What's this exactly do and for ????
 

So I finally shaved off my front air airdam attached to under my bumper so it no longer scrapes since it sits so low BUT this underneath flap airblock thingy , what is it's purpose and will it be OK to remove it ?? My car is heavily modified and isn't la dailydriver but I wanna retain the ability to dailydrive it so if this flap somehow provides cooling for the ps or something I better just leave it in place but I'd rather remove it as I'm tired of hearing it scrape...
dont mind the orange gasket maker on my exhaust, i was anal about not having the tiniest bit of exhaust leak.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...8eff1fea15.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...73e310a62c.jpg

I have never seen one of those rubber air dam thingy's on any Mini

If you don't like it, remove it

Bryan

I don't even know where something like that would be shown on a parts diagram on realoem...

It's there - It has a purpose. Lowered cars tend to have them ripped off, since it's one of the lowest hanging items.

It's a splash shield. Works in conjunction with the underbody panel that you apparently no longer have.

there's even more shielding underthere ??? Lol o well. I have the under bumper one that helps firm it up and prevent water going up behind it and the 2nd piece that holds on the rear with 2 screws and a few into the shield under the bumper..
OFF IT COMES !!!!!!!!
I will be taking the mini on a 7hour round trip on Thursday so I will pay attention to temperatures.. I assume it's a splash/debris shield to help prevent it hitting the exhaust.. I don't care about that as this car never sees gravel and if it is driving in the rain it's very very short...

Why wouldn’t you think it was needed? Why would BMW go to the trouble and expense of putting it there in the first place?

Do you have a temperature sensor on your power steering? Some MINI steering systems are very problematic.

Good luck,
Peter

Ha! Found it. Part 2 in the diagram below...

underbody deflector is the description I found on various parts suppliers.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...ab3f5bb188.png

If you scrape that your possibly at risk of tearing fuel lines and brake lines. Might be worth keeping as a kind of early warning system :D

I thought all the fuel and brake lines were tucked up above up on the frame rails. I don't belive any of the lines sit below that but now that you mention it , I will go out and do a good inspection on exactly where they all sit and route..
better safe than sorry buuuut though if I would have had any damage from driving I'm sure it would have occurred when I had on my 15in rims and tires and had 3x adult passengers in the car driving through inner city roads. I have not touched my suspension setup since then so now with it on its 16in setup and never having more than just me in the car , I'd HOPE it would continue on not having any bottoming out issues..
I did inspect the metal skid plates , oil pan, frame ect to make sure none of that had any scrape marks and none did..
I mean my car does sit low BUT I've seen minis lower and I did go and turn up the firmness settings on my coilovers to help reduce suspension travel also..lol this thing literally feels like it's on rails. Haha no body sway or anything , I absolutely love it and would absolutely love to keep these exact suspension settings if I can..
I will post back in a few hours after I inspect the line routing underneath and lyk if there's a concern at all.

The lines are exposed under the car, if you look in your picture they run down the side. But I do agree with you, it seems mini had a spare piece of rubber left over and slapped it where people can't see lol. Only other thing I can think would be to possibly stop the swirl effect when it raining where the water might swirl up onto the steering components, can't see it being missed tbh, stick I in the spares pile just in case :D

No, the way this comes down, it will create a low pressure area immediately behind it and actively encourage turbulence and draw air (wet air if the road surface as water on it) upward behind it. I can't fathom a purpose here.

I also have a pre-facelift '04 R53 which has this "dam"/"deflector".
Sadly I hit a cat one dark, early morning (tried to swerve - but...), I heard it hit the deflector. No blood splatter under the car...but the road behind me was a mess.
I have no intention of removing mine. Just plan on turning my spot grille lights on, for now on, when driving down rural roads.

Well after 600 mile round trip it caused no ill effects...
but now ABSOLUTELY NO SCRAPING SOUND ANYWHERE I drive no matter how big the bumps... so glad I removed that thing.. if my car WASN'T lowered of course I'd have left it there but I dont have the option of stock any more,lol..
I also had trimmed off the lower airdamn tgat came down off the under bumper guard also..that was already shaved off in the middle completely so I just cut off following the seam all the way from side to side then. Again,no ill effects , just no more scape sounds..

Keep cutting and your going to end up with just a roof :D. Good news though :)

Height
 

Out of curiosity, how low do you sit on those coilovers? I was thinking of get some just to be able to adjust the softness and such but I'm not sure how low I can go before bottoming out

Coilovers are great. I've had a set of Bilstein 14s' on my 04 R53 for about 2wo years now. I'm running 17" factory wheels and have the car lowered at 1/2" from top of the front tire and 5/8" in the rear. Giving the stance a bit of a rake. I wouldn't go much lower = 1) front axles will be forced at an angle which will eventually stress out the CV joints. 2) The potential risk of bottoming out on your oil pan. 3) In the rear; You run the risk of throwing off the rear toe/alignment, increase camber and potential premature tire wear. Those are some of the potential issues I've encountered. My personal main concern, is too low puts unnecessary stress on the front axles and CV bearings.
Others who have more experience in handling at the track have mentioned lowered suspensions present a problem in handling due to too low center of gravity.
Hopefully some one who is more seasoned can explain or add a better pros & cons with regards to lowered vehicles.

Height
 

Thanks, I was looking into getting some of the MaxSpeed cot6(I think) coilovers since my struts seem to be old as dirt lol

That's an airdam to create a low pressure area behind it. Probably to ensure positive airflow up into the exhaust manifold and power steering pump area to keep things cool.

There's only so much that the little power steering fan can do... assuming it isn't locked up from power steering fluid drool like they usually are!

I've never seen one in the wild, probably all got ripped off from driving over packed snow.

Also called pressure lips. Most common before the wheels on the front and sometimes found before the rear wheels on the underbody.

Yep they tend to get ripped off. https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Sit...h/51711481428/

Their is one in the rear also. https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...h/51711481429/

Curious as to why these are not listed for the R52 & R52S

Bryan

Grease Collector
 

It’s a very effective grease blocker for torn CV boots and leaking o-rings. 😉

Yep and set it live, it was turned off. Looks like no front one on the R52s