Utah Stingers

[Deisic]

Nearly destroyed my car yesterday! An illegal “U” turn barrier caused me to high center, barely: only tore a hole in the driver’s side of the undercarriage shield. It felt and sounded lethal. But I was able to back off it (with more horrible noises emanating from below).
What did you do to your Kia Stinger today?
A sadder but wiser fool: especially after earlier fun on I-15 coming down here (Redondo Beach). I was following what I now ID as a BMW i8. It passed me going a terrific clip as I left Baker, so I instantly said: “Well, you’re going to attract a lot more attention than a lowly Stinger; so, you go get the ticket, and I’ll hang onto your bumper (or rather, follow up in your wake) and go fast for a while”. And man! Did we go fast! I saw 100+ MPH a bunch of times, and between 111 and 120 a few times. We picked up another BMW, a very modern “5 Series”, who also wanted to play behind the i8; then, a ways along, passed it, so now the i8 was in the middle. We leaped in front of slower vehicles as opportunity permitted, and I managed to keep both of them in sight for quite a while. Finally, at around Victorville (iirc) the i8 slowed down, apparently “done”. And so I passed her: the driver was a fine “beach girl” looking lassie with long, straight honey-blonde hair, a good forty years younger than me. The other BMW was still up ahead, and I wasn’t “done” yet, so I figured on more miles of being shielded by the frontrunner. However, when I drew closer, I saw that the BMW had turned into a Nissan. It was going faster than surrounding traffic, so I shrugged and kept it in my sight for a while. Then the i8 put in an appearance again, as we descended through the mountains and I sped up until I had to watch for I-210 (which I missed, btw, and had to re vector).

The upshot is that I feel foolish for my “civil disobedience”: being in “control” at speeds anyone would define as risky: the Stinger does that for you: fills you with confidence, because you are in control, but the surrounding traffic is always the unknown factor, so driving around them is just stupid. I can feel “in control” at 111 MPH, but still hang up on an illegal “U” turn barrier at 35 MPH? Yes. So, “don’t get cocky” doesn’t even begin to explain the things wrong with this picture.

Oh man! Glad you’re ok! I feel ya on this. The car does make you feel I’m control and simple mistakes can happen

 

[MerlintheMad]

Thanks, @Deisic. I didn't update this thread, but on the other thread I said that I got my undercarriage panels replaced okay. No adventures since then!

On another note: I've taken to washing my Stinger every day that it gets rained on. If that means every day, that's fine with me. My washing routine is down to a machinelike quality. And it's really good exercise. I bless each day that is above freezing! (If I didn't have a carport, this would not be happening, though, I hasten to add.)

 

[Deisic]

haha man! Your neighbors would probably wonder what was up with you. cleaning your car in the snow

 

[MerlintheMad]

haha man! Your neighbors would probably wonder what was up with you. cleaning your car in the snow

Not IN the snow: while it is snowing: under my carport. I'm about to go outside and do it again. Tis that time of year! I've never EVER been a car washing kind of guy. But the Stinger has opened up wells of caring that have never before been tapped.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I have finally timed myself.

3:27 PM, I filled the bucket with straight hot, soft water and dropped in my first stage washing towel; it's big, half of a beach towel to be exact. I ball it up and go over the lower sides and rear. (Lately I have been going quickly over the rims too, but today I didn't. I forgot. It only takes a couple more minutes, though.)

3:31 PM, I filled the bucket a second time with straight hot, soft water and pushed my six 18" x 26" towels into it. Two towels on the hatch window, two on the moonroof, two on the hood; one towel per section per side. I do the rims as the last part of the outside. Last stage is to open the doors and wipe out the lower "sill" where the dirty water from the road gets in.

3:54 PM, Done! I am now putting my washing towels in the washing machine, and hand washing my microfiber in the sink. I put the microfiber(s) in the dryer.

4:00 PM. Laundry is done (except for the final dryer for the washing towels and putting away).

I guess you could call this the "complete half hour car wash", because I don't leave anything undone. This even includes going around the exhaust pipe stubs and diffuser beneath them to make sure they don't look tatty with exposed water drops dried on. And of course, I don't leave out the entire underside of the diffuser either, right up to just behind the rear tires.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Any fortuitous escape I made yesterday is undone if I go out from under my carport today: already 3 to 4 inches and still coming down; and church is in less than three hours. We are taking my wife's Fusion. - after I shovel the driveway, of course. And, so it begins ...

 

[Deisic]

We got dumped on this past weekend. How did your cars do in the slush this morning?

