I've been on the lookout today for a PS/B mini driving around Phoenix, but I haven't been near the dealership this afternoon. I'm sure you're right, SB14, he's motoring right now. It'll probably be a while before we hear from him.

 

Well it's official, I have transitioned from soon-to-be owner to full fledged MINI motorer! I just got back from the dealer (after making a second trip to pick up my other car from the parking lot!). Now I know what all of you were talking about... these cars are fun! Here's a photo from the showroom:



Near my house is a trafic circle and you should of heard the screams from my two little girls as I made two passes! Thanks for hanging tough with me PW29!

 

Let me be the first to officially congratulate you on your new arrival. What a great looking car!

Those corners, at least for me, continued to get faster and faster as I began to trust the car more and more. It's great fun!

Have a great time...and I'm sure we'll meet up at a local event at some point.

Bill~

 

Well Allriiiight! He looks great! Now the ordeal will start to fade away quickly. Its so much fun to learn what a MINI can do. Its like no other car I've ever had! I don't know the origin of "StompRocket" but if its a reference to any of your previous rides, you may have to change it to FleetFootRocket or something like that! Anyway, Enjoy, Personalize and Ride, man, Ride!

 

Stomp, Finally, I'm so glad you got your Mini. It was way over due, but I'm sure well worth it. I too as I'm sure you remember had to wait an extra three weeks while it was just sitting at the dealership. But when I got to the dealership to pick up SilverBullet, boy, I couldn't take my eyes of the car. It was so tough to do the paper work, I just wanted to MOTOR!!! Enjoy it! It looks AWESOME. Love the color wink wink!

Now, your next step, Keep it clean!!! It's almost a side job for me, my car is allergic to bugs and dirt. When ever it hits the car, it must come off!!!

Actually, I've had the car for 3 weeks now and I just did my first detailing!! Has any of the 29's ventured to this area?
Wash
Claybar (Magic Claybar) - Amazing what you find in the paint
Wash
Polish (Turtle Wax Ice) - WOW WOW WOW - and smells nice too, highly recommend this stuff. This is what the prof. Mini detailers use for car shows
Wax (Mequeirs Gold Wax) - Seals to perfection.

Now my Mini is smoother than a baby's butt!!!

 

SilverBullet,

My cars already filthy. It seems my car had a light coat of grease all over it and is now covered in dust! I am looking forward to doing some detailing this weekend!

My plan is to use the two bucket wash method, claybar, then nice coat of Mequires NXT wax. I also want to put some scotch guard on the cloth sections of my seats. Awww... sounds like a fun Saturday morning

For the glass I really like Invisiglass glass cleaner. I have also been using Meguires Hot Tire Shine. What does everyone else do?

 

I'm telling you, after using the claybar, wash your car again and then get some of the Turtle Wax Ice Polish, the stuff does wonders. Then seal it up with the Mequiers. It's important to get the oils of the polish in before sealing it up with the wax.
Just my 2cents.

 

Wow Stomp...what a sweet looking Mini, that's a beauty. Now you can baby it every Saturday like me!! As for washing and all that fun stuff I tend to use Meguires products...but I do love the Turtle Wax Ice polish, I also really like the Ice detailer (and also the Meguires Quick Detailer)...I've also already used the Meguires Scratch X to help get rid of a couple minor scratches, from who knows who and it works wonders as well. I also use a tire shine and a protectant for the vinyl and rubber parts on the outside but I am at a loss as to what brand they are...sorry...

Actually I just got done cleaning him up and I don't think I've posted any pics up here since I got the tints and some new stripes..

 

Wow, nice job minigrrl. I've only washed a few times using the 2 bucket system and Zanio car wash. I've used Zanio Z? on the black trim and wheels. That looked great. It's amazing how much black trim there is.

How about a list of mods? I know minigrrl and Minimaxx have done tint. I have done the gutter guard trick on the hood intake and my major driving mod will be me. I will be taking the MINI and myself to racing school on Monday! So, also did my first oil change today. That went OK, hopfully next time I can be more efficeint and get it done a little quicker.

 

minigrrl000- Your car looks awesome! Very nice detail work.

I washed, claybar'd, and waxed my car today. I also used Quick Detailer on the interior and engine compartment as well as scotch guarded the fabric part of my seats.

I know I am a perfectionist (I think most MINI owners are), but I noticed a couple things on my car today.

1. The side mirrors seems to have a lot of hairline swirls in them. I have only used very fine microfiber towels on them.

2. I have a couple areas in my paint with very tiny black dots. I mean you really have to look. (maybe overspray from the black roof?) They did not come out with the claybar.

3. I already took one ding from a rock (hit right outside of the clear bra on the car by the chrome grill) Oh, and the paint seems really thin as it went to bare metal with a dimple dent.

