Ken, thats too funny. When my daughter (4yo) is in my car, I always pick her up out of her seat so she won't step on the plastic trim. I really don't like the rear mats to get dirty but I'm just picky about that stuff.

On a side note, I bought some of the Prima Banana Gloss and it worked beautifully. I've been wiping my car down after washes with Hydro, using it as a "wax as you dry" .

 

haha, yah i dont like getting my a/s mat or trims dirty either, but they need
to learn sooner or later or else they won't be car-trained enough by
the time i get my next dd in like 4yrs and will ruin that too.

hey, sounds good that you're using BG and Hydro. Prima's good
stuff. did u know heather just recently had a girl?

 

Actually i've never talked to the folks at Detailers Paradise. I'm going to try Prima Swirl on my wife's Pilot tomorrow and I think I'll finish it off with 1Z Glanz wax.

 

yah, DP was Nick and Heather and their dog, but now they have a baby girl.

they come out to a lot of the MINI outings. Ive not personally met either of them
but their service and support has been top notch. here's where Nick announced
to us fellow MINI owners.

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com...d.php?t=155003

yep, for those of you that dont know, i am also an owner of a 03 cooper-s.

 

Your Mini is sooo clean for a 03.
Did you buy it new?

 

TOOL- yah, i bought it 5yrs ago. it was a showroom demo and was a rip-off price
but i didnt feel like waiting 3months for it so just got it. lol

i only drive it on dry days so it only saw a couple of rain showers. it's going to
hibernate for the winter in a couple of weeks. chassis in excellent shape too.

 

i sealed my paint today using Griot's PaintSealant. i dont have any picts
cause it looks no different than how it usually looks. my car's pretty clean
all the time. it's just a tad more shiny. should be shinier tomorrow
after the polymer fully cures.

before the sealant, i clayed using DP's clay and tried 3 different lubes
cause my maroon bottle pos meguiar's QD was running out.

1. pos meguair's (3M now) maroon bottle QD = good
2. Prima Slick = Best
3. Griot's SpeedShine = Not good.

I usually only use SpeedShine to QD my cars that use carnauba paint.

the problem with speedshine with clay is even though the clay and paint
is completely saturated, the clay leaves behind some white smear at the
end of the stroke. not every time, but pretty often. which means i have
to go back and reclay that area.

with the meg. and Slick, no issue.

since im out of the meg, im going to use Slick from now on. i know
there is Prima Glide, but i dont need ANOTHER product just for claying. .
i can dillute Slick with distilled water if need be.

Im going to try some Meg's clay next time around. i still have a
lump of Griot's clay (i call "mud") but it's super soft.

 

btw, here is what the Griot's PaintSealant looks like:


http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...rrivals&page=1

you can seal the black window frame with this too. does not whiten.

 

just got back from picking up some take out. man the drive was nice on the FitS.

super smooth ride, nice and cool outside so ample power from the engine. luv
this car.

 

Man Griot`s is some good stuff.. kind of pricey.. but well worth it

 

Griot's costs a tad more than off-the-shelf stuff but it's not THAT expensive.

Prima on the other hand is a tad more expensive because the overall volume
they sell is much smaller than Griot's. but it's worth the extra $ if you want to go
the extra mile. for me, it's about saving time. higher efficiency product
and the right tools = cuts down time into fractions.

you visit japan often? until about 10yrs ago when i really got into detailing i
thought Japanese folks in Japan kept their cars real clean... but it's only about
as clean as my dd's at best. take a close look and most of them are swirled up
because it seems like they either drive them through car washes all the time or
just dont have/use enough water to clean the car completely. and probably not
using the right techniques and products. not everyone, but most of them.
people get surprised when i tell them i use a random orbital. lol in the US
RO's are like every carguy's tool. like a drill or something. lol

 

besides the exterior protection i did this weekend, i motored my FitS for
fun this morning. it was nice and sunny early morning but started to
get those rain clouds in the vicinity so only motored my G for like 35min
and then swapped to my FitS.

...anyway, this morning i pressured up the junk pos Ziex912's on my
FitS up to 36.5psi in preparation for the colder days ahead. to my
surprise the car felt much better. i mean, like REAL goood. i usually
use 33-34psi but man, i was missing out on the EnduraTech's potential
until this morning.

i need to get some 16's next season for sure... with S-Drives or something
that's higher quality. the junk Ziex912 was making my car feel 'lousy' and
'disconnected' 'not tight' 'not as sporty' 'not frim' 'made in thailand.' jk
well, you get the drift. (btw, ziex are made in thailand). all this time
car felt "ok" but not sporty like my hobby cars.

with 36.5psi the car feels connected, handling is more defined, feedback
is crisp, and overall ride is much sportier.

btw, for you guys that are looking at nice tire pressure guages, i
highly recommend this one. this is wat i use. the valve is very nice,
no leaks. just push into the valve and you get instaneous readings.
bleed the valve, you get the next reading in an instant. check it out!

the griots one (the one i have) comes with the nice case.



http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...rrivals&page=2

 

btw, that guage reads down to 0.1 psi. very accurate.

 

That guage looks awesome.
May have to look into one soon.

 

yah, search around expecially amazon.com. they have the same one
but the Griot's one come with that nice case.

 

so, after about 3wks i finally got my FitS's wiper inserts... hopefully the correct one this time.

will see later on tonight.


i also got my other car's toy today which is the JDM console for the
japanese Skylines. this enables me to run doubledin nav/stereo's in
my G35C. not that i have plans to use it right away, but it's a
good security to have just in case the stock 6CD in-dash changer
breaksdown. it's happend to some owners where the dealer charges
$650 for the part + 3hrs of labor. by that time, i can get a
nice kenwood dnx5120 or something better + the $300 i paid for the
console with JDM a/c control and come out with a nicer system with
NAV.

 

i went out to my car to compare the wiper inserts i got from collegehills
to the ones on my car...

the passenger side is like 4" too long. WTF. they still got it
wrong.


well at least i can cut it to length. lol

 

whoa, check this out. i was goofin' off over at the tirerack and they have a
Griot's paint sealant + wheel cleaner sampler special going on right now for
wheel&tire packages.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/specia.../griots_08.jsp

 

i donno... been motoring with the stock intake and i think i like it better
without the extra noise.

im going to think it over a little more, but i might post the SSI for sale.
will keep you guys posted. it's a nice intake but im not a real young guy
and with family onboard, i can go without the extra noise.

 

yah, the passenger side wiper insert is wrong and does not work on the car.

ok, i give up with collegehillshonda. they suck. that is my conclusion.
the wrong 07's are going back on a calltag tomorrow and i will eat the $5 or
watever it was for the passenger side and just go to my dealer.

WTF