RE: shedding

My wife always threatens to wax our yellow lab. He sheds CONSTANTLY!

 

Another good thing about our puppy is that he doesn't really shed that much. Though he makes up for that with weekly accidents on our carpet!

 

Our chocolate lab sheds fairly bad as well. But his hair doesn't float, it weaves. One of his hairs found it's way into my laptop screen. Cant get it out. Samsons hair, oh my god. I will sweep, then in a couple of hours there will be new deposits of hair. They are the reason I finally bought a leather couch. And hired a cleaning lady!

When I used to own a convertable, and I needed to get rid of samson's hair, I would put the top down, and cruise down the highway so all the hair would blow out.

Kissmys, I just joined the PTA so I could apply for the 4.75% rate they offer on auto loans. Either way, my existing approval isn't so bad.

 

Yeah, I don't miss the puppy stage all that much. My golden was easy to train, the lab... whooa! He had accidents until he was almost a yr. Now he is golden. (no pun intended )

 

Wow. You guys are all getting such great rates. I am going through my local CU too and I haven't gotten nearly as good a rate as you guys. If you don't mind me asking, are these rates for shorter term loans? My loan is for 60 mos so that might explain the higher rates.

 

nope, 60 mo's. My already approved loan is with USAA. I have banked with them for awhile and have had 2 previous auto loans thru them. They gave me 6.24 with their lowest rate being 5.99. I saw MLWagners rate so I check into some other credit unions. The 2 CU I could join were around 6.5% for their best rate . I was speaking to another nam member last night and he directed me to his credit union which if you belong to your local PTA you can join. Their best rate was 4.75%. So, today, I joined my neighbors PTA association so I could join this credit union. I don't know if I will get their best rate (fico is over 700 but credit unions are conservative) but it wont hurt to try since I already have an approval for a 6.24%. And apparently you can join your local PTA without having children. You just need to name what child you will be in support of. How cool is that? I can give you the email address if you like.

 

Yeah I'm also pre-approved for the lowest rate at my CU, which is 6.24% or 5.99% if I do automatic payments. It was 5.99% to 5.74% with automatic payments, but rates have gone up since I last talked to the loan manager It would be awesome if I could get 4.75%, but I don't want to deal with the hassle of joining my local PTA, especially considering I have no kids or know of any kids I could support. Thanks for the offer though

 

you wanna borrow one of my neighbors kids??
$7.50 to join the PTA. How crazy is that!

 

I wish that would work. And even if it did work, I would still feel like a weirdo for borrowing someone else's kid. Plus I don't think their parents would be very thrilled either

 

nahh... she loaned one to me! She still has 2 more.

 

Now I not only have to get a dog but a kid too?! I can't afford a MINI. (hehehe)

 

I'd be happy to give you my 18 yr. old daughter and one of my hairy dogs. It would cut down considerably on the chaos around here. :impatient Of course the money you'd save getting a cheaper loan would be eaten up by your new boarders in no time!

I think I'll just put it to my MINI dealer to find me a great rate (cuz I'm a great customer, no?) I've been told by several banks that often your MA will shop their contacts for a better deal that your credit union. We shall see...

 

Ha! My Mini dealer/finance wouldn't budge one quarter of a point! My credit union blew them away. 3.5 v 9 (last Oct).

 

WOW! Who's your credit union? There aren't any rules about belonging to more than one, right? I think I'd rather join yours than sign up for PTA (I know, I'm a bad, bad parent... but I do donate a lot of computer stuff to the schools and for years was a steady volunteer driver for any outdoor nature type field trips!)

 

 

Are we there yet? Huh? Huh? Are we there yet??

 

Credit Unions don't work the same here in Georgia as they do in Kalifornia. Mine is a Federal CU and that rate was from last year right before they started cranking the prime up. Literally the next day it jumped.

 

Hi Guys,

I am new to the forum.

I just wanted to warn you about Michael Rascon's work. True, he does use 3M material and the film is cut using XPEL's template. However, he makes razor cuts to the film on the car. Per Tim Hartt at XPel, this is not a trained method of installation. I've heard on some other forums that he left razor markings all over their car. PM ME for more information, unless the forum wants me to post the horror stories here.

Who you use to install this is, of course, your decision. If I could do it over again. I'd pay the extra $150 and have it done right..

 

Hell, let 'er rip!

-

 

I'll throw in my 19 year old daughter too, but you canna ha ma dawg....

 

We just had my wife's car done, and the installer did a beautiful job, including a few pieces that he had to cut while the film was already on the car. The correct technique is to merely score the film. Then, the film tears cleanly along the score line, with no damage to the paint.

Scott

 

Well... In the beginning that was my thought. He spoke a good game. Until, I had his work removed so that my car could get the full protection, without all this gapping everywhere. Through other forums, people took a second look at their cars and noticed cuts into the paint. Per XPEL, no razor is ever required for an install.

If you only saw the front end of my car... Most of the cuts went so deep, we couldn't buff them out. The front bumper piece is so marked up, the shop didn't even want to protect it with film. As for the hood, I can't repaint that. I have to live with razor lines on the sides.

 

anyhow.. I just wanted to share my experience with ProFinish. In doing research against Michael and ProFinish, I stumbled across someone talking about him and future work. So I thought I'd share my horrid experience.

If I had to do it again, I'd use a different shop.

Best of luck!

 

I dropped the card and made some orders. I had already ordered the new flaming shifter **** and the fuzzy dice a while ago. This weekend it was:

-- M7 Strut Tower Reinforcement Plates. Wow, what a no-brainer there. I ended up ordering them from Brad at the Custom Mini Shop -- he was willing to ship them USPS, which is uber-important for us folks relying on the military mail system.

-- Glove box organizer
-- Black rubber mats -- all four.
-- iPod adapter
-- Auxiliary plug
-- Aux. gauges

This last clump was from Classic Mini. Why them, and not my dealer? Because the dollar is in the toilet compared to the Euro, so I might as well buy them while I am here in the States for work, and bring them with me when I return. Got a fair price -- woul dhave been better if they had been willing to also ship them USPS.

What remains? Aero kit, Sunroof wind deflector, and European Parcel Shelf. I'll get those from a local dealer, I guess.

I have decided to hold off on the Koni's and the new springs. Am going to let the car go as is for a while and see just how it acts. A big chunk o fthis decision was the other decision I made -- not to walk away from the stock / heavy rims and the run flats. When these tires run out, I'll dump them for something a little better. That would be the time for the Koni's and the rest of the suspension / ride work. Looks like I'll have some tires to smoke when I get home -- maybe a few trips up the road to the ring would help wear them out some (it's bout 85 miles from where I live)....

 

I'm sure that's XPEL's *official* position, but unless every install is made up solely of computer-cut pre-fabbed pieces, they're going to have to custom-cut some pieces, and doing it on the car is the best way. The installer(s) lay the film over the part to be covered, then they squeegee one side of the film to get it to hold in place. Then, it's stretched taut over the piece, layed down, squeegeed, and the excess is carefully cut away by barely scoring the film and then tearing it away.

There's no reason to cut all the way *through* the film, much less the factory paint's clearcoat, basecoat, and primer. The problem wasn't that the installer used a razor knife - the problem is that he was a ham-fisted assclown.

Scott