Most liked posts in thread: What did you do with your MINI today?

Mother Nature tried to kill me on Thursday, but, unfortunately for her, I WILL make it back to the Dragon again...just not next year!

 

Whilst heading thru the vendor tents to pick up some new black grill surrounds I spotted this bit**

 

Yeah, I went over to Dicks during the week and hung out. He also hung out at our place a lot and we sold firewood. Trees were down on 28 which blocked us from going on Saturday evening.

 

Zak, Did you wet sand them or just polish them? If you want them flawless let me know and we can set something up. ( 2500 wet sand and polish ) :ihih:

 

Washed.

Then used the claybar.




and washed again, dried.

Then applied wax and buffed off.




After 12 years, she still shines up like new.

 

^^^ nice...

 

I suspect it's raining today because I washed and waxed on the weekend. Back to winter conditions today. At least it's not snowing.

 

She goes in for her 85k service today!

 

Who are you trusting your baby with?

 

Global Imports MINI. Before you yell at me, They've been good to me/haven't f'd anything up yet. I have the "free" maint. for 100k and that includes a clutch,oil and filter changes, brake fluid changes, brake pads and rotors etc., I'm having the clutch done at 90k. My advisor told me that all I have to say is that I feel my clutch slipping and I'll get my free clutch :cornut:
It's not slipping and it feels strong yet, but still, free new clutch sounds good to me.

 

I'm in Houston for mother's day, and my MINI stayed home (where I want to be).

I spent yesterday helping my dad get a new car to replace the one he totaled last week. Mom wanted him to get an SUV, dad wasn't thrilled about that. He bought an Audi Q5, which is more of a crossover, so it drives like a car, but makes my mom happy, too.

Today, chores at the parent's house, and cooking MD dinner this evening.

CD

 

Spent the day doing Spring cleaning of the garage...
The two guys are happy now...

Getting ready to do some grilling for MD... Mom and Dad will be arriving any moment now...

 

Makes perfect sense to me. Heck I wouldn't yell at you. If you are only changing the oil every 10,000 miles per MINI I still wouldn't yell at you.

 

They change it every 10k, I do the 5k's in between with some Amsoil

 

Wash and detail of Wolfgang, filled a couple little rock chips also, in preparation of clear bra I'm gonna tackle tomorrow. Doing the plastidip clear, 6 coats and then the glossifier. Fingers crossed!

 

Repainted all of the trim on the interior with a gloss medium blue to give a little more custom feel. I especially like how the instrument binnacle and overhead console look.

In addition to these I painted the trim rings on the doors and in the back seat. The old silver was utterly scuffed, stained and terrible looking when I got the car, so I knew I'd need to readdress it at some point. I finally got sick of it this week and spent a number of hours taping it all off to spray it out. The worst part was finding a way to get the tape to stick! The previous owner had used so much silicone or armor all or something on it that it was like the whole interior had been covered in olive oil. EVERYTHING slipped off!

I had taken a while testing various colors on tape and sticking it to the trim and driving it around to see which color I liked. I started thinking I'd just redo the silver, but I realized quickly that my least favorite part of the experience of driving my Mini was how drab the interior seemed, especially on a blue car. I considered gloss black and the same exterior blue but realized that the black would be more of the boring "too cool for school" style I didn't want and the Lightning Blue exterior color didn't go well with the interior's Pacific blue very well, so I started looking for a color that would be harmonious with both blues. I finally found it!

Next come the wheels...

 

Added a tank full of high test gasolium. Also cleaned the windows.

That is all.....

 

Drove it to the international parking deck at the Hartsfield-Jackson yesterday AM and headed up to Halifax.

 

Pulled my car outside for a little bit to give the Verizon tech space to work in my garage while he installed out new FiOS GIGA-bit service.

It is fast.... WOW is it fast. 980 MB up and down.

 

Sorry in advance for the poopy cell pics, I was using my better halfs garage and forgot to grab my camera on the way out.

Masked, wiped down, ready to go.



After 6 coats clear:



After 5 coats glossifier





Done





I think I might end up redoing the lower bumper, but they say the edges will "lay down" after a day or two, so we'll see.

All in all, a pretty straight forward project, and a LOT cheaper than $600 vinyl clear bra. All in, under $100, about 4 hours time, and if you're comfortable with spray cans it's super easy. The masking took the most effort. So long as it's laid on thick, peeling off over spray is a breeze.