Hello all! Well, after searching for months... I finally found my Minie! I picked up an 03 MCS in dark grey. I am LOVING it! But, after searching around the forums, and vendors, and google, I still have a couple questions...

1) What's the point of the cupholders?! I can't fit my morning coffee mug in ANY of them! Is there any cupholder that attaches to the downtubes or something? Does this get in the way for the passenger? Will it hold my coffee?

2) No armrest? I see minspeed.net has one... what's the quality of this like? Does anybody have it, what are your thoughts? Did the Mini come with one stock? Is there someplace I can buy the stock one?

3) I have the 17" wheels, I guess the "S-lights". I've been reading that these are heavy and hinder performance. Is there a "better" set Mini wheels what look good and perform well? I'd prefer to say "stock-looking". What have other found to be an adequate replacement for the wheels.

4) When I was shopping for my Mini, I came across one that had "JCW checker floor mats". HOWEVER, these have smaller checkers than the ones I've been finding on eBay, etc. Any idea where I could find a set of these?

5) I REALLY like the stock exhaust note, so I'm very interested in the oneball mod. How much is this going to restrict performance in the long run. Like... if I were to start shooting for 200+ HP... am I going to have to upgrade to something loud and obnoxious as a nature of the beast? Will the JCW sound and perform to my liking?

6) When I shut my doors, it sounds very cheap, and doesn't sound like a good solid shut. This is about the only thing I found to feel "cheap" on the car. Does everybody have this, or do I have something misaligned?

7) Why the hell do I have to pull the door handle twice to get out of the car? This is annoying...

8) Sometimes when starting out from a stop, I get a "squeel" from my clutch. My Supra used to do the same thing, but it was an aftermarket clutch built to hold 600HP. Any ideas?

That's it for now! I'll post more as I think of 'em. Thanks!!!

 

1) i have no idea, i thought the same when i got my car. there are a lot of cupholders you can find that connect to the downtubes. i think theres one for sale in the market on here right now. they come up often.
2) i also felt the same about the armrest. on most of the threads i've seen on here people seem to not like the armrests, it doesnt bother me not having one.. just one less spot to keep crap in.
3)check out the r90's, thats what i have and they're the ones the minis in the italian job have.
4)http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...catalogid=3751
http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...catalogid=3751
5) i one balled my exhaust first thing. its so cheap that later it wouldnt matter if you wanted to replace it with an aftermarket one. exhausts are expensive, you can do a lot of smaller awesome things with that money and worry about exhaust later.
6)not sure what to say... mine seems pretty solid...
7) the first pull is to unlock the door, second is to open it
8) mine started doing this as well and i'd like to know the answer too so i'll keep checking back on this thread lol

hope i could be of some help

 

1) European cars generally put a greater emphasis on what you should be doing when behind the wheel: DRIVING. Not drinking lattes

2) StocK OEM armrest is unimpressive IMHO. MinSpeed is owned by my good friend Pete Foglia. Talk to him and he'll point you in the right direction.

3) If you want stock, light weight wheels, downsize to 16" diameter or get non-runflat tires. I have 16" S-Winder OEM rims in my '05 MCS and love the look (And they are much lighter than your "S-Lights". Or go aftermarket.

4) Try Outmotoring.com, Minspeed or any other of the fine NAM vendors.

5)Can't answer because my '05 MCS came with the exhaust burble from factory and like my stock exhaust.

6) My '05 MCS doors feel nice and heavy and shut like a bank vault. Maybe yours is the nature of the beast. If you want to feel/hear cheap flimsy doors drive to your nearest Honda dealer and try a Honda Fit. You'll think your MINI is a tank (and it is!).

7) This is a BMW thing. I believe the door locks can be programmed to remove the need to pull the handle twice to open. What I do, I flick the power door lock switch, then pull the door handle once and I am done.

8) Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but looks like your dual mass flywheel is glazed. The OEM flywheel can not be turned and must be replaced. If replacing the flywheel you also need to replace the clutch kit. The OEM clutch is hit or miss. My recommendation... Go aftermarket. Pick up either a Clutchmasters FX200 or FX300 clutch/flywheel kit that is much better than stock and will last 10 times as much. The noise you are hearing is known as the "Chewbacca" noise.

And welcome!

