I took delivery of my car 1 month ago today. Its been raining and snowing and cloudy ever since.

I finally got the car washed today. I took it to a car wash that I have been going to for many years. It looks awesome.

I decided that once the winter is over I am going to start washing and waxing it myself. Something I have not done to my cars for 15 years.

I figure that its so little that I can easily do it myself. However this car has many crevices that collect a lot of dirt that make it a bit harder to clean than I first thought.

Now that its clean, I took some pictures in my drive way with my iPhone.

 

Drive that JCW back and have them do the rims over...still dirty.

 

LOL. Yeah. It was just a car wash not a detail. So I'll give them a break.

Couple more pics and I am done for today.

 

You're better than me, I washed and detailed and she's been in the garage for over a month. I'm afraid to drive her!

 

Nice pictures and a very nice MINI JCW.

You did not pay extra for them to clean the wheels?

Check out the detailing section of NAM, you will be in an OCD MINI owner in no time.

My 07 has been on a bucket wash and hydro routine since new.

 

VERY nice!!!

 

I am already freaking OCD to begin with... just ask my wife .

Yes. I went through the detailing section. I have a list of things I want to buy so I can wash and detail it myself.

I did not pay extra for them to do the wheels. It was just a car wash not a detailing that was done. The car is brand new. I hope it looks good after a wash.

 

looks great! im already sick of cleaning the wheels nearly every day... yours have twice as many spokes... id go nuts lol

 

Well howdy neighbor...Car looks great..hope to see you driving around the county!!!

 

Thanks Wolfeee. I'll be looking for you too!

 

Mine has been in the garage too. Only 3 weeks though. I go out and start it up here and there. It makes me feel like I am 15 again. Sitting in the car making vroom vroom noises.

 

your front JCW badge, it is zee crookid

 

Now that the car is clean, I am starting to see a bunch of little things. The MINI badge on the boot is not on all the way and its crooked too. I am going to the dealer this afternoon. The checker flag that goes on the secret compartment is missing. Its apparently a factory defect. A couple of other minor tweaks too like the front JCW badge being crooked as well as loose.

I do like the car but the build quality is not that of my old BMW 330xi or my wife's 08 Toyota Highlander.

Even though I just picked up this car a month ago, It is one of the original JCW's to hit the US. It was delivered to the dealer on 7-14-08 and had been sitting around in their warehouse since then.

 

A fix for dirty wheels are the ceramic brake pads. I just ordered some and am going to install shortly. Greatly reduces brake dust!

 

I just finished trying to clean my rims. The brake dust gets harder and harder to remove the longer you leave it on there. It's been about 2-3 weeks and there are black spots everywhere that are very hard to get off. I didn't use rim cleaner because I ran out so I just used car soap and water. This is insane because I can't keep these things clean every week in the winter. After one winter, these will look horrible. These are gonna get plasti-dipped as soon as the weather breaks :(.

So onefish, get those rims cleaned up real good. :(

 

Already done. Got down on my hands and knees and cleaned each one. And today it snowed... but my car is in the garage nice and clean. My wife's Highlander does not look too good after being out in the snow.

I need to move some where warmer like back to Orange county, CA.

 

Where do you get ceramic brake pads?

 

Its a beauty....