Edge

Lots of us are happy to give rides!

Awesome - you're right near where my family is from! On my last visit (a little over 2 years ago), I visited a couple of Melbourne-area MINI dealerships. They have several down there. Hope you're enjoying your trip!

Enrique - responding to the same basic question you emailed me: You shouldn't have any problems other than the speedo and odometer being further off. A "lower" profile tire will sit less tall, which means they have a smaller diameter and circumference... so they won't rub on any fenders or anything like that. Using the very popular (and free!) Miata.net Tire size calculator, a change from 205/45R17 to 205/40R17 means the following in terms of speedo: Speedometer reading with non-stock tire size is 3.3% too fast. When your speedo reads 60mph, you'll actually be traveling 58.0 mph. Now, this also means your MINI will be putting more miles on the odometer than you're actually driving. In addition, don't forget that MINI deliberately sets the factory speedo about 2 or 3 mph fast in the first place, so you'll actually end up with a speedo that is set 4 or 5mph too fast on the highway! (the MINI-set speed increase does not impact your odometer though)

REAL Shepherd's Pie! Yummmmm... :eating:

That's right, the Spring Fling is on - rain or shine! We've never let any rain stop us before! "April showers bring May flowers" Here I present the route sheets and waiver for tomorrow. No need to print it out, I will be bringing plenty for everyone - but if you are driving and you are not a current (paid) DCMM member (bring your badge!), we will be asking you to sign the waiver before we depart. If you fall into this category, you may choose to print the waiver yourself and bring it with you, to save time. If not, use one of the ones we're bringing. See you all tomorrow morning! :motor: Waiver - Spring Fling 2011.doc Waiver - Spring Fling 2011.doc

The problem with relying on brakes only on the Dragon, if you're driving it aggressively, is that you can wear your brakes down to where they are very hot. My first hard run on the Dragon, the first year, I did just that. I ended up with brakes that were literally smoking at Tabcat Bridge. Needless to say, I waited a full half hour before I went back, with the car parked in gear and the handbrake off... to make sure they had plenty of time to cool down. 11 miles of hard driving with frequent, heavy braking is brutal on your brakes, so be careful!

If I recall, when you and I originally looked at them together, when we first set up vBulletin... we had to remove a few of them, because they were kinda offensive and/or mean. :dong:

I'll be bringing a few extras, and many other people usually have an extra or two with them as well. We'll get you sorted out. :top:

Yep! Just make sure the engine is properly warmed up before you push it. The supercharger doesn't really begin to show its power until above 4,500rpm... you'll love it! Gas mileage will of course suffer though... be careful - the sound of that supercharger screaming to the redline is very addictive! The best decisions are informed ones. Check your owners manual. It clearly says 91 or higher. The service manager who told you 89 was giving you bad information - sad to hear that. Most gas stations in our region carry 93. However, in some parts of the country (California in particular), 91 is the highest you'll find (easily). I understand your consternation, I really do... but this is a premium car and designed that way. One thing to consider though... generally speaking, the difference in price between regular and premium gas is about 30 cents per gallon. That seems like a lot, but the more expensive gas gets, the less that amount ultimately matters. For example - if regular gas was only $1/gallon, and premium was $1.30, that's huge (30% difference). However, if regular gas is $4/gallon, and premium is $4.30, it's less of a delta, percentage wise (7.5%). Once you get over the psychological hurdle of paying for premium, and you come to truly love how awesome MINIs are to drive (and drive hard!), it gets easier. As for the "backfires", they are normal and deliberate. That is called burble - it's something they added in the 2005 model year, and took out again in 2nd Gen MINIs due to too many people complaining that they thought something is wrong. I love it, and very happy my MINI has it! :top: The intake, exhaust and pulley are the three "must do" mods for notable improvement! As for the limo... it's your call. I personally went with legal tint - I attract enough attention as it is without making it worse. Your call! I can highly recommend Carlos at Solar Solutions. If you don't mind a drive out to Laurel, MD - he's worth the trip. High quality work, and very well priced (he gives a special discount to DCMM MINIs). Sorry to hear about the passing of your local school principal.

