tvrgeek

Could not make Mach V yesterday, so I dropped by in the week. Two and a half hours to get home to Bowie, but it was well worth the trip. They do seem to know their stuff. Now I have to decide exactly what I want done. Rear bar, strut plates for sure. Very much on the fence on shocks. Yellow, FSD, Bil's. All very good. All different and when you can't drive them first it is a tough choice. I am totally wrapped around the axel on wheel-tire combination. All I know is the direction I was going is not right for me. Never was a fake CF wrap fan, but that looks REALLY good.

Thanks for the vendor tip. I will contact them. The stem problem could be a case of a less than knowledgeable parts counter person. Any part numbers out there would be helpful.

Picked up a wheel TPS sensor 36-23-6-781-847 and valve stem today at Annapolis to be sure they fit the s-lite's off an early car. No problem with sensor clearance. The problem is with the valve stem. Stem P/N 36-14-6-792-828 seems to need a wheel about twice as thick as the s-lite rim. The outer shell bottoms out on the shoulder before it can snug the seal up to the rim. Is this the correct stem? Should I just make some spacer rings out of tubing? It does not even have the original large diameter cap. Now my complaint. $83.64 + $14.67 for a complete valve stem. A freeking $100 ( good thing we get a discount. 10% I thought it was higher than that. ) A $14 dollar valve stem. Think about that for a moment. It is very clear BMW corporation does not want return customers. :stupid: This level of price gouging is totally insulting. $10.42 for a oil filter? Not even in a can. We are talking about something that costs about 50 cents to make, maybe 50 cents to put on the dealers shelf. Come on BMW/MINI. The Mini is an ECONOMY car, not a Rolls Royce! Don't insult your customers like this. We will go elsewhere.

Remember, do not "slime" if you have direct TPS system. It will cost you an extra $60 if you do. A plug kit and a compressor work fine for holes. I still am partial to RE 960's. I found on my RSX, ( same weight) many tires in our size seemed to be for much heavier cars. Performance lightly loaded, like off the line, or in the rain was not as expected.

The speedo is the most obvious problem. I looked into GPS units and although many recommend them as more accurate than the dash, they do not spec to within 1%. Besides, GPS units seem to be the easiest way to get your car broken into. Still an option. Dakota Digital and Cyberdyne offered no recommendation for sensor pickup. Dakota actually seemed scared at the topic of a Mini. I was thinking it could be possible to tap an ABS sensor, but that scared everybody. BMW will not release schematics, so I am in the blind on what signals are available. I found a small race unit which just needs something turning, but the axles also go up and down so not suitable to glue a magnet to. A slick display I saw was a HUD, but it needs a smartphone to drive it. A place to put an impulse sensor is the hurdle. Any thoughts or recommendations out there? I have not found anyone with the same orange color for a water temp and voltmeter. Not that we really need them with computers and idiot lights, just I am so used to the comfort of them I miss them. Easy to install, just want a matching illumination color.Black face and trim would be fine. Any hints? Switches. Looks pretty easy to parallel the two window switches with ones further back on the console so they are reachable. I go through a lot of security gates and find I am frequentlly hitting the wrong button if I don't look. Moving the defroster and AC buttons above the HVAC wings should not be too hard. Just enough to make them within reach. I was thinking about putting the sport mode switch within reach, but I find I rarely use it, so I will let it be.

Got it back from the shop tonight. 4 days. They did the timing chain and sunroof fixes. Confirmed the gas gauge problem is just another bad design. ( 328 is just as bad, needle stayed on full for 130 miles) Odd, they said never go below 3 bars as it is a safety issue, car may balk or stall. So we really have about an 11 gallon tank. Pathetic if you ask me. The obnoxious snowflake is here to stay. They abuse 328 drivers with it the same. They found several of the rattles. Brake issues, which I verified on my way there, mysteriously corrected themselves. As expected "could not duplicate" transmission issues. I will have to take it back to demonstrate, but I had about all I could take driving a big 328 around. Gad have they gotten big and ponderous. Capable, just not inviting to me. I want to come up with some gauge/control solutions but will start a thread on that.

