dbmini.us

As the kids say, tell me db got a new MINI without telling me he got a new MINI? If you know you know.

After the window completely delaminated for the 2nd time in the roadster, I was done. With 105K miles on the clock, there were also some issues that needed to be tended too. To be honest, I never really liked that MINI, so I really didn’t want to spend $6k on repairs (including a new top). My search started back in June and I was looking for a unicorn. Not, not a dark silver/white R53, but a current generation MINI, 2016 or newer, meeting most of the following:

Like I said, a unicorn. But I was patient and I keep looking. I had to expand my search to include Tucson, San Diego and Vegas to even get manual transmission cars to show up! I also wasn’t expecting to be able to meet all of my expectation, but alas, sitting on the lot of a Hyundai dealership in Cottonwood, Arizona, I found the MINI I was looking for!

It is a 2016 and we are referring to it as a super light for a reason; besides HK, this MINI is stripped. No heated seats, no backup camera, no PDC, no LED headlights. Nothing. No, it doesn’t have that either. Seriously stripped. And it’s perfect. While I would have liked to have heated seats, for this MINI I’m ok without. And, it’s in very good shape for a 5 year old car with 60k miles. I’ll be taking it down for an oil change and check up soon along with motor mount replacements.

I had to give it a windscreen (dealer paid) and still have yet to actually correct the paint with machines as there are a couple of spots that need polish, but claybar, wax and 303 to get it through the rest of summer will do the trick.

On the off chance that you missed it, we started up White Roof Radio again. There are 3 brand new episodes in your feed. And I’m jonesin for MINI event. If you hear of anything fun happening in Arizona, leave a note below!

A quick review does show me the last repairs done on this MINI, and here I was today, hanging out in the shop with Jerry, thinking it was lost for good. Whew. While I’m failing lately at being a blogger, it’s good to know that I’m still keeping this going as a journal, somewhat.

Anyway, everything has been problem free since the last time Hank spent time in the shop. And having the back window delaminate from the top. Besides that, problem free. Yep.

Oh, except the air conditioning system crapping out. Luckily, this literally happened during the last week of moderate temps in Arizona, so I’ve been able to wait this one out for a bit. Also lucky that this did not throw an anxiety inducing error message on the screen, unlike the constant reminders for service, the occasional tail light outage and the brake light. Wait, brake light?

I just had brakes done a bit more than a year ago. Oh, must be the rears. A quick call verifies and I make my service appointment with that in mind. MINI on the lift, examination of the brakes on all 4 wheels shows no brake job is needed. Further investigation shows that the error is for the front brakes, which are practically brand new. This is an error that was on a timer. WTF? Are you fucking kidding me? This wasn’t triggered by a sensor, this was triggered from something like X miles or power cycles or fuel cap removals? All of that anxiety to drive me into the shop (where this car will end up anyway) for no reason? So not cool.

Anyway, still trucking. Cooler now thanks for the new AC unit. Thankfully covered by my extended warranty company, who I am sure is not happy about agreeing to cover this MINI. I think they are out close to 5K at this point. Or, rather, I have saved close to 5K at this point.

Next up, road trip to Vegas in March. Listen to the show for details!

I own a car with a canvas top. I knew this particular job would be dangerous when I took it, but I didn’t know to what extent, until this happened.

Fearing the worse, I check with the dealer about a repair. No go, as you would expect. I posted in the R59 Owner’s Group on Facebook and someone had luck getting theirs repaired by an upholstery shop, and a few have done the repair themselves. So, I start call upholstery shops.

Since this is one of the things not covered by my extended warranty, I’m out of pocket for any of it. A few calls around town tell me the repair will cost $600 – $950, replace will cost $2500 – $6000. Since all of those options are out of budget, I voted to go the repair route.

After seeing posts on Facebook, and watching this Canadian do the exact fix to 4 seater in Mexico, I ffigured it was time to give it a go. Actually, it was time to give Amazon about $90, and then complete the repair.

