thanks, mike.... not sure about lowering it... we'll see how the suspension "settles"..... I did the same thing with my MC and kept the stock height..... was a "ricer" at one point in my young days with my 89 honda prelude and am kinda tired of the whole "scraping" thing..... if I was to lower it, I may go with eibach springs (or maybe even coilovers, if $$$ permits)..... me too, am loving this car so much.... and I thought I was in love with my MC... this thing just flies.... can't wait to try my hand in autox or some track days..... :)

Alfredo, the wheels look nice man, but somehow (IMHO), it looks a bit smaller because the gap is quite obvious, may be due to the way you took the picture. (?) :) Anyway, the diameter is about 1/2 an inch smaller when compared to the 17' stock wheel/tires (24.3in. vs. 23.8in.) possibly due to the tire size of 215/40/17. So possibly a lowering on yours will look even more aggressive. :)

My major and very tired (me) mod was painted the caliper. It caused me 3 days of body-ache. I don't have pics yet, I will take some after washing the car sometime later.

Frankie - hey, what's up..... yeah, it does look a little small due to the wheel well gap but you have to remember, I took this right fresh from the jackstands so they should settle quite a bit in a day or two.... I'm just waiting for the break in to be over and I will install the alta intake... only 400+ miles left..... I can't wait to hear the more pronounced SC "whine" once the intake is in.... call me anal, but I ended ordering the mini madness firewall "cowl" thing that has a big hole on it... I really didn't want leave that firewall off especially when it rains.... just a precautionary thing I guess..... :)

Frankie - hey, what's up..... yeah, it does look a little small due to the wheel well gap but you have to remember, I took this right fresh from the jackstands so they should settle quite a bit in a day or two.... I'm just waiting for the break in to be over and I will install the alta intake... only 400+ miles left..... I can't wait to hear the more pronounced SC "whine" once the intake is in.... call me anal, but I ended ordering the mini madness firewall "cowl" thing that has a big hole on it... I really didn't want leave that firewall off especially when it rains.... just a precautionary thing I guess..... :)

Oh I see. I will be hitting my first 1000 mile point tomorrow. I did not drive the car today, but yesterday, it was at about 99X miles, so definitely it will be over 1000. Then, by Monday, if my and I go motoring again this weekend, it may pass the 1250 check point ... then I am free. :D However, we are about running out choices of close by (less than 1.5 hr drive) motoring places. :( Maybe go to Monterey :)

Look forward for your sharing of your experience on installing the Alta intake once you got it on.

Thought I would share a picture of the sales lady baptising my Mini. :D

Man.... I am so proud!

as promised, here's a new pic from this morning of "casper" with his new shoes.... are the wheels too dark for the PW/B? opinions, pls. :)

as promised, here's a new pic from this morning of "casper" with his new shoes.... are the wheels too dark for the PW/B? opinions, pls. :)

:) That looks damn good to me!

Thought I would share a picture of the sales lady baptising my Mini. :D

Man.... I am so proud!

Hmmm...she looks pretty darn good from that shot. ;)

as promised, here's a new pic from this morning of "casper" with his new shoes.... are the wheels too dark for the PW/B? opinions, pls. :)

Hay Alfredo, I don't think so, to me that looks good. Saw some even darker. :)

I'd say, GO DARK!! less visible BRAKE DUST!

I say it looks great Alfredo. :)

I hit 1000 miles today! Took a picture, and some other cool pictures of my car at eBay are up at the newest gallery on www.hyperbluemini.com. :)

-mike

Me too, as I said, I passed the 1000 mi. check point. I brought my car in this morning to activate the alarm and had a free car wash, got a 04' 325 wagon as loaner car. Got done in the morning and picked up in lunch time. Now, when I use the remote to lock/unlock the car, there is relative loud 'beep' and 'beep beep' sound signaling enable and disable of the alarm.

However, found they had reprogram the car during alarm activation, so lost the day-time-driving light. Will bring back in on Friday to reprogram it.

Cool Frankie, sounds like we're on the same driving schedule in terms of miles. ;) Where'd you go for the alarm, Allison? Did they just give you a loaner because it was a paid install, or do you think they'll give you a loaner when you bring it in for service too? I heard their policy was no loaner unless you bought the car there...

-mike

okay, okay... here I go.... I wasn't really happy with how the hyperblack tz10s looked on my car... call me a traditionalist but it was a little too dark for my taste... in addition, my wife commented on them this morning saying that it did appear dark to her as well... that was it... during lunch, I went and swapped them out through my local wheel/tire dealer wtih team dynamics mirage wheels ... 17 x 7.5 in hypersilver (there I go again with the "hyper") ... In any case, now I really feel that the wheels compliment the PW color of the car..... sorry for the crappy pic.. only had my phone cam with me... will post better pics tom. :cool:

Cool Frankie, sounds like we're on the same driving schedule in terms of miles. ;) Where'd you go for the alarm, Allison? Did they just give you a loaner because it was a paid install, or do you think they'll give you a loaner when you bring it in for service too? I heard their policy was no loaner unless you bought the car there...

