Trying to pick up a set of wheels this week for the Odyssey for some snows. Stockers are 16x7 with a 5x120 bolt. Anybody have something laying around?

Okay, okay, so after nearly a year of owning a hot hatch that was really only good at carrying an entire Ikea bedroom set home at 21psi of boost in a straight line, I decided I should look around and get into a daily driver that was a better fit for me. I wanted to feel very "at home" in it, wanted it to be simple yet new-ish, have three pedals, and cost less per month than the Focus ST did.

Enter: the modern E36 M3. It's a 2009 BMW 128i. Before someone claims blasphemy, lemme mention the power-to-weight of each car. The 128i weighs 3,252 lbs and produces 230 hp (motor). The M3 weighs 3,380 lbs and produces 240 hp (motor). So, the 128i has a PtW ratio of 14.1 lbs/hp and the M3 is 14.08 lbs/hp. Really.

This greatly helped my decision to buy the 128 over a 135. I had no desire to have a turbo BMW out of warranty (that sounded, frankly, horrifying) and while more power is always more better (thank you, Lord Clarkson), I really liked how the E36 M3 felt. So, why not get another one that's got modern safety features and newer electronics? And an interior that's not falling apart?

Porsche of Arlington gave me good money on trade for the Focus, and I paid a smidge under KBB for the BMW. It has 44k miles on it and the options list from BMW ETK is two pages long. Mostly-fully loaded with M-Sport, cold weather, premium and technology packages.

It's snowing, so my photos suck:











Also, iDrive is hard. It's got the newest version of it, and I still had to break out the owner's manual to figure out how to set my radio presets. I am hoping the learning curve will lessen as I own the car a bit. Graphics and responsiveness are both better than MyFord Touch, though.

Really dig the car so far. Here's hoping I keep this one more than a year.

I'm kind of surprised we don't have a thread to discuss automotive news in general already. There has been a lot of interesting auto news out recently with the new wrx, new mustang, new corvette etc.

Obviously, for this week, the big news is the next generation mustang was revealed: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.autoblog.com/2013/12/05/2015-ford-mustang-official-photos-reveal-info/">http://www.autoblog.com/2013/12/05/2015 ... veal-info/</a><!-- m -->

I was pretty disappointed with the looks when the pictures of the v6 model leaked out a few days ago, but the new mustang GT looks pretty damn good and it seems like it's going to be a great performer since they finally added IRS and all of the models are expected to lose weight and have a bump in power. The figures I heard for the GT were minus 200 lbs from the current gen and HP in the 450 range.





The other piece of news I'm interested in this week is the fact that the reveal of the C7 Z06 is going to be next month at the detroit auto show. Also interesting is that it will likely have a forced induction motor rather than a giant N/A motor like the past. Some early photochops of the car can be seen here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.autoblog.com/2013/12/06/2015-chevy-corvette-z06-leaked-photo/">http://www.autoblog.com/2013/12/06/2015 ... ked-photo/</a><!-- m -->

Hey all -- want to get rid of the ol' Sparco. It's black in color, decent condition with no rips/burns that I'm aware of. It's missing one of the plastic pieces where the harness' slide through. It's an expired seat so it's good for HPDE/autox/whatever else you want to do with it.

I can't seem to find any other prices to really base off from CL (one is on there for $400, but it looks to be in better condition)... So lets say $300

Located in Fairfax - I'll get some pictures up once I pull the seats out.

Putting a feeler out for my daily driver. I ordered this car about a year ago, it's the first new car I've ever had, and for what I pay per month to own it, I've just concluded that I like it but don't love it. Think I may go back to DDing a BMW, just a newer one that's not broken (haha, I know, I tell funny joke). So, if I can get a decent amount of cash for the car, I'll let it go. Otherwise, I'll keep putting miles on it.

It's a 2013 ST2. No moonroof, no navigation. Tangerine Scream with the two-tone black and yellow Recaro seats.

The ST2 package gives you auto dual-zone climate control, Recaro front seats, MyFord Touch and 10-speaker Sony audio.

Mileage is at roughly 15k. Completely stock aside from a Steeda rear sway bar. I can replace it with the stock bar if you want a 100% stock car.

