Five years... BIG birthday. Maybe something special is in order, like new exhaust or new set of wheels. Hey... maybe ken will give you his gorgeous wheels when he replaces them.

 

thanks, CR&PW&JB! yah the Amigo seems to do quite well to
prep the surface before wax. im going to do my G35C hopefully tomorrow
given that it's not super hot. it's suppose to be sunny.

huh, less than one hr to do 2 cars?! dang... i might seriously
have to try that next season.


hahaha yah, my current setup isn't bad. thanks.

 

wooo~ exhaust sounds like a nice bday present.

wat the... heck?

 

I think Lotsie mentioned a suspension upgrade a while back. Could be on top of the birthday present.

On a different note, do you guys know which brake pad produces the least brake dust? A lot of folks mentioned Green Stuff but Lotsie mentioned that Lois's cabrio (which has GS pads) has pretty much the same amount of dust. I'm going to be needing new brake pads soon ...

 

I guess it helps with modulating braking more than absolute stoping power. 'Cause if you can lock up the brakes (activate ABS) the limiting factor isn't the weight of the wheels nor the brake kit---the limiting factor is now the tire friction, no? (ignoring brake fade).

 

I'm loving my Hawk ceramic pads. Have been running them about six weeks now, the last two with painted calipers. The calipers still look like I just painted them yesterday, 675 miles later.

Here's a link for The Tire Rack. They sell Hawk pads. Read about the different products and see which suits your needs. If you're not tracking the car and using like most of as a street car and you just want to reduce the dust, the high performance ceramic pad is best for you.

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/hawk/index.jsp

 

Wonderful. Thanks. Are you using stock discs? Any recommended discs that would work best with the ceramic pads?

( off to the Tirerack ...)

 

i dont usually need to apply full brake each time i come to a stop sign.
hahaha.

 

Rotors ? Yeah, I still have the stock rotors and those pads are fine with the OEM rotors.

Now... my rotors were well within specs and didn't need replaced. Your MINI is an 04... could need new rotors. You could go OEM or aftermarket, of course.

 

hummm... i should get those hawks when my stock pads wear out.

 

You really should, Ken. I didn't even wait for my OEM pads to wear out. Fronts still had 7mm on them, rears had 8mm.

When I had OEM pads on my DD, I was cleaning my wheels every day. They looked AWFUL after my daily commute. Of course, awful to me would be barely noticeable to a normal person. But after one week, without daily wiping, they would truly be filthy, by anyone's standard.

Now, with the Hawk ceramic pads, even OCD me can go three days without cleaning them. Three days worth of dust is still less than one day on the OEM pads.

 

^^ that sounds good. ive been cleaning my wheels after every 2-3
drives, so that might mean i can go an entire week with only one cleaning.


so i got these BBS CV's on the way... no, not light but much
lighter than my old R90's. tires are dunlop sportmaxxxxxxxx.

 

it is steaming hot outside right now. it stopped raining so was
outside working on my FitS's gas pedal (using aftermarket, spray painted it
black so it doesn't look obvious that it's aftermarket with the other factory
pedals ). needed to step inside... was thinking about washing my dd's
but i think i'll wait until later.

 

Later ? As in next week ?

I washed one of the MINIs on this week... Tuesday, I believe it was... at about 8:30 in the evening. When the sun went down and it wasn't so stinking hot.

 

Whew! Yeah, it is hot. Just got in from working in the yard. Having a couple of cold ones right now, then back outside.

I'll wash the MINI early tomorrow morning.

 

Smart. I washed Bergey this morning at 6:45. Done by 7:30. Waxed him and Dr Evil in the shade of the garage, done by 10:00. Just in time for the grass to be dry. Mowed the lawn. Inside in the AC by 11:00.

 

yah, might turn out to be.

when i wash the cars in the evening there's evening dew and the
car just doesn't dry correctly. i end up wiping and wiping and
wiping and wiping and wiping and wiping and wiping x10000000 and
still wet.

 

Dew ? When are you washing, midnight ??

And hey, you have a garage ! Pull the car in there and dry it off.

 

nono, that's like at sundown.

im not going to pull out my G and MCS just to dry off my dd's!

hummmm... i wonder if the paint's dry enough to mount the pedal
back onto the FitS.

 

btw, i might put these wheels/tires on sale in 3 days for any locals (IL)
who might be interested. as soon as my BBS check out ok after my
test drive, that is. tires have 97%+ tread left, like-new. MINI
factory emblem. too lazy to ship.

 

Wait a minute, you haven't had those wheels for even a year yet

I'll buy the MINI caps!

By the way, nice pic --- you actually got down on your knees (or chest?) to take that one! Good for you, Ken!

 

yah, i go through some wheels as fast as toilet paper, it seems.

i just squatted down, i placed the camera on the pavement and
just clicked.

 

Really? Like once a year???

So, I'm confused --- first you were talkin about selling the MINI and now your buying him a new set of wheels !

Seriously, even though I've never met you or your MINI, I'd be sad if you sold it.

 

So, no one is in the mood to cook so we are going out for dinner.

Daughter wants some good egg rolls while the wife has a craving for a good burger. Any suggestions where we can get both?

Me? As long as it serves beer, I'm OK.

 

yah, sometimes... the current wheels were kind of a temporary
thing as i shifted the funds to my FitS the last 9months. it's a budget
wheelset although they look nice on the car. ive been wanting
mesh wheels for a while and it was a deciding factor between going
light weight or dressup. and i chose dressup since i only motor him
in the weekday mornings and dont need so much performance. but
with decent tires i think he'll run quite nicely. always wanted to try
the Dunlop SportMaxx's too.

well considering there's really no other car i want at the moment
(possible candidate S2K CR) i think it's safe to say i'll hold onto him
for now...just as long as it doesn't fall apart and becomes a
nusance. i am also hearing some rumors at the back of my
head that he's going to be riding on coilovers next season... KW's
or Bil's and possibly remove the entire a/c system since it doesnt
work anyway.