Repairing convertible rear window, MINI Cooper Roadster

To start, these videos are extremely helpful:

His technique is solid and you get an idea for what is involved.

Here is a list of the items that I ordered/used during the repair.

If you follow the video, you’ll be good to go. I wanted to leave a few notes concerning this here that weren’t covered in the video.

It’s not perfect, nor is it 100% water proof, but the window is secure. I have a few minor leaks that I will have to go back at with some window weld once more to see if it stops the leaking, and I’m sure it will. I’ll be keeping an eye on it and will report back any weirdness. Also, as usual, comments are open, AMA!

This guy is mine for 24 hours. I specifically requested a Cooper even.

A few things have been going on for the past few weeks. Let’s play catch-up! To start with, Bruce has been leaking like a sieve, needing more than 1 gallon of coolant over than past week and change. Secondly, I have been running an experiment, still trying to figure out the best way to drive this MINI with the automatic transmission.

For the last week, I have been making an attempt at moving the lever to the left. Not hitting the sport button, not turning off DSC, just moving the lever to the left. Oh, and then activating manual mode by moving the shift lever forward or backward. And, I have to admit, that it has made things markedly better. While throttle response is still horrendous, doing this has shown some improvement. Not quite enough to get me to stop wishing that this rubbish slush box was a manual, but enough to shut me up about it. Mostly.

Not sure exactly when the coolant leak started, but 2 weeks ago day after tomorrow, I actually had the overheat message on the screen. a quick stop to let him cool down and dump in some Prestone (shut up, I know), and I was back on the road without issue and have been ok since. Except for the very strong smell of coolant after driving to work or home. And the extraordinary use of coolant over the course of that time.

Since I’ve needed to have the Nav looked at since I bought this MINI, and since there is a dealer directly across the street from the office, and since I was beyond needing an oil change, I figured I would take him to the dealer. Extended warranty is covering the coolant leaks (thermostat and oil filter housing). The Nav is toast and would need a replacement head-unit to work correctly again. Oil has been changed. Oh, and I was told that one of my tail light assemblies would have to be replaced due to it getting melted at some point and causing an occassional brake light error.

While this is one of the best R5X MINIs I have even driven (and 1,000% better than Bruce), I’m still sticking by my previous comments in stating this is the MINI quality forgot. I know it’s something we have been talking about quite a bit on the show, but I thought another mention here wouldn’t hurt. I’m afraid of this MINI, which is something I thought I would never say. 90k miles on the clock and while I have already fixed the major things that are going to leak (typically), I can only sit back and think “what’s next?”.

The last 12 months have been pretty crazy over on my side, capped off by buying a house in a new town. I am still in Arizona, still driving Hank and still making White Roof Radio. Here are a few updates, really quick.

Hank has been problem free, mostly. Still in need of rear brakes. Now, seeing an odd fluid on the driveway that stays longer than water but vanishes completely once dry, and the heater hasn’t been working correctly. Yes, I said heater because Arizona has been cold AF for the first part of 2019! He is due for an oil change and I’m hoping to have these issues looked at.

White Roof Radio has been on hiatus, as I’m sure you have noticed. With the buying of the house and all of the fellas being super busy at the end of last year and the first part of this, it’s been hard to nail down some time. I can tell you that we will be making a new show next week! There is a lot to talk about and we are all excited to get back to it.

And, if you are reading this, dbmini is no longer broken. I’m having issues with Wordpress lately and trying to find something that I can replace it with. For the time being, dbmini will be running a stock theme directly from Wordpress.

Finally, you might have heard that it’s time for me to move on from Hank. Almost 90K miles, still in really great shape. I think it’s time to let someone else enjoy the top down motoring. I also think it’s time to go back to #cooperlife, complete with a manual transmission. Sure, the S is awesome, but since 80% of my driving happens under 40MPH on straight roads, it’s wasted on me.

Stay tuned to WRR for a new show next week as I mentioned!