Lucky guy, I have a 120mi a day commute and my winter beater would probably take two weeks of that.

 

gotcha - did you hit the transmission too?

 

I didn't hit much of the engine/trans. Honestly I hit what could rust and what may have to be removed in the future...bolts and exposed threads. Surface corrosion was not much my concern....granted I did coat my skid just because it was off the car when I did it...and why not?

 

Wiped down the exterior a little, and wrapped it up at 981 miles! We've got our first sizable snowfall on the way, so I've got the car covered up for now. I don't know that the car will come back out until the salt is gone, I have a daily beater so I really don't need to drive the MINI for now...

I also re-coated the underside of the car with the Amsoil HD protector - used about the rest of the can this time - can't imagine how you could go through more than that! I basically got the entire underbody now though.

 

Be careful with the MINI cover. They are great, but they are a fabric which means it breaths which is what you want, most of the time, but moisture can get through. If the snow thaws on it, you can get moisture on the inside which can freeze to the roof. Not saying don't use it, just be aware and clear the cover off when you have a chance.

 

Yeah I was reading that warning - I also read that you shouldnt use it on paint that is less than 6 months old (mine is 2 months old) oops.

 

Double check the paint warning. I bought a front mask for another car years ago and the paint warning was for repainted panels, not factory paint.

 

it does say repainted, is there a difference? the clearcoat or something?

 

Factory paint is baked at the factory. It's difficult to do that with a repaint.

 

ahh gotcha.

 

kyoo
I have come across something that makes me think that your experience with the eLSD will be much better than mine. I put a set of Wilwood BBKs on and then I found out that there is a computer mod that MINI does with the installation of the JCW (Brembo) brakes and this mod makes an adjustment to the DSC and, my understanding, to the DTC. My point is I believe the Wilwoods are more like the JCW brakes and the issues I am having is related to not having that computer mod (can't get it). So, I believe, you should be well off with your decision to get the DTC. It is I who has to figure out what to do next...BMW/MINI has taken away more and more of our option to mod these cars. It is disappointing as, while these cars are really good from the factory, there come a point where they need to better. In some cases, I am finding, you can't get what you want. Yes, I could go with the JCW brakes but than I would lose the option to run 16" wheels.

Enjoy your car.

 

gotcha - makes sense, that was one of my questions as far as the eLSD went - how it would calibrate for different/bite-ier pads, and in your case brake setups altogether. i'm sure there is some level of modulation built in, for pads and grippier tires though.

i'm assuming then, it's braking the inside wheel too much? thinking its got a stock setup, and braking the inside wheel as such, when in reality it has a much more powerful setup?

 

Actually I don't think it is braking the inside wheel enough. I burned through a set of pads in a day and destroyed a rotor in the process. Also, on some slippery wet conditions, I was noticing some wheel spin that I don't remember getting before with the stock brakes. When we get some snow I can easily check what it is doing and not.

As for you, I would imagine that sticky tires would be ideal. The computer looks for wheel spin and sticky tires will be harder to spin. That should be a good combination. As for stickier pads, I had originally thought they would be a good idea. Now, well, I still do, but with a little caution to watch for it over-slowing the inside wheel. The computer may be able to sense when there is enough slowing of the wheel so it won't matter.

I am thinking in my case, the computer programing doesn't allow the brakes to be applied hard enough (it maxes out?), maybe because of a difference in the caliper piston size? Don't know for sure, but I plan to check.

 

hmm interesting. yeah, not sure in your case. for me, since i've got the base, i'm sure it'll hardly matter at all

 

waiting for spring...

 

Parts ordering has begun! And if all goes according to plan, I may even have a sponsor lined up for the 2014 season! First event will be on 3/30 for the test n tune.. time to decide if i like the rsb on the middle setting or the stiffest setting!

 

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-21...-set-of-4.aspx

Can anyone confirm that these guys are legit? I'll probably just contact them myself on Monday otherwise - they seem to have a pretty good price as far as these dampers go.. a lot of the vendors on this site seem to have some pretty wacky prices as far as these dampers go

 

Turner is well known for racing BMWs. Charlie Thompson cmt52663 is a customer.

 

gotcha, thanks for the input. i'll go ahead and grab bilsteins from them

 

kyoo,
Just an update on this. I have done a lot of research on this. Unfortunately, it seems that very few people have experienced what I did. Long story short of what I found out - this is only a significant issue for people who replace their stock brakes with a BBK which includes MINI's own JCW sport brake. This issue is corrected by a MINI upgrade to the ABS computer software to account for the different brakes. I have had this done and the brakes are acting much better.

So, proceed ahead with no fear of the system not being helpful. And, hope your build goes well. I am looking forward to hearing how it goes.

 

Thanks for the update. I think all my past worrying is fairly unwarranted. I'll know for sure when I take the car out, but i'm not really concerned. Most stock guys actually stick with the stock brake setup for this car, and again, I'm in a base MINI so I probably barely have enough torque to really be impacted. I can't imagine too many scenarios in autox where I would actually "confuse" the system, except for maybe a really bad lot and the car catches brief moments of air etc

 

I had been wrestling with the tire width question back and forth, but after doing some research I came to (what was to me) a mini-epiphany:

The wheel width is the main contributor to how much tire touches the road.
The tire width basically determines what parts of the tire are touching the road per given psi and wheel width.

When I was running 195s on the 5.5 holies, I ran what I felt were high amounts of tire pressures in order to get the tires to feel and wear appropriately. With less tire on the wheel, I can run less PSI while wearing better, and getting the optimal/intended "zone" of the tire on the ground. Basically, I'll probably be going with 205/50-16s for Z2s. I toyed with the idea of running 205/45s, but it didn't have Z2s or rivals, and that's really all I'm considering this season tire-wise.

 

What wheels again Kyoo?

Cheers,

Charlie

 

going with 16x7 enkei rpf1's, and probably putting on dunlop z2's, not shaved or anything. i'd love an ssr type c 15x6.5, but way out of my budget. to be honest, the +/- 1" wheel rule is looking relatively unstable as it is...

 

Saving this post as a catch all for my 2014 Events. I'll link this post to my original post and list out individual event results here as they come.