Okay, so here's my situation:

I'm following [someone on here's] break-in method, where I drive at varying speeds in varying gears up to 3,000-4,000 RPM for the first 600 miles. I'm at mile 400. When I initially got the car, I did this procedure for about 300 miles. Then I had to take a long trip (1 hour north) to my home. I'm doing the same thing today (1 hour back down again). How bad will this be for the car? I'm going to attempt to go when rush hour is peak, so I'll be varying speeds, but I'm sure there will be some spots where I'm at a constant RPM for a while.

Also, I've noticed when I'm in neutral and the clutch is out, I can hear the throwout bearing ticking. Is this normal?

I'm obviously being extremely paranoid, but that will dissipate with time. For now, the car must remain perfect forever! :D

 

Your car will self-destruct at 1251 miles!

Just kidding. What % of new owners really follow the break-in to the T?? I would be willing to bet a paycheck that the % is under 50, maybe even lower. It is just good practice to attempt to follow. I have 870 and have just this morning shifted 2nd at 6grand. No ticking from my MINI

 

When you buy a car from you dealer and you live 250 miles away....The break-in period becomes .....Set cruise control at 70mph for 2.5 hours

 

You just took 10K miles off the life of the engine, cracked a ring or two, and burned your valves! Sell it quick...

 

I know it's hard to do, but just keep it under 95 mph! Seriously, just don't overload the motor, and try to vary the rpms as much as possible. Switching the top gears around every so often helps, even on the slow American highways. If you're really concerned, pretend you've been given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pits and do a slow drive through at every rest stop, bothering to shift through the gears on both entry and exit. Think of it also as an opportunity for the less fortunate masses to see your bright and shiny new MINI.

 

An EXCELLENT suggestion. Thank you very much :D

 

I drove my MINI home from the dealer last night...6 hours from OH to MD! I varied the engine speed as much as I could, running in 4th, 5th, and 6th. I pretty much stayed below 4500 rpm but did exceed it on a couple of occasions (like passing a line of trucks before my lane disappeared due to night construction). I busted the 95 mph thing too, hitting 105 (I-70 called to my car and I couldn't hold her back).

I didn't see any strange fluid or metal shavings on the garage floor this morning so I guess she survived

Paul

 

I followed break-in recommendations with my '02. I've been dealing with my service manager for 3.5 years and trust him implicitly. When I asked about break-in for my '06, he said, "Just drive it." I'm doing a wonderful job of following his advice!

 

There's a lot of controversy on this topic. Check out this theory:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

It is interesting the gyrations folks will go through "breaking in a car" and taking care of their car, but completely neglect taking care of themselves. I don't dare mention how many cars I have had (20) ish--yet I just have this one body. Sorry, maybe if our bods came with a manual we collectively would do a better job of breaking in and doing routine required maintenance on ourselves. Yeow, a little off topic.

 

Wonder who buys the dealer demos then....

I know I've always taken a demo to redline and they've rarely had more than a few hundred miles on them.

 

No it won't hurt your car............just void the warranty.

 

70 mph for 2.5 hours will only get you 175 miles down the road. What do you propose he do for the remaining 75 miles?

 

I suppose the other 75 miles was driven with his foot on the gas. I don't think he meant to imply he was going door to door in cruise at 70 mph


Paul

 

I'm sorry, but this guy is a moron. I was reading along and stopped when I got to the part where it says:

Why don't owners manuals tell you to break a car in like this? I DON'T KNOW.

That is a horrible explanation. I'd like to know EXACTLY why any car manufacturers wouldn't tell you to break a car in by flooring it wildly. Obviously they don't want their car to have a reputation of being unreliable, so they'd tell you the best way to break it in.

 

Hey cmyk, You don't by chance park your car in Fells Point during the day? (parking garage). Does your car have a white roof and mirrors? EDIT - nevermind, I just saw your car does not have a white roof. Nice car BTW

 

i also think there's a big difference between breaking in a racing car/motorcycle and a day-to-day car. he may be right when talking about getting top speed out of a vehicle and his engines might well last hundreds of thousands of miles, but i also bet he maintains his engines on a much more frequent basis that we do ours. if you're racing a car or bike i suspect you check/maintain that engine after every race, if not after every run.

my guess, his higher level/frequency of maintenance is what keeps his bikes running well.

