I stopped and snapped this photo with my iPhone a couple of days ago while a dust storm (or haboob, if you’re the local news) was rolling through Phoenix. I used an app by Microsoft called Photosynth to make the panorama. I dig the way it turned out.
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To celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary and my wife’s 30th birthday, we left the kids with our family and drove the Coupe to Las Vegas for a long weekend. I prepared for a variety of potential issues with the Coupe, but we were very fortunate to have none at all. The Coupe was an excellent road trip car, and very comfortable for the 5 hour drive. Not that I should be surprised as we bought my first M Coupe from Rowland Heights, CA and drove it home. The bulk of the drive to Las Vegas is a 2 lane highway through scenic desert with lots of opportunity to enjoy the drive. Friday on the way up to Vegas though, we were stuck behind a caravan of RVs that were poking along 5-10 under the speed limit. As soon as there was a passing lane open, we easily blasted past the slow traffic. We stopped for some quick photos in Nothing, AZ, mostly because of the irony of the name. We had a great trip, and a good warm up for our drive to Dorkfest in August!
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Ever since I bought my first Coupe in 2007, I have wanted a set of Kinesis K58s. There are a few guys on BFc who are running, or have run them on their Coupe — Caliagents1688, JonesMechanical, and Gnarlycreature come to mind). In my opinion, they are the best looking set of wheels on the Coupe. Not far behind them are many, many other designs, but in my humble opinion, these are the best. I searched and search for a set that I could justify plunking my hard earned cash for, and early this summer the right set showed up (thanks to my buddy Sky for the heads up!). The seller had recently refinished them to like new condition. No rash, no dings, flawless finish, fresh polish, new hardware, etc, etc. The price was right, I paid for them clear back in June, received them in July, finally received the valve stems and tires in August, and had them mounted in September. You’d think after all of that, they’d be the finished product, but they’re not. The fronts are spot on, no spacer required and are perfectly flush. My TCK S/A suspension is adjusted up front as low as it will go, and there is nor rubbing whatsoever. The fronts are perfect. The rear is almost as low as it will go, I’m going to completely pull the adjuster out to get it about 1/2″ lower. The rears don’t have an optimal offset, or width. 🙁 I know what to order, and where from to get them new, but I have other priorities currently and don’t have the time to disassemble the wheels to install wider lips. I’ll get to it in time, but for now I’m stoked just to have them mounted! I’ll be running a thick spacer for the time being so that they don’t look strange, but I’m content with having them at all.

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