Quote:
Originally Posted by James T. Kirk
Despite my ownership of a couple of M cars over the years, I was always a stock car kind of guy. You know the type: daily driver, non-tracker, concerned about warranty, chasing dings and scratches, and basically just trying to keep his M as cherry as possible.
The 1M is changing things for me. I'm planning on a flash tune, KW coil overs for a suspension drop, Lux angel eyes and some IND kidneys and side makers. Once done, I'm even considering starting to track along with keeping it on as my DD.
As it is, I'm barely able to clear some drive-up parking lots with my stock suspension. Drop it a couple of centimeters and, well, you know... it's the thing no one likes to think about. ROAD RASH. PAINT CHIPS. Clear film protection can only go so far when you hit a dip on the road or need to go up a steep driveway with a dropped suspension.
Is this a fact of life? How do you guys cope with it? Is anything that's not visible fair game?
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Captain, for me, the paint chips are a fact of life. I take care to minimize paint damage by waxing and keeping a spray bottle of Meguiars Quik Detailer and a microfiber towel to wipe off bird droppings and bugs right away. I also take a little extra care parking at work and built the AWAK device at home.
On the other hand small paints and chips are going to happen and in a weird way, I take pride in driving my car every day. I'm a car guy and these cars were meant to be driven and my circle of friends admire people that drive them every day.
My boss has a 2007 Shelby GT-500 that is a daily driver. He constantly runs into people with his same car and they have 2000 miles on it. They are old and will probably die with their car only having 8K miles...He asks them regularly..what is the point? ..so your kids can inherit it and auction it off or THEY can drive it every day?
Last week at Cars and Coffee there were a bunch of beautiful Ferraris in a Ferrari area, then off to one side sitting all alone was a Ferrari 360 Modena with a couple of parking garage stickers and tiny daily-drive paint chips.
Both of us stopped and stood around this car, ooood and aweeeed and we both said....this guy gets it! We wanted to find him and shake his hand but, he was out and about. He wasn't standing by his car giving tours on his daily driver, but admiring other beautiful cars!
So the bottom line for me is that the daily drive paint chips, while keeping them to a minumum, are a point of pride... It says you are about the driving the car not having a garage queen...that is cool.
If you don't believe me think about this. Everyone thinks Steve McQueen was one of the coolest guys ever. If he owned a 1M do you think he would have a clear bra on it? Do you think he would only drive it only on Sundays? Nah, what made him cool is that he DROVE his cars on the road, on the track on the back roads.!
Warp 9 Captain Kirk!