I hear ya, Tig. But, the new RF's on my MINI are much improved over the ones on my 04. I still don't know what I will do when replacement time comes, but I can tell you the ride is enjoyable. The one on my 04 was not, especially on the cobble stone streets of West Greenwich Village!

 

Ahhhh, you know what...to be fair, I didn't consider the difference between R53 and R56. That's an excellent point. I haven't yet driven an R56...with or without RFs, so I'm not speaking from a point of view that directly reflects on Emily's situation/question.

Sorry...I forget that the MINIs are different. I think of us all as one big happy family. LOL

 

I'd love too, but.... I'll have to see how my puppy is doing by that time (she is having surgery tomorrow to repair a ruptured ACL) and what my wife's schedule is like. I was also going to try to take Demi to the dealer to fix a couple of minor issues on the 31st. So....it is a firm maybe .

 

I hope your puppy's surgery goes exceptionally well and that her recovery time is quick and pain-free. I'll send a puppy-prayer her way.

What kind of minor issues are you experiencing with Demi? I'm curious as to whether these little issues manifest themselves with regularity or if they are small isolated problems.

 

Tigs that is exactly what the hubby and I did this year . 3 week road trip, left the kids at home and took the dogs

 

Ahhhh, so it can be done! Mike and I are still kicking it around. We might not make an annual trek to the Dragon, but we're both convinced that we must do it once in our lifetime!

 

Thank you Tigs. It should go well, they have a 98-99% success rate with this particular type of ACL repair.

Demi has two issues, first, she experienced the "weeping" problem. It seems to have stopped now, but it did stain the passenger side bonnet stripe. They are going to replace it under warranty. The second issue is I'm going to have the daytime running lamps looked at. In the previous model years the daytime running lamps were the low beams and something like 40% intensity. I am not seeing any difference in the intensity between the daytime running lamps and the low beams. I've parked in front of my closed garage door and tested it. There isn't any difference between the two settings.

Otherwise, I'm extremely pleased with her performance and reliability thus far.

 

SimpsonGI, I hope your pup does well.

Tigs, SDMike, sure is hard for us to wait for those pictures. But, we will survive.

MOTD, now that is a thought for 09, I think. After I get the RFs off my 17s. I plan on non-RFs on the 16s or 17s, I am getting for winter usage in wonderful , sometimes icy and snowy Colorado. I would never take the RFs into the mountains during winter, you saw some of the dropoffs.

My sweet other has suggest Vegas in the Spring, so that will have to be major event #1 for 08, then MITM3. Lots to do between now and then. We will see if it all turns out as planned.

For those who know or don't know, the R56 without sports suspension and on RF Dunlop tires is not great on Interstate Hwys. In my case, the rebound noise is very annoying, the ride is tolerable.

So Mike, I must have missed it, but are those wheels 18s for Deacon?

Time for dinner, best eat while it is being offered.

 

Gary, I really wish the best for your pooch

Don, the wheels are 17"s and a hair under 14lbs each

 

Hey Gary, I'll be thinking healing thoughts about your puppy and I'll ask Maggie - my "puppy" - to as well.


Re: CA-36:
I'm just 'feeling out' interest in a Far NorCal twisty trip... doesn't have to be Labor Day weekend, and would probably be best if it weren't on the holiday since there will likely be lots of young whippersnappers on motorcycles. I would like to have a MINI trip up there before the end of the year though.

If there is any interest I'll try and plan something.

 

Heya Emily,

As much as Tigs and I would love to come up there for Labor Day weekend, it's a bit of a drive for a 3 day and we've both taken a lot of vacation time off this past year, with more next year... so I'm not sure if we would be able to swing it. However I'm sure something will come up and we will get up that way.

 

It looks like a fun trip, but not Labor Day. On three day weekends I stay home and hide under the bed. Too many people on the road, and too many of them drunk. Also, my MINI may not be ready for such an event by then.

Since I don't have a 9to5, I tend to prefer mid-week for such events, but that may not jibe with anyone else's schedule. However, Sept. looks pretty tight. I hope to go up to Echo Lake to stay at my cousin's cabin for awhile, and there are appointments, and events... Should I got to my 4,000th year high school class reunion? Never been to one -- didn't even go to graduation...

How about October? After the Big Sur Jade Festival (5th-7th) I don't have anything scheduled.

I'm not sure I could keep up with eveyone else on 36, though. I see there are a number of National Forests along 36 that I've never seen. I don't think I could resist the temptation to stop and take photographs. I'm a bit of a camera nut.
http://www.robincasady.com/Photo/index.html

 

I have two sets of wheels on my R56 MCS. Crown Spoke 17" (22.5 lbs.) with Doomlap runflats, and CenterLine RPM (15-16 lbs.) with Michelin Pilot Exhalto PE2 non-runflats.

