ALLGBMINI

I love the white 16″ wheels on GBMINI, but they do get dirty. I washed the car before MINIsOnTop but only today got to wash again after more than 1000 miles! I have tried various things to keep the wheels clean – last September I had Green Stuff brake pads installed; they are supposed to reduce brake dust but I don’t recommend them.

My latest discovery is Insulator Wax from AutoFanatics (local to me) – actually I like this wax so much I have used it on the bodywork too, to great effect!
Anyway, the Insulator Wax is supposed to help keep the wheels clean. So this morning I started with wheels as dirty as you see, sprayed them with P21S then pressure washed the car, then the wheels. At that point the wheels were basically clean.

Next I washed the car with Zymol shampoo, and wiped the wheels using a sponge soaked in the same shampoo. Then I hosed down the car, dried it, and dried the wheels with Bounty towels.

So here’s before and after:

I am pretty happy with that!
The P21S does a very good job of persuading the dirt to lift off the wheels, but the insulator wax has further improved things so that I basically do not need to rub the wheels – they come clean with the pressure wash alone!

So here is GBMINI with everything clean – wheels and all (but not waxed, too hot today!)

GBMINI#2 washed

That’s about it really!
On the way home from MINI Peabody today(!), where I met Diane for lunch, GBMINI went through the 20,000 mile count.
Do I have issues – a few MINI ones I suppose, but nothing to stop the pleasure while motoring:
1. Recently, in the warmer weather, the old “cold start” problem has returned where the engine either won’t start for 2-3 seconds of starter turnover, or starts then stalls. It always restarts fine – I believe this is a(nother) software issue related to the way the engine computer learns how best to run the car. I find that if I wait a couple of seconds between turning the ignition on and turning over the engine, all is well (presumably while the software gets itself sorted).
2. The door window glass is loose and rattles when the doors are opened. I have had this issue resolved more than once but it returns – so now it is part of GBMINIs character.
3. The heating system is not good enough. The car takes too long to warm me up in the winter and too long to cool me down in the summer.
I have had a few other issues with the car, but all have been so well dealt with by MINI Peabody that I have forgotten them. Diane today was at MINI Peabody because she is upset with her old dealership (Keeler MINI); a couple of the issues she had were shown to us as errors in the work done by the previous dealer …
I have wondered recently about what I will do when it is time to replace GBMINI (prompted by the ’05 model changes, some of which I don’t like). My plan for now is to wait and see what the new engined car is like (mid 2006?); but I don’t know what non-MINI I could now buy that I would enjoy driving – a number of MINI owners have switched to the Subaru WRX but I don’t want power as much as pleasure and there are not many cars on the road that give you as many smiles as the MINI.
Plus, the extended family I now have with MINI owners I know (especially the “MINIsOnTop gang”) will make it hard to move to a non-MINI.

(surprisingly, no pics on this post! GBMINI is still embarrassingly dirty from MINIsOnTop)