Man, my mini is not even two weeks old and it met my Dewalt drill already!

Background:
I just bought a used Mini and I've fallen in love with it. It's been mod city in my garage the past two weeks. One of the things that I had to address was a roof rack for my bikes.



Let's face it. Putting a roof rack on any car is sacrilege. The rack is going to mess it up. The roof will get scratched, the gutters or the doors. That is an unfortunate reality bikers must face. So I order the Mini factory rack and it just has screws on the base. Dang, that is odd. I do a little research and little holies need to be drilled on the roof. Uh-uh, my car is used but the roof is still flawless.

I do a little research on this site and I find the Mini does not have the best options for roof racks. They all gotta go on the flimsy rain gutters. They are nowhere near as pretty or as sturdy as the factory rack either. So let's just have the racks installed. Hmm... $400 - $600 and some dealers don't want to do it. So DIY it. But unlike other jobs, there's no instructions or pics on NAM or Mini2. It seems that everyone is afraid to do it. There's the horror of a mangled roof, water leaks and the special tools needed.

Well, I'm bored Saturday night and the DeWalt drill comes out. Here are the weapons of choice:





Well, let's just say that I learned a lot and am very proud. It took me about 3-4 hours and the result is the finest rack I've ever seen. It is soo innovative and sturdy. The rack base is connected to the roof frame and is secure. The base also does not touch the roof. The base bolts don't apply pressure or touch the roof either. Finally, the rack can be removed easily and nice body-colored covers hide the base bolts.





There were only a couple of 'oh-schit' moments. The first was when my little drill was mangling the roof. I just needed to use the step drill bit. The second was when my initial hole was 5mm away from the mounting threads. The damm templates were off. Luckily, Dremel came to the rescue as I hunted for the threads. The final holes are huge (15mm) so it covered the initial hole. Once the first hole is perfect, I have a reference for all the other holes. Finally when it was time to bolt on the rack, the holes didn't line up. They were not wide enough across the roof (or my rack was too long). After a moment of reserved panic, I realized the rack was adjustable. Loosen them up, then bolt them on.

The best discovery of the project is the little router drill bit that I bought. $3 and works like a champ. The step drill bit was $35!! I'll write a DIY on this later but feel free to ask questions.

So there, time for some Newcastles. This was a no-beer project because drilling through the body requires full sobriety. Now Mini is a member of the bike family.

francois

 

You are a very brave and confident person!

I was way too afraid to drill my roof so I paid a dealer way too much to do it just so I could have hole insurance!

 

Hey Francois,

I'm erik99 over on MTBR too! Nice move on the Cooper!!!

-Erik

 

Hey ya. Nice to see you over here. And to think I could have had a Scion! The Cooper is surprisingly quick. And now with the K&N intake and Borla, it sounds angry too.

francois

 

I am getting ready to install my rack also. Where do you line the templates up with, The rain gutter or the rubber seal?

Thamks Jim

 

Rubber seal, supposedly.

Although my first hole was 1mm too low(too close to the rubber seal) and 2mm too far forward.

Do not punch all the pilot holes at once. Do the first hole, find your way and adjust all your other holes in reference to the first one.

Did you buy any special mini tools for this or are you just using normal garage tools?

francis

 

Very Nice and very brave. Good work! Great looking MINI too!

 

I used the seal and it got me close enough. I used a dremel tool to make it perfect. I don't have the keyhole saw that they mention in the directions. I have the rear studs installed, I will do the front tomorrow as it is now cocktail hour. Thanks for the help.

Jim

 

Personally, I dont think I could drill into my car. I'll go with Thule. But looks good and great job!

 

I used to get paid to drill holes in multi million dollar aircraft. Drilling into a 25,000$ mini is a non issue

Jim

 

That's the spirit! Experience says don't mix drilling with cocktail hour right?

