Washed it, changed all interior lights to a Xenon Soft White,and Stubby antenna. second full tank of gas since i got the car. 350 miles later... LOVE IT!

thinking of maybe a CAI or Exhaust mod next.. any suggestions?

anyone against waxing the windows on the outside of the car?? i feel like it protects the glass a bit. obvi its after a good cleaning.

feel like the car creaks a lot on the inside. might be from all the potholes over here in staten island (ny)...

possibly goin to make my driving lamps into strobes, strictly for shows tho...

i LOVE my MCS!

 

Stubby time!

 

Just added some blackjack scuttles, a grill badge holder and a gobadge.

 

Did a little body work (on the MINI) getting fiberglass to where I want it.

 

GMan, I have a K&N Typhoon and it is outstanding. Prob about equal in price, the filter is million mile guaranteed and it makes some neat "whooosH" noises under boost lift-off (blow-off valve). It also came w/ a dyno sheet, could be wrong but I dont think anybody else does that. Stock 08 MCS it added 11.18 HP. Not bad for just under $200. A lot of people seemed to be way sceptical about +11HP but if the stock airbox is tuned more for quiet than performance, it is quite believeable.
I would upgrade the speakers next, just did mine.

 

ThEgMaNofCourse, try the PPG version of RainX, used to be called Aquapel - FANTASTIC stuff, doesn't streak like RainX or car wax, lasts 2-3x longer than RainX, and phenominal on side windows (I did mine with Aquapel in 2006 and the stuff STILL beads water! I renewed it last week just because I had one open). Yeah, it costs like $10/application, but the applicator can do 2 cars if they're parked next to each other with already-clean windows and it's not too hot out.

I'd do the CAI first, then run it a while. An exhaust is an expensive and possibly-annoyingly-loud way to gain a lil' HP on the R56 - so listen to a BUNCH before making that leap. On the R53, there are more substantial gains to be had (up to an honest dyno-tested 15hp with the G4 2.5" unit), but the R53 is louder still and the tradeoffs can be more severe. I'm running a G4 2.25" unit now and it's Right At The Edge of street-tolerable, for +12hp over the Alta CAI alone.

 

+1 on that Dixon, the exhaust on my Clubman is stock (pretty sure, I didnt buy it new, only other Cop Ive ever riden in was a 1st gen S 6spd MT), but my 92 GP 4 cam 5spd has dual Flowmaster 40s that I put on, and they are loud ! They sound awesome under throttle but they drone so much at cruise that I added 20+ lbs of dynamat in the trunk floor and rear seat area to tone it down. Better, but still somewhat trying sometimes. Def ride in somebody elses Coop before buying an exhaust sight (and ears) unseen.

 

Waiting on my installer to call me that my wheels and tires were delivered from tirerack.com. :D

 

test fitted 14" bbs bmw rim and a 14" vw tear drop rim. they'll work with at least a 18mm spacer (i'll be getting 20mm adapters )

 

Slam that thing Rusty! I'm waiting to see it.

 

I was lookin at K&N and also NM ... ill probably end up goin with the K&N typhoon tho... also i think i saw on some site a part that makes the hood scoop more functional by focusing the air to the airbox...

im pretty happy wit the HK speakers in the car. im an audio engineer so im pretty picky about the way they sound... i only just got the car less than a month ago, so im not about to start ripping doors apart. im just getting aggravated at all the little rattles inside the car... thanks for the input tho.

 

If you're an audio engineer, stick with the stock exhaust! The 2012's actually sound pretty raucous compared to the '11s. Both are rather tame compared to any R53...

Drove mine in the rain today. Gonna need new tires next year...

 

Got it detailed:

 

Putted home from work, waved at a dude in a yellow Justa and got no wave back (it *was* a busy intersection and about dusk). Enjoyed the sound of my hand-me-down cat-back setup all the way home, now that it's finally cool enough to open the windows....

I purchased the back portion of what the previous owner said was an RMW system (anyone know what one of those looks like?) for my R53 back in the spring, then had a 2.5" straight pipe made for it, and I have been loving the cheeky-out-the-wazoo exhaust note the Flowmaster mufflers provide. It sounds *awesome* in a canyon or tunnel, or even just going under an underpass in town!

