Cool picture! Still haven't been on a MINI drive with other MINIs, but I really want to go! My MINI has 4100 miles now. Still love it just as much as the first day.

Hello to everyone! I've been so busy lately that I haven't been here to post for a while. The last cool drive I took with my MINI was to my hometown a while back. The twisty turns were lots of fun. Makes me want to go find some more. The flat land of South Carolina isn't the best platform for a MINI. Poor little guy - he's not getting to live up to his full potential.

Cleaning question - what do you guys use to clean your dash? It doesn't seem like the type of dash that you should use Armor All on. Any suggestions?

Have a good night,

Debbie


Hey again!

Judy and I just got back from a wonderful three-day interstate run put on by out local club, SCMM (http://scmm.org).

Judy took lots of pics and put together a huge slideshow with almost 200 images!

How's everybody else doin'? Anyone planning to attend Phil Wicks' Golden Jubilee event at Laguna Seca (Mazda Raceway) in Monterey, California on December 14? Looks to be quite an event.

How 'bout AMVIV 3 (A Miini Vacation in Vegas) next March? We're planning on both of these, and would love to see some March 05 Builders there!

_Dave_

Debbie, I wipe the dash with the leftover paper towel I used to clean the windows. :) Works fine.

Check out the Devil's Backbone thread in the MA forum, that was western VA. Close enough you could have attended. My local club is thinking of doing a similar tour in the spring.

Hey guys and gals,

I just stopped by to wish you all Happy Holidays, starting with Turkey Day today.
It sounds like almost everyone here still thinks as highly of their MINIs as much as we do here at home-9 months later no less! We haven't done much to ours lately other than drive it whenever we get the chance, except to buy a pair of those vinyl graphics eyeballs that go under the bonnet. (hopefully Santa will see how badly we want some chrome goodies)

Deb, I (kinda sorta) do what AW does and use paper towels, but I spray a clean one with the window cleaner (not the dash, but the towel) and add those to my used window towels to clean around the door jambs, door hinges and around the boot seal area.

As for all of you lucky enough to go on long runs..color us jealous. We don't live anywhere remotely close to clubs that go on runs so we probably won't be going on any next year either. We're hoping someone in our nearby -and larger- towns start one up so we can join in on the fun! Keep taking those pics of the scenic places you have been traveling to. We love looking at those!

Again, I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season!!
Taz

. . . Too soon? . . .http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/crazy4blues/Black%20Jack/IMG_0447.jpg

Hey, March Builders! Happy to report little if any trouble. A small rattle near the speedo, but it seems intermittent. Overall, I've had a great Motoring experience. Love the JCW suspension and have absolutely no regrets about the specs. No trouble at all with the 15% pulley and the Alta CAI. AND, with the colder weather, the performance is kicked up a notch. BOOM! Take care, all!

Hey guys,

Nice to hear from all of you. Loved the photos, Dave.

Johnny, I'd give her just a bit more time . . .:smile:

Was out and about in heavy Thanksgiving traffic the last couple of days. Rainy slick highways yesterday morning. Gotta get my rear windshield wiper fixed. It disintegrated in my hands one day while I was wiping the windshield. Hadn't even used it before. Other problems are all my doing. I scraped the passenger side mirror, and slightly scuffed one of those plastic black wheel guard thingies--getting in and out of my very very tight "batcave" garage here in the big city. So I may be ordering a few small parts in the near future. Otherwise, no problems---oh, except when I sit in the driver's seat I often hear a little snap/click sound--something in the seat cushion. I wonder how big a deal it would be for MINI to fix it.

Anyway, alive and well and glad to hear others are as well!

Happy Holidays March Group!

Thanks for the advice on the dash cleaning. That sounds like a good thing to do with the window cleaner and towels.

My MINI still doesn't have 5000 miles yet! I'm only up to about 4400. I guess I need to drive it more. When the weather is yucky (or I'm in a hurry), I run out and get in my car that's just parked in the driveway. It's quicker than getting the MINI out of the garage. When we had the garage put up, we opted for roll-up style doors instead of remote-operated ones because we weren't going to be putting anything in it that's driven a lot...but that was before the MINIs! For some reason I can't make myself sell my other car! :-) Doing so would help get some more miles on my MINI though!

