Tires, Exhaust, brakes

[Senior]

I had mentioned some time ago that I would be taking off the run-flats and replacing them with all season touring tires. I bought my Mini new in 2005 and it has 45,000km on it and has gone through two sets of run-flats. The last ones were Goodyears latest Excellence made in Germany which wore down quickly and only became civilized noise-wise in their dying days. I do not drive in a sporty fashion so handling was not high priority. I wanted all season as car stays in garage during snow days, but it is possible to get caught out in an unexpected snow so I went with all season. The number of all season performance tires available in 195/55/16 is limited. For instance Michelin have a good tire but its in the 205/50/16 size. I elected to stay with the original size. My list began with about 10 makes, and ended up with six and then three. The final three were Falkens Ziex 912, Bridgestone Potenza 019 Grid, and Kumho Solus KH16. I opted for the Bridgestone. The criteria I used gave emphases to Dry/wet/Snow/Noise/Treadwear and Price. The Excellence cost me $1,400 and the Bridgestone Grid $640. The end result is:the flat tire indicator still functions, the tires are much quieter, handling does not seem to have deteriated, and the ride over rough roads is improved. No negitives.

As The warranty has expired I purchased Subaru extended warranty for power train only, expensive but dealer recommended. I plan to keep car another two years.

The muffler shows signs of external rust. Has anyone replaced theirs with dealer or otherwise? Any advise?

Also brakes are down past 30% and will soon need replaced. I am told the next service check is expensive, anyone experienced this?

[beken]

Are we on a MINI or Subaru site here? Subaru extended warranty?

I have found Bridgestone tires to not wear gracefully in the long run. The tires are pretty good initially but once you get up into the higher mileage on them, they start to get noisy. Really annoyingly noisy. But that may be because of the size of my tires (17" wheels). I have had the same issue in the past with Goodyear tires also. Still, non-runflat tires seem to be a lot more robust than the Pirelli runflats that came with my car.

I'm not sure about other areas in Canada, but the price of a brake job at MINI Yaletown was not out of line with the aftermarket. I got front and rear pads and front rotors replaced for under $700 taxes included. This was far less than what I paid for the same thing on my family car (a Buick). So you should check with the MINI dealer. If you think you can get the parts for cheaper, I think most of the MINI dealers are mod friendly and will just charge you labour for the work. But I think the dealers here in Vancouver are fairly reasonable with their pricing, especially if you belong to one of the clubs.

I seem to go through a set of brakes in 3 to 4 years of daily commuter and a few roadtrips type of driving. This would be pretty good for a car with ABS and traction/stability control. Your mileage will vary depending what you do with your car.

[Senior]

Beken;

Thanks for your reply. I have thought about your comments on the Bridgestone tires and wonder if there is more than the wheel size at stake here. I purposely sought all season touring/performance tires, where you obviously were after high performance tires to match your 17" wheel choice. In my research I found that one tire characteristic that was unchanging was that as one went more towards the high performance end of the spectrom the teadwear fell off appreciatively, which may account for the noise. Also the comfort was negitively affected though handling, of course, was way up. Because my Mini is used primarrally as a city car, seldom driven over speed limit and never pushed into fast corners etc. (I got all that out of my system driving my previous cars, Tr2, MGA-1600 and other sports cars before family duties pushed me into sedans. Now the children are out there with their own families and my wife and I returned to the fun side of driving (but in a more mature fashion).

I suspect it is right that the dealer brakes are best bet price wise for my driving, but still wonder about the exhaust as its looking rather ripe.

Best luck with your Mini

[beken]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senior (original)

....but still wonder about the exhaust as its looking rather ripe.

The stainless steel exhaust in our MINIs should last the lifetime of the car. I have a 25 year old car that came with stainless steel exhaust and it still has the original exhaust it came with from the factory. Mind you, the CAT probably doesn't work, but it's still in place.

The stock exhaust of our MINIs is rather long and it does twist around the suspension bits, which is somewhat restrictive. Changing to a better exhaust might net you an additional 10 horsepower and some low end torque. Most of the aftermarket exhaust systems I've seen are noticeably louder and tend to drone at highway cruising or idling at a traffic light. But there are two that are reasonably priced for what they are that do not. The first is the JCW exhaust. It does change the tone (sound), but does not increase noise. The other I've been eyeing is the MINI Madness exhaust which looks very similar to the JCW system. I suspect the MM system is probably a rebadged Ultrik system, but may be wrong. MINI Yaletown in Vancouver sells the JCW exhaust installed for about the same price as me getting the MM system. They are priced around $1200CDN for full stainless steel system installed, which is reasonable. One of the things about the JCW system that bothers me a bit is the straight pipe from the cat to the splitter has a flattened spot in the middle so it would clear the cross member for the convertible MINIs. Even if the flow area is the same, I feel it may cause some turbulence in the exhaust flow and hence some restriction. Just an opinion.

