This baby, a TSW X-brace, which I've wanted since Dr. Mike and the Texas Speewerks guys invented it back when I had my first R53, just arrived along with some PS fluid and some brake fluid. Thanks for the speedy shipping during the COVID outbreak. In Charlotte, we are apparently a 1 hub transfer from Atlanta, so most boxes from Way get here in 1 day.
lol. Note 2 points of the brace are on the floor, one on the door handle and one is floating. No MINIs were harmed in the filming of this episode. I do love the garage floor. When we bought this house and it had a proper garage, I looked into painting the floor but the snap together tile was faster, easier and more durable given that the guy who had the house for a few years before us had a Corvette that leaked oil everywhere and I knew that epoxy would never stick well. I put down a layer of landscape fabric (prevents clicking when walking on the tiles) and had the floor down in about 3 hours.
I'll assume that Murphy is either a dog or a child... luckily, neither of which will turn up in my garage! One, because our garage is a detached one and the dogs can't get in and the other because, on that fourth or fifth date when my (now) wife told me that she never wanted children I told her that I loved her!
I picked up a Uniden R7 radar/laser detector a few weeks back... finally got around to fitting the mount on top of my Kuda USA GPS mount and wiring up the hard-wire kit (I discovered that the heated seat fuse is switched power (goes off when the key is removed)... another good place for an add-a-circuit for devices like this). It's on a magnetic Z-mount for cell phones that I found on Amazon. If the magnet isn't strong enough, I may have to switch over to some sort of velco attachment (I want it to be removable so I can pop it in my wife's car for long road trips). Can't wait to get it out on the road to see how well the magnet holds to the bumps/jolts/twists of an R53.
Very nice mount. Since I can use Waze & Google maps on my phone my GPS just sits in the boot feeling lonely.
Yep. I waited over a year for it to come out. I was going to get a new detector before MOTD 2019 and decided to wait. Vortex Radar (YouTube) got a hold of both and ran a series of tests. The V1 Gen2 and the Uniden R7 tested almost the same (some bands went a few feet earlier to one, some bands a few feet earlier to the other). The R7 is supposed to be a bit better at detecting / muting false positives. Needing to pair your cell phone to a radar detector and have it on display to get GPS functions is lunacy in this day and age of cheap and easy GPS. I intentionally keep my phone in my pocket while I'm driving as it's one more distraction that I don't need. The V1G2 was an immediate loser in that regard with no GPS functionalilty. it also didn't help that the V1G2 doesn't have a hard-wire kit yet (I hate flapping cords in the car). It has the "Savvy" thing that plugs into the ODB port, but you know where that port is on our car and I wouldn't want anything sticking down there permanently given my 6'4" self and size 13+ feet. I just rotated the tires (fronts are almost showing cord on the inner edge! eeek!), did a brake fluid flush, filled the PS fluid (a bit low after changing the tank) and mounted the x-brace. I hate to say it, but I'm running out of things to do! The car needs a good vac, a polish and some ceramic coating, but I think I've run out of mods unless I want to start masking off the engine bay panels for some CR/Clear touch-up or start painting more engine bay bits (and I'm not sure if I'm going there).
The V2G2 has a hardwire kit, it’s the same as the first gen. It also is backwards compatible with the remote head that the V1 G1 has. I have installed one a few weekends ago in my buddies M2. Also, one big thing you missed, the V1 G2 is not traceable with radar detector detectors. Virginia uses those. The GPS crap with a strong radar signal is a dead giveaway you are running a radar detector. GPS is not needed in a radar detector. That’s what Waze is for, but I have my phone is the glove box when I drive. You are right, phones are too much of a distraction when driving.
Kuda does make stunning mounts for the R53. They have one that mounts to a down-tube, so it's down near the radio and the other (mine) that clips into the dash. You buy 2 components... the car-specific bit that adapts to the dash and presents a flat surface and then a device-specific bit that fits your GPS/phone/etc. You bolt the two together when they arrive. I love the dash mount shown above as I can modify it. In my first R53, I mounted a pan-head swivel (like the top of a tripod), with a tripod screw for a camera mount. You can see the current radar detector mod. That sucker is VERY firmly attached and is completely removable with no screws, etc.
The right detector depends on how you use it. When I'm in VA (rarely), I don't run a detector. It's not a factor for me. I thought about it, but I'm just not there very often for it to make a difference. I do have a couple of spots around Charlotte that always trigger a detector (at least it triggered my old one, which was 10+ years old). I always wanted a way to tell it "When I'm right here at this intersection, I want you to ignore Ka band as I know that the bank on the corner has auto-open doors which use Ka and I just don't need to hear the alarm for the 100th+ time as I drive to work every day, you stupid F-ing detector." In my use-case, the R7 made more sense.
I crawled back up under the car this weekend to look at the tires I rotated to the rear. I decided they are too far gone for comfort (starting to show cords on the inner edge), so 2 new ones are on the way from Tire Rack right now. Buying tires is no fun when you are replacing 'em with something similar. When you are buying new wheels and tires or doing a substantial tire upgrade, it's kinda fun, but when you are just replacing worn tires for the same ones, just newer, it's like your wallet gets lighter but the car didn't really change that much... I did go for 1cm wider this time (215/45/17 Bridgestone Potenza Re-71) as I ordered a spare in that size and it seemed to fit just fine everywhere (I had heard of some rubbing issues w/ my wheels and coil-overs). I guess that's something!
Do you have adjustable lower control arms? If yes you should not have that much wear inside with a proper alignment. Proper alignment is not to be confused with MINI alignment spec from the factory. Get to a shop and tell them about the rear inside wear and have them set you up with a custom alignment.
Yep. I chose my first alignment shop (2 years back) and knew I should have walked away. Apparently they had their primary alignment tech quit the day before and he walked off with a lot of their equipment. They outsourced my car to another shop that didn't have a full laser rig. I was desperate to get it done quickly, so I took it. I've since found a new race shop I'm going to go to for an alignment and corner balance once I get the tires mounted/balanced. It's the fronts that corded the inside edge. I rotated 'em to the rear, but kept thinking about it and decided to suck it up and put a new pair on the car. Speak of the devil... as I was typing the paragraph, above, the FedEx guy showed and dropped off my 2 new tires! TireRack.com is amazing... New tires arrived about 27 hours after ordering.