I have been struggling with what handling mods to make to my MCS and kept getting the usual contradictory info about coil overs, lowering spings, adjustable shocks etc etc.

Finally called Randy told him what I was after and he recommended Hsport springs and rear sway bar.

I went away on holiday and just got them installed. WONDERFULL. I have the adjustable bar on the middle setting figuring I can then go stiffer or softer

I didn't know the MINI pushed until i almost landed on a center island in a spirited left hander - boy does this little sucker stick now.

The ride is a little harsher than of old but my wife didn't notice till I asked her so can't be too bad. the lowereing wasn't really noticable for a couple of days - must need to settle - but it now looks great with the gap above the tires just about gone.

 

GordonD,
I started the mods the same way. I called Randy and asked him what was the best way to get started. H Sports and Swaybar (middle setting as well). WOW, what a difference. Noticeable from the first turn out of the parking lot from my installer. Since then, Madness intake, pulley and ECU. Randy is a class act and a real nice guy as well.

 

Doing my swaybar this weekend, ScottG's going to walk me thru it. I dont have the
springs yet, but I have to do this in small parts. Randy knows his stuff, too bad their is only one of him and he is in denver, I guess the denver mini guys just have all the luck.

 

>><snip>.... I guess the denver mini guys just have all the luck.

Got my MINI in July. Got it to Randy within the month; as he's located about a mile from my home. Hehe. You don't ignore hints from heaven like that. To borrow a comment I've seen before on these forums, "Randy touched my car and now it goes fast!".

Pully, ECU, CAI and swaybar are done. Am waiting as patiently as possible for exhaut upgrade. I have a hard time thinking of anyone who's racking up good karma at the rate Randy is; he's genuine good people, who's happily spreading the good times as fast as a body can.

 

Thanks guys! It's always nice to hear that folks are happy because of suggestions or work I've done.

Randy

 

>>Thanks guys! It's always nice to hear that folks are happy because of suggestions or work I've done.
>>
>>Randy
You're very welcome - it's a pleasure to buy from someone who cares about the end result and not just the sale.

I am sorry for your emerging 'battle' with BMW over the name. I am a senior executive in the financial services industry and am baffled by the confrontational attitude exhibited by these guys. Ofcourse they have to protect their property but surely some licensing agreement would have done that without all of the heavy handed - dare I say TEUTONIC - posturing seems to be alianating their customers.

maybe you should offer them lessons in customer service in return for continued use of the name.

in any case I know you will prosper under any name (sorry to highjack this thread but i guess i did intiate it)

 

Yes, Hats off to Randy.
This makes the point to determine what you are seeking and find a simple cost effective solution without creating
additional trouble or side effects. I too have the H-sport springs and Madness rear swaybar. Works just fine.
If you wish to fine tune a bit more you can always adjust tire pressure front and rear and that will affect some understeer.

Then with all this good hardware, don't forget to learn how to use it. Send yourself to driving school- ask your BMW Car club local chapter for any High performance driving school opportunities. It's fun and you will learn alot.

Enjoy your MINI! And thanks Randy.

 

Just tossing my $.02 worth into the "Randy is a class act" pot! Good products, good karma, good service... what more matters?

And as for copyright-trademark infringement issues, Randy's site name is in lower case letters...which avoids the all-upper-case trademark of "MINI". No company can trademark a common word except where directly associated with a specific product. And since I'm sure Chrysler long ago trademarked Mini-Van, that leaves BMW/MINI open to an infringement lawsuit since they're trying to monopolize the word "MINI" in relation to automobile brand. Anyone from Daimler-Chrysler listening out there????

