I picked up my 2006 MCSCa on Saturday. No name yet, waiting for it to tell me what to call it. It's great to finally have my car. I do however have a few questions:

First, I am driving through A LOT of salt for the next few months. I have had to clean my rear window at least 3 times because I could not see through it (visibility sucks enough without the salt!) My concern is the rag top. Since it looks like it will be below freezing for at least the next few days in my area, should I be worrying about the caked on salt on the ragtop? Does anyone have any advice on the best way to wash the salt off of the rear portion of the ragtop?

Second, the tachometer is kind of bothering me. The red lines are lit up starting one notch before 7, and continue to be lit all the way through 8. They are lit whether or not the lights are on. Since I am in the break in period, I have not come close to hitting 7000 RPMs, so I am wondering if this is a feature, or did I start with a broken tachometer.

Thanks in advance!

 

No knowledge of salt (happy me!) but the tach is normal - I had to check that a few times as well. It's just a feature to warn you if you're getting close to redline. Motor on!

 

cant help you about the ragtop, but the tach is made that way. Its just another way of pointing out where your limit is. Instead of other cars as where the redline is painted on the gauge cluster, ours is lit up by red led's that are on no matter what so that u can see it during the day and the nite.

 

The salt will probably not hurt the top fabric. However, if I were in an area that used a lot of salt, I believe I would take mine to the nearest carwash and using water only, clean the top. Let low pressure to soak the top and loosen the salt, then rinse.

Be careful how you use the high pressure. Watch the two vertical seams next to the rear window and don't blow it directly at the top of the windows or the header.

I haven't built the nerve yet to take mine into an automatic car wash yet, but believe some on this board have.

 

I have the same question. I got mine in Nov. and now that they are starting to salt, ive been wondering if I should just power wash it periodicly or go full out and wash it with soap. Either way i've got to get a coat of wax on it soon. If you find out let me know.

 

I don't use soap on the top of mine. Just PLENTY of water while you softly "scrub" with one of these. Kinda pricy, but mine has lasted for ~4 years now.

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog....archtext=66073


And it gets into the seams and body panel grooves VERY well.




No, I don't work for Griots Garage...

edit: I had one of these boar hair brushes in the past, one of the first ones they made. The hair was mounted in a WOOD block, and apparently they had a hard time getting the hair to stick in wood. I emailed them (had the first brush ~2 years) and I told them that I LOVED the brush, but it was loosing its' hair faster than me! It was shedding all over my car. Three days later I had a new one in the mail - no questions asked, didn't cost me a penny, and they didn't want the old one back. And they even apologized for my inconvenience!

 

I don't know about the top, but the tach is that way for a reason.

The MINI One, One Diesel, Cooper, and Cooper S all share the same tach. The redline differs for each car, and is controlled by the car's computer.

The One and One D aren't available in the US.

Rawhyde