Hi NAMily!!!

Spent 50ish hours just in airports trying to get to Hawaii ...18 boarding passes for a trip that only should have had 4. I think THAT was Scarlett's way of hexing the trip. The guy in College Station put half our plane on stand by and DIDN"T TELL US!!! That hiccupped the rest of the trip out there. But we made it and extended the trip longer since the mess. Have never written a letter to the airline before plan on it this time. We saw several precious MINIs each day over there. Did the Road to Hana which is kazillions of hairpin turns and kept saying to each other...'Scarlett sure would like THIS!!" We missed her. She did have her bonnet stuck up in the air when we saw her again, she wouldn't speak to me ...but once I put a few of those chocolate macadamia nuts on the dash for her (Ate two bags of those nuts....ohhh, they are delicious!)...we were best pals again. A smile came across her grill and peace was embracing us all.

It's been fun hearing about your new MINI goodies, you all. Keep em coming!
Happy New Year to you all!
Ag

 

Welcome Home Aggie! We took good care of Scarlette but she's promised us some new pictures!

 

Welcome back Aggie!

I always knew that chocolate covered macadamia nuts were a form of medicine.... Are you going to tell us which airline made your trip so pleasant?

 

Wahooo, we're glad you're back. Things have been a little quiet around here. Wouldn't it be a blast to take a "Mini" tour on the road to Hana? Post a few pictures when you get a chance.

 

American Airlines provided the lovely tour of DFW and dive hotel...dinner was at Denny's! A sure travel hit for any stranded soul! FOUR STARS!!!

 

Well, they are AA not AAA.

 

But it probably made any facility in Hawaii seem ultra luxurious in comparison....

 

Happy new year everyone! Sorry to hear about your long delay getting to Hawaii Aggie. I never could quite understand airline's excuses for overbooking a flight..especially for so many people. Did you get anything else besides Denny's? I would have been asking for some free flights!

 

Wow, we are having a little native american summer here in socal - great day for top down motoring! I didn't need to think too hard to come up with some reasons to head out on some errands....

 

yes, lil zip, we each got $200 in AA vouchers since we were 'forced' to standby. Like I said...we generall suck it up but will be writing a letter to AA since they did go against company policy (ask for volunteers for standby) and maybe we will get a little something more. I just want someone higher up to know the rules weren't being followed.

Speaking of a great day for being topless Homer...with the El Nino, more people are spending more time with the top down this year...that's ONE bright spot! EH!

Any of you getting 'swirls' when you wash your babies??? If so, what are you using to get rid of them? I tried something I read about in Deatailing 101 Forum but she's still not to the luster that she was when I brought her home.

thanks for any advice...
AG

 

Moe got some new clothes... well downtube covers..

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t=86297&page=5

 

Ooooh, the evil swirls! I have avoided them so far, talked to some of the SoCal mini owners at a get together, and they gave me some tips to avoid the swirls - wash mit, drying towel and style, etc. Once you have them, it seems like some of the detailers paradise items should work pretty well. Basil looks almost as good as he did at the dealer. I still need to take some time to get the paint from the street stripe painter off of the black plastic trim pieces....

Eenie - what kind of down tube covers did you get? Basil is still completely stock except for the m7 reinforcement plates at the struts....

 

Moe's covers are from Redlinegoods. They are easy to put on and take off so you can change back if/when you want. There is a thread about them in the interior mods forum under "beta tester needed". I am very pleased with them... today being the second day of driving and looking down at the radio, etc it just looks .. warmer.. less plasticky.

So far I've added:
window tint
custom boot/bonnet stripes (aestheticcreations)
M7 strut plate reinforce and those cappy things JJBlue told us about
Aux input adapter
glove box organizer
mounted ipaq gps
and now the down tube covers...
all of them by myself (Go Girls!) except the boot/bonnet stripes as its a two people job to get straight and bubblefree.

 

Homer...don't forget the peanut oil or peanut butter..
With swirl marks, I highly recommend scratch X, then polish. For heavy duty swirl marks, you might have to use an electric buffer.

See you on the I-5.

 

Also, someone posted in the Detail 101 forum to avoid washing in a circular motion. We should use the wool mitt loaded with clean water/shampoo rubbing in front-to-back, back-to-front on the bonnet and roof. Then rub up and down on the sides and boot door. I've been following this advice and have no swirls so far. I dry with one of DP's monster towels then finish off with Turtle Wax ICE detail spray. I've been dusting Flo with a California duster in between washes.

 

Thanks for the tips Homer, Sissy, Lexter.

I have tried Scratch X polish once and they are still there. I noticed the swirls after we brought home and hubby washed twice. He's not allowed to touch her again... lol...and luckily I haven't had to let him in on this decision...

I will get a wash mit and one of those neato towels everyone talks about and try the techniques you describe.

