Mine were also perfectly fine at about 60k when I replaced them for SPC camber plates, and a lot of those miles were on Atlanta roads, which aren't known for being the best in the world.

Agreed on the tire wear - adding camber actually improved mine. I used to wear off the outside shoulders of the tires.

Could blown struts/subpar bump stops cause a recurring strut mount failure? I would have thought really bad struts would have been noticeable when replacing the mounts though.

 

The springs are stock. The struts are new. They are Bilstein B4. Everything is new upfront. I refresh everything over the past few years.
As far as warranty. The last set I got from ECSTUNING. They come with a 1 year warranty. The others I got refunded thru Amazon. So other than my own labor I'm not out really no money. Other than the cost of the OEM ones I purchased.

 

That is a good thought. If the suspension is crashing a lot, then that could overload mount.

The MINI shocks are notoriously bad. The ones on my R56 died internally; no leakage. They just lost their ability to dampen the car... When they were out of the car, they seemed to compress just fine. But, when I put a set of Bilstien B8s in, it was clear that the stock shocks were bad. This was at about 50k miles.

I put Koni FSDs into our R50 and I have mixed feelings about them. The ride is great, but they do allow the suspension to “crash” on things like potholes. If I was to do it again I would go with Bilstein B4s or B6s.

 

Yeah, the OEM dampers aren't the greatest. I realized mine were on the way out when I was bedding in a set of new pads and rotors around 64k miles. Apparently I hadn't panic stopped the car in a while, and it was super sketchy under heavy braking. I swapped to Koni yellows and Swift springs not long after that.

 

An update, on the intake routing, I installed an aluminum elbow with 70mm outer diameter feeding into the filter box. You can stuck 70mm in but it is a little narrow (which is good and bad, needs to be around 72mm). I enlargened the diameter with a couple of duct tape layers until it fits just tight. Coupled with gold tape on the s tube in front, the air temperature difference over ambient is considerably lower (I hope I am not just deceiving myself). The temperature difference dropped from ~22°C to ~12°C at around 80kph. At highway speeds, it is even better. But the good part is, intake temperatures don't rise up as they used to be during city drive or heat-soak cases. My friend, who is into motorsports, building time attack cars and such, says my gold tape idea is just useless in my application, which is probably right

Check the photo attached:

 

Do you have lowering springs with the Konis or stock ride height?

 

Need some help. I trying to find the length of the. Pipe pictured below. Goes between the air box an the air inlet on top of the radiator on my R50.

 

When I had my R53 I tried a non-genuine brand. I think they were Moog and a 1000 miles later they were trash, so bad that the upper spring plate was rubbing on the rubber. I bought genuine OEM MINI ones and had zero issues. I thought it was an install error at first, but it wasn't the rubber is just too soft. I had brand new Koni Yellows.

I suspect Moog, KYB, "Lemforder" are all made in the same China factory and that the majority of Lemforder stuff that can be had is fake, but has somehow ended up in legitimate parts channels.

 

I made a fiberglass cold air intake I have to put a pod filter and some heat tape

 

Switched my intake on my R50 back to stock. Removed my DDM intake. It's up for sale on market place.

 

Stock ride height on our R50 with the FSDs.

 

The other day had new front wheel bearings put into Blue, our 2004 R50. Left sided was clearly bad and the shop suggested doing right side. The car is 18 years old, but only has 67k miles on it. So I guess wheel bearings can degrade with time as well as mileage...

Since then, it has gotten a few more miles in. Things defiantly feel better. Not only is the noise gone, it is just “tighter”. The car is such a pleasure to drive.

One such drive was to HD. I thought this makes for an interesting picture... David and Goliath...

 

For all the R50 owners that have busted hold downs on there filter housing. This is my solution. Works a treat.

 

I like it
Where did you get it? It looks like a Jeep Wrangler hood tie down.

 

Got it at napa. It's a battery box hold down strap.

 

A few years ago I found some hose at Napa to replace that hose. I think the one I got is intended to be AC hose, but it works well and is kind of like vacuum cleaner hose, so easy to adjust the length as needed.

 

Meaning AC duct hose, right?

 

Yes, that's it. I think they sold it by the foot.

 

These just back in, once they sell out they are nla. Only available here.

I got a pair for my R58 JCW before they go nla. Just installed them the other day. Look great! I am getting our bremmen matching headlight rings here soon also.


https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...s/63212296299/

 

I replaced my manifold with converter. Along with the O2 sensors. Fixed my gas guslin mini. Not a very difficult job. Dropped exhaust manifold from the underside. Hardest part was getting the bolts an gasket lined up.

 

I had a CEL come up recently and engine was louder than usual with not much output. Finished my short trip and checked codes - there was P0302. Swapped the ignition coil with cylinder 3, then cylinder 4. Sure thing the error code followed the bad coil. Ordered new ones, replaced yesterday and took it for a short trip - so far no codes! Hopefully that was the only issue.

 

I remember freaking out when that went on my Mini coming out of a parking lot. Yikes.

 

Yeah, having engine shaking, making noise and not producing much of a power wasn't an easy feeling while I was trying to get back home at a low speed and praying it wasn't anything serious...

 

Added bigger port injectors so we could up the boost. Now 377WHP at 25psi boost

 

A long and flat torque curve and usable power right up to 7000+ rpm. I would guess a well thought out design and tune. Nicely done.