Again, I may be interested.

A man with a lift could be quite popular!

White would not be good. My car is bright silver/black. Silver is fine. What style are these? I found a link to see a picture. Not looking for beaters. These would be my good wheels. S-lites do look good. ( and easy to clean)

I know wheels seem to go quick so putting up a wanted. Looking for OEM 17 x 7's. I don't know all the model numbers. I would also be interested in a mini-spare or stock 2009 S 16 incher as an alternative and keep my 16's, putting on 205's.

23 the other morning. Clattered like all get out. Going in Tuesday. just over 10K.

Drop me an e-mail. You have it in PM. I don't have a lift if that is what you are looking for, but large, dry, and warm I can do.

Piece of mind is great, I will concede that. I did pick up a screw in one. Easy. But I prefer my tires to be in contact with the ground. The runflats just don't have that little give for expansion joints in a corner. I did not mind having to catch my Morgan when it jumped sideways over every bump, but I should not have to in a modern car. I think the spring and shock rates are about right, just needing that little tire give. The front almost stays down, just almost. It is the rear that hops too much. The S stock is about like my RSX with the original KW V1 rear springs. I went one K lower in the rear and it was just enough. It was then a superb suspension. I could always slow down in corners, but then why would I have a Mini?

Jay, I dropped you a PM. Quite interested. Thanks.

Hmm. Another post seemed to disappear. Hawk responded that their feedback favored the PC over the HPS for street use in Mini's. Sounds like a plan. An hour or so studying dimentions and options I could either put 205-5-16's on the OEM wheels and just buy a mini spare, or 215-50-17 on some new 7 inch rims. I find lots of used OEM mini wheels in California, but have not found any locally. I prefer OEM as they are usually true, strong, and fit. If anyone happens to have some OEM 17's, let me know. There are a lot of quality wheels out there though. Something easier to clean in a dark, but not black color. Black is just too much for bright silver/black trim. My experience with sticky tires as wide as 225 or more is the car gets too sensitive to the road irregularities and you have to chase it too much. Now I need to decide, RE960's or Conti Extreme Contact DWS. I had the 960's on my RSX and liked them very much. Easy to drive, talked to you, predictable in the wet. Reports are also very good on the Conti. About time. They have not been on top since the mid 70's. Either tire would gain me a tad on the speedo error. Guess I am spoiled as my last 5 Honda's, Volvo, and 4 Saabs were dead on. Maybe I can justiofy the 17's as it should make it close enough I would not need to fool with an additional speedo I could calibrate.

Had it enough to know what to attack. When I get it back from the dealer for the long list of defects I already enumerated, I will start "fixing" the rest to make it as enjoyable as it should be. Grabby breaks. Hawk HPS or PC, not sure which. Anyone have experience here? Got to dump the run flats. I see the OEM 17 x 7 are listed as 48mm offset, but most aftermarket as 40. Big difference. I want 205 or 215's on it but want it to clear. Long term maybe drop an inch and a half or so. Any advice? Did Mini correct the strut tower problem, or are the plates still required for the R56? I would rather know before they deform. Working on ways to move the console switches so I can reach them and a dash pod with voltmeter, temp and oil P. I have about half a mind to put a VDO speedometer in it so I can set it accuratly. Hey, noticed the Md. State was pulling over cars on 270 doing 60 this morning. Must be their plan to solve the state deficit. I plan on losing the rear seats and putting in a flat deck with a mini spare mounted on it.

Forgot as it is winter. The sunroof won't open when it is hot. Need to cool the car first, then it opens. Sounds like I should pay attention this summer for chain noise. It would be nice to know when Peugeot fixed them on the line so we would know which of us need worry, and which are free. I can't help but thinking 15K oil change intervals exasperated it. First gas mark, about 110 miles. A gallon left, 5 bars still lit. I can get 24 too. Just put it in sport and have fun. 20 is easy. If one were inclined, you can go from zero to jail in about 20 minutes. 99% of my drive is up a highway cursing at (deleted), so 29 to 31 is not bad. I got 29 out of my RSX manual and it was about the same weight. I tried real hard for a week and managed about 34. No fun though. I bet if one drove under 50 nice and easy, upper 30's could be in reach. But that kind of makes the point of a Mini moot.