 

hI GUYS, EVERYBODY IS RIGHT " hats off for randy" He is the best that could happen to all of us that own a cooper s. He is not interested in making the sale if you are not satisfied with the performance you are getting out of it. He is very customer satisfaction first before making a fast buck.
Going back to bmw trying to monopolize the word MINI, what about Walt Dysney they own the word MINI as mini and mickey...... is walt dysney listening?????????
I think that the newspapers should start publishing something about this, because BMW is behaving like a Bully with the little guys.
my .02 cents contribution

Hats off to Randy and Mike Ferguson for a Job well done


Carlos from Florida

 

How many of us who have had Randy do great stuff for our cars be willing to make a donation for a set of Hoosiers for Randy's autocross efforts? Randy mentioned at the SF Bay Area Pulley Party that to compete at the national level for autocross, he would need a set of Hoosiers to be really competitive. I don't know how we could do this on-line but I for one believe that if a good % of us who have benefited in Randy's services (at least 170 pulleys so far), we would have him in Hoosiers in no time! I suggest we all poney up $10 as a thank you to Randy and have him compete for all of us MINI enthusiasts. What do you think? Does someone have a way for us to donate through "pay pal" or through MCO, or some other method?
LET"S DO THIS!!! AND THANKS TO RANDY TO ALL OF US ON THE LUNATIC FRINGE FOR PERFORMANCE MODS FOR THE MINI!

 

Gosharks - I've been thinking a lot about your suggestion. Actually spent an hour or two on the web trying to figure out a clean way of doing this. My thoughts about this were, in no particular order...

a) I didnt' know Hoosiers from Hooters, and couldn't at first figure out what Randy would need a couple of skimply clad waitresses for; as he's happily married from all appearances. Seems that Hoosiers is a tire maker, and they've got a serveral models that are performance oriented. Didn't know which particular model/size would be best for an AutoX MINI, so it was not easy for me to figure out what a set would cost. Best guess is between 500 and 1000 for a set of 4.

b) Paypal *does* allow you to send money to anyone with an e-mail address. They get a notification via e-mail, and even if Randy hasn't set up his e-mail as a Paypal enabled one, it's still very hard for someone else to hijack it. The "set-up" prcoess involves getting confirmation codes via the e-mail ID in question, and only Randy would be able to do that. Once it's set up, he can request a check or a wire transfer at any time. So we could start tossing $10 dings at him, but....

c) There's no way to tell when a particular dollar goal has been reached. If everyone who's gratefull to RW pops off a Paypal contribution of the size of thier choice, Randy's likely to get enough money to fund a Hoosiers distributorship. Now that might be neat for him on one hand, but on the other hand he's a hard working type who's growing his business through sweat equity. It might make him feel a little awkward to have gobs of cash fall out of heaven for doing his job; "Thanks guys but I'm a business, not a charity!".

d) On the other hand, if you could monitor the total inflow, a set of tires might be a right sized community gift to someone who definitly has enriched us all. So I started thinking about one of those "donation thermometer" things that you often see. Got to wondering if someone has set up a web business for accepting and tracking donantions for a third party, up to a specific goal. I found one such business, Active Donations or some-such, but while they provide the tools they also take 6.5% cut of all donations that cross their software. That grates against my sensibilities. They're also set up to help out in all sorts of ways to "milk donations", and that too kind of turns me off. Having not found an alternative, I gave up on the web based donation site idea.

e) And that left me thinking that we're down to two options:

Option 1): Someone steps up, and volunteers to be a fund "collector", and keeps peeps informed on the contribution level, then forwards the proceeds to Randy. That way Randy doesn't have to do fund tracking, which might really make him feel weird. And peeps can just snail mail a check payable to Randy Webb to the collection address, without any concern that the collector might skim funds. Those that have no problem with trust are free to Paypal the collector direct and expect their funds to be forwarded as well. Or...

Option 2): Those of us who are gonna be doing further business with Randy can just plan on dropping a tip on him when we do. That's my current plan when I get the rest of my work done, unless your idea gels up and takes off.

Thoughts? (Sorry if this wandered a bit, but I've got a non-linear mind).

 

Paypal actually has a donation feature/account. Here is a link to the info on it.

Paypal Donation Link

Hope this helps. I would be nice to get randy to show a larger amount of people how excellent the mini is at kicking everyones asses in auto-x

Blake