Did anyone from this thread participate in the scavenger hunt through MINI.com. Had it not been for each weeks hunt starting at midnight on Monday, it would have been worth trying. There was something fishy with that though. The people at the top of the list had so little time invested. It was almost like the knew ahead of time and was ready to go. It was still kind of fun though. I participated in the first couple of rounds.

Well, just wanted to say hello and wish everyone a happy holiday season. Hope everyone is still enjoying their MINIs. I love mine!

Debbie

Howdy fellow Marchers,

Just a quick hello and Happy Holidays to all of you.
Also wanted to pass along my wifes first *almost* mishap with her Mini. We had our first snow here recently that was enough to make driving hazardous. Well, add that to the fact that she is not afraid to drive that lil thing quickly and it equaled her first 360 degree spin in her clinic parking lot. She called me on our phone immediately afterwards to tell me she didn't a darned thing but her heart was going faster than the revmeter!:aargh:
So...she learned that there is a difference between "too fast" and "too fast for conditions".
Alls well that (spins-360degrees-and) ends well.:rolleyes:
Please, all of you drive carefully enough to enjoy the Holiday Season!
Taz

and it equaled her first 360 degree spin in her clinic parking lot.

Well, I guess if you're gonna find the limits of adhesion by doing an unexpected 360, a (hopefully empty) parking lot would be the place to do it. =o)

Zip

http://twistedmotoring.org/MyStuff/WicksLaguna1205/show3/images/DaveR%2010%20%20Wicks%20at%20La%23C0526.jpg

That's me piloting Murray around the Andretti Hairpin at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca!

Darling wife Judy surpassed herself with making this longtime dream of mine come true - we made a week-long winter vacation of it, driving up the California Coast from Los Angeles to Monterey with a bunch of friends from our local MINI club - taking two days' worth of twisty roads, beautiful scenery and great food to get there.

I participated in the Phil Wicks Golden Jubilee High Performance Driver Eductaion program, got placed in the intermediate group, and actually improved all day long! We had six 20 minute track sessions with classroom instruction in between. For two of the six sessions, I had an instructor in the car with me, providing encouragement and giving advice that was amazingly helpful.

Turns out playing Gran Turismo 2, 3, and 4 on the Playstation (and PS2) actually prepared me pretty well for the track! I "knew" the course so well, I could concentrate on improving my line and trying to be smooth.

Judy spent most of her day all over the infield taking pictures, and got some doozies! She also was able to drive Murray during the lunchtime touring laps (low speeds - no helmets) while I took pics from the passenger seat!

Check out our massive slide shows! (http://twistedmotoring.org/MyStuff/WicksLaguna1205/Wicks121405.html)

I'm still all wobbly from the experience!

Happy Holidays to all!

_Dave_

Hey, Dave! Looks like great fun. One of these days I'm going to do something like that--I SWEAR!!! Dave, did you change your tires for the event?

Hey, all, hope you're having a fun holiday season. I've been motoring when I can, enjoying every moment.

However, right now I'm in a bit of a quandary. I have irreparable damage to one of my Dunlop "fun" flats, and I'm trying to decide what to do. I really don't want to replace one at $250.00. It seems to make more sense to replace all four tires with non runflats at a cost of about $500.00. Then I'd have four brand-new tires. On ther other hand, I have only about 6,500 miles on my current set, and I'll probably get about another 10,000 miles (with the way I drive :D ). Anyway, if I can't find a slightly used Dunlop runflat here in the next few days, I reckon I'll have to just buy a new one, but I think that I'll get the non-runflat version of the same tire (it's about $100 less!). I guess this is the most sensible choice, but it would be cool to have four brand new tires . . .

Okay, all. Have fun!

JohnnyL,

DITCH THE RUNFLATS!

Seriously, I don't think replacing the one bad tire with a non-runflat version will work; the runflats are constructed differently, and have drastically different handling characteristics. I think your first idea, to replace all 4 tires with non-runflats, is the way to go.

Per Phil Wicks advice, and as I mentioned previously, I replaced my Dunlop SP9000 perfromance runflats with Kumho Ectsa SPTs. I had about 1500 miles on these when I did the track day at Laguna Seca, and they performed very well. They got a good workout, and got me back home without noticable degredation. They're not the most aggressive looking tire around, but they held their own.