Ali is correct (nice job - you didn't skim! ). We aren't visiting a winery this year (again). I have been too busy this year, and just didn't have sufficient time to plan and roll in a winery stop. Next year I should have more time and I hope to make it part of the journey! Approximate times for Saturday: Depart Wegmans: 10:00am Arrive Griffin Tavern: 12:30pm Depart Griffin Tavern: 2:00pm Arrive Wegmans: 4:30pm Celia - if you have to bail early, you don't have to leave directly from lunch. Along the afternoon route, there are 3 "easy exits", to make it easy to bail from the run and head back. Here they are, and their distance along the run, from Griffin Tavern: Route 66 - 17.6 miles Route 50 - 25.9 miles Route 7 - 38.2 miles The complete afternoon run is 69.1 miles, bringing us back to Wegmans. The complete morning run is 67.9 miles. A grand total of 137 miles, if you do the entire thing.

Always happy to look at this kinda thing.

Nope - 2nd Gens are totally different, fiber-optics. The software and cable I have for 1st Gens aren't for programmable body modules, either. It's mostly for tweaking the factory Nav system and Bluetooth.

I made it clear in my post that personal preferences (and requirements) differ, and will absolutely affect your decision... with that being said, I need to respond to a few of Craig's statements: I didn't mean to suggest that non-runflats automatically ride (or handle) like a Cadillac. It was just an extreme example given to demonstrate how little (personally) I care about the ride, because that's not what I bought the car for. Yes, Craig autocrosses his MINI, and that's one excellent reason to desire stickier non-runflats. I used to dabble in autocross back in the 90s, and I had a great time. I just don't have time for it any more these days. My MINI is strictly a street car, so my requirements are different. On the street, I don't get as many opportunities to push it that far (and I'm quite a "spirited" driver). Were I to get back into autocrossing again, I'd certainly get sticky non-runflats to do it with. I probably won't be doing that with this MINI though, because it's poorly set up for autocross (my car is so loaded that the added weight alone would put me at a notable disadvantage). As for going for a lower profile tire, yes that can help keep the "go kart" steering feel... but not as much as both put together. I run low profile tires (18s) and I use runflats. My turn-in is awesome. Absolutely immediate and razor-sharp, absolutely no wobbling at all (not even a hint of it)... and I wouldn't give that feel up for anything - not even a little of it. Except maybe in the winter when I run snow tires, and I can't find good runflat ones in 18s. :laugh: No, runflats are not a guarantee. However, they are far, far less likely to leave you stranded or having to deal with a flat tire at the most inconvenient times. That is not true. You CAN repair a runflat once you've driven on it flat - just as long as it's not a long distance, and the damage is not too close to the sidewall. Guess what? The repair condition (sidewall distance) is the exact SAME for non-runflats too! Places that refuse to even attempt to repair a runflat (typically dealerships) are mostly saying so for both liability fears and business sales ("Hey! Let's sell them a new tire instead!"). I can say this because I'm a living example of it. When I first got my MINI, I got a flat tire within weeks of driving it off a lot (factory runflats). I called my dealership, they wanted to replace the tire with a brand new one... at my expense of course. I took it to a nearby Midas and had them look at it. The damage wasn't close to the sidewall of the tire. They repaired the puncture, charged me $10, and sent me on my way. The tire then lasted all the way to the end of its useful life. So don't believe you can't repair and re-use a runflat. You absolutely can, as long as you haven't driven a long distance on it while it's empty, and the damage isn't in the wrong place.

