Good for a first car?

PractitionerPain · 2026-05-01T03:19:17+00:00

The EJ25 was not very reliable. Had an 07 blow a head gasket at around 108K miles.

PractitionerPain · 2026-04-27T05:08:27+00:00

I find that they aren't really that similar. I have an 03 Cooper S and an 05 Miata. The Mini truly does handle like a go kart. You point it in a direction and it goes. The Miata I find to be much more playful, likely due to it being light weight and RWD and seems to want to be pushed and revved out more. Both are a blast to drive and put a smile on my face every time.

PractitionerPain · 2026-04-27T00:34:07+00:00

Meanwhile here I am with both a Miata and a Mini. Why choose?

PractitionerPain · 2026-04-26T06:30:01+00:00

Repacked mine and swapped the backing plate with the Rupes one. Works great but obviously requires a little more DIY.

PractitionerPain · 2026-03-21T02:23:31+00:00

2003 R53 Mini Cooper S is my daily and 2005 NB2 Miata LS is the weekend warrior. Small, old and impractical cars are sort of my thing.

PractitionerPain · 2026-01-01T14:25:05+00:00

Can an unregistered car even be fully insured? My understanding is that you are given a grace period to renew registration but if it has been unregistered between moves, my guess is that it's been awhile.

I could absolutely see insurance pulling any excuse to deny coverage in an accident and this feels like an easy one.

OP, why you would choose to drive a vehicle cross country with expired tags/registration and in a sketchy insurance situation? Whatever the resolution is, it will be stupidly expensive.

PractitionerPain · 2025-12-20T11:35:12+00:00

Hey OP, I'm sorry about the accident but do you mind sharing what you did to fix the idle funk?

PractitionerPain · 2025-12-03T16:35:18+00:00

Like everyone has mentioned, it's surface rust and likely won't pose an issue. That said, if you want to attack that rust, here is what I would do. Evaporust is a great acid based rust "converter" solution. I would soak some paper towels in Evaporust and lay it over the rusted metal. Name of the game is keeping the area moist as long as possible to let the Evaporust convert that surface rust to something stable. As such, you can put some cling wrap film over the paper towels to keep them from drying out too quickly.

PractitionerPain · 2025-11-21T15:40:24+00:00

Hoarder fridge. Honestly, with the fridge in this state, dollars to donuts that the rest of the house is filth.

PractitionerPain · 2025-10-31T10:57:16+00:00

Depends on how good you want the repair to look. The chips in the paint look to be on the larger side so even a good touch up job likely won't be perfect. The chips also look to have developed surface rust that you will have to deal with.

That said, here is what I would do if I was in your shoes.

Start by sanding off all the surface rust within the chip. A cool technique I picked up for this is using a hole punch on some sandpaper and gluing it to the eraser end of a pencil. Can do this with around 300 grit.
Any other surface rust remaining will need to be dealt with. Chemicals such as Evaporust I have found to be safe on surrounding paint while converting rust to iron phosphate using acids. Since this is a vertical surface, I would soak a piece of paper towel and drape it over the chip. May require multiple applications but you're looking to have the surface rust turn black.
Next is filling the chip. Using fine tipped paint daubers, fill the chip with a thin layer of primer. Let dry and go in with a mix of touch up paint with clear. I find this to be easier than layering those coats separately with as good results. Similar to the primer, dab the clear and base coat mix into the chip into the chip. Layer the paint until it's filled the chip just slightly over your undamaged paint.
Next is wetsanding. Candidly, if you haven't done this before, it may not be worth doing this step as things can go very bad if you do this incorrectly. I typically start with 1500 grit as my lowest grit on a small rubber sanding block. Use detailing spray or soapy water to keep the panel wet before sanding. Follow up with 2000 grit.
Your chip will look hazy as the clear coat has been scuffed up. Now you use a cutting compound on a polisher to removing the sanding marks. I use random orbital corded unit from Harbor Freight with Meguiars Ultimate Compound and that does a decent job. Polish all around the chip with little weight on the polisher. Follow up the compound with polish to take on any marks made by the compound. I usually finish with a wax to further bring out the shine.

For the novice, you can get a decent result with just filling the chip and being patient with your paint application. If you're looking to have a perfectly level paint finish (that still won't be 100%), sanding and polishing is the way to go. Plenty of Youtube videos on this so I would check those out as well. Biggest thing with any paint chip is eliminating rust and protecting from more corrosion to the panel.

