wahoo_shoe

While I can't attend, I wanted to throw in my two cents about 29S. It's a much better option to get down that way than 95, but be prepared for some traffic until you get past Culpepper. Gainesville is horrendous but it usually lets up from there. You're not far from Charlottesville either if you wanted to make a weekend trip of it. Cville has a few good wineries and Starr Hill is easily one of my favorite breweries.

This is out of order, but FYI, if your short factory cable stops working MINI will replace it. It's a BMW part and not specifically made for the MINI, so they know there's an issue with it and will generally replace them with little gripe

I use Maguire's wheel cleaner or Simple Green foam. The SG stuff is fantastic, and hopefully not too harmful. Then throw on some polish or even Banana Gloss to help cut down on the brake dust. Next wash I'm going to try out Prima's stuff, I'll let you know how it goes. I find the biggest problem is getting the actual rubber tire clean. If that's clean, my wheels tend to look better for awhile, but getting the rubber clean without too much wear on it is difficult. Applying tire shine also seems to collect up brake dust too. I'm ways off from new brakes (only at 12k), but I'll probably make the switch too. Has anyone painted their calipers? I was discussing this with the younger brother (Mustang owner) and have thought about it, just don't know anyone who's done it with good/bad experiences.

I think my Red Velvet find was worth 2 points I liked the single points though, it evens it out since some finds were pure random (aka, I'm sitting at a light in DC lost, look over and go "MINI!" and then go "HOLY CRAP RED VELVET! MINI!". Too bad it was in total disrepair, missing a fender, etc etc) The only suggestion would be mind any road closures in DC that could occur and judge hints accordingly. There was only one on Saturday, but if you did it on an event weekend with a major event down there, you could run into headaches on the mall. I did learn all sorts of new landmarks though! Buffalo bridge was a new one for sure, despite being on rock creek all the time...

Car is all washed! Thanks to those who offered a hose! I ended up being able to get onto Ft Myer and used their DIY bay. Turned out pretty well! Looking forward to tomorrow!!

Laura offered a hose as well, although I'd feel terrible just sucking water from someone Lola's mom informed me about Ft Myer's wash bays, I may go check it out tonight. If that idea fails, either Clubby goes dirty or I take one of you up on your offer. Thanks so much! My dad is spending his lunch washing his car, so I can't let a big bad corvette outshine Clubby. He's always the brunt of the joke around the family holiday dinners

Not sure where I should put this, but I was wondering if anyone wanted to meet up and get a car wash in before tomorrow morning's event? I could go tonight (I'll have to kick my roommate's car out of the way so I can garage it over night ) or even in the morning. I asked about DIY bays, and there seems to be a small handful around here http://dcmetrominis.org/forum/topic/1794-diy-car-washes/?do=findComment&comment=20313 The easiest would probably be either the base, the Fairfax bays, or the Exxon hose I have all the stuff I need and a bucket, but no source of water in my Arlington rental!

I'll wrap it around an object and secure it to one side to keep something from shifting around a lot. I'm just kinda used to stuff rolling/moving/shifting back there, especially with all the seats down!

Yay! I'll get my RSVP updated!

Can I add one more car to the list? My father owns a 2011 Corvette, and while it isn't MINI, he'd love to take the t-top off and cruise along if we'll let him! Not a member, but will definitely pay the donation! :top:

Eh, I try to avoid the dealer washes, just ends up making things worse sometimes. There was a mention of a Shell in Baileys XRoad for self-serve, just don't know if it's still there. I have soap/drying towel/detailing spray/etc so I just need water . The Sunoco near Public House may be my last resort.

Anyone know of a car wash place around Passport? Bird poop all over the bonnet, discovered it this morning

Hi guys My coworker has a broken arm on her 2005 drop top and got quoted at $2k replacement by the dealer. Anyone have any experience with this, and/or advice I could pass along? She's really bummed and frustrated with MINI

Is there any sort of formatting on the memory card that is preferred?

Had a blast at the last rally, definitely in

Completed the job back over the summer. I ended up using a silicon spatula to help pry them off. One fell on the ground wasn't a big deal as it was the old black ones and frankly, they get chewed up by rocks anyways. Been loving them since. Might throw on a checkered roof cover or checkered stripes somewhere down the line :top:

Hey guys With the economy around here on a roller coaster, it seems car washes keep dying and being birthed. Anyone know of a decent DIY wash? I live in Arlington but commute out to the Herndon area sometimes, so somewhere in there would be ideal.

Two quick questions: 1) I don't get the tie-breaking info: "Ties are determined by mileage, you tell me your mileage, you can give your exact mileage or just tell me what you think it should have been. If there's a tie, it goes to the person that is closest without going under" Am I being dense when I don't understand this? :rofl: 2) I was thinking about PayPal-ing ahead of time. Can I throw in my membership fee into one payment?

Talked to my MA and MINI of Sterling gave me 15% each Picked them up last night, will put them on this afternoon if this heat decreases without the sun going totally down, or tomorrow

Slept too late to make it to Sterling...verryy long week at work Looked on NAM, looks super easy since I have a Gen2. Now I just need to find some.. Sterling has them for $97, outmotoring.com for $94, Morristown (through motoringfile.com) has em for $87. I get coupons every once in awhile for Sterling and would love to further support them, so hopefully I can dig up one or another one comes soon. Reeeaallllyyy want to get them on soon Massive hours worked recently has led to a bit extra cash in the pocket, and I'm blowing it all on Clubby :top:

Anyone ever self-installed new mirror covers? I had some influence on my initial purchase and was convinced not to buy the checkered side view mirror caps and now I want to blow some extra cash on them Don't want to spend $200 for the dealer to install them. I'll go check out NAM for advice too..

I've been bouncing around here and have never gotten around to actually paying and joining. I need to be out that way tomorrow, figured I'd drop by my "home dealer" and join up. Can I pay the membership fee once I get there? PayPal is too much work

Too many cops standing around waving people around, sorry

Hey guys I just wanted to stop and see if anyone else had seen the poor little yellow (probably Liquid Yellow, from what I could tell) MINI that was, literally, on fire on Sunday around 6 I was coming from Tysons and decided to take 123 instead of dealing with craptastic Rt 7 and when I was coming around the 267 to 66 spur I saw smoke rising. At first I thought it was all of the Metro construction or that a train has crashed. It wasn't until I saw the car engulfed in flames at the bottom of the on-ramp on to 66-East that I realized it was a car on fire. About 45min later they had it put out and when we all drove by I saw the remains of it. Might have been a soft-top, but it was so burned I couldn't tell. The weird thing is, the bonnet wasn't all that charred, at least in the very front. But man, that thing was a wreck. No sign of the driver but I'm sure he/she got out. The worst part about the entire backup mess is that after people had moved out of the way (sorta..) of the emergency crews/cops that came screaming over the bridge, people decided to inch their cars up into that extra space... :banghead: