Hello everyone. I want to start making some modifications to my MINI, mainly the suspension to begin with (Coilovers, sway bars and control arm plus a CAI). I went to Luis at Precision Autowerks and he gave a price around $4400 for the whole thing, which I find a bit pricy I must admit. I just wanted get any advice anybody might have based on their experiences in this shop or in any other shops around Miami. Any advice/information would be greatly appreciated.

Best to all.

 

[That does seem pricey. Does this include parts and labor? If its just labor that seems too expensive.

 

I have done everything with PAW from tuning to brakes and Luis really knows his stuff. He truly loves minis and treats them like his own. I recommend everything that he does! You wont be sorry if you go with PAW!!

 

Seems fair

 

You may have resolved this already, but if you live anywhere near the So. Fla. area, Luis Sanchez is your man. I wouldn't take my mini to anyone but him. He will do top quality work, and he hates to see people get ripped off, so I don't doubt the fairness of the price. Also, what coilovers are you talking about? Some coilovers run close to $3,000 by themselves.

With that said, you could probably save a lot of money by trying to do some of these mods yourself. Certainly the cold air intake would be a good first project. I'm debating whether I want to tackle the suspension myself, and I don't have any mechanical background.

 

I am having some problems with my MINI as well and took my car to Luis at PAW. His rates were a little too much in my opinion and wanted to know if anyone knew of any other MINI specialist's I could go to for a second opinion?

 

Do you know what's wrong with your car? Maybe if it's not a complicated job another mechanic could do it, or it could be a DIY job.

Besides PAW, I'm not familiar with other MINI specialists in Miami. I know of Redline Performance, but they are in Broward:

http://www.redline-racing.com/

I have no experience with them, and I don't know about their pricing.

To be honest, I find PAW to be a little pricy, too. But you get what you pay for. I learned this first hand during my first attempt at buying a MINI (a 2007 R56) and getting a pre-sale inspection from another mechanic. He told me the car was fine, but it turned out the car was absolute rubbish and was full of problems, and luckily I was able to return it. That's when I looked for a specialist and found PAW. Wouldn't take my car to anyone else now.

Also, consider it may be more expensive to get cheap labor if they don't know what they are doing. The last thing you want is multiple trips to the mechanic because they didn't get it right the first time.

 

What are your the issues with your MINI?

 

You get what you pay for, indeed. I feel like Luis has saved me so much money in the long run, that I would rather pay him a fair price from the getgo.

 

Haven't seen this thread in a while. I wrote 3 years ago that I wouldn't take my car to anyone else, and my opinion hasn't changed. When you find someone who knows what they are doing, they are worth the price.

 

just went there today. It's a drive for me but no doubt worth it! Luis definitely knows mini's. I have no problem paying for that knowledge and experience. He knew exactly what I needed and did not try to push anything on me. Luis will be a regular visit for me in my restoration.

 

Has anyone installed the oem 25w headlight retrofit and had PAW, code it?

 

Is PAW even open these days? Tried calling and I keep getting hung up on or no one picks up.

 

I was there about a month ago...
I hope they're still around!

 

Hi folks. Luis is still there at PAW, 20 years now. Once my 16 R60 S past 50K I started with the mods ( just a few months ago). I read about PAW here on the forum and decided to just drive over un announced . Met Luis. Straight shooter, does not mince words, His shop is set up right. and he provides most all services for our cars. Even a Dyno set up for those of us with real lead foots.
He races himself, so he has experience with what works and what's just hype.
I had him install the SS Brake lines I got from MarioKrt, I came prepared with some Motul R600 even though he had plenty in stock. He flushed everything and it was done quick. I took advantage of the tires being off and rotated the tires ( Freebie!)
I was talking to him about a big brake upgrade and he looked at me and said "If you like to spend alot of money for looks".... I asked him his advice and he suggested a good set of performance brake pads properly bedded would be a great improvement over the stock brakes that had been on the car since day 1 ( 51K miles at the time). He showed me his race car which I had already looked over when I was there the first time to show me the stock calipers on his race car. I took his advice and ordered a set of brake pads. I chose EBC Red's and he installed them. I spent about 30 minutes starting the bedding process and continued for several days when I had the time.

Next up with PAW is swaping out my stock S Turbo for a JCW Turbo and will replace the oil return lines and crush washers/gaskets associated with that at the same time and a fresh oil change with the turbo while he's at it.

I could do the turbo swap myself being that I already swapped the Downpipe for an NM SS Catless one and the Turbo oil feed line with an NM SS one. so familiar with all that heat shield, brackets, etc.. removal. Just don't want to do it again and Luis will do it in way less time.

Sorry for the long story, but I'm pretty happy I found out about PAW on here and started a cool time over there with the R60.

Ozzie