so i just accumulated these three parts,
1) rally armor universal mudflaps (the nice ones)
2) nm eng. catback exhaust
3) minifini hitch for countryman all4

i was just recently in an accident, fault of other driver, following too close, but good things came from bad. i was able to scrounge together the exhaust for very close to the same price as the oem part, hurray hurray.

i just dropped off the car at my local body shop who is throwing it all together for me by the end of this week, if anyone has any questions on any of these products please let me know, i had very little luck finding reviews or extensive images online on these goods.

ill be back hopefully by friday with an initial review and thoughts.

-cheers

 

So I'll start it off with the least Interesting, the flaps. I love these urethane monsters they will for sure last the life of my car if that's saying anything. I never really likes the back of these cars, looks like a fat hippo. The mudflats serve to extend the width of the car further down towards the ground giving it a wider stance visually . I have no issues with wind noise, considering they sit out pretty far.

Exhaust. Absolutely no power increase measured by my *** to seat dyno. I'm sure once the gods above bless us r60 crowd with an access port accessory the mod would be more noticeable, but for now.. meh on the 15hp gain
Sound.. Beautiful as previous reviews have stated, louder than stock under load, but when maintaining speed on an efficient surface (aka no huge hill, I'm in VA) the exhaust is very quiet. Open it up and you can hear the difference both in the cabin and outside. But it was just what I was looking for, nothing loud, just deeper richer sound than the pea shooters that poked out like a gay turtle. However in off throttle situations anywhere around or below 2500rpms there is a noticeable drone.

lastly the minifini hitch, not much to say here, its a great product. completely hidden, awesome!

 

Sounds great, Pictures

 

i have tried to upload some quick pictures. for some reason the uploads are not sticking. ive tried creating a new gallery, dragging and dropping the image in the text box. any tips would be appreciated

 

Drag & drop won't work...at least not for me.. Go to advanced, select attach (paper clip) manage, Select then upload... Takes a few minutes.. Go back to attach & they should be there.... Always not the easiest process. Can't upload off my iPad only computer...doesn't make sense.......

 

test test

 

1,2,3

 

Great looking MINI. Love the look.of the exhaust, fills in the opening great. the mud flaps look good too. Are they longer than OEM?

 

they are not oem mini flaps, their actually made by rally armor and are their universal flap. they only comes in one size, but you are right in asking if they are longer. from what i have seen, the oem mini flaps are really short.. and hard plastic if im not mistaken.

 

Has anyone tried the hidden hitch? http://www.minidomore.com/product.ph...cat=244&page=1

I just got a Countryman S and want to install a hitch mount. I had one on my R56. However, I had to run around with the hole cut out of my rear bumper if the rack wasn't on, which looked ugly. This hidden goes behind the license plate, which swings out of the way when you need the rack, swings back over the mount when not in use.

Wondering if anyone has it.

 

I purchased mine from Coopercrap.com
Fits and conforms to the countryman perfectly with a 2" receiver. Attaches to the 2 capped treaded holes that were made to receive Mini's $700+ bike rack. I attached right before our trip to Cape Cod with a Thule 3 bike rack. Looks and blends in so well it still is attached less the bike rack.....

 

I called Andy there last week and had a nice chat—swell guy! So pro-American that he chastised me for asking what size hex wrench, in mm, the bolts used. "This is America! They're 3/8!" That was awesome!

Anyway, just need to confirm with him that my 1.25" Küat rack with 2" adapter is not so long that it would strike the plate/bumper. Looking at the photos, it should work but I want to confirm before dropping coin.

As you mention, it's a solid-looking setup, cleanest I've seen. Surprised no one else, other than Mini themselves, utilizes those mounts. You'd think Thule/Yakima would get on it, but they'd rather make a killing with the easy-to-engineer crap that goes on Camrys and Chevy Cobalts.

 

I'm not sure how the liability works, but I'm sure that's a good part of it. This is a hitch that is fitted/bolted into threaded holes made for a Mini product. In particular, a aluminum bike rack. We've played with the design a bit when I added the 5th wheel holder. I'm sure a lot of 3rd party manufacturers are concerned about securing their product to a vehicle that specifically not made to attach a hitch, especially for towing purposes. The majority of expense for this hitch is not the minimal material, welding or even the coating, but the finely machined threaded bolts that are used to secure the hitch.