First off, I want to let people know, be prepared to wait for this hitch. I waited for 1 month for this hitch. Communication from this company is non-existent. After about 1.5 weeks of no response or shipping update email from the company, I emailed Brent and his response was "Sorry this won't ship out until .... you should have been informed earlier. I am a patient guy, so I replied back, "that is fine, just keep me posted." I also ordered a bike rack from minidomore because the price seemed reasonable and I liked the simplicity factor of the xport slip stream. I received the bike rack more than a week later but still no hitch. When I called in, he replied, "oops we forgot to send you the hitch." Besides the "goofiness" of actually getting the hitch, it seems like it is pretty solid.

This write up isn't a complete "how to" of the install, just a look at what you will be dealing with if you get this product.

With the help of my boy - tintman718... we first set up on some Rhino Ramps.


Then there was the process of removing the bumper. It was actually pretty simple but some of the snaps/screws are at hard to reach spots. The guide does a mediocre job with pictures of explaining the dismantling. I would recommend a "mini rachet" for the screws that attach the rear part of the side fenders. In this way, you won't have to risk pulling the fender too much and breaking clips. There was also 1 screw directly underneath the bumper to the right of the exhaust. And 2 more PITA clips on the inside peripheries of the bumper.

Pulling back the fender lining... you will see the PITA clips


A close up of the clip:


Bumper removed, lights disconnected (very easy)



Now is a good time to polish up your tips if you've been needing to..


We had to cut some of the "foam" behind the steel bumper subframe in order to let the hitch fit snugly in between the steel bumper and the car... (the guide also states to do this)



Another cut piece...



Put the hitch and steel bumper subframe back on...



Now the fun part of cutting into your rear valence. We used a dremel, worked like a charm, but be careful not to slip and cause unwanted hash marks. They provide the cut-out.



And Voila... (we sanded down the edges to make it smoother after this picture was taken) I am pretty sure they make the square cut out smaller than the actual black cap, but do make sure you start out with your square a bit smaller and do some test fitting... so the cap does not fall out while driving.



Final product (sorry for the gloominess/iphone pics)









Hope its helpful to some of you. The hitch seems pretty solid. Rated tongue weight is about 200 lbs, with 1400 lb towing capacity I believe. The 3-bike rack is pretty sick too.

Cheers,

Doc

 

Nice work Doc. Looks great!

 

What he said. It looks surprisingly cool.

 

I got one for my 2011 MCS and have nothing but compliments to say about the company. FAST shipping for me, and most important, the hitch is WELL BUILT. I've towed a 5x10 trailer with a garden tractor on it (total weight about 1400 lbs.) with no problems.

 

Thanks guys!, there are no limits to what you can do with your MINI... okay well, maybe some.

 

Sweet MINI, where in NY are you?>

 

Im in Manhattan, you? If you are interested in NYC runs/meets, send a request to join NYC Motoring on Facebook.

 

Curious... How much foam did you have to remove to make it fit? I'm assuming this foam is meant to absorb impact in a rear-ender, so I hope it's not too much.

The 2011 instructions say to simply discard the foam:

http://www.minidomore.com/pdf/2011%2...structions.pdf

 

Got new wheels and had the rear lenses blacked out?

What is next on your list of things to do/mods?

 

Looks great, seems like it wasn’t an easy process for you from the time you ordered to the time you got it installed. Sorry to hear that...

I had great success with Brent and I’ve installed 3 minidomore hitches on the last 3 of my 4 minis.

I don’t know what they changed on yours but the only thing I had to cut was the plastic plug, nothing on the body.

Each install took less than an hour... (minus the time to smooth out the plug the first time)

First one on a laser blue.



Then I decided to smooth it out for the JCW kit.



When I sold the car, I cheated again and reuse the kit for my next one...lol.



Some stuff never changes...well, maybe the color...lol.



BTW, I’m not sure where I saw it but I swear I saw a plug made out of the mesh grille design so when you placed the plug in, you couldn’t even tell it was there. I’ll take a look and see if I can find it again.

Great job bud!


Mark

 

Well, we didn't have to cut out all of the foam... I guess it is true that it probably serves some purpose to absorb impact, but most of the absorption is from the tough steel bumper I assume, which is meant to crumple in a certain way when hit.

The only reason you have to cut it is because when you put the Hitch on and the steel bumper behind it, you have to use the OEM bolts to go through BOTH pieces. These bolts are long enough but you have to put in some elbow grease to compress the foam and then bolt it at the same time. We cut out maybe a bit more than 1/2 inch thick all the way across to make it easier to bolt the two pieces to the car.


Haha, thanks for noticing. I got some Motegi Racing wheels with Hankook summer tires. I am loving them, the ride quality is drastically improved. I used Lamin-X to smoke out the tails. I am saving up for an Intercooler which I should have done a year ago and Air Suspension!


Dude that looks really smooth! I see that you had to paint the caps to color match, very sexy. I'd love to know where I could get that mesh pattern cap if you do run across it!

Thanks

 

Make sure you PM when you get that done, I'd love to see what a Mini looks like with air suspension.

Keep up the good work. I'll look for that mesh cover... I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the person that had it modified it themselves. That's what I'd try to do...


Mark

 

That rear diffuser on Orangecrush looks sick!

 

Thanks Mike...


Mark

 

Doc, here's another little thing to keep in the back of your mind. The weight on your hitch, will, over time, create torqe and actually bend the reciever tube and possibly loosen the bolts holding it to the body. I didn't believe this myself until after a trip and I had my 2010 MCS up on a lift and we noticed that the valiance was pushed out of alignment and began to check. It turned out that the hitch had been bent about 8-10 degrees down (south) from the original position. This is created from the leverage placed on the tongue by the rack and associated weight. It's fixable, but is a PITA after the fact. One solution suggested by my hitch installer (27 years experience) was to do a mod to the original installation which places a small "L" shaped bracket (custom made nat) that lends support and gives the tube a slight (2-3 degree) upward angle at time of installation. It won't change the tongue weight or tow capacity, but it may save a future user from having the same issue. I keep an eye on mind like a hawk now.

 

You know how we all are, someone was going to ask. Do you have any pics of the "L" shaped braket? the 2011 came with the reciever welded to the crossbar AND some angle iron on top welded to both. just wondering if this was on the other designs. And before somebody asks me, NO I do not have a picture of the angle iron welded to both.

 

"someone was going to ask" LMAO! Yup, you're right, I should have expected that. No, I don't have the pictures with me (I'm traveling for 2 weeks), but as soon as I get my skinny butt back to Texas I'll dig them out and post them. My bad, I've been here long enough now that I should have known better. Having said that, it sounds like your bracket is build with the design built in...mine was an earlier version perhaps?

 

i bought the same used bike rack for 2005 mcs conv but never got to install it as i dun know how... and dealership charging me about $600 to do it...

 

Thanks for the heads up man!, I will look out for that. We used an airgun to torque the bolts, I just hope it was enough torque. As the others have already stated, would love to see a pic or something of that bracket you are talking about.

 

It looks like a couple of gussets would work well to prevent or at least greatly lessen that effect. Those would be triangle-shaped supports running from horizontal parts to vertical parts. It gives the load a broader area to spread over so the metal does not bend.

It might be a good idea to use loc-tite (one of the milder ones!) on the bumper bolts, or at least some lock-washers. That should help keep the bolts from backing out.

 

I suspect the hitch was revised slightly for 2011 models due to the foglights changing their location. My local hitch guy had done several of these, and he looked at my 2011 up on a lift and said the new lights were in the same location as part of the hitch, that it would have to be altered a bit to fit. (I ended up going with roofrack.)