Who here owns a Mini?

Exactly, £55 ea. for new calipers makes it not worth the risk/hassle to buy used IMO. And disks/pads should never be used on another car either but that's just me. I would however be happy to use the carriers again.
 
Mines started acting strange. Started this morning, on cold start it weakly started to about 1200 before it dropped revs, then sort of fluctuating between 500-1200RPM. I killed it, then restarted it and kept it around 1500. Sounded a little rough on idle and under 1000 when I parked it. Will see what it's like come 3pm, shall plug into the OBD and see what thrown up.

Edit- Just to add, its usual start up first thing from cold would take it to 2000, before slowly settling down to 1000.
 
Last edited:
Started fine, ran fine and was good when up to temperature. But at cold when lightly going between 1000-1500 it would hesitate, run slightly rough, and slow go from 1500 back to 1000. Was fine left idling this time

I'll keep an eye on it. OBD didn't show anything out of the ordinary either.
 
DSCF4088.jpg


DSCF4111.jpg


DSCF4097.jpg


Fitted KW V2's (GP specific set with front linear springs) with KW top mounts, adjustable rear anti roll bar links (and control arms).

Didn't want it slammed, sits nice now. Corners unreal.
 
Last edited:
They are 16, was a bit of a risk as I didn't want to drop it too low. They are 16 inch Speedline Turini with some chunky AD08R tyres :)
 
Gaygle said:
They look great and really suit the car.

I was looking at some Rota Blitz alloys the other day. So much want.
Click to expand...

Cheers! Blitz is a wheel I was seriously considering beforehand, great looking wheel and they really suit a mini. But I have this thing for 16' wheels and fat tyres...:rolleyes::D
 
Thanks Fox. It's only done 35k but I also like to keep my cars immaculate. Probably some pictures of my past cars on here somewhere but they've all been just as clean.
 
Because reasons...

About a week or so ago I actually needed to brake hard (80 ish down to about 10 on private roads ofc) and there just wasn't any conviction to the brakes at all... I'm convinced my diesel Focus would stop quicker... So it became more of a priority to me to get some R56 brakes on there sooner rather than later. Maybe I do hoon slightly harder than I originally thought ;)
The pads just came up at right price, plus it gives me options if I was to maybe look at tracking the car at all :D

Fluid isn't particularly old, flushed the whole lot through with Castrol Synthetic Dot 4 in May last year.
 
Last edited:
Ahhh right.

Yeah i'm running Mintex M1144 in mine which seem good. They are still in their running in phase because they are sometimes a bit soft and sometimes nice and firm. They feel pretty powerful under braking though, which when using my 6pot 345mm BMWP/Brembo brakes on the M3 for comparison, is high praise. They also run so much cooler than the old pads, which I think must have been budget ones as they always smelt of hot brake pad material, even after a moderate drive, and never had any feel whatsoever.

Today, i've also given the throttle body a bit of a clean. The Mini throttle felt a bit inconsistent every now and then, which was obvious when moving off as you had to make micro adjustments to the throttle to stop it from over/under revving. I just thought it was a characteristic of the car tbh. Recently though, I'd notice that the car would have a small "lump" or jerk when pressing the gas/lifting off. It wasn't anything major, but just made it hard to drive smoothly and was difficult to smoothly modulate the throttle in the corners. I thought i'd give the TB a clean, and it was quite dirty tbh.

The difference is very clear indeed. The throttle is massively smoother now and it's so much easier to drive smoothly. I've never really understood what cleaning the TB does, afterall, why does an oily/dirty throttle body stop a car from running smoothly? I still don't understand why it makes a difference, but I can say without a shadow of doubt - it really does. I forgot to take after photos, but take it from me - it's just very clean and shiny.

A pretty easy job too. The only challenging bit may be doing up the CLIC-R clips again on the air intake hoses, but if you've got the correct tool like I have, this becomes very easy.

h4XIw6kh.jpg

l8PMkTHh.jpg
 
Last edited:
My girlfriend is after a new car, and has her heart set on the latest Mini.

It's either a toss up between the Cooper (1.5 petrol), or the Cooper S (so I can enjoy it at the weekend). We test drove both today, actually took the standard Cooper out for a two hour test drive by ourselves which was pleasant. Never had that before from a dealership, but that's not really relevant here... :)

What I'm perplexed on, being completely new to Mini's, is where and what to go for. There's such a lot of options (which I knew they were infamous for) that I really don't want to slip up and have a glaring omission from the spec sheet.

The way I see it, the Chili pack is a must, and the Tech pack seems pretty decent too. They're on our must have list, but is there anything else I should consider?

Nice to haves are;

Electric folding mirrors
Comfort access (she's a teacher, carrying copious amounts of bags and books to the car, would come in helpful)
Pano roof
Heated seats

Anything else worth bothering with? Things like the adaptive dampers and sport suspension make me wonder if they're worth getting?

Any advice on the F56 is more than welcome. A little background is that she'll be doing 6,000 miles a year, mainly as a commuting tool and not much else. I've noticed they've included a delivery charge of £495 and the service pack price of £399 in a finance quote, they both seem excessive?

At the moment we're looking at both new and used, but this used one seems like a good buy (only it's missing comfort access);

https://www.approvedusedminis.co.uk/car-details/

Apologies for the sporadic post however after spending a few hours in a Mini dealership your mind can go a little awry! Honestly, any helpful tips would be great. I'd probably take a bank loan out for a used one. The dealership kept asking me about the monthly cost I was looking for, I don't think they realise I don't care (to a point), overall cost is the only relevant factor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom