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I haven’t seen a new post for the R58 since April 1
This is by no means an earth shattering post
I removed the front bumper cover to repair the holes from the license plate bracket and a previous crappy paint job. The purpose of the post.
I watched many videos, read many posts and reviewed the Bentley manual but I still missed the 3 fasteners under the front chin of the bumper. These were the most difficult to remove.
Prepped and primed
With luck and good weather I’ll be able to paint/clear Friday and Sat.
Discovered I was missing one of four rubber bumpers on the speed deployed wing.
nickels and dimes, the project never ends on a 13 year old car. I’ve been unable to locate torque for the wing. If anyone knows it and can share it would be greatly appreciated.
The R58 is a crazy fun car to drive.
Deja vu
I had to do the same project on my crossfire last year. That’s a fun car to drive too
Thank you
I’m one step ahead, I sourced the wing bumper local. We’re north of the 49th parallel, so acquisition of this item was easier in Canada at the BMW/Mini dealership.
I have to commend you (ECS) on the tremendous amount of assistance that you offer the forum members.
I had the good fortune to order and receive my Black Jack mirrors caps and the Bentley manual from ECS Tuning.
I’ve referenced the manual no less than 100x since I got it in Jan/Feb
And the mirror caps look awesome. But that’s my own opinion.
Thanks again, your input is greatly appreciated.
If the weather is good, I’ll paint Friday. New stripes in 2 weeks.
What a crazy fun car to drive. 100000% better with Dynamat on all interior surfaces. Sure does make the doors crazy heavy
“I could not find the torque but my guess is hand tight.”
I completely agree with your suggestion. It was pretty easy to remove the fasteners. So hand tight it is. Not that many items on the upper part of the R58 need torque spec. That’s probably why it’s nowhere to be found.
If I read the message in its entirety I would have only needed one post.
I just clicked the link again for the diagrams. Crazy helpful but the fastener for the bottom 3 Phillips head plastic fastener (circled in red are not mentioned on any site
I’ve looked elsewhere to no avail.
They appear to be
51-48-1-95-964
which appear to replace
51-48-0-141-017
GS-P for left rear strut and the two front struts. The original vendor didn't have the right rear strut available, so I bought a TRQ-branded strut from another vendor.
The differences in construction between base model struts from one manufacturer to another are subtle and have no appreciable difference, performance-wise. The only real differences that count are small variances in fit and finish, particularly with how closely the dimensions of the aftermarket parts match up with the specs of the OEM parts. Aftermarket manufacturers try to leverage as much commonality between components that can be made to work with different vehicles and vehicle manufacturers. Minimize the uniqueness of a part and you can lower the overall cost, which is crucial to companies marketing aftermarket parts. For example:
Changing the front struts for a R56 (or R58 or R59) MINI is not difficult, for the most part. The OEM strut is almost exactly 21 inches from top to bottom, giving just enough room to angle the strut into place into its locating position on the steering knuckle.
1A Auto has a great video of how the front struts are removed and then fitted into the steering knuckle:
It's a tight fit at the best of times. But in the aftermarket GS-P struts that I was using, that dimension on the replacement part is about 21 ¾ inches, making the strut length just long enough to where there wasn't any way on God's green earth that I could get enough clearance between the bottom of the new strut and the top of the steering knuckle. But because I have a mid-rise lift in my garage, I was able to make a jig where I could bolt a four foot long piece of heavy angle iron to the tab on the side of the strut where the anti-roll bar link is attached. The angle iron fit neatly enough around the strut to where it would not pop out to the side when bolted to the tab on the side of the strut. Then, with the Coupe in the air, I was able place a floor jack under the bottom of the angle iron and push up, using the jack. Then I was able to force the strut to vertically compress the coil spring on the strut just enough to where the bottom of the strut could clear the top of the knuckle. I was then able to maneuver the strut either fore or aft over the opening in the top of the knuckle where I could lower the car a bit, again using the mid-rise car lift. Once the bottom of the strut was properly positioned over the top of the knuckle I could then continue lowering the car lift and allow the weight of the car to force the bottom of the strut into the top of knuckle. It gave a very satisfying thump when the bottom of the strut smacked down into place inside the steering knuckle.
