driving my 05' Mini to Atl from NW FLA (Destin) for an oil change is just crazy! I also have four new 205 45 R17 Goodyear Eagle RS-A EMT Run Flats on their way courtesy from Tire Rack and 1100.00... Replacing OEM Dunlop Sport DSST's... two in pretty good shape one looks real nice, but the left front rounded edges are freaking me out! But a lot of tread wear... pressure is normal so i am confused.... anyway... RECOMENDATIONS! worth changing oil yourself? Worried about warranty? What about the tires... Changing from a local tire shop or drive to Atl... Could turn into a MINI vacation... visit underground? 250 miles... 18K miles... 20K oil change time... Orlando is on schedule for JUNE... Guess I can wait than, but should replace TIRES ASAP...

 

what is that about?

 

oh... that is the closest MINI Dealership! have no idea why there is not one around here! The MINI count is so high in northwest florida.

I do not understand why MINI does not take advantage of the area!

That is crazy... i live in the Panhandle... anyone want to chime in.. LETS PROTEST to MINI... Local BMW reps laughed as i pulled in looking for some Love!

 

looking for some infomation about a local shop to change oil and run flat tires

 

Change the oil yourself. It is not hard except for the fact that you need a 36mm socket to get the filter canister off. Also, it is reccommneded that you use an OEM MINI oil filter. Check the vendor directory for internet vendors of the OEM filter.

Any tire shop can mount and balance you new tires. At 11k miles my runflats were almost worn out on the front. I guess I should rotate them every 3-5k miles.

 

send a message to sndwave. He has a great mechanic in the Destin/FWB area that owns a MINI and does great work on them

 

hey... mini'ers... thanks a bunch... new to the site and i really like the info.

 

We feel your pain in B'ham, we have a BMW dealer that is owned by the same parent company as Mini of Nashville, but they won't service our cars, we have had a drive in so to say, but according to the local BMW dealer it is miniusa that is keeping them from doing any services. We have a bunch of mini's here in the area.

 

If you change your own make sure you have a good hex socket for the drain plug, and enough room to get serious torque on it when removing. I tried a box end wrench that was longer than my socket wrench, still couldn't get it off. Some gorilla at the factory must have had a bad day. I ended up rounding off the edges of the hex bolt , then when I took it in for its first freebie I asked them to pay particular attention to putting in the new bolt that replaced my rounded one. All I got was 'tightened to factory spec', so next time I try myself (I want it changed at double the factory-recommended interval,especially now it's likely to run hotter, I'll be driving it harder w/ Milltek exhaust manifold and MTH tuner file) I'll make sure to get my socket onto a long breaker bar so I have better torque on it (the problem is the general lack of room under the car when the front is up on Rhino ramps).

 

holy crap... 1100 for tires... my lord. You should be good for oil change... it's full synthetic so if you are real **** change it before but otherwise i see no probs.

 

concur - I've done 3 dif' cars now and all were hard to get the plug out the first time/or after the dealer attacked it and one ended up with a trashed drain .... my recommend: have a FUMOTO valve ready to on so you'll never have the problem again.... I never felt the need b4 by mine is sitting on the bench waiting for my next oil change.....

Now if there was a similar mod to simplify getting the filter can back on ....

 

We have the same thing here in Chattanooga, but a bit closer to Nashville.
The BMW dealers are owned by Sonic Auto Group, and I think they also own Global Inports in Atlanta. They have told me they have no reason to add a MINI dealer because they have all of the sales and shop work they want on MINIs.

I love my MINI but BMW/MINI make it real hard to want to keep it long run. They are by far the worst dealer network I have had to deal with.

 

And our local BMW dealer wants to but can't get approval .

I agree with you totally.

 

ORLANDO or BUST... have to drive out there anyway... and there are some really good Pizza Parlor's near Mini dealership BARS too... they installed my Ipod interface and fixed a tire pressure light problem... Was a wonderful experience and very good Gormet coffee...