Hey guys...just wondering if you guys had any weekly or monthly rituals in maintaining the Cooper. I barely hit 2,000 miles today and was wondering what I should do on a montly basis just to make sure the Coop is in tip-top condition. Not very car savvy, but I'm willing to learn to keep my Cooper in top form four years from now. Had a Honda prior to the CVT Cooper and it managed to pull about 170,000 miles on it. Wanna make sure I get the most out of this awesome car.
Input anyone???

 

Some stuff to keep out of trouble-

Wash car at least once a week especially after it rains.
Wax car every three to four months.
Rotate tires every 5000 miles.
Reduce/clean brake dust off of alloy wheels if unable to wash car.
Always remove or avoid bird poop and tree sap on your paint
Check oil twice a month.
Change oil and filter roughly twice as often as recommended by MINI.
Check tire air pressure twice a month.
Clean and condition leather seats once a month.
Always use premium gas if possible.
Run your Air conditioner about once a week for about 10 minutes if you hardly use it. Otherwise use normally.
Never park next to a domestic two door coupe at a discount dept store.

 

If you live in an area of decent weather, you can extend the length of washings by using Meguiars Quik Detailer. I wash my car between 3 weeks to a month. I used to do it every week, but found it was a waste of water. Now I QD every day, and my car is show car shiny. I wipe my white wheels every day and that's really the main motivation for washing--to remove the buildup of brake dust!

Use the highest quality towels---preferably Microfiber towels. And don't use anything else. Use them for wiping down the car, and make sure they are clean when you use them. If you drop them on the ground, don't reuse them to wipe down your car!

 

I would add one more thing to minihune's excellent list:

Turn the heat on once in a while (once a month should do it) for a minute or so, even if you don't need it. Just to flush the stagnant coolant (heatant?) from the heater core.

 

Sounds good guys...Input anyone else?

 

I would do all minihuni recommeded maintenance checks + coolant level check at least once a month.

I would recommend you buy a bottle of coolant from MINI and keep a bottle
of distilled water, a plastic bottle, and a funnel in your garage.

 

What color is coolant? It's not brown is it?

 

Coolant is like a aqua green color and its in that small tan colored
tank with black cap behind the intercooler (in the pict below). There
is a "MIN" and "MAX" reading on the side of the tank....while the engine
is cool, it should be right around the middle mark between MIN and MAX.
If more towards or below the MIN, while the engine is cool or cold, add
your 50/50 coolant/distilled water mix into that tank to the middle mark
and you're all set.

Don't open the tank while the engine is hot because the steam will burn
you pretty bad. I don't have a leaking tank, but the coolant dissappears
from time to time.

 

Yeah I didn't think so, but I guess my coolant hasn't quite made it to the Service #2! Maybe that's why my PS Fan was blasting yesterday?? Maybe unrelated, but I noticed my coolant is brown! Eeeek.

 

Kenchan, you saying that you have no leaks, but have to add coolant every now and then raises a flag here. We had the coolant tank replaced with the newer one and it did not leak anymore. One day backing the car out of my garage I noticed water leaking after the car was out and turned off, not even close to being warmed up or anything. Turns out mine had a faulty O-ring on the thermostat mount and because its higher up on the engine, once the engine is warm the water as it leaks, just burns off the side of the motor, never makes it to the ground so we could see it. After it got pointed out, I could see the rust forming around where my hoses hooked up to the thermostat. Anyways, dealer replaced the o-ring and I have not had to add anything since, about a year now. It is time for a flushing now though.........where do I get distilled water? just fyi, take care.

 

Thanks for the input. I'll check it out. It usually takes at least
3months or so before I even notice that the coolant is a little less,
so I haven't really made it an issue on my car...just a check item.

I just buy distilled water at the groceries. :smile:

 

Hey OG! I do the same! My neighbors think I'm crazy but I'm not the one up early on Saturday morning with a hose and a bucket...I'm out on the twisties! I do the above routine as well as the ones mentioned by minihune except I wax when I wash (about once a month) and I rotate at 3000 miles. I have soft tires (Yokohama's) and I live near some fun roads.

I'd also recommend wiping down the engine compartment and vacuuming the radiator grill. It's amazing how many bugs get in there!

Be proud you take such good care of your car. I know I am...and it shows!



-Cyn

PS - Richard, I need you to go into details about how you clean your wheels so fast! I just got Cricket some TD Pro Race 1's (white of course) and HOLY BRAKE DUST BATMAN! I think some new brake pads are in my near future!

 

I have a good coat of polymerwax on my wheels which make cleaning them very easy. I usually just use QuikD and Bounty papertowel to gently wipe off the dust. I don't drive my car in the wet so it doesn't have harsh oils or debris on
them which could stain and/or scratch the finish if not washed.

When I do wash, I use a boar's hair brush and car shampoo.

When I play with my mcs, I usually clean the front wheels once every 3 times
I take it out...and do the rear wheels once every 6 times. :smile:

 

On my old wheels I used some "not worthy on my paint" wax and I didn't notice much of a difference. I've also tried Rain-X.

I'm using my old wash mit now because I noticed scratches on my old wheels from the brush I was using.

Thanks for your suggestions and sorry for hi-jacking the thread!

-Cyn

 

>On my old wheels I used some "not worthy on my paint" wax and I didn't notice much of a difference. I've also tried Rain-X.

Hummm...you may want to use the same wax you use on your car's body.
Im currently using Meguiar's NXT TechWax and have used GoldClass natural
wax, and CleanerWax from them as well. The NXT stays on the longest,
followed by CleanerWax, and then GoldClass wax.

Im sure you're not cleaning your wheels while hot, but if you are, the wax
tends to come right off when you wash/wipe it.

Rain-X on painted finish...hummm...powdercoat will probably withstand it,
but painted clearcoat might start clouding.

 

Good suggestion. Since I love how NXT has worked on the body I'll give it a whirl on the wheels!

Thanks!



-Cyn

 

I'll second that, NXT works great on my white 5 star wheels. There is a HUGE difference in ability to wipe the brake dust off on wheels with NXT and without. With NXT, it just glides right off in a single pass. Without, it sticks, and needs additional lubrication--I use Quik Detailer and blue paper towels for my cleanup. I've found that using a small wheel brush with a blue paper towel wrapped around it, is a great way for pulling the brake dust off.

With this method, I can use 1 blue paper towel for the front wheels (flip it over for the 2nd wheel). The 5 Stars have lots of surface area, so wiping it off is really fast with this method. Maybe takes 1 minute tops, and very minimal brake dust contact on the hands--most of it coming from touching the paper towel.

Richard

 

Thanks Richard! I can always count on you to add pictures! Btw, you missed a spot!!!

LOL! Made you look!



-Cyn

 

minihunes list was quite good and some good additional comments followed.

There are a few things I would ad:

Every time you raise the car to change the oil or for any other reason, ALWAYS inspect the CV Joint boots and Rack and Pinion boots.

Also look around for leaks.

If you have heard anything or felt anything strange, shake all your shafts, suspension and steering components to see if anything is loose.

Shake the wheels while they are off the ground to make sure everything is tight.



It only takes a minute or two extra to look and shake. If you can discover problems early, you can keep a $30 problem from becoming a $500 problem.

Good luck,

 

Thanks for all the input guys!

 

The funny thing is that I really DID miss a spot! But I photoshopd it out before posting it, and I thought I missed it again!

Richard