Would anyone have a recommendation on the best dealer in the Maryland/Northern VA area to have a JCW kit installed?

The dealers I know of in the area are Sterling, Towson, and Annapolis...any of which are an easy drive....I'm in the North Bethesda/Rockville area.

Thanks!
Chris

2005 BRG S.

 

MINI of Sterling seems to be very friendly in terms of add-ons...Definitely give them a call, they told me that they would warranty anything I want on the car before delivery...I'm sure they'd be fine to install the JCW kit...

Sterling is probably the closest to Bethesda anyway...

 

Yeah, they have their own version of the JCW that is about 232 if I remember correctly, either way call MoS and talk to Jeff or one of the other MAs. They should get you on your way to JCWness.

 

Definitely give Jeff a call, very cool guy.

Ravana: are you in DC proper or in the suburbs?

 

MoS did mine, prior to me taking delivery. Very happy with it - their main tech (i.e. in the shop) is extremely talented.

 

Live in Vienna, work in DC, how about you?

 

I live in Bethesda, go to school in DC - I'll be living in Foggy Bottom (on campus) next year, though...Nice to see people from DC here

 

If you're looking for Non-Dealer type places to get it done. I'd check out Curry's Auto ( http://www.currysauto.com/index.asp ). I've been going there for years for my Audi, and plan on taking the MINI there for things I don't want to use the dealer for. They specialize in German cars (Audi, BMW etc.) But on any given day you're like to see a Lambo, or Ferrari there too. They are sort of a speed/performance shop, but do standard oil changes and normal repairs on anything.

I've always been happy with their work. Matt Curry actually shows up and works the counter (they have several locations now, so I assume that he rotates). They are a little higher cost per hour then some non-dealer shops, but they get things done right the first time.

Ofcourse, they won't have the MINI warrenty on a JWC kit that you'd get from a dealer.

 

Do you ever hang out here? It's the DC specific forum, in case you haven't already seen it.

Be careful though, it's crazy in there

 

I don't trust Sterling, sales or service. The sales people (and parts guy) misrepresented the warranties on the many, other-than-MINI-approved, engine and suspension performance parts that they installed on my 05 MCS before delivery. Also, (among other things that he did wrong) their service tech forgot to tighten the bolts on the brackets and collars on the Madness rear sway bar he installed. That caused a drop link failure last year on a fast curve on the Dragon -- no fun, we slid across the center line into the path of a fast motorcycle.

By contrast, Towson has been excellent. By excellent, I mean the service coord listens and cooperates with me, and the service tech will have a discussion with me and let me see what he is doing. Among other things, they've done performance mods to my engine, using MiniMania parts. They've always done everything right.

I live 13 miles from Sterling, and 73 miles from Towson. I drive to Towson every time, because they continue to do good work.

[05 MCS, MiniMania head, Schrick cam, Madness 63mm throttle body, Evo-Tech SW, 15% pulley, Madness cold air, Miltek header, Borla cat-back, and other stuff]