What did you do to your MINI today?

Again, there is any number of unsavory things I would do for a smooth garage floor slab.

 

I didn’t realize the scuttles on the '21s also have blobs (in place of the yellow “S”).

 

I’ve contacted Chinese vendors directly in the past asking for customizations of their products, and they were happy to oblige. It might be worth a try. The most successful for me was when I found one of them selling a knock off of silicone Forge intake pipes from the UK; Forge didn’t offer a variant for the diesel version and said it wasn’t possible, so I took measurements of the different vacuum port locations and sent it to the Chinese vendor, and they got back to me within 24 hours with a proposal. Two weeks later, I had a custom made, red silicone turbodiesel intake pipe for less than asking price of the original Forge version for the petrol engine.

 

Yes. And no. I didn’t need it to be a fake, I just didn’t want to have to pay £110 (plus delivery) for something I could get for $40 off Ali. I found the Chinese knockoff petrol version which was identical, and I asked them if they could make one for my diesel if I gave them the measurements. They said no problem.

 

That's some pretty sticky foam! What brand is it? I think my water may be a tad harder than I thought, or I need a new mesh filter in my MTM (it's not a 22.2), but lately I haven't had particularly sticky foam, regardless of brand.

 

Hah ok - that's one of my go-to soaps. I'll change the mesh filter. CarPro Reset foams just a bit less, but it's got more detergent power. I'll switch to Bilt-Hamber AutoFoam as the days get warmer.

 

It took me ages to get through a gallon of ONR but I finally switched to Ech2O last fall, using it at rinseless strength for both plant-sprayer pre-soak and semi-two-bucket rinseless (with about a dozen TRC Eagle Edgeless cloths going in the “rinse” bucket to hold before wringing and laundering). Ech2O is pretty great.

 

“Simple,” eh? That looks really cool. More pics and anecdotes when you get a chance, please!

 

No real pics. We went from winter to summer almost overnight. A lot of folks (my sister and her husband included) still don’t have power since last Wednesday’s big ice storm (I was among the 2.2 million homes and businesses without electricity, but mine was out “only” 48 hours).

With temperatures forecast to head to the mid- to upper-70s this week, I decided to do my tire swap today rather than wear out my soft Nokian Hakkaloogey R5s. I didn’t clean my summer wheels or dress anything; maybe next week I’ll get a chance, and I’ll finally paint my calipers.

I did the spring check of my QuickJack, pumping the air cylinders, topping up the hydraulic fluid, and bleeding the lines. Then I found out what made that loud clunk last fall: one of the plastic jack point pads is missing. Groan.

 

Forgot to mention: I added the 15 mm spacers front and rear.

Also took the opportunity while the car was raised to squeeze my hands into the tiny openings under the rear bumper (because I have OE mud flaps) to change my incandescent rear fog light bulbs for red Philips Ultinon LEDs. They are significantly brighter than stock.