You guys are just GREAT.

Have a marvelous Friday and thanks for helping me...
AG

 

Heehee... my husband thinks I'm ****. He caught me cleaning under Flo's bonnet a few weeks ago. He shook his head and muttered something like my being insane. He would never in a million years wash his own car. He says car washes (especially ones that give out discount coupons) are quite good enough. I would never ever submit Flo to that mistreatment. I have to fess up, however, that I have run her thru the LaserWash. I really don't like doing that because the water sprays into the supercharger opening on the bonnet and the wax gets on the glass as well as the paint and the LaserWash still leaves SPOTS. But, it beats going grungy when the weather is too cold to shampoo her in the back yard. My husband will more than likely have me committed to Wichita Falls when I purchase a PC random orbitor and OctanGuy's DVD this spring.

 

I went to a Megiuar's detailing class last year (highly recommend it) with my club and took some photo notes (yes, I'm lazy). Here are some good tips:

Click on the pic to enlarge:






More pics can be seen here:
Meguiar's Flickr Pics

Remember to always wash top-->down.....and don't kiss your MINI too much after you're done, you'll end up with smudges.

 

He he...Lexster, I like your note taking style. I found that peanut butter does a good job at taking care of those nasty white marks left behind by wax on the black trim...however the white comes back within a couple of weeks. Too bad...peanut butter was cheap and easy - and kind of funny. I guess I need to be a little more careful when waxing my car. Which brings me to the point of why do they make the pads round? I think square pads would be easier to control. Just my two cents for whoever wants to listen.

Anyways, I'm no expert in detailing. But I wash my car every weekend and so far, haven't seen much swirling...doors dings and scratches from idiots who don't watch what they are doing maybe, but no swirling. I use a wool washmit to wash my car. I "scrub" a little and then take the hose to the mitt and wash the dirt off before putting it back into the bucket of soapy water to continue to wash my car. I use this as a substitute for the two bucket with grit guard method.

 

I'm still parking as far away from the thundering crowds as possible as well as staying uphill from the grocery carts. Got really PO'd in a WalMart parking lot at Christmas. Parked at the far edge of the lot away from everyone. Found a junker parked next to Flo when I returned.

 

I think people do that just to tick us off. They know we value our cars and try to get a rise out of us by parking their POS next to us. I've actually had friends admit to doing that.

 

Wow, I was convinced that Lexter was yanking the new guys chain about the peanut butter, but I guess it's legit! I just can't have Sparky the King of Idiots out in the garage with me when I try it, or he will lick all the PB off of Basil.... (Sparky is our golden retriever).

Missed you yesterday Lexter!

 

Homer ~
I wouldn't lead you astray when it comes to washing and detailing MINIs...come on, more than half of all MINI owners are obsessive about their MINI (including me). Now if we were talking about best shortcuts in the south OC...well, I might suggest a longer way instead but more fun with twisties or corners.

Check out these threads in regards to peanut butter or peanut oil:

1. Remove Wax residue from Wheel molding
2. Peanut Butter in the Garage
3. What do you use to shine/clean the black plastic trim?
4. Peanut butter works!
5. I've 'nutter thought on the peanut butter
6. Peanutbutter Rocks!
7. Removing the white residue on black trim
Poll - How do you clean your exterior plastic molding?

I again invite you to join SCMM. We'll be organizing another Meguiar's Detailing day as well as other fun events. We just had our 4th Anniversary bash at Santa Anita this past Saturday.. there were about 100 detailed and washed MINIs at the event. This coming Saturday, we're going to Ireland Engineering Autoshop in Duarte. Do yourself a favor and research mushrooming and cracked strut mounts. I had Ireland fixed camber plates installed in Whipper to protect him since I am still running runflats with 17" wheels. The ride and turning is much smoother, and I no longer cringe everytime I hit an uneven patch on the I-5. After the Ireland Engineering, we're going go-karting in Irvine. Maybe you can join us and meet some other SoCal MINI Maniacs. You can check out Whipper and the clearbra spray paint he has.

Hope to see you soon...and try peanut butter/oil and then let me know what you think.

 

I'll keep thinking about SCMM, but the Mrs already thinks I'm nuts for joining the SSOCMCC (even though she had a good time at the rally last weekend...)

Thanks for the clarification on the peanut butter!

 

Well i havent been on this thread in a while....too busy motoring like crazy...lol. Well anyways i finally got some pictures uploaded of my 06 MCS DS/BLK. The noticible things in the pictures are of course new wheels (HP Racing Evos), window tint, and a craven speed stubby antenna. Of couse it has also been detailed in the past month. There are also pics of my new armrest. Another mod so far is a glovebox organizer but no pics. I am in the process of totally revamping my whole audio system. Can you tell the mod fever has caught me?? Do you have this disease too??