If money is tight, you might consider going to a general exhaust shop and having the system made with standard exhaust piping. It may be cheaper and you would probably have to replace the pipes once every 3 to 7 years but may still be cheaper over the length of time you keep the car.

good luck with whatever you decide.

[Senior]

Beken

Once again, thank you for all the good information. As to the stainless steel exhaust, that cannot include the muffler as mine is rusting badly and the car has less than 50K Km on it and its a 2005. Now maybe the Cooper receives a cheaper muffler than the S models, but I doubt if mine is stainless.

Another question for you is the tire sensors. I believe they rest behind the tire valve inside the tire/wheel and have a battery with seven year's life with possibly less in cold climates (ours). So this sound like one must replace these units in five or so years. A friend just had this done with new steel wheels & snowtires for his Ford and it cost $300 for the sensors! For those who still wonder, yes this system still works after changing to non run-flats.

So, back to you Beken, do I have a badly stained stainless muffler, and will my tire sensor system go down in 2010??

[beken]

It wasn't until 2007 that in-wheel TPS systems started to show up. The tire pressure monitors on our 2005 MINIs are actually a function of the ABS/Stability control system. The ABS sensors monitor wheel spin. If one wheel is turning significantly slower (or was that faster?) than the other three, the system would think you have an air loss in one of the tires. So no need for tire pressure sensors in your wheels. However, when doing a brake job, you need to make sure the ABS sensors are connected and working properly.

I thought our mufflers (either a Cooper S or Cooper) are covered with aluminum so I am curious as to yours rusting. It might just be a lot of dirt. Or punctures from rocks hitting it. However, I wouldn't replace the muffler unless you really did have a puncture (you can hear that).

Here is a link to the exhaust system parts diagram. You might consider getting the JCW sports exhaust.

RealOEM.com Diagram Selection

[Senior]

The outer skin of the muffler at rear next to chrome extension is rusted through to inner skin so it is not stainless of aluninum. Otherwise the muffler looks good. It has a slight base tone when accelerating which is likely due the rust. I checked the site mentioned and it indicates the system less header and cat would be about $500 plus taxes and shipping. I will keep that info for when the big day comes when the muffler fails. Sounds like $1,000 by time labour is factored in.

The ABS sensors you mention. Are they a permanent fixture & do they need batteries? As to your advise I will have dealer do brakes so they should make sure all is well with hooking up sensors, right?

If my wife wasn't so hot on this one I would have traded for the brown anniversary model. Maybe I can convince her we need the roadster in 2011.
Until then, don't go away I'll like;y need more advise

[beken]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senior (original)

I checked the site mentioned and it indicates the system less header and cat would be about $500 plus taxes and shipping. I will keep that info for when the big day comes when the muffler fails. Sounds like $1,000 by time labour is factored in.

The price quoted in RealOEM, I believe are US Wholesale prices to the dealer. It is unlikely you can get those parts at that price. But then, I'm in Canada where parts pricing is substantially higher so I know I can't get parts at the price. Exhaust systems don't take very long to install. Less than an hour at any service place with the proper hydraulic tools and air tools. I would guess you probably on need a muffler and the pipes can be reused.

If your car is 2005, the Tire pressure monitor sensors are NOT in the wheels. The ABS system is part of the brake system and do not require batteries. The wire they need to connect is the signal wire to the ECM (your car's computer). You should be able to see the wire attached to your brake calipers. The dealer service follows instructions from the factory service documentation so they usually will not forget to reconnect the wire.

[MINNOW]

The OEM muffler on my Son's '04 Cooper Classic (previously mine, factory ordered) was showing similar signs of rusting through the outer layer. There was no change in noise, but he hated the looks of the rust, and opted to have the dealer install the JCW Sound Kit for approx. $1,600.
Not inexpensive, but reasonable value for a true cat-back stainless steel exhaust, new intake and filters, and ECU tuning to smooth out the power band and provide a quoted modest 3 hp bump.
I have since driven the car, it is smoother revving, a (since brand new) stumble when changing up to second gear after cold start was (finally) cured, and the sound provided is genuinely excellent, similar to the old school British sports cars of years ago.
We have three MINIs in our household including this one, my other Son's '05 Cooper S, and my '09 Cooper S, and my eldest swears his is the best sounding of the three. (it's hard to argue with him actually)
As for brakes, prior to MINI owning I had never touched brake repairs myself, now I have done the rear brake pad replacement on the '04, will soon do same on the '05, and the fronts next spring on the '04, which I believe are even easier to change.
There are some good DIY threads on NAM for brake pads if you are interested.

[Senior]

I guess this is why we all like this Mini2 site, the valuable information from knowledgable car people like you fellows. I will copy most of these responses and follow them up on replacing exhaust and brakes, and at last I know how that flat tire monitoring system works on my car.

many thanks