus on your main surface and get it smoothed down and all the bubbles out.

It should look like the pic below.

Then pop the ring off the hood and trim all but 1/2" around the outside edge. Then start to wrap the edge and fold it under all the way around. I ended up cutting a seam at 6 o clock to relase the tension of trying to make the vinyl curve 360 degrees and not bunch. It was a lot easier after I cut the seam and only I know its there and still I cant see it on the car.

Just make sure you keep your hood good and wet in the pic above so you can pop and lift the ring off. Trim the excess from the middle and then tuck those under too.

All in all it took me about 4 hours to do the grill and two lights. The next day in the 80 degree sun I found a couple tiny bubbles, but a pin ***** made them go away.

( Pic is courtesy of SlimJimTell)

 

Mini15235
Thanks for the info, your car looks AWESOME! Hopefully I can make it to the dragon and meet some of you guys.

Tommy

 

Tommy, if ur thinking of going to MOTD I would suggest booking somewhere to stay real soon. It is booking up fast!

 

hello
everyone ,I want to find a MINI GP R56 OR R53
where could you help me?
thank you very much

 

really hard to find.. only 100 ever made

 

Since your hosting, you get to pick the time. Please let me know what we can bring. If I haven't already, I'll PM you and Larry my email.

Jerry