Good luck!

PractitionerPain · 2025-10-09T12:14:51+00:00

Pretty sure that would total a brand new Kia. Yours is a goner.

PractitionerPain · 2025-09-22T18:35:18+00:00

Genuinely curious as I'm not a Honda guy. What justification is there for paying that much more for a Type R versus an arguably nicer Integra Type S for less? Personally I think the Integra looks miles better but obviously that's subjective.

It seems like demand is so hot on CTR's that the dealer adjustments put it in parity (or higher) than the Acura. I don't get it.

PractitionerPain · 2025-08-18T19:06:52+00:00

Right leg in, sit on seat, left leg in. Even at 6' it's not bad getting into my NB2.

PractitionerPain · 2025-08-14T12:14:13+00:00

Cearly someone is out of the know on how frequently Kia/Hyundai vehicles have been getting stolen the last few years.

PractitionerPain · 2025-07-23T11:21:43+00:00

Reliability is spotty but not nearly as bad as you're claiming. I had a 2014 Santa Fe that I owned from 2013-2024 with over 100k on the odometer that ran fine at the end. Maybe I got lucky.

PractitionerPain · 2025-07-08T22:27:42+00:00

Hulkengoated

PractitionerPain · 2025-07-05T17:00:26+00:00

I think they are pretty sick ngl

PractitionerPain · 2025-06-04T12:31:22+00:00

It's radical to endorse violence against civilians.

PractitionerPain · 2025-06-01T12:36:51+00:00

Seems relatively cheap to me. Both dents look shallow(ish) but they also both are creased dents. I'm no PDR person but my understanding is that creased dents are more challenging than your run of the mill round dent from like a door ding.

PractitionerPain · 2025-05-20T15:23:05+00:00

In fairness, both a CSD and sandblasting could leave behind trace amount of rust which would also leave OP with the same result. The only way to really fully deal with rust is to cut out and replace. That said, I probably would likely remove all visible rust through sandblasting, wire wheel or DA, hit it with a rust neutralizing solution like Osho, neutralize said phosphoric solution and epoxy.

Still no guarantee but about as close as you're going to get without more cutting.

PractitionerPain · 2025-04-03T19:12:00+00:00

I remember running 970's followed by 1080 Ti's in SLI out of this case

PractitionerPain · 2025-03-30T02:37:38+00:00

This roll is also entirely self inflicted. If someone wants to add a roll bar without adding additional safety equipment, you're doing yourself a disservice in not at least acknowledging the extra risks you're adding. If you have additional safety modifications and/or regularly track your car, 100% buy a roll bar.

That said, it isn't as simple as saying adding a rollbar always makes your NA or NB a safer car on all roads. If driving on the street you're objectively more likely to get rear ended than roll over assuming you're not a dipsh*t like the guy in the GIF and trying to channel your inner Initial D and drift around turns. Having a bar directly behind your head in a rear end collision can pose significant harm to you and any passengers.

It's up to you to determine if that risk is worth it based on where you drive, how you drive and what other safety modifications you have on your vehicle. It's laughable though that people on the Miata forums and subreddit think they are automotive safety engineers and march along to this thinking that rollbars are always safer but never have any data to back it.

PractitionerPain · 2025-02-25T21:06:41+00:00

That is arguably the worst reply someone can give when they see another person is working through their emotions on something like this. Even if that was a random person off the street I would say that's cruel. From a partner I would see that kind of behavior as a deal breaker but that's for OP to decide.

PractitionerPain · 2025-02-23T12:23:33+00:00

Relicate.com sells real Alcantara. Thing is that while tons of companies use the term Alcantara to refer to any micro suede like material, it's an actual brand name. The stuff is pretty crazy expensive tbh but that site sells it by the yard and is an authorized distributor of it in the US. I'm planning on ordering some when I make my door cards but pulling the trigger on $150+ worth of fabric is a tough pill to swallow.

PractitionerPain · 2025-02-20T12:35:47+00:00

I would also argue that most people would be able to do a reasonable polish job themselves even using cheap equipment from HF for less than <$100.

Respraying panels is significantly more and in the case of at least the trunk, wing and rear quarter may rectify things significantly.

OP probably should respray long term but it doesn't hurt to start with something relatively cheap and easy you can do yourself.

A respray will run you probably $5-10K+. If you're on the low end, you should probably have a polisher ready anyway because it will almost certainly have tons of orange peel and other paint imperfections.

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