I can't tell you how much is due to the tires, and how much to the wheels, but there is a considerable difference between the two. Having driven on the CenterLine/Michelins for a fair number of miles (including the disastrous trip to Los Angeles) I switched back to the Crown/Doom set so I could put centering rings in the CenterLines. Man, was I unhappy. They were noisy, harsh, and generally unpleasant.

I expect the lighter-on-its-feet feeling was mainly due to the wheels, and the noise reduction mainly the tires. Ride comfort was probably a mix of both, but how much to just the tires, I'm not sure.

I'd like to try a set of light-weight 16" wheels. Supposedly, handling is just as good, some differences, but similar end results. That's the rumor, anyway.

 

<aimless ramble start>

Hmm, re: tires. Pondering the pros and cons of my modding desires. After some half-day drives, I've come to regret not getting hifi... I'm trying to figure out how to update it... all of the threads seem to discuss upgrading hifi only and don't talk about the base stereo. (Also whats the difference between base, boost and hifi?).

So my limited funds need to be spread between making things sound better and making them feel better. I was originally going to just wait out the runflats that came with, but I'm now thinking of doing a swap there sooner rather than later. If I can get by with my current rims, I can use some of that cash for some audio improvments.

</aimless ramble off>

Anyway, a bunch of you seem knowledgeable on these subjects so I thought I'd broach the topic here. Suggestions welcome while we all wait with bated breath for word of the arrival of Deacon.

 

IIRC, the main difference is that the HIFI adds tweeters and more amperage. I guess the main speakers must change as well, since the standard are supposed to be 4 ohm, and the HIFI are said to be 2 ohm. This thread is about upgrading the standard audio, but later gets some posts about the HIFI.

So, I think you may need to add an amp as well as upgrade the speakers.

One thing about audio in the MINI is ambient road noise. If you do a lot of highway/freeway driving, the road noise is going to be an issue. That's why I'm going to great lengths to try are insulate my MCS. I've spent close to $400 on Dynamat, acoustical batting, and isolation pads. So far, I'm just dealing with the rear. I'll need more Dynamat when I do the front.

I paid $200 for Infinity Kappa 693.7i 6x9" speakers from Crutchfield.com for the rear. They cost less through Amazon, but Crutchfield provides a lot of useful info and great support.

I paid $169 each for polished aluminum CenterLine RPMs. With shipping & tax it came to around $750. They have overstock sales from time to time. There may be better choices out there. Polished aluminium takes a fair amount of care to keep them looking good. They needed rather intense polishing after they sat for six weeks, while I was laid-up. Having the gardener water them probably didn't help. Now if we could only get him to water the plants instead of the driveway...

I know enough to get into trouble, and am happy to share that with others.

 

Good morning all, I have had my first cup of tea and now I'm off to dust the spider webs off the house, bad this year in hot Colorado.

Emily, I'm with Robin on his thoughts on the upgrade of the base radio. A good amp and upgraded speakers would add a lot. I probably would get something that is supported and installed by one of your local shops. I believe Robin is going for mobile mini theater with his dynamat. With my tone deaf ears I will live with the rumble and try to find a nice quiet tire and ditch the run-craps.

If you keep your current wheels and do a good quiet set of tires, you should be able to get into amp and speakers probably in the $400-600 range, hopefully that will be installed.

I believe SDMike might be the expert in amps and speakers since Church has/had a mega setup. Tigs have you put the 5.1 into LilTiger? Now that is big and high end system which I would not even attempt.

Tires in your area, Yokahama W4s, if you need a all season which could handle snow for mountains, otherwise go with a quality tire, Goodyear F1 or General Exclaim UHP have had good comments on ride and quiet.

Off to find some spiders a new home or two.

 

I just started to print this thread out for the "Baby Book" expected total of 600 pages or more

 

Can I borrow this line for my signature??

 

Sure.

 

Truthiness!

 

Is that Emily holding the sign?? I didn't think she wore glasses.

 

I just made the service appointment. I found out while making the appointment that the daytime running lamps are in fact the low beams so it is working correctly. They've ordered a new stripe for me as they don't normally stock them, they are replacing it under warranty. Its a good think she's stopped weeping from the washer jets as they do not have a fix for that as of yet.

 

, that is good, I like it

 

OK...so the waiting has gotten worse... I've been trying to "Be patient and cool" but... WHERE IS DEACON ALREADY! Sheesh!!!


*Pulls plushie out of brief case
*hides under desk
(whispering to plushie) "Soooon my preciousssss, soooon"

 

oh, boy

Shawn, duuuude, if you are reading this - please do something and find out where Deacon is and when we can pick him up.

*Remember* I have to live with this man...and I know where YOU work!! :impatient