Edge

That's awesome news, Ryan! :top:

He's probably over 50,000 miles... either that or it was one of the very early 2006 models (i.e. built & sold in the latter half of 2005).

Yeah I think they're leaving Friday morning, so I think I'm going to try Thursday morning. No promises th

The event is posted on the DC101 Events page here... I am also thinking of emailing Elliott in the Morning on Friday in the hopes they'll mention it on air. :b

Makes sense if you already have them. I'm going to go out on a limb here... when your all-seasons eventually wear out from winter use, will you replace them with new all-seasons or will you buy snow tires?

My opinion is a little different than those above. The first and most important question is: what tires do you have now? If you have all-seasons (runflat or not), you should be OK. You will of course have to drive much more cautiously when we get a heavier snow (we usually get one or two "decent" snows per winter, where it sticks and lasts a day or two), but you'll be able to get around OK. If you have summer tires, you should consider getting a second set for the winter. You could just get all-seasons for your second set... but if you're going through the hassle of having 2 sets, why settle for all-seasons? Real snow tires absolutely trounce all-seasons when the white stuff falls. The main issue with using summer tires over the winter isn't just their absolutely abysmal snow traction, but it's also that they generally aren't designed for temperatures below 40 F. As soon as the temperature drops towards freezing, the rubber compounds in most summer tires stiffens up, and it feels like you are driving on bricks. Even on dry pavement, their performance will suffer tremendously in cold temperatures. Since I'm particular about wanting summer performance tires for 3 out of 4 seasons (I don't like all-seasons because they are always a compromise), I have 2 sets, and I swap them out at the ends of every winter. Your driving choices may lean towards all-seasons though, and that's fine too! I'll say one thing about snow tires though... the confidence it brings, when you're driving on 495 in a heavy snowstorm, and you see abandoned and/or wrecked SUVs littering the shoulders & medians... is quite satisfying.

That is just... plain... cool. I bet you were all excited to see the Google maps van, and that you've all been checking the site frequently up until now!

We rotate amongst the 4 dealerships, 1 dealership a month... so the next DCMM Meet & Greet at PMoA will be in December. MINI of Ste

The Spring Fling run is a "whole day" event... not really suitable for a q

Oh... I might be convinced to lead e

I strongly recommend Lyle @ Vinyl Styles instead. His vinyl work of door handles, headlight rings and many other things is fantastic. Mike @ Aesthetic Creations is a great guy and very talented, but I have seen his door handle covers fade over time. One of our former members tried them and was not terribly happy.

LOL nice one Dan... it would have been even more amusing if the canine in the photo was a bulldog.

Mike / coyttl, I am afraid I can't help you with the "non-dealer MINI shop" question, at least not in your area. If you're willing to drive down to VA, one option is Mach V - they have been good to the club and are actually one of our "official vendors". As for the "locked garage" question - one option is to get a ground-level self-storage unit that you can just drive the Mini right up into, and lock. One of our former members did that for his MINI over the winter last year. Many of the storage companies allow you to park cars in their storage units. Oh, and welcome to the area! :itsme:

Thanks. To clarify my position, I HATE automatic transmissions. I just find them far less satisfying (even boring!) to drive. It goes to the point that I think I'd rather drive a non-MINI with a manual transmission than a MINI with an automatic! (yes, really!) The "manual mode" and paddles of the auto helps a bit, but it just isn't the same surreal experience. But that's me. I'm not going to judge you for your own decisions! I have many friends who own automatics and I don't think any less of them for it (that would just be petty). As I indicated earlier - it doesn't matter what I think. Enjoy what you like. Hopefully none of you will hold it against me for the "blasphemous" statement above (the non-MINI one). :angel:

Umm, yeah. Opinions will definitely vary on this (mine does!), but the most important thing is that you like your car and the way it's equipped. If that's the case, it shouldn't (and doesn't) matter what other people think! :top:

Welcome to our website, Lindsay! Nice MINI - I see that you have blacked out your chrome too. :top: Consider becoming a full member - you get full access to our forums, a T-shirt, membership card and discount at all DC-region MINI dealerships and participating vendors!

Great run! What happened to Richard (rrsperry)? He was the one in the black M3. Didn't see him since the stop at Exxon... :questionmark:

I might be mistaken, but I think the darkest blue yet offered on a MINI is Space Blue... however some people think Astro Black has a blue-ish tint to it.

I don't begrudge your intent of informing everyone about your perspective on Nitrogen use in tires. What bothered me was being labeled as gullible. I did the research too... and although there was plenty of grounds for skepticism, there was also enough ambiguity (and no downside, other than the money), that I considered it something I wanted in my car. Is it critical? Is it crucial? Is it game-changing? No. Is it more important than the many other, more proven things you can do for your MINI (including self-education)? Nope. However, boldly labeling anyone that has it as gullible is premature, short-sighted and quite frankly, rude. It's not as though anybody here (including me) has proclaimed that it's the best thing since sliced bread. Skepticism is healthy, throwing veiled insults (however slight and harmless they may seem) is not. Your points against the value of Nitrogen use could still have been made equally well without saying "gullible", "P.T. Barnum" and "falling for the marketing wienies".

I went through a similar determination process earlier this year in wanting to do something to protect my shock towers, as they had started to mushroom. I wanted plates that went under the tower, both because they would stop the force before it gets to the tower, and also because I didn't want to buy something that interfered with or affected my strut brace. The Craven Speed Under Tower Indurators are fine, but I instead ended up buying the MINI-Madness Strut Tower Reinforcement Plates instead. Sure, they cost an extra $25, but they cover the entire surface of the shock tower, spreading the force wider, whereas the Craven Speed ones only appear to cover the shock tower mount. The MINI-Madness solution just seemed like a better design to me. I didn't care much about the red color or the strut tower covers (although the covers help to hide the red). There was actually a really good discussion thread on NAM about this earlier this year. Worth looking at, if the above interests you. It doesn't seem that anyone makes an "under" design for the 2nd Gen MINIs yet, however.

Daniel/D-Unit - have you price shopped with Morristown MINI? Just curious... their prices are almost always 20% under MSRP. I just wondered that they might be competitive with Classic MINI.

If: it lasts longer before needing a top-up, therefore keeping the tires at the correct pressure for longer... and increasing the life of the tires the tires stay at a more consistent pressure with temperature changes, therefore behaving more consistently in various weather and driving conditions refills are free (they are, I checked) ...then it isn't a question of "gullibility" and more a question of "is it worth it to me". I know very well that normal air works fine. You're perfectly within your rights to tell me I am wasting my money, but that's a final determination only -I- am qualified to make. It's worth it to me. I've spent plenty of money on my MINI that many people would consider a total waste. Do I care? Nope. It's my MINI, so I'm going to do what I want with it. You do the same, as we all do. I'm not going to judge you or your decisions for your own MINI. That's your preference. Yes, checking (and topping up) the tire pressure once a week or so will have the same effect of ensuring the pressure is kept consistent. You know what? I'm a busy guy, and I don't want to have to check it as often. That alone is worth the $69 to me. Getting it free from someone like Jason (LV2CRNR) is only icing on the cake, if the option is there.

If you didn't specifically pay your dealer to install the JCW suspension, then you don't have it. It isn't available as a factory option, only dealer-installed. For 2nd Gen MINIs, the JCW suspension includes new springs, new shocks, a new rear sway bar and a new front sway bar. For 1st Gen MINIs, the JCW suspension only includes new springs & shocks... although if you install it on an R50 (Cooper, not Cooper S), then the rear sway bar needs to be installed too (same one that comes with the R53 Cooper S).