JCW products are covered under MINI's warrenty when installed by a MINI dealer. MINI of Sterling should not have charged you to fix the brake kit, totally uncool. Did you report this to MINI? I am sure you should have been able to get the brakes fixed under warrenty.

I bought both my MINIs at Towson. They've been a good dealer, and one of the few where some of the staff are still around after five years. Everytime I go to Sterling, I see new faces.

Good luck. Btw, MINIs do get little rattles and noises, it's the nature of a car with a very short wheel base. My 2002 MINI had a couple of noises that just wouldn't go away. The new MINI is much quieter, we'll see how long that lasts!

Lastly, on the squealing tires... that is usually not the tire, but the wheel bearing. How many miles are on your car? You might need to have the wheel bearings repacked.
Mike

 

It seems to me that the root of the problem here is Tate MINI, not MINI of Sterling. If Tate did such a shoddy job that it appeared to another dealer to be a self-install, then that speaks to how poorly the job was done by them.

I would think that showing your Tate service receipt for the install to MINI of Sterling would encourage them to refund your money and convert the ticket over to a warranty repair. They would then be able to report back to MINIUSA on the poor job done by Tate... as they make their claim for reimbursement on the warranty job.Actually, there really has been only one major shake-up recently, last year... when Chuck Joffe was brought back to MINI of Sterling, to run the entire dealership's service department (both BMW & MINI). A little history on Chuck... he used to manage the shop at MINI of Sterling originally, and did such a great job that MINI of Towson made him an offer he couldn't refuse... and he started to work at MoT... fast forward a couple of years, and MoS managed to win him back.

He's a man in demand... and the difference in service level at MoS has been dramatic since the return of him and his team.

 

A JCW upgrades labor and parts are covered under the MINI warranty and it is across around the US as it is with the purchase of the MINI. If indeed TATE did a poor job MoS should have honor the warranty agreement and fix it for free. I am surprised that between dealerships there was not communication and the driver ended up in paying for a job under warranty, unless the problem was something else.

 

I will add to this. MOT installed by JCW suspension. They could not get it aligned. Brought it back several times, and they suggested I buy camber plates. No way. I got fed up with them and took it to MOS. They tried to align it and could not. They did not charge me anything.

They did get me an appointment when the MINI rep was in town and aligned the car again and all was OK. No charge.

So there is an example of one dealer fixing the work of another and no charge.

However, 5 or so trips to dealerships was a MAJOR pain, especially in rush hour traffic and I would never want to do that again.

 

Thanks for the advice regarding the JCW repairs. I'll bring my receitps to MoS and see if I can get the charges reimbursed.

Also just got a call from Joey from MoS. He believes he'll have my car ready for pick-up tonight. HOPEFULLY everything is working properly. I don't mind a little rattle here or there - but having had to bring it in so many times in the past year and a half - I sincerly hope this is the last time for a long while.