 

[quote=pgifford]I drove my MINI home from the dealer last night...6 hours from OH to MD! I varied the engine speed as much as I could, running in 4th, 5th, and 6th. I pretty much stayed below 4500 rpm but did exceed it on a couple of occasions (like passing a line of trucks before my lane disappeared due to night construction). I busted the 95 mph thing too, hitting 105 (I-70 called to my car and I couldn't hold her back).

I didn't see any strange fluid or metal shavings on the garage floor this morning so I guess she survived

and what's nice is that if there is a problem the onboard computer will be able to tell the service technician exactly how fast and when you were going. You aren't very likely going to suffer any damage, but not following a breakin period might have some detrimental effects in the future. One never knows, but if something does crop up at least you'll know who might be to blame. :-)

 

The only break-in advice I recieved from the MAs I spoke to were "Keep it under 5K RPM and don't use cruise control for the first 1250 miles and try not to apply more than 1/2 to 2/3 pressure on the brakes for the first 300 miles". Haven't actual looked at the manual yet (yes I know, "Sacrilige!!"), but apparrently these MAs were a bit more permissive in their guidelines than MINI is.

I only recieved one stipulation for test drives and that was to keep it under 5K RPM.

Glad to see the whole "granny foot" vs. "drive it like you stole it" break-in debate keeps raging on though, regardless of the make & model of the vehicle in question

I always thought of the "drive it like you stole it" method as perfectly valid if your primary use of the vehicle is to be racing and you perform an elevated maintenance and inspection schedule.

Personally, I managed to conform to the MA's break-in guidelines relatively well considering the amount of highway miles involved. I wound up hitting a couple of shifts in the twisties around 5100-5200 RPM but around 99% of the break-in was spent below 4250 RPM and I spent all of my highway miles driving by foot, bouncing the speedo between 65-75 mph in 6th. About 3500 miles so far and no problems yet except for the brakes squealing under light pressure.

 

The other big thing w/ the motorcycle break-in is that I believe those engines don't come run-in for the duration that cars do both driving around to/from dealers, in quality control at the factory, etc.

I've known many people to break-in bikes this way, for a car it's useless.

 

Nah, I live up in Mt. Washington where it's a bit more Mini-friendly I've ventured down to Fells a couple times with the mini, though. I love that place.

I saw in some post you work downtown... whereabouts?

Also, are there any Mini-meets in our area, that kind of thing? I'd like to support the AB MCS "club" by coming to 'em

 

I'll be breaking-in my MINI from Salt Lake City to Seattle as soon as she comes in. Great idea about the rest stop drive-thru's, I was wondering how I would vary my speed enough on a long, interstate drive. Should significantly shorten my break-in period though!

 

I drove my MINI like I stole it from the moment it got off the truck. After it warmed up of course. Hit the rev limiter and everything And now I dynoed at 162hp at the wheels stock. Mine's an 04 btw

Companies will tell you to follow the procedures for one reason: money. They don't want parts breaking prematurely etc and end up paying tons of $ for warranty work

 

I'm no expert on this, but I've read quite a bit and I think I've decided on my method to break it in... when I finally get my MINI I'm going to vary things all over the place. Do only a couple of high revs and floored throttle...that'll help set the rings in perfectly. I'll mostly drive it like they suggest, but I believe you should also stretch it a little more than they tell you. I think there is a certain balance to achieve. You don't want to run things so hard that you break it, but you don't want to drive it like grandpa either. Stretch the rules a little bit, but stay within the limits for the most part.

...if that makes any sense...

 

I work right in Fells Point (for Johns Hopkins). But after a week of ownership when I thought certain I wouldn't see many Astro blacks in Baltimore or in my parking garage for that matter - what happens? One shows up and parks everyday 5 slots down from me. Granted his (or hers) has a white roof and mirrors, but still I was like hey, wtf . Copycat...What is even more strange is our license plates are completely the same except at the end mine is 03 and theirs is 11 ...this is almost bizarro world. :impatient
As far MINI meets, i've not seen any in Baltimore (yet)..I did just join the DC Metro club though...but it would be nice to have something a little closer to home.