Yes and no. Some facts to consider:

1. JCW is tested extensively, they claim 150000 miles under all weather conditions. Don't think the other vendors can say that. They purposely overengineered it to ensure it will last. Not sure the others can say that. They know they can get more HP but chose not to. See what Michael Cooper has to say about this at UK MINI site
2. Dinan only works if you got a Dinan dealer close. For example, my MINI/BMW dealer just dumped Dinan because of problems with them. What are you going to do with that Dinan part when your traveling and they are no Dinan dealers around (of course there are few MINI dealers too!)
3. The fact that Dinan doesn't advertise (as SpiderX says) means nothing. They are just getting into the market.
4. JCW has existed for many, many years building F1 cars. Racing improves the breed (as Porsche says)
5. If I get mods by one of these "other" companies/tuners but the cost is thousands less than say the same for JCW if I think there is little to no risk to having problems with my MINI, then buying from that "other" company/tuner makes some sense.

Not to mention any particular company, if a company comes out with some sw that gets more HP for the car, do you not think JCW couldn't do the same thing? Why didn't they?

 

You know now that you mention it, the last time I was wandering around outside of parts (where they used to have their Dinan display set up) I didn't even realize that the Dinan display wasn't there any more. But now that I think about it, I think there was an XM Radio display there the last time I was there... Then again the last time I was there, mods were the last thing on my mind..

 

I'll just toss in my impression of JCW / Dinan. I've been fiddling with cars for over 15 years, having built motors for my 67 Barracuda, 69 Roadrunner and a variety of newer cars.

Having recently bought a 03' Cooper S, I am totally in love with the car, except I am a little dissapointed with how it pulls out of the hole.. once you it 3k rpm though its a fantastic car! I bought the extended warranty with the car so as much as I want to tinker with the car, i want to maintain the warranty that i paid extra for. My "local" dealer supports both Dinan and JCW.

First i looked at JCW, and being the cheap bastard that I am, I just couldn't justify the price tag. As nice as the warranty maintence is, for the mods they do.. well lets just say I could re-build the motor completely for the price difference between the cost of aftermarket comparables and the JCW setup. I think most people who investigate JCW believe that the head work they do, is mostly to increase the cost, rather than any solid gains. Overall, I'd rank JCW as a well tested solid upgrade plus a few unnecessary extras that are pretty much designed to push their profit margins up.

I believe the reason 15% reduction pullies are so popular and why they are 15% vs some other number is JCW's pully is 14.(7?)% and its a way to be just a little better than JCW as a selling point. Which from everything i can tell 15% is a safe reduction that doesn't run into the overheating potential and dimishing returns that 19%'s run into.

I was so happy when I found out Dinan put out a 15% pully, I was figuring it'd be a bit spendy but i could maintain my warranty at my dealer, then i investigated and found that though their testing they determined that in order to properly run a 15% pully they needed to sell you a fuel pump too, cause the mini that is known to run rich by every tuner doesn't get enough fuel to the motor to run a 15% pully (according to dinan). So they turn their $200 pully into an $900 upgrade not including labor. It is possible that thier testing found something that JCW and every other tuner missed, and and all the drivers who are running 15% pullies have been forunate enough to miraculously avoided serious motor damage from running lean. I however put a certain degree of trust in JCW's testing ad well as the life experience of other mini drivers and question as to if Dinan is selling me something I don't need just to push up the price.

So you're basically left to choose.. if i want my warranty.. do i buy an unnecessary head polish or an unnecessary fuel pump. I don't have JCW or Dinan on my car.

Quote from Dinan website
"The increase in boost pressure is accomplished in typical fashion, employing a smaller supercharger pulley. Unfortunately, extensive testing revealed that the stock fuel delivery system simply can’t keep up as boost and rpm increase. In order to address the lean condition at higher rpm, Dinan has developed fuel pressure regulators designed to ensure that adequate fuel is available in order to take full advantage of the additional boost pressure for maximum power output and reliability. "

 

Not sure if your talking Sterling or Towson. Towson told me specifically they dropped Dinan because of problems with them, not sure what that means.

 

I was talking of Sterling, they used to have Dinan displays in the dealership...

As for Towson, I didn't even know they were a Dinan dealership at one time...

 

The problem with that statement from a dealer is that's what they all say. I have run into this in all sorts of product lines (not having anything to do with cars) and when a dealer of anything changes the product they will invariably say that they had problems with the product. For all we know it was Dinan that had the problems with the dealer or the dealer has more of a markup on JCW or who knows.

 

That's not the point. The point was that two of our local dealers no longer carry Dinan. I don't care what the reason may be, its just two more MINI dealers who don't.

 

No comment

 

That's odd. I've never seen it down, and I have spent lots of time on their site.

 

Ok. I understand. It means service gets harder to get for Dinan.

 

I talked to the employee at Rasmussen MINI (Portland, OR) who handles performance mods for MINI, asked for a cost breakdown on the full package for each, and his thoughts on the two options side by side. As others have stated, he said that the Dinan engine kit feels as quick as the JCW. However, he pointed out that the full Dinan suspension and brake packages are much more comprehensive than the JCW counterparts. The difference between the two priced out is about $100: $9300 to $9400, the Dinan slightly less (the Dinan engine work is much cheaper, but the beefier suspension and brake jobs bring the cost up to almost the same). All that said, if cost isn't the consideration, I'm inclined to go w/ the Dinan kits (he didn't advise a mix & match), due to the Brembo brakes and much heftier suspension mods. Anyone else w/ side by side experience w/ the two kits who can speak about how they are to drive?