Hmmmm. I had an instance this week where I was loafing along at about 45 and needed to nail it. Not all the way to the floor, but got on it hard. It shifted into neutral and jumped towards redline. I got off and it picked up again and took off. I was in standard full automatic mode. Better mileage in manual mode? Guess I should quit being lazy and get with it. I remember a study BMW did on milage. They recommend moderately hard acceleration and very low shift points. This kept the engine in a more efficient loaded region and you got to cruse quicker.

Hmm. lost a post. Anyway, mine seems fine now at about 9000 miles. About when do these symptoms crop up? I did change to Amzoil at 2K and changed again at 5K.

I only mentioned the nuts as it seems this was on a lot of 09 cars and is very dangerous. I found it after only about a week when I took the wheels off the clean them. Now correctly torqued. Speedo is intentionally set high. I have a copy of the most arrogant letter BMW put out on the subject. Mine is about 5% plus 2 MPH. They consider the DOT regulation of 10% and never less to be their design goal. I have not had one that off since my Spitfire. It was only worse as it did not work at all. I guess I should be encouraged if these are just sample defects and they should be able to correct them. I know I am a bit of a tough customer. Comes with all the years I spent as a Quality Engineer. I know better, so I am pretty intollerant of manufacturing defects, and really intolerant of design shortcomings. I know this is basically a cheap car that just costs a lot. I knew when I bought it the quality and reliability are only one notch above a GTI. ( fighting for dead last with Mercedes). Yes, I knew that, but I bought it because it is a hoot to drive and my old knees just could not work a clutch anymore. I have to admit, the turbo is getting addictive. My milage has gone down from about 31 to 29, and the car is not at fault at all!

At about 9000 miles, getting ready to take it in to get all the various things looked at. I know some of these they refuse to fix, just wanted to see if my list is typical. ( S automatic) Speedo way off. We know about that. Lug nuts were finger tight, We know about that one. These I will request action on.: Odometer about 5% more miles than real MPG readout about 10% high Gas gauge wrong by half Radio display blanked out a couple of times Surging at idle Not going into reverse all the time without a bit of gas Rattle in drivers B pillar Rattle from the back Missed a downshift. Just revved and eventually found a gear I really want to know if they can turn off that obnoxious cold road warning. Design problems they can't fix are things like no heat on my feet, rear defroster works but not enough to defrost, really poor headlight beam shape. Really stupid for a 2009 car. My first new car ( 75 Corolla) did not have these problems. Actually, it had no defects in the first year at all. Is this typical for a new car? I have been driving Saabs and Honda's for so long, I am not used to having to take a new car in for repair.

Looks about right. Bout an inch and a half? No concerns with the stories about failing half shafts if lowered?

Cheaper then the game VW was playing with their proprietary oil. Well, welcom the BMW arrogrance. Now, it takes about 10 minutes to change your own oil. 15K is just as ridiculous. A long interval is no excuse for charging 3 hours labor for one quarter's work. The best way to get them to be reasonable is for everyone to not go to them for an oil change. If you pay it, they will keep charging it. I do it every 5K, use only Amzoil. These cars are not the highest of quality so they need all the help they can get. Small high-stressed engine. Every 15 K means they can be sure you will need a new car by 100K.

How many miles before this symptom starts? I have about 9000 on my 2009 and so far, OK. Hard to believe it is not "safety" As one having a car die completely in the middle of the beltway, I can attest it is life threatening. Worse as I was driving a Morgan.

Ok, 09 S,with the run-flats, the rear is too stiff. It will hop over expansion joints. Probably fine with 4 people in the car, not for one. Do you think: 1: Run flats just too stiff. 2: Rear spring rate just a tad to high 3: Rear shock rate to stiff. I ask this as my experience with the KW's in my RSX was the spring rate. I compensated for the stiffer rear spring with a stiffer rear roll bar. What does the mini need to keep the tires in contact with the ground? I want some poise to go with the zip.