It's been driven as Ford intended, mostly daily driven though - autocrossed once and saw one 30-minute HPDE session at VIR. It has also been used as a pace car for NASA Mid-Atlantic at both VIR and Summit Point. I can confirm that the car will go 130 mph on the back of VIR with four people in the car in the snow.

The car comes with the stock ST wheels and Eagle F1 summer tires (with about 13k on them, rotated every 5k) as well as a set of totally awesome '00 Taurus SE wheels with some Goodyear all-seasons wrapped around them.

Looking for $21,500 OBO.

2004 Honda RC51 Nicky Hayden Edition!
about 10k miles (I ride the bike....even when its cold)
- Corbin Seat
- Brand new Michelin Pilot Power 3 tires (front and rear)....less than 1k miles on them, installed August-ish of this year
- rest is stock

I think it's about time for me to part ways with my beloved Honda RC51. I've had the bike for about 4 years now, and I've put about 7k miles on her during that time. She has always been garaged (both at home, and when I rode her to work, she'd sit in a parking garage).

The bike is in great shape, except for a small crack in the fairing from where it was tipped over in a parking lot. The turn signal took the majority of the force.

See the craigslist ad for a dooshey pic of me and the bike. I'm going to take actual pics when i get home from work.

MMer special price*

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/mcy/4225093578.html">http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/ ... 93578.html</a><!-- m -->

[img]C:\Users\charles.happ\Desktop\rc51%202[/img]

Hello! I know I’m really late getting my stuff together on the forum, but my name is Samantha and I am a senior Accounting major here at JMU, slated to graduate with my masters in 2015. I joined MM at the beginning of this semester after being invited by a friend to one of the drag strip events. My knowledge about cars is limited, but I have learned so much just in the past couple months, and am excited to learn more! I worked at a Ford dealership for about four summers as a customer service rep in the service department. My mom has always been in management at dealerships and my grandfather owns a towing/small repair garage type thing, so I have always been around cars. I currently drive a white 2012 Focus…but have other aspirations for when I have the ability to buy a car by myself. Before that I had a blue 2008 Focus, which I loved and miss; but unfortunately it met an untimely death after I accidentally rolled it off a bank (oops). I'm definitely a Ford girl that comes from a Ford family, so of course I looove Mustangs <3. I’ve probably met some of you already at VIR or the autocross or Turducken, but for everyone else, I look forward to meeting you in the future! (I’m also the world’s most enthusiastic ride-along—always looking for an adrenaline rush!)

Genuine car enthusiast was lost yesterday... Pretty sad about this. He had a huge impact on a lot of people.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-paul-walker-death-speed-may-have-been-factor-in-fatal-crash-20131130,0,4374700.story">http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... 4700.story</a><!-- m -->

Here is a 458 which I performed a single/ double step (some areas) + Opti Coat app- client uses the machine for what its for and tracks it regularly. On top of the numerous areas which have ppf I went ahead and applied Opti Coat 2 to finish this one off.

Not many process pics as time was limited, just looking to document and share!

Thanks for looking!

Working through the interior- mostly vacuumed and brushed down as the entire interior is primarily alcantara



Tips were hurting- hit with ironx + #0000 steel wool and Opt metal polish to get them perfect



The business end was foamed down with APC and various brushes used, here it is before showing lots of soil from numerous trips + hours on track







Given a full decon wash + clay treatment







Dried...you can see the fine line marring and swirls, not too bad, but for the most part very fine defects







Good ole gift from Maranello- thank you for the pig tailing and rotary defects on the roof, for example:



After 10 hours of correcting- Opti coat the next morning





And the afters:



































































Thanks for looking!

Dan

Hey all,

Getting caught up here on a few write-ups I performed not too long ago...between relocating and starting a new job back down in VA I haven't had much time to dedicated to throwin pics together.

Up here is a black Panamera 4 loaded with options- it was jacked up pretty bad with virtually every type of defect not to mention the worst pre-cut dealer installed clear film I have ever seen.

Correctional was a mix between a 2 and 3 step, opti coat 2 thrown on as LSP.

No correctional pics but for documentation I included a handful of finished pics below

Thanks for lookin!











































Dan