 

Going to use ClubmanS' post as a jumping off point for mine.

1. I have the OEM cup holder that sits on the down tubes. I find it to be to big to hold a cup of coffee or something of that nature securely. I am usually more focused on driving though.

2. Agreed about the stock armrest. I have one and it is just ok. I like it because I can put my forearm on it when I am shifting, or getting ready to shift. This helps me from resting my hand on the shifter itself, which is a good way to damage the selector forks. Outside of that though it isnt to useful.

3. Compared to light wheels, yeah they may hurt you a little, however your performance priority should be tires. Note I am not saying "dump the runflats", just make sure whatever you have on there is good. Is it worth the money to get rid of the S-lites and potentially spend 500+ on lighter wheels? You will have dcide on that.

4. I cnat help you here, but ClubmanS' already did.

5. Keep in mind that if you like the way it sounds now, one balling it is going to change how it sounds somehwhat. As has been said, the one ball can be done for under $100 in many cases, so if it becomes a bottleneck down the line it isnt like you are out much. It could hold you back down the road, but you would have to be pretty far down the road to be at that point. Likewise none of the exhaust are going to make you a lot of power, or at least not cheaply.

6. My doors close with a bang (espcially passenger side). Not a thud, but a near bang.

7. It's a MINI thing.

8. Yeah, you probably have the "dreaded" glazed flywheel. Good news is that it can usually be safely ignored if the noise doesnt bother you. Better still is the fact that there is a TSB out on it so if you still have warranty the dealer will fix it for free.

 

I'll focus here. We're lucky with MINIs because not all of our aftermarket exhaust systems are loud and obnoxious. The Magnaflow and Borla Sport (race)tend to be the loudest. The Borla street is comparable to stock. There is a breakdown of all the exhausts here and you can check some videos to see what you like.

I picked my exhaust from those videos, extremely helpful. Eurosportdesigns.com is having a sale right now on exhausts if you have the money. Got mine $300 off and free shipping. Ordered it Monday and its already installed in my car (its wednesday now).

 

The cupholders are for holding a cell phone, and only if u arnt cornering. I have the squealy clutch, its only bad when cold. My doors kinda sound like it, its the mini being light. I have the one ball, it was literally 10 bucks for me, cuz i got my own parts, and i have a welder, do it sounds a lot better, but im hnestly going to get a full exhaust or make my own sometime soon.

 

1) oem cupholder for sale here in NAM in marketplace and it can hold a 40oz. or a Venti Latte if you prefer.
2) I had oem armrest but did not like so I sold it here on NAM the lid would always slide foward.
3) Keep the S-Lites (almost 27lbs) for winter use, for stock oem most get 16in R84 (around 16lbs) or 16in R90 (like 17-18lbs) one piece BBS wheel, they are harder to find. I you want I got a set of R98 (about 23lbs) 17in wheels (5 wheels) for like $500, cheap but they are not well taken care of, but they look hella sweet from across the street.
4) Morristown MINI in NJ
5) One ball +1
6) Jeremy of Top Gear show stated that MINI doors "are of excellent fit and finish they sound like my Rolls Royce doors."
7) A BMW thing
8) Mine had the squeel, took it in to dealership, and they replaced it for free under warranty, said it was a service bullitin. But afraid you might be out of warranty, so just grind the clutch til you kill it and then bite the expensive bullet and replace it.

 

sorry to thread hijack... what mileage did ur mini have when u got the squeel fixed? i have a full warranty even thought i bought my mini used. it has 57k miles on it though, do you think theyd have to cover it?

 

wow! Not even 24 hours and just about all of my questions were addressed!

I guess I'll try the cup holder that attaches to the downtubes and see if I'm happy with it. I'll also have to investigate the armrest option. I'm mostly just looking for a place to throw random crap like sunglasses, gloves, my gov't badges, etc. And, I'm DEFINATELY liking the r90's for wheels, I will have to keep my eyes out. The floormats that were posted weren't the ones that I had seen. I'll have to keep a look out, or check out some other vendors.

Thanks again. So far I'm loving this car!

 

3 words: Euro Parcel Shelf. The single best mod you can do to increase usable storage space for things like you are talking about. It is ridiculously easy to do and helps the interior a lot.

http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/NMI7617/InvDetail.cfm

You could probably find it cheaper in the market place though. That said new it is about the same price as the arm rest and is far more useful.

