I've been searching and reading a ton about keeping my future Mini looking its best especially during the break-in aka show off period but also long term. For those that have not stumbled upon this cleaning info one more NAM thread with tons of great information. Personally I have not done anything to a car beyond vacuum and wash it in a long time or a drive through as most of my cars/trucks have been older hand me downs and require more attention just to keep the engines working. So far I think I love the Prima product lines for two reasons "Wet Gloss Finish" and supposedly the finish isn't oily or sticky like many on the market as they mention dust (pollen) will have problems sticking and can easily be wiped right off.

I want to buy a few things for my Mini but a lot of the items I want are things that I could do without and would prefer to see my Mini before deciding 100%. Kind of like tasting the food before adding salt.

I know this isn't the thread but it is about trying to ease our (and especially my) stress of anticipation.

Plus any thoughts on claying especially if you've ordered a new Mini before?
I am thinking the dish washing soap is as abrasive as I will have courage to go before using the Hydro as Prima recommends.

 

Ordering some cleaning products does seem like a good way to pass the waiting time...

I clayed a car once. Clay is used to remove dirt and grit from the paint. It's not abrasive if you do it right. The car I clayed had been driven for a year or two already, and the clay made a big difference. You can feel the difference by running your hand across clayed and unclayed parts, so it's easy to tell if the clay is helping.

Now back to polling the ship tracking sites...

 

I think I might have used a clay bar once to try and deal with the runoff from the old roof rack mounts on my white roof... I never bothered with it again - I'm lazy...

Keep the dish soap in the kitchen and out of the driveway....

 

I would agree with the kitchen soap but they recommend it and I figure they know a lot more about keeping cars looking shiny than I do. For the past 5-6 years I am just thankful when my cars/trucks start in the morning and in the evening. My wife always gets the nice new cars and as such she is responsible for keeping her car looking great and I almost never help unless you count watching the kids while she takes it to get it washed and cleaned.

My theory with the dish soap is that it is probably like baby shampoo is to your scalp. With all the technology supposedly Baby Shampoo is still the best at getting your hair and scalp really clean but doesn't leave anything good or bad behind.

 

Ok, I wanna hear what folks are getting in the way of interest rates from their dealers. The rate was 0.9% when we ordered, but our dealer told us he could not guarantee that rate, and we'd be paying the rate when the car arrived. 1.9% is the rate currently advertised for 2013s on our dealer's site, but we won't be getting our car until March.

 

Yep, I know that is what fokls are saying. I have an email from my MA stating my rate was locked in @ 0.9% and you better believe, I am going to hold them to that!

 

When everyone started asking I called and was told me rate was locked in until mid-march and my car should arrive (if it doesn't miss the 3rd boat) in early March.

 

Wow, you must have a really great MA to volunteer to do that for you.

-Brett, feeling cranky that his MINI is sitting in Southamptom...

 

No, it's more like dish soap to your scalp; nothing gentle about it.

When I gave my car the clay bar treatment, I also washed it with dish soap. Twice. The purpose of the dish soap was to remove all the old wax. Dish soap is apparently a fairly harsh cleaner makes quick work of car wax. So I did a double wash with dish soap, rinsed the car really well, went over it with a clay bar to make the paint smooth, and then applied a new wax/polish (in my case, Zaino). It looked great, but took me two days, so I never actually went through that process again.

I'm confident I won't be in a hurry to repeat that process when my MINI arrives. Until I have the time and inclination to give it the full spa treatment (e.g. new wax), I will not be using dish soap: gentle car cleaner only. Guess another great feature of the MINI is that its small size makes it quicker and easier to wash and wax!

 

I never realized dish soap (the colorful crap in a bottle not the dishwasher kind of course) was so rough. Thanks for the heads up as I do want to clean the car and make it look amazing but the last thing I want to do is damage it. I've been reading that a lot of new cars come with all kinds of oily crap on them and a heavy coat of wax so if this is true I'd prefer to get all that off of my new Mini and get a routine down to keep it looking its best. Plus I hear "Rail dust" and as I work with a large Railroad company I am terrified of iron dust which is what "Rail dust" is. Very bad for any paint job even in tiny amounts. I doubt it was on the train long enough but sitting in the parking lot in Southhampton for an extra week isn't going to help that.