If you do go for non-runflats, be sure to get a portable air compressor and some tire goo. I got the Continental kit from Tire Rack,. It's compact, but apparently can only be used with the built-in goo, so it has limited utility. I'd probably go for the fix-a-flat kit from MINI Mania if I was getting it now.

Good Luck!

_Dave_

Hi Johnny,

Good luck with the tire situation. If it were me, and it were only an extra $250 to replace all four tires, I would probably go for it. I say that because I drove my MINI with my husband's Pirelli runflats for almost two months and then we put those Dunlops back on my MINI. HUGE DIFFERENCE! It's funny. You would think that the more expensive setup would drive better, but that's not the case. His Pirelli runflats are SO MUCH SMOOTHER than my Dunlops. Then again, if you can find one for a good deal and you can get a lot more miles out of them, that's a good point too. :-) I think it depends on where you live too. Here in SC, the roads are horrible, so smooth tires are important.

Only four more days of vacation and my MINI hasn't left the driveway yet! But that's okay, he's going out for a ride later this week...he just doesn't know it yet! And I just don't know where yet! :-)

Happy New Year everyone!

Johnny - if you do decide to switch tires, let me know if you notice a big difference.

Debbie


However, right now I'm in a bit of a quandary. I have irreparable damage to one of my Dunlop "fun" flats, and I'm trying to decide what to do. I really don't want to replace one at $250.00. It seems to make more sense to replace all four tires with non runflats at a cost of about $500.00. Then I'd have four brand-new tires. On ther other hand, I have only about 6,500 miles on my current set, and I'll probably get about another 10,000 miles (with the way I drive :D ). Anyway, if I can't find a slightly used Dunlop runflat here in the next few days, I reckon I'll have to just buy a new one, but I think that I'll get the non-runflat version of the same tire (it's about $100 less!). I guess this is the most sensible choice, but it would be cool to have four brand new tires . . .

Okay, all. Have fun!

Folks:

My brother-in-law has just received his BRG/White MINI Cooper (it's actually a December build) from South Bay MINI. Aaron is a physician, and he really doesn't have a lot of time to post a lot online, so I asked if I could "out" him; he graciously accepted. Anyway, he's very happy with the car--it's actually his first new car. He named it Zelena, which is Russian for green. We had talked a lot about it before he ordred, and he decided to go with a real spartan set up; the only option he chose was the chrome interior. He went with the cloth seats and the anthracite interior.

So, if you're around Noe Valley in San Francisco, and you see this MINI, give him a friendly wave!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/crazy4blues/zelena3.jpg

A Spartan spec is still a MINI. ;) The only option my hubby chose on his MCS was the automatic.

Yes, it is indeed a MINI. In fact, I was struck by how fine the '06 seems. The materials seem very rich and uncompromised. MINI is doing such a great job of QC, I had to keep reminding myself that this car is well under $20k, and you get AC and a CD player! And for driving around the crowded streets of San Francisco, the extra power and stiffer clutch of the S probably are an annoyance. Yeah, no matter how you configure your car, you sure get a lot when you get a MINI!

In other news, I have about 30 miles on the Yokohama AVS ES 100s (non-runflat), and I can already tell the improvement. I won't say that the ride is "softer". Rather, it feels more natural and positive; these tires respond more precisely to driver input. Noise level is about the same as the Dunlops. Again, these are 17". Now, if the roads here in CA would just dry out a little, I could really see what they can do!

Hi gang! I just visited the March '06 build thread. Brought back memories...

I've got several thousand miles on my Kumho SPTs, and have decided that although they're miles better than the runflats, I don't really like them. Our club had an impromptu run up Mount Baldy and along Glendora Ridge Road yesterday - loads of fun, but I noticed that my Kumhos were making more noise than anyone in my group on the twisties...

On another front, I just got my first scheduled oil service - and the dealer performed an adjustment of the bump stops on my convertible top as part of a recall. (I didn't think to ask which build dates were affected by the recall, but if you're part of the March '05 build group and have a cabrio, this recall's for you.)

Weather here in sunny SoCal has been amazingly good: low to mid 80's (around 28C) for several days now, and open-motoring has never been finer! :cool:

I'm scheduled to go to Boston, Massachusetts next weekend for business - they just got clobbered with 2.5 feet of snow!

