When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Just bought a 2012 Countryman S All4- is there a list of good mods/upgrades?
As the title says, we just bought a '12 countryman S All4. It's my wife's car, so no performance mods (engine/exhaust/intake), but what are some good bolt on upgrades? It's base model with Sirius/xm and blue tooth. I saw a navigation head unit upgrade on amazon. What about upgrading to the projector headlights? There's no armrest, just the hokey sunglass case there, anything that can be done there? Anything to make it a better mini would be cool.
You got an S All4 without HID's? I didn't think that was even an option. HID's retro upgrade will run about $1500 + labor, btw.
Armrest is essential, IMO.
Otherwise, not much to upgrade, really, if you aren't doing engine/exhaust/intake).
Plenty to customize though. Mirror colors, roof vinyls, scuttle colors, scuttle insert colors, head/tail light ring colors, belt line black out, rear view mirror cover. And that's just the easy stuff.
I'd love xenons, but I'll wait and see how much night driving we do. It's really just her commuter car. The color combo of surf blue and white looks good with the chrome trims, so nothing to change there. I'll check into the armrest and maybe about upgrading to a homelink review mirror.
my '12 didn't have an arm rest either. it was the first thing i added. consider larger front cupholders too. for a nonperformance performance upgrade consider the sprint booster or jb+, both transform the why the car feels.
..zimm... nice looking car you have...
..you can put an armrest inside..thats an easy thing to do...
..for the outside.. i love the mini kit of led daytime running lights...you can find them in a decent price over ebay..plus the installation..
..if ..i say again if..you put that retrofit kit of xenon black headlights you can paint your weels to glossy black...
..i have done all of these to my "13' white - black roof countryman" and i am very satisfied..
..enjoy your car..
Thanks but I already ordered the OEM retrofit ones. Found them for $1250 shipped. Also got the all weather mats, a pro-clip for the iPhone, car cover, and mini sun screen. Now to get some touch up paint. We should be good to go now.
The OEM retorfits are excellent. BTW, the install takes 15 mins yourself. There are 4 bolts for each headlight. On the driver's side, there is a hose that is clipped to the headlight housing. Take note of where the clip goes so that you can replace it on the new headlights. Make sure to lower the hood slowly/gently the first time as the lights might not be perfectly lined up and may need some rough adjustment. You will be amazed at the difference!!
When you go to the dealer, as you must have the lights programmed, provide the following instructions to them (or else they might attempt an entire module re-write that can take several hours!) The following ought to take less than 5 mins:
Add $522 VO to CAS and FRM module and default car.
When you add the xenon lights in the VO option, this FRM line gets updated to this:
PWM_ANST_FL_BIXENON
wert_02
wert_03
This needs to be changed to:
PWM_ANST_FL_BIXENON
wert_01
wert_01
Auto-levellign is also not present. Therefore, the function needs to be disabled:
AUTO_LWR_ENABLE
aktiv
change to:
AUTO_LWR_ENABLE
nicht_aktiv
The lights will also need to be "aimed." We used a brick building and the back of a couple of cars in a parking lot to ensure there is a level maximum throw, with a good cutoff that is not blinding cars in front of the car or in the opposing lane. Enjoy!
As for the touch up paint, I use: http://www.expresspaint.com/ They ship in pens, rattle cans and qts. Make sure to get the primer, cleaning cloths and clear!
For mods, we have 2 cup holders in the rear and I also added a 10" JLAudio sub in the back. It really rounds out the stereo system nicely without the annoying "too much bass" effect.
I do want to do performance upgrades, but think I am going to buy my own MINI to mod.
$135 is waaaaay too much! This is 15 mins in and out the door (including hooking up the programming device.) I think they are probably thinking of the complete module rebuild which is most definitely NOT needed. I was very nice, but firm with my MINI dealer and they were literally done that part of the service in 5 mins. They charged me nothing, but I was getting tires put on, an alignment, oil changed and comfort access keys coded...
Well I got the coding done. I tried the "it's a 5 minute job, here look" approach. The programming tech told the advisor that my coding was so out of date, those changes wouldn't work and they updated/redid the whole thing. I had to get a loaner and they had the car for 4 hours. I have no idea how long the coding actually took. Since I was going to have to spend $135, I asked them to align the headlights while they were at it. They said they can't because the proper way to is mark the wall with the old headlights before putting in the new ones and it would take too long to start from scratch. I smell a bunch of B.S. and said I'll do it at home.
Btw, you cannot simply use the garage door at this point. That only works when you put tape or marked the original hot spots.
Use the back of another car from 10-20 feet away to ensure you aren't shining in the back window and also not aimed so low as to lose maximum throw thus visibility.
I've retrofitted with 50w ballasts and while 25w is much less intrusive, it is still a distraction to others when misaligned.
Well I had a nice chat with mario (mariokart) and while I'm still going to sleep on it, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the stage 2 manic tune, his ceramic coated downpipe, colder NGK plugs, and map switch. I was set on stage 1, but an extra 20hp and a cooler motor sure sounds good and I know how much a turbo motor likes to be "un corked".
my '12 didn't have an arm rest either. it was the first thing i added. consider larger front cupholders too. for a nonperformance performance upgrade consider the sprint booster or jb+, both transform the why the car feels.
larger front cupholders?! how? where do i buy these?!
04-12-2017, 07:45 AM