 

1. Cupholders, eh? Who actually eats or drinks in their car?

6. Adding some sound insulation and vibration dampening material will make your doors more solid.

7. Pulling twice becomes second nature. Just be sure to tell new passengers about it.

 

I bought my MINI used and it came with some crazy awesome aftermarket cupholder. I use it for my GPS or drinks. I can go around sharp turns fast and nothing spills. It may be the same one from NAM for sale.

 

Mine has 35,876 mile, I am not driving the car til I purchase the MINI extended warranty. MINI will not sell it to you if you surpass 36K. If previous owner had the warranty extended you may be covered or if your car is a MININEXT MINI from dealer you may still be covered.

 

I replaced the cupholder in front on the downtube with the later design which sets up higher -- out of the way of your passenger's knee, an which is made out of wire, and will not flop around left-to-right the way the 02-04 OEM holder does. It is not so great at really small cups, but anything over the smallest size seems to work pretty well at any speed and around corners. And I got a couple of extra large inserts here:
http://www.roxiesshop.com/custom.em?pid=510181

I just installed the MinSpeed. It is sturdy and practical, and pretty easy to mount. Also, if you want to recover it later, it would be really easy. I went without one for four years, and now that I have one, I love it!

I went away from the stock wheels first thing. they are very heavy. If you want to stay with the similar look , check out Rota's model RB, here:
http://www.rotawheels.com/wheels.asp?wheelid=34

It has the OEM "mini-lite" look but is lighter, and I think it looks better than OEM.
I don't know from floor mats. sorry.

From what you are saying the one-ball is the best exhaust plan for you, at least in the short term.

as far as 6 and 7, I sort of agree on 6, but I don't know what to do about it (maybe stuff the doors with insulation of some kind? It doesn't really bother me enough to hassle it. For 7, I like it it's different, and who needs some funky little extra ****, or lever or such?

8 - I haven't had a similar sound.

Welcome to the MINI community!! Hope you enjoy it!

 

Some new information:

Join Carlisle Minis - great active Club in your area. You can talk to real folks and see their solutions to many of your questions get answered in person! They're really active in your area!

Also consider the trek to Pittsburgh for PittStopMINI events. We have an active Club as well - www.pittstopMINI.org. We also do garage days... check the website...

1) Cupholders: The awesome one you're hearing about is likely the Mini Fini. Also consider the OEM 05-'06 from the marketplace. $25-$40.

2) Armrest: Addressed above, but they can also hit the elbow when shifting. I don't like my '06 one, but removing it means changing a couple other trim pieces too. Someday I'll get at that.

3) Wheels: Check this thread in the wheels and tires section. S-lights look good, are sturdy, and are about the heaviest wheels. MANY options, lots look good, some ugly. Only you can decide! 16" seems like the optimum performance balance for the Mini, there are many that swear by 15" and others who say "bigger is better". Read up on this and see where you fall.

4) "JCW checker floor mats": OE, check dealer. Again, many options. Check Coco mats too, they're great, as are the MacNiel products.

5) Exhaust: If you like stock, stick to it and modify it last! Oneball is stock but louder and on some cars sounds a little cheap IMHO. JCW, Miltech or Alta is what you're looking for when you push more HP and don't want too much obnoxiousiosity. Check this thread. It's IMPORTANT that you listen to and drive the exhaust you want IN PERSON! That's a huge value of meeting with a club or heading to MOTD or other large events.

6) Cheap sounding doors: Normal, you've got a large piece of sheetmetal there and it bongs when shut. Only solution is to remove the inner doorpanel and dynamat the big piece of exterior sheetmetal on the inside. Not worth it IMHO, but if you've got the doors apart for another reason, go for it.

7) Double doorhandle pull: It's a BMW safety thing ya gotta deal with. You do get used to it, but it's still annoying.

8) Clutch "squeel": Normal, expected, and if it doesn't affect performance other than sound (i.e. slipping) , it's not that awful. Usually happens when cold and damp. Think of your Mini saying "brrrr. Ugly weather we're having, eh Chap?" When it comes time to replace the clutch, go aftermarket.

Welcome!