Any recommendations for its first bath prep would be awesome and you can guarantee I will be feeling the body of the car for any imperfections. If I feel anything I will look into the clay thing to help fix that. Hydro wash seems to be the #1 by opinion for cleaning among the majority of NAM users that have spoken up about what they use. I figure that and some Epic and things should look awesome as far as the main body of my Mini goes. Just not sure if the Hydro wash can get all of the gunk off as they were the ones that recommended the dish soap first.

 

I am now officially at 2 weeks with no production date. Scheduled for production with no known date. I received my production number the same day I ordered. This might be normal, but is still painful.

 

I'll give you something to do. Update your signature so we all know what you are waiting for. Trust me we all like to see what each other is ordering. As for the pain of waiting I thought it had to be the worse when you were just waiting for production but I now get the whole "It is done and sitting at a port in England waiting for a ship" especially when it misses boarding two previous ones and now must wait a full week just sitting in a parking lot waiting. That is much more stressful as you get all excited that everything is almost done and errrr the brakes get put on and more waiting....errrr. Never thought I'd look forward to something so much that I've never seen and isn't a living creature or person. Just a strange thing this Mini Cooper infection is...very strange and addictive. At least it isn't as dangerous as all the other addictions out there.

 

According to the ask MINI rep, our CMS started production 29 Jan but she couldn't tell me anything more. the OL lists the VIN and factory installed options. Our MA is "MIA". Are there any other sources of info? Can I glean anything more from the info I have? Thanks all.

 

Call 866-ASK-MINI. The automated system will give you a little more information and you can usually then speak with a live person who may be able to tell you where in the assembly process the car is in. Early in the process they may not have much information. Also some ASK MINI folks are more helpful than others...

 

Oh Mini-Lse
We are all here for you. We understand your pain and obsession to continually check for an update. I can tell you this, it doesn't get any easier.


The good news is that you can come into this forum and vent your heart away and we will all totally understand!!

PS, keep on your MA about a production date and ensure you were given a production slot!!! At this point )no factory closures) you shouldn't have to wait for ever for a production date.

Also, what kind of vehicle? It appears that the convertibles have been taking the longest.

 

I think I might win on frustration for the week. My ship with my car was supposed to dock today at 0800 in Baltimore. Well THANKYOU FREAKING BALTIMORE RAVENS. None of the dock workers showed up (guess they were out partying all night). So my ship couldn't dock. Just sitting out there waiting. All because of a damn football game. Ughhhhhh.

 

Excellent idea.
Here is my time line and car as ordered. Mods later!

 

Twstgrp, what did you order?

 

Here's something fun I've been doing to pass the time -

If you go to the WW tracking site (att.2wglobal.com/gstattweb/) and enter WMWS% in the "Cargo ID" field, you'll be able to see how many and when other Minis are getting places with WW. (WMW being the vin prefix for Mini, the S being the 2nd gen identifier, and the % as a wildcard).

This search does take awhile because it's a large number of characters after the wildcard.

I was mainly concerned about how many other Minis had made it to the Southampton port, and I was surprised to see that only 16 Minis had arrived at the port since the Gentle Leader left on Sunday! So that's why I haven't heard any news yet...now if tomorrow they get a flood of 100 Minis and we aren't included...I'll be bummed. If they don't get any, then they're probably keeping them in storage at the factory - I'd place good money on it being safer for the cars at the factory than at the parking lot by the docks.

See how bored I am? I want my car to ship!

 

2013 Lightning Blue MCS, Black Roof, Union Jack Mirrors, Cold Weather Pkg.,Premium PKG.2, 6 speed Getrag, DSC, DTC. Auto dim mirror, Fog lights F&R, Rib Spoke Rims, Harmon Kardon.

I have a strut tower brace and plates, and an Alta adjustable stabilizer from the old car, after the free service period i will again go with cross drilled and radial cut discs front and rear with braided lines and ceramic pads. I also have a set of snow and ice Michelins on black rims for the winter, oh and an 1 1/4" receiver for my bike/ski rack. I will also put on proper Rally Style Driving lights,

 

Very strange. I called ASK-MINI this afternoon and the rep could not tell me anything. I called an hour later and that rep gave me an estimated completion date...6 Feb! Woot!

 

Lady_May, you win!

 

Sorry but couldn't help but PMSLMAO.

 

Dog Boy,
welcome to the land of some Mini reps can while others can't

Seems strange right. I learned that if i got someone who simply did not want to actually look into my vehicle, I'd hang up and call back.

Really, some are seriously more helpful than others and I am certain it has nothing to do with their ability, just their inability to want to help!

 

Damn! We were told they could not lock it in at 0.9%. Way to go GilmoreGirls!