and what about birds. They just LOVE using cars for target practice. ever notice birds aiming beside, in front, or behind your car....noooooooooo. Birds are smart, annoyingly smart.

Pollen is a huge problem in our parts, too. Green/yellow dust everywhere

 

birds... dang, i hate it when they eat those purple berries... man their
crap is so corrosive they can put a hole in metal.

so, i got back from motoring my G. was great. finally getting the
hang of the car again (was in hiberation the last 5months).. clutch is
heavy and full engagement is high. the throttle is super responsive,
light flywheel..basically the opposite of my MCS. but i can motor my
MCS super smooth.

after motoring, i caldusted her and SprayOn waxed, Clarity'ed the windows.
will dust the interior later on today and Slick the wheels.

 

i was about to start on the LegacyWgn... but the car is gone.

wat the...


wife went grocery shopping.

 

We made it back from the Dragon, just rolled in, lots of stories to tell, some involving me at a beverage swap. We had a great time seeing old friends and making new ones, always good to be able to put a face to a screen name.

I went back a few pages on this thread to get a feel for what is going on. Ken, congrats on the raise. I got a phone call while we were in a town that had cell service, and I start work in a scene shop Monday morning.

Well I need to unpack, wash Poco, he is covered in dirt, pollen, bugs, and general road crap, then water the gardens, will check back in later.

Mark

 

lotsie- thanks! and congrats on your new scens shop work!
welcome back.


so, i got done polishing and coating my legacy with paint sealant. the 3"
orbital is kickbutt! (no joke) this thing is awesome. very convenient.

the only thing i noticed was my 3" orange pad gets squashed easily so
need to get more pads. seems like speed 3.5-4 is the ideal speed for
polishing otherwise it spins too fast or the pad gets super squashed.
lol it reformed back to shape after washing it and massaging it.

the Griot's PaintSealant is also a nice find for me. SUPER easy to
tell coverage because it leaves behind a wet appearance on the paint.
took me 3hrs to polish, but maybe 15min to wax. i let it haze for
about 30min (dry to the touch)before using some SpeedShine to remove it.
came off very easily. will start using Hydro after it cures fully.

my red pad that i used the sealant is like permanently soaked in the
stuff though... MicroFiber Cleaner could not do much to remove it.
even tried some PaintPrep on the pads to wash. it took out some,
but not all. i just left it as it's a dedicated pad for polymer.

im going to use the sealant on my Fit next weekend!

 

Lotsie - nice to meet you in person!

Ken - no fair posting so much while we were offline!

ML - no fair beating up my Icons when I wasn't here to defend them!

The Icons do NOT fit the MINI windshield as well as a "normal" wiper, due to the curvature around the right side. I'm using a passenger side wiper 2" shorter than stock (17" instead of 19") and that helps, but it still doesn't make complete contact at the tip when the wiper is "parked". As it arcs up the windshield, it all comes in contact and all is good. It rained a good bit at MOTD and I thought the Icons functioned fine. Personally, I like the look... I don't think they're bulky or klunky looking... but they ARE different...

 

^^ welcome to my thread. oh wait, it's lotsie's.

 

Paul, I see we have some catching up to do

Mark

 

Who me?

 

Well, washed the Wife's car today Hydro'ed and Black WOWed and added something that she came up with from some vinyl we bought while she was waiting on her MINI. So here it is:

 

Can you tell I'm a Newb at this!

 

i usually spell weeeee~!!


i put in a new order for more pads to griots tonight along with
another 35oz bottle of MF Cleaner.

 

She's got 3 sisters and thats a play on an inside thing they always say to each other. My motoring ID is WHEE500 also and she is 501. Not that anyone uses them for anything.

 

It's cute!

 

Pays to be the teacher's pet... in the MOTD car show, Heather judged my interior and gave me a 9 outta 10 points... Richard judged my exterior and gave me a 7.5 outta 10 (highest score anyone got was a 9)... and Blimey was pretty darn swirly by my standards (ran outta time and didn't get him polished).

Not that it mattered... lots of awesome cars in the show... I didn't even place (nor did I expect to going in... just there for fun and to meet my "fans"...)

jk... I think both judges were both professionally objective... and my interior DID look damm good... so did the exterior, before I went out the next day and did this...


Somehow, when Ken says "Motored my G" I don't think he means THIS kinda motoring...

 

Nice footage, where did you find that stretch of road?

 

That's Parson's Branch "Primitive" Road - it's 8 miles like that, with about a dozen stream crossings, from Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains NP, exits onto US129 (Tail of the Dragon). It's one-way... and it takes about an hour and a half to get from the "exit" to the beginning going the long way around...

 

hey, is that one of the Icons?

 

Back from MOTD, Peeps !! Nice to meet Mark and his beautiful other half, Lois, and Paul (he was NOT hard to pick out of a crowd) there at the Dragon !! Damn, you guys look better in person than I imagined.

Like Mark said, need to wash the MINI this morning and get those bugs and pollen off him. I did manage to give Dr Evil a couple of washes while there (not bad for being there just 2.5 days) but the trip back was brutal. I wonder if there are any bugs left in the state of Virginia.

Also have to pick up the animals at the vets office, do the lawn work, catch up on laundry... yikes. Catch up with you all later !!

 

In fact, it IS!

Actually, my two blades have two slightly different mounts - one is a little "sleeker", the other is actually a bit smaller but a little more "blocky". I'm not sure which I like best... and it's not so noticeable that it bugs me enough to swap one out...

Chris - nice meeting you also... yeah... you never know how folks are gonna look in person.... first time I met gnatster was a surprise....

 

ahhh, thanks for the info. i haven't bought one yet for my G... but you
said the valeo's suck so its going to be either the icons or just keep it
as is. i rarely use the blades anyway.

the thing about those traditional blades is that bugs get caught on it
sometimes and a biotch to clean without touching the side of the car.

 

wheew, just got done washing my FitS.

i found a few more scratches on the car.. more like scuffs from
landscape dorks scraping along the side of the car with their
pants. it's a knee height too. dog damn it.

i park on the edge of the driveway next to the bushes. usually
im out at work while they work on the landscaping during the week
but a few weeks ago they were doing work on a saturday. im
pretty sure that's when it happened.

since the sun was low while i washed the car this morning i found it.

guess i wont be washing the car in the mornings now on.
im going to polish it out this coming weekend.

 

Welcome back from the Dragon, kids! I expect lots of amusing anecdotes, pictures, and video. I really hope I can make it down there next year, budget permitting.

Now I'm wondering what you're imagining. On second thought, I probably don't want to know.

I'm going to wash the MINI today or tomorrow, and hopefully my new front grill and mud flaps should get here too. Then I've got to schedule an appointment to get the stripes put back on the boot, and get a few minor clear bra issues taken car of. Then I can finally do a proper clay/polish/wax.

 

Blimey,
Nice video. Any stills along that road? That road looked like it was in better shape than most of the state roads in northern Illinois.

 

lol... like Golf Rd for example.