I've been enjoying the White Roof Radio podcasts lately - check 'em out at whiteroofradio.com (whiteroofradio.com)... After hearing Randy Webb talk about what he's do to a Cooper S and why, I'm thinking real hard about a 15% reduction supercharger pulley....

Oh yeah, Judy and I have made our hotel and event reservations for AMVIV (http://amviv.com) (A MINI Vacation In Vegas) in March. Hope to see some of you there!

... Hmmm... I didn't realize I had so much to share... Our club is starting to look into what we can do to participate in the California Dreamin' event in September. There's definite interest in sharing some of our lovely SoCal twisties with our international motoring friends.

Okay... done for now...

_Dave_

Glad to hear we'll meet in Sept Dave. Fuzzy and I are in for the whole trip on CA Dreamin. :)

Glad to hear we'll meet in Sept Dave. Fuzzy and I are in for the whole trip on CA Dreamin. :)

I hope so, but there's still a good chance that I'll be away on a work trip then... It's a drag, but it's out of my control. Even if I'm not there, a bunch of good folks from our club will be on hand to make you feel at home, and show off some nice twisties...

Here's hoping I *can* be there - it sounds like a blast. Will you be driving from Virginia? I understand that many of our international visitors will be renting Mustangs of all things!

(I just edited for spelling: "MUSTNAGS"... hmmm...)

_Dave_

Actually, a lot of the Brits are renting Jeeps. :aargh: So we can go off road in Death Valley. I think Fuzzy and I are going to be in the "fly and drive" category, since it's a hard three day drive from VA. Then we have to go back, and that just takes too much vacation time. :(

Actually, a lot of the Brits are renting Jeeps. :aargh: So we can go off road in Death Valley. I think Fuzzy and I are going to be in the "fly and drive" category, since it's a hard three day drive from VA. Then we have to go back, and that just takes too much vacation time. :(
You guys are still here?!?! Just thought I'd stop in and see how the new deliveries were getting along, and lo and behold my March '05 brethren (and sistren) have not let me down. Glad you all are still chatting it up!

FWIW, we have 16,000 miles on Chester now. Only 2 small problems- the ipod adapter quit and the little Mini badge on the steering wheel started curling up. Other than that, it's awesome!

This thread will probably still be running years from now. ;) I lurk in the March 2006 thread, watching for problems.

Hey guys, I'm still around, too! Only 6600 on my MINI. It's hard to put the miles on tooling around the little-big town of San Francisco. I've had a few minor problems, one of which I'm just living with at this point.

Took the car in to have them look at a popping noise that came from the driver's seat when you moved around in it. They fixed the pop, but then the car seemed to be "creaking." They determined the creaking was unrelated to the seat (which it probably was but why I suddenly noticed it I'm not sure). They determined the creaking was in the dash, took it apart, put "anti-creak" tape in it, then gave the car back to me. Only trouble was, not only was the creaking still there, if not a bit worse, but they'd failed to put the dash all the way back on--it was visibly out of alignment. So anyway, back the MINI went for another day in the shop. They put the dash on right, claimed they could hear not creak, and well, it's still there. It's not bad, and I don't have time to leave the car for another day. Pluse I've got this uneasy feeling about leaving it. LIke will it always come back worse than before?

Funny thing at the service center, though. For some reason that day (they say this happens regularly) all the cars out front needing service were PW/B. There were five of us in a row and it got a little confusing whose was whose. Of course, I was the only one with the stunning red seats :cool:

Oh, one other thing. So I've scraped one of my side mirrors a bit, and wanted to see about replacing the mirror cap. It's the standard black so I figured it'd be easy to order. Turns out, though, you can't order the black caps. The told me at the service center I'd have order one unpainted and have their body shop paint it. It's cost most about 150.00 dollars or more just for the cap. Seems nuts. I've decided to live with the scrape for now.

Yeah, let's keep the thread alive. :smile:

Howdy fellow '05 people!

Crosebud...have you checked ebay lately? I have seen black caps on there in the past (haven't looked in a little while though) and I bet you could get them considerably cheaper than that dealer quote too. I agree that 150.00 is a tad bit excessive.

As for our lil red coop, we have around 7200 miles on it. We hope to add a few "sightseeing" miles to it this year but we're not sure exactly when. Our 30th wedding anniversery is in July..maybe a lil 3 or 4 day vacation to some hilly country??