I didn't use any special tools either. The keyhole saw would have been neat since it would bore out the big hole once you've centered the pilot hole. That's hard to do with a dremel. However I found my router drill bit (pictured above) and it's perfect. Took about 30 seconds to bore out big perfect holes after the pilot hole is centered.

The other special tool just measures how many spacers you need. I ended up not needing any spacers. I think the object is have the bolt head as close as possible to the roof without touching it.

Remember lots of silicone sealant.

francis

 

You're not alone. Before the operation, I searched this site and the Mini2 site thoroughly and couldn't find anyone who drilled their own roof and offer some advice.

The factory roof rack though is a thing of beauty. Aluminum construction, incredibly sturdy and perfect size and appearance for the mini.

francois

 

Installed the rest of the studs today, no problems. Most of the studs on mine bottom out before they hit the roof. So no need for the spacers except for 2 studs. Hopefully the dealer will have my base mount and ski rack tomorrow. I already picked up the fork mount bike racks. They are pretty solid also. It just happens to be cocktail hour again! Some pics of our Fulltime RV rig and mini cooper trailer can be found here http://www.picturetrail.com/jimandsue1

Thanks Again

 

Hi francois, couple of questions,
what's the size of the step drill you're using? you mentioned the last hole is 15mm, so I assume that's the largest diameter of step drill as well. I'm also considering the oem keyhold saw, the cheaper one will win.

the installation instructions require the use of zinc powder paint to seal the roof hole, did you skip that step? did you put any kind of paint to protect it?

what silicon sealant did you use? again the instructions mention adhesive & sealing compound, wondering what's the best substitute

 

Props for DIY. I don't want one but if I did there's no way in the world I'd do it myself.
-G

 

Great job, Francois. Now that the rack is installed, what are you using for bike carriers? Did you buy one of the Mini OEM carriers or did you find something aftermarket that fits?

 

I'm using the bike trays by Rocky Mounts. They work great, are perfectly quiet and are just the right length.

<img src="http://forums.mtbr.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=162362&stc=1&d=1146464 897">

<img src="http://mtbr.com/author/photos/niner/img_6567.jpg">

<img src="http://mtbr.com/author/photos/niner/img_6568.jpg">

francois

 

I'm using the bike trays by Rocky Mounts. They work great, are perfectly quiet and are just the right length.







francois

 

Francois:

Did you consider using the MINI Fini Sport Link?

http://outmotoring.com/mini_fini_spo...bike_rack.html

Just curious.

 

Here is a picture of Mini bike rack, it's not as well designed as the Thule big mouth which I previously used, but it fits nicely and looks good with the white roof.

 

No I didn't. I found rack on sale for $140 I think. And I have extra bike trays already.

Seems like that Sportlink actually works good. One disadvantage is you have to clamp your top tube with that rack. My bikes have sensitive top tubes. One is carbon, one is sloped and one doesn't have one.

A big advantage is it's probably more aerodynamic and you won't crash it onto a low garage roof.

francois

 

Very nice! I just aint brave enough to do that myself. Also, I have the union jack roof, so i wouldnt want to risk wrinkling the vinyl. Nice work!

 

Wow! Good job - I am impressed!! We were not brave enough to EVEN attempt to put our bike rack on (2 different MINIs).

Donna

 

No bike rack should ever hold a bike by its downtube or seattube, unless of course the rack is worth more than the bike.


Fork mounts from Thule, Yakima or Rocky Mounts are the way to go.


Cheers,

Herbert

Francois, nice work with the tack and nice NINER on top of it.

 

yeah, the cheesy Mini bike rack isn't even worth a piece of downtube it tries to hold. I confess I'm a sucker for upright bike mount. It has been flawless, for once the Big mouth held my bike through a Baja trip (2000+miles) without a scratch, I was quite impressed considering how cheap it looks.
the annoying things about the Mini rack are the awkward arm locking mechanism, and weak wheel holding mechanism. The front wheel starts to wabble pretty bad from 70mph, while I feel comfortable in pushing the Big mouth over 80mph.