I'm not the poster you quoted but I'll chime in. If I understand what you're referring to, that sensor is the headlight vertical control sensor.

 

New serpentine belt today.....terrible knock is now gone. I stopped driving the R60 JCW a few days ago due to a very loud knocking sound that increased with rpm’s, no codes...thought it was a bad rod or bearing. Removed the passenger inner fender (hate those fender flare clips things!) and inspected the belt...it didn’t look so good. Ordered a new one. Just installed and started up...death knock is gone!
Have had belts go bad on other vehicles but none made sounds like on the Mini....I honestly thought something really bad was going on....thankfully that was not the case. I will ensure to have a spare belt for any long trips, as may not be readily available where I live. Now to change the oil....

 

This was a nice start to my Monday. Inside edge of passenger front tire. Car had recently started pulling left (although the right tire blew), so probably had a toe issue and was dragging the inside of this tire? It only failed in this spot which struck me as being more of a tire failure than the alignment being all that bad. Tires have (had) somewhere around 30k on them, Didn't have time to take it to an indy shop (Detroit Tuned), had towed to a Belle Tire. Hopefully they can get two new tires on it and a decent enough alignment. I think I've read in other threads on here that I want to move my rear tires to the front, and put the 2 new tires on the rear? Anyone know for sure?

 

Waited months for this!

 

Exhaust?

Ahhh Spoiler. Wasn't sure.

 

Oh snap that looks great! I ordered the exact same spoiler, and have been waiting since...*checks emails*...May 1st.
Supposed to ship November according to latest email.
When did you order yours?

 

I ordered mine on June 19th. Where did you order from?? I got my from Urotuning.

 

I got a 2014 Countryman S All4 a couple of years ago.. Ordered mat for the back from Weathertech, but I didn't realize that the mat was to be used with the level cargo floor (which my car doesn't have). And as you know, it's expensive and a pain to install that after the fact. After some thinking, I came up with a solution. I made some measurements and made my own level cargo floor. I had a sheet of 1/2" plywood and with a little trimming, VIOLA, a level cargo floor. Now the Weatherteck mat works. I put a coat of paint on it, haven't taken a photo of that yet. When the wife took it to the dealer the other day for service, the techs said that it looked better than the factory floor. I think I did a pretty good job.

Without the Level Cargo Floor. Sorry for the dirty look.

All trimmed up and rteady to paint.

Weatherteck mat in place.

Support for back edge.

 

Very Nice!

 

Took my mini in for a complete wheel/tire balance at my tire store Tire Pros in north Smithfield, RI. I also dropped off my winter wheels I just purchased from a forum member to be balanced. I also had them check one wheel that had a slow leak with no obvious reason. I could not find any thing in the tire, hopefully they found something or at least reseated the tire and got that resolved. I’ll find out in a little while.

 

I really like this car. 4 existing all season run flat tires re-balanced. They discovered the front rim had a bend in it so they moved it to the rear of the car. I hadn’t noticed it before but now the ride is very smooth. Got the 4 new to me snow tires balanced and ready to go. I’ll just need to swap them out when the times comes. I plan on getting some wheel locks in the near future.

 

Well, I was busy today. My front strut bar came in, my license plates finally arrived and I had planned on installing the mud guards that had arrived only a few days ago. But to start off my day, I had to go to the mechanic to get my new brake lines installed. As usual he did a fine job and the brakes appear to be better than before I had this work done. He did mention though that he recommends I replace the front rotors and pads. He showed me unusual wear on the rotors with some rust toward the outside edge. The dealer had installed new pads, but that did not resolve the rotor issue. I’m good for a while, just another thing to do. Without further ado here are some photos.












I have to say the mud guards were the hardest I’ve ever done. Some drilling and alternative screws were needed. The strut bar went on easy though. The plates should have been easy but required some thought as the holes were a little small for the provided screws. But it all worked out.

 

Ordered wheel locks today from Tire Rack. I also went to the tire store to confirm my winter wheels would fit correctly because they have centric rings, but one was missing. They confirmed the tire goes on but recommended I go to the Enthusiast shop. I did and they were able to order me 4 new centric rings which I will pick up next Saturday. 25$ but I need them. To bad they are plastic and not aluminum.

 

Put on my snow tires today. 17” rims using Nokian winter tires. I also treated the car with peppermint oil. Sprayed the entire engine bay generously to keep the mice away. Those little rodents will build a home overnight.

 

Thanks, you just made me glad I replaced my belt at 150 000kms last month instead of waiting for it to become a problem first (I have a 2013 R60 JCW). And yes, I bought a pack of various clips and push fasteners (Amazon, $10 or so) because I knew I'd break some no matter how careful I was prying them out of the fender liner. I probably won't use half of them, but at least I'll have a size that'll mostly fit, without paying MINI prices for them.

 

I am a bit late in replying but yes!
- Army
-2002 to 2007
- 501st FSB out of Friedberg, Germany (Ray Barracks which has shut down) / SGT

 

Is it wrapped or did it come like this from factory? Mine looks exactly like this one (without the upgrades of course). Found out only 60 were allocated to USA (with the "frozen black metallic" paint). Definitely feel special after finding this out!

 

Swapped out my spark plugs and the ignition coils. Started up fine, no real difference that I could tell. The coils were nice and clean but I replaced them anyway. To bad you can’t see them, the new ones had a red top vs the original black. I performed a waterless car wash today, it took about an hour and a half. Did the glass and the roof. The nice thing about this waterless car wash is the agent has a ceramic like coating that it leaves behind. The plugs definitely needed to be replaced.

 

Other end of the plugs is the important part to see...

 

Here you go. The end was dirty too.

 

I swore I read that OEM coil packs only. Are there reputable performance-oriented options?

Good call on changing those plugs

 

Haha I had the same thought.

 

How's your air filter looking?

 

I ended up buying the kit at ecstuning.com. It came with plugs and ignition coils. The new one were red on the top, that’s the only difference I noticed. The ones I removed looked almost new, but since I had them out…. I numbered them in case I had any issues and put them back in the box. Drove over a 100 miles today and no issues, knock on wood.

 

You know I wanted to look at the filter and forgot because it was getting cold again. I may not be able to look at that myself until I get the oil changed which might be in a couple of weeks.