-mike

That I don't know Mik. Tomorrow, I will have them correct me the program they messed up during alarm activation, so I think it should be no charge on me, and I request for a loaner again, seems no problem.

okay, okay... here I go.... I wasn't really happy with how the hyperblack tz10s looked on my car... call me a traditionalist but it was a little too dark for my taste... in addition, my wife commented on them this morning saying that it did appear dark to her as well... that was it... during lunch, I went and swapped them out through my local wheel/tire dealer wtih team dynamics mirage wheels ... 17 x 7.5 in hypersilver (there I go again with the "hyper") ... In any case, now I really feel that the wheels compliment the PW color of the car..... sorry for the crappy pic.. only had my phone cam with me... will post better pics tom. :cool:

Alfredo, that looks nice too. So now you have three sets of rims for your new 05? :) IMHO, just different taste, as long as you find one you (and possibly your wife :)) like it, go for it.

Ok, so now is my show-off time ... just uploaded a number of new pics I have on mine ...

http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46419_thumb.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46419.jpg)http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46420_thumb.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46420.jpg)http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46426_thumb.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46426.jpg)
http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46422_thumb.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46422.jpg)http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46421_thumb.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46421.jpg)http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46416_thumb.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46416.jpg)
http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46412_thumb.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46412.jpg)http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46418_thumb.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46418.jpg)http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46417_thumb.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/20038/46417.jpg)

Enjoy !! :D

frankie - that's sweet!!! i just realized that the bronze wheels compliment your interior color.... that's very cool..... does that setup feel any diff. from the s lites at all? looks like you're still wearing the runflats there..... as far as my set, I sold the hyperblack set to a buddy of mine... so I only lost the installation cost of trading tires to this new set... not a bad trade off..... :cool:

frankie - that's sweet!!! i just realized that the bronze wheels compliment your interior color.... that's very cool..... does that setup feel any diff. from the s lites at all? looks like you're still wearing the runflats there..... as far as my set, I sold the hyperblack set to a buddy of mine... so I only lost the installation cost of trading tires to this new set... not a bad trade off..... :cool:

Not enough experience to tell if the wheel change makes any difference, since I changed it when there was only 60miles on the R85 S-Lite, however, when I hold up the wheels, the S-Lite is a whole lot heavier than the Enkei's. :) Lucky you have your buddy take over the hyperblack from you, so now you have three different sets of pics for your car. ;)

Your guys' cars look sweet!!

-mike

as promised, here are better pics from this morning.... I really like them better than the tz10s...... :cool:

I really like them better than the tz10s...... :cool:

I do too Alfredo, they rock!

-mike

Yeah Alfredo, this set looks bigger and better. That one was good too, but somehow, seems small in the wheel well. Great!

Hmm... The 'Classic Mini to CA' gangs are back on this thread, will they hijack it again? ;)

Haha Frankie. ;)

-mike

yup... we're doing it again... this time, I don't think a lot of people will mind since they're so busy motoring in their new babies..... :cool:

just an update... I installed my Alta CAI this morning... wow... I can now attest to everyone that has said that the supercharger whine is addicting.... as far as power is concerned, it does feel a little more powerful but that's only going up to 4.5k rpm.... just a couple of hundred more miles and I can give you a fair review of how it pulls.... the "whoosh" sounds so good as well..... installation was pretty straightforward... I used the how-to's from Randy Webb's webbmotorsports site.... :cool:

I'm OUT OF BREAK-IN! :D I drove it about 150 miles yesterday, worked my ass off and got all my work done on Saturday so I could spend Sunday motoring around (in the heavy rain, no less, hehe). Drove all around the bay, and today I finished it off! Just a few minutes ago I hit 1250 and at that very moment I gave it full throttle for the very FIRST time. It feels EXCELLENT! :D :D

-mike

Mike, you're free now. I did the same thing, but almost there by about 0.5-0.8mi. It was 1200 this morning, so I decided to finish it off today after work, so I drove to my wife's work place, picked her up and we went dinner. Since where she works is about 20 miles away from home, we drove around after dinner and it was about 1231, so started going home. When I reach my garage, it was 1249, so I deciced to let it be un'break in' for another day or two. But definitely, next time, IT IS THE TIME to set me (or my car) free. :D (Wonder whether I should take a picture of the 1249 mi.)

Hehe, cool Frankie, we seem to have been on identical driving schedules this whole time. :) I saw a PW/B with black racing stripes that flashed and waved up on 84 in Sunol/Pleasanton yesterday, wasn't you was it? ;)

I took a bunch of pictures at 1250, and then promptly stepped on it. :) I'll post the pics up on my site soon - forgot the camera in the car.

-mike

I am finally DONE on the break-in period, after the trip to work this morning, so I be pushing more to feel what people has been saying about the power and performance this car. :)