She (the former owner) had a custom rear section built at a local shop, and got rid of the one I bought from her, because it was too loud for her daughter in the back seat--in combination with her header setup. Now, when I don't have to use the A/C, I can (if I behave) get better gas mileage putting around town than going 75mph on the highway! Plus, the system opened the engine's breathing up in a huge way, even though it replaced a one-ball setup that was a very noticeable improvement over the stock muffler configuration. I can't wait to get my 16% pulley on and see what *that* brings to the party!!

I gotta get a header one of these days, and maybe have a custom no-muffler rear section built so I can swap 'em out at will. All it'd cost to swap is the $2 gasket--I had the v-band flange on the rear section of the exhaust replaced with a standard 2-bolt flange, since the flange the exhaust shop's guy stretched into the end of the straight pipe wouldn't seal right....

Hmmm...thinking out loud...I wonder if I'd get a bit more 3rd harmonic on the exhaust tone if I made one side 1.5 times longer than the other via a trumpet-like loop of pipe. Both sides would receive the same pulses, but the longer side of the loop would resonate at a lower note than the shorter side. It'd be neat to have my exhaust note be a power chord! Gotta look up organ pipe tuning methodology on Google and check on that....

C ya,
Dutch

 

no, i have to drive through snow. slammed is for garaged cars or for cars in places without snow.

 

Got some new 17" Enkei wheels (EDR9), and some new Yokohama's for Winter. It's amazing the difference between these and the 18" with the BFGoodrich GForce's. The GForce's were so grippy and the inch less sidewall made the car almost point and shoot.
Now with the 17's it's more like rotate and shoot. I'm getting used to it, but I guess I'll be looking into summer wheels and tires.

 

i probably should, but i want an exhaust i can hear and feel from the front seat but still have a conversation while im driving... i kno borla has a nice "street" exhaust... but im gonna shop around on tube even tho most of the sound the same bc of the video quality...

 

Ooooooh! Thanks for posting pic! My Mini is getting the same wheel in black installed tonight! She is also getting Conti DWS all season tires! So excited

 

Installed 195/55 R16 Blizzak's. $632 out the door. A bit more than I am accustomed to paying for winter traction.

The dealership overfilled them and they were all over the road on the way home. I have since reduced the pressure to 33 psig but they still feel pretty squirely compared to the stock continentals.

 

Nice stripes!

I am considering stepping up from 16 to 17 or 18 for my summer wheels, do you find the ride to be harsh with the reduced sidewall?

 

Very Harsh, you really feel the bumps, but if you're after performance you want to feel the road I guess. I didn't mind the bumps, but I did feel like maybe for a daily driver, my MINI would be better off with 17" wheels. I felt like parts would start to fall off from some of the horrible Colorado roads. But maybe different tires would have made a difference. I had to replace my wheels because the front rims were bent, and of course they don't make them any more. I like the look of these. We'll see how it goes, and maybe I'll like these better!

 

By the way, I bought the car used, with the stripes already installed.
Did some research and found these guys did them
http://www.aesthetic-creations.com/

 

Decided to go wit just a replacement K&N panel filter for R56. probably bc i read too many posts about how CAI arent rele "cold" air intakes if they are located in the engine bay... maybe ill upgrade in the future...

 

Were you running run-flats on your 18's? So far I have only driven on 16" runflats (which felt a lot more harsh than I would expect) and 16" Blizzaks (which feel ok except that they like to wander all over the road). So, I really don't have a good feel for what a 16, 17 or 18" tire really should feel like.

 

Went from 16"RF's to 17" continental DWS tires, plus black Enkei ENR9 rims and am TOTALLY enjoying the quieter, calmer ride. The handling is EXCELLENT. Am going to feel more confident driving in light snow. Those tires are some of the best selling tires on tirerack.com and came highly recommended to me. My local installer didn't even charge me his advertised price. I payed less than half! He said I will be very happy with the tire.