My dealer recommended an 1800 mile break-in period. I'm at 1200 today. What is the word on this?

 

1250 is the recommended mileage for staying under 4500 revs w/ no speeds over 90 or so. Opinions vary on how much to baby your MINI. My dealer said that they'd checked up on 'kid gloves' treatment and ride-em-hard treatment, and had seen no difference whatever in performance or service trouble history for either.

 

I was also under the impression that "break-in" was 1250 miles.

 

I think MINI knows more about their cars than the dealer. I'd say you're good to go in another 50 miles. It's time to have some FUN!

Wings

 

break-in of mechanical components is somewhat of a mystery to all; part voo-doo, part science and engineering. In my experience with high-energy contact parts like [electric] motors and [fuel] engines, the longer they take to break-in, the longer they give similar performance.

Rule of thumb: don't beat up the engine for a while= >500 miles. After that, you can ramp up to its' full potential. I just turned over 600, and I haven't gone past 5000, and I accidentally hit full-throttle once

Cheers,
Ryan

 

Break ins are such a fuzzy issue... I only half-broke in my two Minis... drove them nice for awhile, drove them hard for awhile. Everythings fine with them. *shrug* I took it pretty easy on both for the first 4-600 miles or so.

 

I know alot of people are saying its pure voodoo, and I'll do it anyway, but, what's the official "scientific" reason for a break-in period??

Thanks