i feel your pain minispud, although i gave up a 1990 honda accord for my mini.

My pain stems from the fact that I was going to buy a 128i instead, but chose the mini after long deliberation.


The cold start rattle is annoying, the clutch is incredibly annoying, and the sunroof is a slight annoyance.

sunroof, just push on the glass and it'll go.

I hate the clutch noise, and feel it's 100% related to the dual mass flywheel. I can't wait to replace it.

The cold start rattle, well I hope the new fix does it.

 

i test drove the 135i recently and i don't like it. I think i'd just get a 328 and be done with it if I were to go BMW.

my acura is still sitting in the yard. i gotta get rid of it soon.. i might just end up donating it, gonna try one more time on craigslist once i stop being lazy.

Oh, and my plate renewal bill just came in..
i'm going to be so broke next month.

 

just need to vent, I will have pics tomorrow.

NM Engineering springs and rear sway installed today at the local club's spring time mod-party.

Lots of work. Front passenger strut is a pain to get out of the knuckle. After a few mallet blows, I got it. Rear was a piece of cake. Camber isn't out of control either, I may just leave it.

Had someone cross thread the bolt hole for the rear sway bar, that was a pain. Had to have someone take me to the hardware store so I could buy a tap and a new bolt. Thankfully I managed to get a hold of the original threads, so it wasn't too bad and went together in the end. I hate tapping new threads, especially on a brand new car.

Springs: nice drop. Could be a tad more in the front, but overall, perfect. Being progressive, they ride great. The crappy snow-chain destroyed roads around here no longer rattle the hell out of my car. Road noise has decreased as well.

Sway: As noted above, I had a cross threading issue. This stemmed from the fact that the two welded washers that keep the swaybar from moving back and forth, are too close together. After putting the swaybar in and the mounting brackets on, the mounting holes showed up about 1/8" too short. Had to use a pry bar to get everything back into tolerance. Unfortunately, the one side got cross threaded because of this fact. That was annoying, but other then that, the rear sway was a HUGE improvement. 22 isn't too much, unlike what others have been saying. I put it in the middle setting after some discussion with others, and it is perfect. No understeer. No oversteer, just nice, balanced control.

 

sounds great! I look forward to some pics!

 

Quick shots from the alley behind my apartment. There's a huge parade in my neighborhood today, so no where to do a real photoshoot. They'll be coming sometime soon.










Added a bit of rear camber as you can see, but I think it might be daily drivable. I'm going to get an alignment soon, but I may not be getting rear control arms as I originally thought.

 

Looking sharp!

 

thanks... here's a before, for comparison..

 

Nice.

 

Wow! The guys of Week 23ers are still going strong! Just saying "Hi!"
You guys are amazing...

 

Did you see the new week 23 thread has started?? Awe! I am so excited for them!!!!!!

 

It's kind of like watching a younger sibling hit puberty.

Been there - Done that.

 

i tink i've entered that thread more than a few times already when it showed up on the recently posted list.

on a side note.. having a great time w/ all these little earthquakes.

eta: woah, a tweeckey sighting.

 

I know, crazy. You two (or anyone else) free on June 13? I'll be at the Mini/MINI car show in Tustin.

 

At least they are small. I took my son out to Legoland in Carlsbad, I can see how the west coast could grow on you.

 

I'm working on the 10th... i might be free on the 13th though.
Do I have to rsvp? I don't want to rsvp and then flake.

It's nice living, if you can afford it. I do wish it rained more, but thats what happens when you live in a desert.

 

Just email Dan; his contact info is on the flyer. I think there are a few people who are undecided.

 

HI ALL

We have NM Engineering springs, TOO!
Wow how cool is that?

Busy, really bad at logging in now, working all the dang time.
Miss my peeps and friends.

MATT is scheduled for deployment (cruise down to Panama and Pacific) in June all the way to OCTOBER....So I will post lonely girl thoughts here.

Miss you, gotta Motor!!!!
MATT N REBECCA

 

just emailed dan to put me down as a maybe.. and i forwarded the flyer link to a few friends.


dang you people and your nm spring ride height...

 

The tsw's are great in their own right. The nm's bring some sacrifice, as do the tsw's. I'd have gone with the tsw's if they were a tad lower all around, but at that point, they'd probably have to be progressive.

I've settled down a bit more too. Probably some time next week I'm going to try and get some pics, because I should be close to fully settled by then. Probably getting an alignment soon too.

ps, did i say that i love their rear sway, cuz it's awesome.

 

im going to stop posting.. all these threads (esp the rmw) make me want to spend money i don't really have right now.

i doubt i'd buy another set, at that point, i just have some height envy. i do like that i've only heard the from dam scrape once as opposed to every dip w/ my acura.

 

yea, don't get rid of the tsw's... they're great springs.

i scrape my front air dam quite a bit. pretty much every driveway.

 

yuko is striped. actually, stripeless again. took 2 hours because the area around the scoop had become brittle (prob from the turbo). heavy rust-like staining that I couldn't get off made me remove it. plus, one of the back stipes was crooked anyway.

oh yeah, i think i had some sort of cold start issue as i was pulling her back to where i park.. the clicking was super loud and was shaking quite badly. and it was 80 degrees outside, not even cold.
ill be making an appt sooner than i planned if it happens again.

 

Well week 23er it's almost a year for our babies! Can you believe it? what a great motoring year I have had! Hope everyone in our special group feels the same...
I think this year went faster then our 7 week waiting for our builds did!

 

if anyone else has stripes OVER their clear bra and want to take the stripes off. My advice is... Don't.
Or put the exact same stripe in the exact same spot.

 

wohoo. Car is STILL not a year old yet.

Dropped off the car again to attmpt the following:

3rd try to fix sunroof sticking when hot

2nd try to install the correct cam chain tensioner...after i informed them that the last time they used an old part number..they aregued at first, but then i gave them the info the folks here posted.. they then agreed and apologized.

replace door handle LED's

I told them i heard a metal on metal sound when engageing disengaging the clutch going into first...downshifting from 3rd to 2nd. They agreed and are now REPLACING my clutch..

lets not forget they had to replace my 3rd brake light 3 weeks after ownership b/c it was hanging down off the rear window...


Software flash fixed my window dipping problem.. but i have to put the windows down every day to enusre they stay working. (was told to this by the dealer)


I cant even sell my car b/c the stage 1, suspension, and fog lights brought up the original purchase cost of the car by 6K. however when you try and sell, you cant get money back for "accessories" therefore it appraises the same value as a regular cooper S.

Car cost me 34K at purchase. I owe 28K to the bank. Car appraises at 20K with 10K miles on it..


This is turning out to be my worst decision i ever made. I traded in my M3 convertible that had 7K miles on it from when i bought it new in 2006.


I can only hope they dont fix the sunroof and i can start looking into lemon law...


:(