That depends... If I'm in a hurry (and the engine has properly warmed up) - 7,200 rpm (mind you my redline is a little higher than stock). If I'm really trying to conserve fuel - 3,000 rpm Most of the time - casual driving - 4,500 rpm Yes, non-runflats will generally give you a much softer ride, as the sidewall is not as stiff. They generally also use softer rubber, which means they stick better at the outer limits of handling. They also tend to be cheaper than runflats. It's a very popular thing to do in the MINI community. However, this comes with a couple of trade-offs: Non-runflats can leave you stranded if you get a flat tire, as MINIs don't come with a spare. You can obtain a 1st Gen Cooper (non-S) spare and carry it around in the back if you like. You can also carry a can of "Fix-a-flat"... but they are all tradeoffs. Non-runflats will have a "mushier" steering feel. It won't feel quite as go-cartish. This is most noticeable when making sudden directional changes (like a quick lane change). Personally, I'm in the minority in the MINI enthusiast community. I love my run-flats, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. My car is a street car, and the razor-sharp turn-in (steering feel) is a very important part of the experience to me. I don't (personally) care much about having a smooth ride. As I like to say - if I had wanted a Cadillac, I would have bought one! I also don't care too much about the "extreme handling limits" performance improvement of non-runflats, because again - my MINI is a street car, not a track car. :motor: Of course, personal preferences differ wildly, so it's entirely your call. Absolutely. MINIs are designed to run with 91 or higher. The difference in price that I have seen between 91 and 93 tends to be 2 cents per gallon. With a full tank (~14 G), that's a difference of 28 cents. Is that savings really worth it? As for running anything less than 91, don't do it. You'll think you're saving money, but your car will also run worse, both in terms of performance and gas mileage... to the point where it would have been cheaper to just put in 91 or higher in the first place. Both Motoring Alliance and North American Motoring are excellent forums. NAM has a much longer history, with a library of valuable historical knowledge to search through... but MA has a much better, more active and vibrant community now. A lot of the "experts" migrated from NAM to MA when NAM became corporate-owned and didn't seem to care much about the community other than making money. If you want a MINI "news" site, the MINI blog MotoringFile is top-notch. They get the inside scoop direct from MINI (unofficially / off the record), and the MINI community often finds out stuff via MF before anywhere else (especially the dealers). Don't put a 19% pulley in, unless you plan on replacing superchargers frequently. 15% is generally considered the "sweet spot" between reliability and performance. Your MINI is an R52. All 1st Gen convertible MINIs (both S and non-S) are R52s.

It went very well! We had a fun day! Yes, it rained for part of it. We also saw snow on the ground (up on Mt. Weather), came across 8 (slow-moving) Priuses (Pri-i?) on the actual run route, and one hearse! In any case, no major drama - the route is the same, minus one very small adjustment that only chops off 0.3 miles. Looking forward to next Saturday! :motor:

Dry run today! :motor:

That's awesome! :top: Can you get her to register on the forum and RSVP? An accurate count is very important for the restaurant. :stupido:

I think it's mostly intended for a new windshield. It ran me $500, without the replacement warranty (which uses Safelite). I think it was an extra $100 to include the replacement warranty. Having had it before, and knowing how MINIs are so prone to windshield impact cracks, I wanted the same treatment done on my new windshield. It isn't cheap, but in my own opinion, it's worth it.

That sounds pretty much like the same thing I just had done to my new windshield: CrystalFusion

If Brian drinks tequila, it will harm my senses... in particular, my eyes! :s: :afraid: :puke:

RSVPs are now open! If you're going to join us, please be sure to add yourself (and number of guests) into the RSVP system in the first post. Thanks! :top:

Ate dinner there tonight - delicious! Our waiter was a bit slow, but the quality of the food made up for it. Full 10% off on the entire check! He did need to borrow my badge, and recorded my member details on their copy of the check. :top:

It is my understanding that the MINI ECU tunes are VIN-sensitive. I know they are for the GP tunes, I think they are for JCW tunes as well. MINI knows the factory spec for every car they have ever manufactured, so they know right off the bat which ones are autos and which are manuals. In any case, I think that all of the 1st Gen JCW parts could still run under a stock MCS ECU tune, just with less performance. The JCW supercharger became the factory stock one for 2005+, for example. I also have GP-specific parts on my JCW without the GP tune. Who knows what this advertised car actually has... but one way or another it isn't a "legitimate" JCW. Even so, it's such a low mileage MCS Cabrio, so it's still a good deal!

I hate to break it to you and your friend, but paperwork or not, it isn't a legit JCW. MINI did not release the JCW Tuning Kit (engine upgrade) for 1st Gen MINIs with an automatic. PERIOD. I heard rumors of a few dealerships going "rogue" and selling/"installing" the kit on automatic R53s, but they would only be able to install the hardware, not the matching ECU tune, and warranty work for it at other dealerships could pose a problem. One way or another, it isn't 100% bona fide. At best it's a grey area. Sorry!

I hate to break it to you, but it does appear that the dealership was right, and that you need to have a special bumper cover for the chrome stuff. Here's the evidence: RealOEM.com BMW R56 Cooper Trim, bumper, rear (up to 8/10) If you look at the link above, there are indeed two different bumpers - one for the chrome package, one without. The part number you are looking for is referenced only in conjunction with the special chrome package bumper. You could still order the part number anyway, pay your $25... and try to make it fit. As long as you don't damage the part, you could return it for a refund if it doesn't work.