4. The front windshield has a couple pock marks in it already. I think one was there the day I got it. I've read MINI windshields are very soft.

5. I found a ding in my front rim the second day I had the car. I was sick about it and tried to figure out what I could have hit. I went home and looked at the pictures I took at delivery... guess what? The ding was there when I got it! Called my MA and emailed him the pic and they said they would take care of it.

Also, my mods so far: red mirror caps, tinted windows, and clear bra.

What is everyone else's first impressions, mods, etc.?

 

Let us know how the racing school goes! Regarding the oil, what kind did you use? Did you do the filter? And how many miles are you at?

 

I used Castrol full synthetic 5w-30, a new filter from the MINI dealer (bought 2 for $15), and I had 1805 miles. I've read some threads about some owners changing their oil shortly after break-in, then around 5000 miles, and then accepting the free ~10,000 mile oil change from the dealership. I'm planning on doing the same. Also, I heard you should change your oil before a track day so I'm getting two birds with one stone so to speak.

I did have some trouble getting of oil filter back on. Learned I needed to really put some downward pressure on the oil filter cannister while trying to start the threads.

StompRocket, your mods sound great. Do you have any pictures with the red mirror caps?

 

I second that Stomp I would really love to see a picture of your mini with those red mirror caps! I think that is an awesome mod!

My list of mods so far: the first order of business was getting rid of the orange side lights, then of course the stripes, the tints and I just bought the PIAA driving lights and am hopefully gonna have them put on next week....then my big mod is gonna be the new Megan Racing Mini exhaust as soon as it is available...and maybe the Megan Racing header (if I can afford it )

Mjgmcs1- let us know how driving school is!

Stomp- how do you like your clear bra??

 

Here's some pics after the detailing this weekend. The sun was a little bright... they probably would have come out better in the morning or evening.

 

I like it. I think it becomes less noticable to me the longer I have it. I especially like the protection it provides as we have a lot of road debris here in Arizona. There are a couple edges that are not sealed down well, but I take it in on Wednesday to have a couple places fixed, so this should get taken care of. Mine is the 3M product.

That exhaust sounds like a great mod. Not sure I can go for that just yet.

 

stomp - where did you get your red mirror caps? They look really nice with the pure silver.. i was thinking about getting some caps, but want a solid color..

 

Wow...that has to be the best looking pure silver mini I've seen, the red mirror covers just add that extra touch...nice... very good call. Pure Silver was my second choice for a mini...

 

Yes, the red mirror caps look great!

The track day was postponed on account of rain. As a group, we decided not to run on the wet track with no sign of the showers letting up. Oh well, maybe next month.

 

I looked everywhere for them, including posting here on NAM. I ended up buying unpainted caps from the dealer ($30/each) and going to an automotive paint store and having them mix a pint of Chili Red (code 851) base enamel and put it in an aerosol can. I painted them in my garage (very messy project) and then clear coated them. Total cost about $100.

If you can find a pair on eBay or through something else, it would be well worth buying them. Paint shops quoted me $200-250 just to paint them.

 

Thanks for compliment! Interesting, because I configured a couple Royal Grey Coopers as well! I like the swoop stripe with your color scheme.

 

Stomp, minigrrl Great looking rides!! Now, isn't this a lot better than sweating sailing schedules? Remember all that? It seems so far away now that we're enjoying our MINI's. Me, just back to my regular schedule, just getting there faster! I'm well past break-in and I'll tell you; it's hard to find the limits of my MINI. Every day, you try a little something else and then pull back and go Wow! What an amazing car! I think the defense mechanism that keeps you on the safe side is called the "I don't want to soil my pants" mechanism! Well, have fun guys!

 

Much better than sailing schedules. It's nice to hear the fun doesn't end and even might begin after the break in! I had to take my car in today to get the clear bra on over my stripes. It was hard to part with my MINI!

 

Hey Stomp- So I was surfing on www.bimmian.com looking for a new antenna for my mini and I came across this sweet red sharkfin and I immediatly thought of you! It would look sweet with the red mirrors..

 

That is pretty sweet! I may have to add that to the mod list! What mods did you pick up there?

 

I haven't picked up anything as of the moment....for some reason I'm having a hard time choosing an antenna ! I'm making today the day that I choose! I guess it's because there are too many choices! I'm working very hard at the moment to get a custom shift **** made for me. I'm in contact with a company that makes custom pool *****..hopefully they can make this for me

(I'm a big fan of halloween, so this would be perfect inside my mini!!) Once they ship it to me I'm gonna send it off to Doug Whalen to make it into a shift **** for me!! So hopefully they can make it for me! Come to find out Mr. Whalen lives pretty close to me!