I'm jealous of you guys that are gonna be on that Cal. dreamin trip. Sounds excellent!

Take '05ers.

Taz and Co.

Taz, I'll take and post lots of pics. :)

Thanks April, I'll gladly peruse them when you get them posted!

As an addendum to my last post; I got curious and checked ebay for those black mirror covers. Ain't none.:frown: At least not as of tonight. I hope you find some though crosebud.

Wow, has it been almost a year since we first started this post? Anyone besides me feelin' old now?:o

Geriatric Taz

Dave: DON'T think too hard: Do the Pulley! It's probably the single best thing you can do for performance. I've got over 5k miles on mine, and it's been utterly problem-free.

I've been enjoying the White Roof Radio podcasts lately - check 'em out at whiteroofradio.com (whiteroofradio.com)... After hearing Randy Webb talk about what he's do to a Cooper S and why, I'm thinking real hard about a 15% reduction supercharger pulley....

_Dave_

... Our 30th wedding anniversery is in July..maybe a lil 3 or 4 day vacation to some hilly country??......
Hi - Why not celebrate a little early and travel to New Hampshire to attend Minis On Top (MOT)? There are a few MINIs from your neck of the woods coming out as a group who will then meet up with some of us from western NY. We'll then continue on as a larger group to western Massachusetts where there will be a convoy (Yankee Candle convoy) of MINIs heading up to NH. Last year this convoy had ~ 35 cars and there should be at least as many this year.

The main thread concerning MOT is here (http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105979) and the MOT website is here (http://www.minisontop.com).

The thread discussing the Yankee Candle thread is here (http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109518).

Hope to see you.

Congratulations on the anniversary (we hit 30 yrs last November).

- dl

Taz, regarding those black mirror caps--one stumbling block I'm having to buying one on my own is that I'm not sure I can snap it on myself. At the MINI Service place the service advisor offered , if I bought it from them for the $150.00, to snap it on for me. He said it would be tricky for me to do it myself, that it's easy to break it. If I buy the cap myself, they'd probably charge me their regular repair rate to do that little snap. I am very "unhandy," can barely screw in a lightbulb, so I'm feeling a bit stuck (though it's not the biggest problem I have in life, of course).

And yes, I do feel older. But we are all very cool in our MINIs :cool:

Dang..this it gonna be a long one. First things first:

dl, thanks for the offer! I'll run it by the boss tonight (just read it this morning, 3/17) and see what she says. I'm not sure how far she wants to travel-or to where at this point-so at least a destination with other MINIs would be a great starting point.

Crosebud, I see your point about your caps. I believe (don't quote me on this as I haven't checked) that there are posts in here about how to remove those caps but I understand completely about not wanting to do them yourself for fear of making a mistake in the process. (you change light bulbs? heck, I need a manual for THAT!) Sometimes the few extra bucks you pay to have a pro do it, is worth the peace of mind. Good luck either way!

Ok, now for the latest:
We went (3 hour drive) to get our first service work done yesterday. Bill Jacobs Mini of Naperville was our place to go. They were 1st rate. Work was done very fast, done well and they washed our car after a long drive in rain and snow. The *BEST* part of the ordeal was when they gave us a loaner to go shopping around town in. Keep in mind we have a MINI, 5 spd. They gave us an S with the automatic, an '06 model. WOWWW!
This thing hauls *ss people! (or, if you are a Bill Jacobs employee reading this-I assume it hauls *ss as we would never check for ourselves on your main roads..:biggrin: .)
Wow, what a treat to drive. I mentioned about 72 times to the wife-lets consider trading in for an S..and even the auto! Yes..I admit it. I loved it. The wife wouldn't test drive it because the Chicago area was just too fast paced for her so she never got the chance to experience how it felt driving, but I know she would love it every bit as much as our present toy. We are gonna look REAL hard at what they offer in '07 now!! First upgrade??

Anyhow, sorry that was so long. That's what I get for not sneaking in more often.
Weather is slowing getting better here...more sightseeing-road-trips time! Clean the MINIs, grab your cameras (for posterity of course) and hit the road!
Mr & Mrs Taz

Have to agree about the MCSa, I love mine. :D