gnhovis

Sold: A set of used Hawk HPS Front Brake Pads for R53 MINI. 7/16 inch of pad remaining. I had these on my car for only a few weeks before I switched to JCW calipers. They've been sitting in my garage for about 9 months so I thought they should go to a good home. High friction/torque hot or cold, Gentle on rotors. Very quiet, low noise, Improved braking over OE pads, Extended pad life. $35 local pickup; $40 shipped lower 48. Paypal preferred.

Sold. Bavarian Autosport High Performance Ignition Wire Set. Used. For R50-R53. Red wires are always faster. $25 shipped to the lower 48. Others shipped at cost from zip 21771. Paypal preferred. Send me a PM if interested.

Sold: A used set of H&R Sport Springs for R53 MINI Cooper S. These are great springs for a car that gets lots of track time or if you're looking for a decent drop in ride height. They'll drop about an inch and a quarter in the front, and a bit more in the rear -- compared to stock. It's hard for me to judge because my previous springs were even lower. You'll want to have some adjustable control arms in the back because you'll pick up quite a bit of camber. I was able to get over 2.25 degrees of negative camber in the front with IE adjustable camber plates which is pretty good for such a large diameter spring. (You can see some rust from binding when the plate slipped and the spring bound against the chassis.) $100 for the set, delivered in the DC area. Paypal preferred. PM if interested.

Taken. Thanks for your interest.

Free to a good home. Used Alta Sportune Exhaust for 02-04 Cooper S. About 4 years old and on its second resonator. I just replaced it with a new (quieter) IE exhaust. Excellent choice for your trackday car. Could be a bit loud for your daily driver. Listen here. Splice in a new resonator at the front end and you could have many years of happy (quieter) motoring ahead. Check the direction your hangars point to determine if it will fit on your car. These are parallel. At some point they switched to being at right angles to one another. Pick-up only. Mount Airy, MD. PM if interested. You'll just need an exhaust gasket and some bolts and you'll be motoring again.

Time to clean out the garage. Selling a Chili Red rear bumper cover from an R53 MCS. The previous owner had it on the car only a couple of months when he bought a JCW aero kit. It's been in my garage for a couple of years and it's time to go. Pretty good shape except for the small chip shown in the photo. Asking $100 in Metro DC area. Will ship at buyer's expense. Paypal prefered.

Sold.

For Sale: A set of 4 Hankook Ventus Z214 R-Comp tires in size 205/50R16. Tires were new in Feb 09 and have 2 heat cycles and about 10 autocross runs on them. Compound C-50 which is the medium compound, (about the same as the V710) and very little tread-wear at all. Estimate 80-90% remaining. Switching back to a street tire. Will deliver locally in Washington DC area, or will ship at buyer's expense. Asking $300 for the set. (Rims in photo not included.) Please note: I'm selling a set of 16 inch tires and 15 inch rims in a different ad, that's not a typo. "Venturs" in the title is a typo and I can't edit it. Maybe that's how they say "Ventus" in Boston....

For Sale: A set of 4, Konig Feather rims (no tires), size 15x6.5, 4x100 bolt pattern, 38mm offset. Center caps not included. 3 rims have no curb rash; 1 rim has about a six inch rash that's been painted so it doesn't show (can provide closeup picture on request). Very lightweight: 11.9 lbs each. Used for 1 season of autocross and 3 days on the track. All straight and true. Requires a set of tuner lugs available for about $30, not included in price. Can deliver locally in Washington DC area, otherwise will ship at buyers expense. $300 for set. See a picture of them on my car here.

My impression is that modern maintenance schedules are a lot like health plans: When you are under warranty, that's like being in an HMO since the manufacturer is picking up the cost. For example, they've decided you can go 10,000 or even 15,000 miles between oil changes, because the cost of delayed maintenance won't be theirs. They put the first brake service just outside of the warranty period, hoping most customers won't come back to get the suggested brake fluid change at two years. Once you're out of warranty, you're a cash-paying patient, so they recommend changing the rotors when you change the pads. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but I'm a cynic at heart. Anyway, the Bentley manual lists the following limits for MINI R50/R50 rotors: Front 22mm (0.866 inches) new; 19mm (0.748 inches) wear limit. Rear 10mm (0.394) new; 7mm (0.276 wear limit). Minimum pad thickness is 3mm (1/8 inch). A good rule of thumb is to replace the pad when it appears to be the same thickness of the backing plate. I think some places will suggest replacing the rotors at the mid-point between the two. The logic being that you will likely reach the wear-limit before you wear out the new pad, so the conservative recommendation is to replace the rotor sooner.

If you are interested in DIY and want to upgrade, you can get EBC green stuff pads and EBC slotted rotors from minicarparts.net (no affiliation) for about $430. MINI brakes are very easy to change, even for someone who hasn't done a brake job before. Here's a write-up I did a couple of years ago. The hardest part is getting the rear pistons to rotate back in -- you need a special tool for that -- but it's cheap and easily available at multiple places including Harbor Freight. It's a bit more complicated if you are changing the rotors too, but not much. I would be very surprised if you need rotors at 38K miles. Are they wavy or is there a visible lip? You may want a second opinion on that one. You can get stock pads (both sets) for around $150 and stock rotors (all 4) for around $220 from Morristown MINI in NJ. Don't know what shipping would be. (EBC pads are only $30 to $40 more and much less dusty. I don't know what MINI makes their pads out of, but chaulk must be a key ingredient.) If you don't want to DIY, you might want to call around to Funktion Auto, I think they're out near you. Or Dan Martin in Gaithersburg. If you get up Frederick way, try Scott at Frederick Motorsports. Scott has done a lot of work on my MINI and has very reasonable rates. Hope that helps. --George

sold

Yes, that could work.

OK, last marketplace post for today. Autocross tires. I'm going to be using the 15 inch wheels for track tires on the 325is this year, and Ventus Z214s on the MINI so I've got the set of V710s I ran on the MINI last year for sale. Two have about half of tread remaining; the other two a quarter to a third. Used for about 8 events last year, maybe 50 runs total. Swapped direction about half way so they should be mounted right side out again. This is a great R-comp for a camber challenged car. Not quite as sticky as Hoosier A6s, but last quite a bit longer. If you're thinking about trying R-comps and suffering from sticker shock, here's a great chance to get your toes wet. Asking $200 shipped; $150 picked up. And I could probably be talked down from there if there's beer involved. Click the image for more photos.

For Sale: One Chili Red front grille from a 2003 MINI Cooper S. I got this when I bought the bumper covers off of someone who converted to the aero kit. It looks to be in great shape. I think he said it was on his car for only a couple of months. I've converted over to an aero grille myself so don't need it for what I had originally had planned. Since I have to put a price on it, say $30? Will ship for $40. PM if interested. Located at 21771.

Sold. Thinking about giving autocross a try, but don't want to jump in with a new set of tires? Here's a deal for you: a set of 4 used RT-615's for the cost of getting them dismounted (or a really good six-pack of beer). This is probably the best street-class tire for the MINI under $100/tire. (I'm going to run R-comps on my 16 inch wheels this year, but I didn't want to just dispose of them.) Click the photo below to see more photos. The Tires: Size 215/45R16. From left to right: One with a decent amount of tread left (call it 2/32); two not so much (1/32); and one about finished, but all should get you through a decent test & tune, weekend class, or a couple of events. The Deal: All 4 for $26 (or beer equivalent). If you only want the one decent tire, $26 and you get 3 free. You get the idea... Can arrange to meet somewhere between Mount Airy, Tysons, and Downtown DC, otherwise you pickup in Mount Airy (21771).