 

[MerlintheMad]

No slush this morning. That was yesterday. I drove my wife's Fusion yesterday. And the roads were mostly dried off by noon today when I sallied forth . Nevertheless, the accumulation of salty grime was noticeable, and I washed it off when I got home. By the time I got to my rims, the water was starting to freeze, but I was applying hot towels as I went, so that wasn't an issue at all. My wife objected to getting water where we walk to get in and out of our cars, and asked if I would pull out into the driveway to wash my car; but I said I will try ice melt instead and see how that goes. I've never approached a winter like this before: I've always been casual, even in the extreme, about washing my vehicles (a departure over the last three years was my '94 Voyager which I had repainted: but even in winter I didn't stress about road grime, and I never worried about salt on the underside of a 24 year-old van). Now, I think about it alot, even (it seems) all the time. Keeping the Stinger clean is a joy.

 

[BlaydeX15]

We got dumped on this past weekend. How did your cars do in the slush this morning?

It did well, not much snow out here in the Uintah Basin, but the back road I take to work was pretty icy, and my parking lot was fully iced over. I did a mini power slide into the parking lot and got (Jokingly) called out for it by our maintenance guy. Lol.

Still waiting for there to be snow on the back roads/parking lots while the sun is out though. So far, it all melts immediately.

 

[Jimmer]

I work at Hill AFB for DLA and I have the Red GT2 AWD. I'm glad I haven't seen the one defaced by Superman stickers yet.

 

[MerlintheMad]

So, according to this thread there should be at least four of "us" up there around Hill; two Blues, your Red @Jimmer, and a White.

 

[Jimmer]

So, according to this thread there should be at least four of "us" up there around Hill; two Blues, your Red @Jimmer, and a White.

There is a black one on base. Someone who works in Bldg 849.

 

[MerlintheMad]

There is a black one on base. Someone who works in Bldg 849.

I just read your post on the other thread about the Black. There are at least two Blacks out here: I met @Gordo in Daybreak, but only he has seen the other Black. There are enough of us Stinger Forum members around the Wasatch Front that if we arranged a "Swarm" and most of us showed up, we'd probably get c. half a dozen, maybe more. I'm not that gregarious, but it's something to think about. Spring might bring us out ... Or not, depending on if the novelty has worn thin by then.

 

[stingeradmr]

I,m in green river utah I would be p for that

 

[Jimmer]

I just read your post on the other thread about the Black. There are at least two Blacks out here: I met @Gordo in Daybreak, but only he has seen the other Black. There are enough of us Stinger Forum members around the Wasatch Front that if we arranged a "Swarm" and most of us showed up, we'd probably get c. half a dozen, maybe more. I'm not that gregarious, but it's something to think about. Spring might bring us out ... Or not, depending on if the novelty has worn thin by then.

For me, the novelty isn't going anywhere

 

[MerlintheMad]

For me, the novelty isn't going anywhere

If my nine months of experience is a prediction of the perceivable future, my level of enthusiasm will be at full throttle through this winter and on into 2019.

@stingeradmr Green River, you have a bit of a road trip to enjoy, getting to a "Swarm". Of course, there's the classic "loop" (taken by the SLC Ferrari Club a few months ago): Start at the Park and Ride lot at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon; go south along Wasatch Blvd, to 1700 East (Draper Pkwy), to left on 1300 East, which turns into 13800 South; this hits Bangerter Pkwy, which we turn left onto. We stay on it, cross through Highland Dr and continue up and over the Point of the Mountain via the relatively new Traverse Ridge Rd. This comes on the south side to Suncrest Dr. where you turn left onto Suncrest DR (if you don't, and you stay on Traverse Ridge Rd, you wind up going through the subdivision before you can exit back out onto Suncrest: I know, I've missed the left turn onto Suncrest before). And Suncrest Dr goes down to suddenly turn into Highland Blvd (same road, just a different name at some point, for no reason that I can fathom). Highland Blvd drops down to State Route 92, which we take into American Fork Canyon as the Alpine Loop. This is the best part of the drive, over to Provo Canyon Rd. (Hwy 189). Just past Deer Creek Reservoir, a left onto Hwy 113 (Center St) goes north through Midway, and then through town any way you want to Pine Canyon Rd. Up and more scenic switchbacks as it joins into Guardsman Pass Rd. This goes over the pass does switchbacks down to Big Cottonwood Canyon Rd, just below Brighton. We're going down Big Cottonwood Canyon now, and we pull in at the Silver Fork Lodge and eat lunch, then continue down, back to the mouth of the canyon and wave goodbye to each other.

 

[Deisic]

I've actually seen probably 3 stingers in the last week. Rare.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I've actually seen probably 3 stingers in the last week. Rare.

Was one of them the Yellow, by any chance? I'm wondering where out on the west side he lives.

 

[Jimmer]

Was one of them the Yellow, by any chance? I'm wondering where out on the west side he lives.

I've only seen one yellow. It was parked at the VA (someone who worked there) I saw it a few times but haven't seen it there in months.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I've only seen one yellow. It was parked at the VA (someone who worked there) I saw it a few times but haven't seen it there in months.

Ah, that must have been the Jerry Seiner one; or it's just a coincidence that a "nurse" at the VA is a different nurse from the one that bought the Yellow at the end of March, then traded it back to Jerry Seiner three or four months later. They sold it back to Kia.