All of this rigamarole was solely because the new aftermarket strut was just slightly taller in height than the OEM strut. If I didn't have my own lift to leverage gravity in my favor, the job would have been much more difficult.
Last edited by kerwooddr; May 26, 2025 at 02:03 AM.
GS-P for left rear strut and the two front struts. The original vendor didn't have the right rear strut available, so I bought a TRQ-branded strut from another vendor.
The differences in construction between base model struts from one manufacturer to another are subtle and have no appreciable difference, performance-wise. The only real differences that count are small variances in fit and finish, particularly with how closely the dimensions of the aftermarket parts match up with the specs of the OEM parts. Aftermarket manufacturers try to leverage as much commonality between components that can be made to work with different vehicles and vehicle manufacturers. Minimize the uniqueness of a part and you can lower the overall cost, which is crucial to companies marketing aftermarket parts. For example:
Changing the front struts for a R56 (or R58 or R59) MINI is not difficult, for the most part. The OEM strut is almost exactly 21 inches from top to bottom, giving just enough room to angle the strut into place into its locating position on the steering knuckle.
1A Auto has a great video of how the front struts are removed and then fitted into the steering knuckle:
It's a tight fit at the best of times. But in the aftermarket GS-P struts that I was using, that dimension on the replacement part is about 21 ¾ inches, making the strut length just long enough to where there wasn't any way on God's green earth that I could get enough clearance between the bottom of the new strut and the top of the steering knuckle. But because I have a mid-rise lift in my garage, I was able to make a jig where I could bolt a four foot long piece of heavy angle iron to the tab on the side of the strut where the anti-roll bar link is attached. The angle iron fit neatly enough around the strut to where it would not pop out to the side when bolted to the tab on the side of the strut. Then, with the Coupe in the air, I was able place a floor jack under the bottom of the angle iron and push up, using the jack. Then I was able to force the strut to vertically compress the coil spring on the strut just enough to where the bottom of the strut could clear the top of the knuckle. I was then able to maneuver the strut either fore or aft over the opening in the top of the knuckle where I could lower the car a bit, again using the mid-rise car lift. Once the bottom of the strut was properly positioned over the top of the knuckle I could then continue lowering the car lift and allow the weight of the car to force the bottom of the strut into the top of knuckle. It gave a very satisfying thump when the bottom of the strut smacked down into place inside the steering knuckle.
All of this rigamarole was solely because the new aftermarket strut was just slightly taller in height than the OEM strut. If I didn't have my own lift to leverage gravity in my favor, the job would have been much more difficult.
WOW, that was a big job. The right tools always make it a crap ton easier to complete. Great information, thanks for sharing
For what it's worth, once I realized that the strut was just a shade too long to give me the fraction of an inch need to clear the top of the steering knuckle, I thought I might be able to make it work by compressing the strut spring a smidge. I thought for sure that I could make it work:
Front strut with spring compression tool installed
I tried half a dozen configurations, some less safe than others, but could not find a way to orient the spring compression tool to allow the top of the strut to fit into the cavity where the strut bolts to the top of the wheel well. It was just too wide. But a long piece of angle iron bolted to the body of the strut and a floor jack got the job done.
I was compressing springs for a 1956 Dodge truck project with a buddy yesterday.
I hate compressing spring. If something can go wrong, it will
it’s my absolute least favorite Auto project.
Nice job on the hitch. I didn't have to work around the center-mounted Coupe S exhaust, which made my hitch installation a bit easier when I did this a few years ago (eTrailer's install video for a non-S MINI is available here). I made a small cutout in the bumper cover to gain access to the hitch receiver:
Access hole cutout for the hitch receiver, note the Lynch pin on the plug on the garage floor.
I then adapted a Curt 1 ¼" receiver cover plug to clean up the hole in the bumper cover:
Plug secured using a Lynch pin through the plug inside the cover.
The hitch receiver was a longer than expected project. What I like about yours it that you won’t get a nasty burn when you forget the tips are still hot.
Nice work on the 1-1/2” curt cover I will not have images of my completed install until I complete paint and installation next weekend.
