cmcveay

It's "Meet & Greet" time! This month, it will be held at MINI of Sterling from 9:30am to noon. The address is: 21826 Pacific Blvd, Sterling VA 20166 Please come join us for a casual get together with new and old members. Non-members and soon-to-be members are welcome as well.

Hey, I messed up when I added this event to the calendar. The M&G is NEXT Saturday! It's "Meet & Greet" time! This month, it will be held at MINI of Baltimore from 9:30am to noon. The address is: 9804 Reisterstown Rd, Owings Mills MD 21117 Please come join us for a casual get together with new and old members. Non-members and soon-to-be members are welcome as well.

Welcome Roy and Brenda! It's great to have new members and new vendors!

I think Jason commuted on the Star specs but I'm looking forward to his reply. Like you Yarsay, I don't have the room to store a bunch of tires and as much as I love my ASX's, I'd like something with a little more stick for spring, summer and fall driving.

I don't know Brian. I haven't read anything about the calipers on the MINI being flimsy or anything. My brain says that you might pick up some serious noise and vibration with a bronze bushing - the rubber bushing "floats" the caliper or isolates it. I'd also be worried about corrosion build up and all. You dont' drive Gute Fahrt in crappy weather but get 'em wet in freezing weather and you could have issues with them too...

GiGi, Without climbing under my car (09), i couldn't say. If you can get it up on a lift, take a look to see what wiring is there. If you can get under a 2nd Gen with the fog lights, it'll help you figure out where the lights are connected - something that may not be so easy to find otherwise. Good luck with it!

I think I'll actually be able to make it to this event! Looking forward to it!

Okay, I know there have been several discussions about runflat vs. non runflat and all. I'm running non runflat tires and I'm fine with that so here's what I'm asking... I'm planning my tire change and I intend to go with a set of Extreme performance summer tires and in the fall, I'll decide if I will change them or go to a second set for the winter. My tire size is firm, 235/45R-17. That narrows it down to 4 tires and I'd like to get some feedback from anyone that has driven with those tires. Please keep in mind that I do autocross 6-8 events. Here are my choices: 1) Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 2) Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec 3) Kumho Ecsta XS 4) Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08 I've heard great things about the Dunlop's and I'm on my second set of Kumho's (third if you count the set that was stolen with less than 45 days driving on them) but I'm running the ASX which is an all-season tire. I've never played with Yokohama's or Bridgestones. Thanks for your inputs everyone!

Ricky, If you are thinking about going to the Dragon, you might want to get in touch with some of the vendors that are going to be there. I'm pretty sure Helix and Way Motorworks will both be there. Last year, Way did a pulley install in about 10 minutes but I don't know what the charge was. Brian and Ali both had pulley's installed the same day and I believe they both went with 15% pulley's and stock crank pulleys. Brian changed plugs at the same time but I don't remember if he went colder or hotter when he had the pulley done.

Many, many, many thanks to Katie and Paul for hosting the party - we had a great time. I can honestly say that I have never, ever, in my entire life driven a 106 mile round trip for any kind of party but I'm glad we did so for last nights event. Thank

GiGi, I'm working on the process/software to take care of the programming if you want to do this install. I should have it up and running by the time we get to the dragon. I'll keep you posted.

Hey GiGi! Lona and I were just down on the coast! We didn't see too many MINI's while we were down there (2 to be exact). I look forward to meeting you at the Dragon and hearing about the MINI "scene" on the Gulf Coast.

If anyone has floor space, Lona and I can offer up an inflatable mattress (queen size) that can be loaned out if it'll help anyone.

Da link... She fixed.

Ricky, I think the logo was too complicated for ball caps and that was for the embroidery. The Tshirts are silk screened designs. Always a great design.

Hope to see you around, Lona and I are flying to Lousiana on Saturday to visit my dad. ZugZug - I can't tell you if there's a difference yet, I'm still working on the same tank of gas but I'll probably fill up this evening and I'll have a rough idea. I think most of the comments finally agreed that the negative impact on gas mileage was negligible once they got over the "new toy" aspect. If I keep my right foot in check, I can get 35+ mpg but if I drive the way I really want, I end up with about 30....

Passport MINI of Alexandria's Test Drive and Tailgate event! Click the link above to download the flyer.

Count me in for a couple!

Yes, I do. It's not calibrated or anything but it can feel the difference in performance.

Jason, stop being such a lurker my friend! Happy New year to you and I hope you are doing well. You still up here or are you down in FL with the family? I guess you are one of the lucky ones as far as the CEL goes. I never put one in as I wanted to keep that noise level down a bit. It's kind of a "cop magnet" when they hear that whooshing noise...

You could say that but it's not that simple. Many of the aftermarket BOV's cause a CEL because they vent to atmosphere while ECU is looking for certain things and when the "excess" pressure is vented to the atmosphere, it flags the ECU which then throws the CEL. By keeping the diverter, the "excess" pressure is treated the same as it is with the OEM part but the different spring has different tension and it reacts differently. The ECU is still happy because it's being told what it wants to "hear" but the car is actually running stronger. Saying it's "just a BOV" is like saying a Keith Black HEMI is "Just a V-8". Technically a true statement but it's not the full story. Take a look through the thread on NAM and you'll find dozens of others who have installed the part and they have the same comments. For the price and time required, this is a mod that'll fit on just about any budget.

Alan, it was about $60 but it's 2nd Gen only. I haven't seen the one from Forge but the biggest advantage to the one from Way is that it's an OEM part so there's no indication to the dealer that there's anything different. From what I understand, the OEM part has a spring from an Audi and it increases the tension by a little.