Your first G_P driving impressions - do tell

[Chief_Charlie]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jim Ray (original)

Question for you Charlie, will the GP be street legal in California? Is the law still that the lowest part of a car can not be lower than the rim of the wheel?

18" from 24" total diameter = 6". The outer lip of the rim is below the diameter of the tire. Hmm, you and Jimskater may have to run 15" wheels also.

That's an accurate paraphrase of 24008 CVC which says:
It is unlawful to operate any passenger vehicle, or
commercial vehicle under 6,000 pounds, which has been modified from
the original design so that any portion of the vehicle, other than
the wheels, has less clearance from the surface of a level roadway
than the clearance between the roadway and the lowermost portion of
any rim of any wheel in contact with the roadway.

According to the Specs for the Dunlop 205/40/18 DSST's at the Tire Rack site, the overall diameter is 24.4 inches, and that means there's 3.2 in of rubber tire between the bottom of the rim and the roadway surface. If Goonery measured the height for his car at 3 inches, then I can only conclude that:
1. It's gonna be close by 0.2 in; or
2. MINI has re-set the height of the USA cars to comply with standards over here...just like Porsche does for Euro cars vs USA NHTSA-approved ride heights. Isn't that one of the attributes of the JCW Springs...adj ride height.

Which may mean we'll all have to get out cars lowered and re-aligned once we receive them in August in order to match the handling of the UK/Euro cars.

[GBMINI]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lorien (original)

ok thanks. and now this might a really stupid question.. but : so i cant just buy the tires and replace them? i need to go out and change the entire wheel??

If you wanted to put winter tires on the 18" wheels, you'd have to get a tire that fit that 18" wheel - I don't see one in the list. An 18" tire would also typically be wider than a 17" or 16" - Narrower tires are better in snow to assist with cutting into the snow instead of floating over it.

As I mentioned before, I'd be more worried about damaging the 18" wheels taking tires off/on twice a year, than simply changing out the complete wheel/tire for a winter setup. But that's only my preference.

PS: Tirerack don't seem to have ANY winter tires to fit the 18" wheel

[Lorien]

Quote: Originally Posted by GBMINI (original)

If you wanted to put winter tires on the 18" wheels, you'd have to get a tire that fit that 18" wheel - I don't see one in the list. An 18" tire would also typically be wider than a 17" or 16" - Narrower tires are better in snow to assist with cutting into the snow instead of floating over it.

As I mentioned before, I'd be more worried about damaging the 18" wheels taking tires off/on twice a year, than simply changing out the complete wheel/tire for a winter setup. But that's only my preference.

i see what you mean and agree. i will find out about getting those extra wheels. thanks a bunch for all your help

[LMB]

Quote: Originally Posted by Goonery (original)

Here are some pics the clean ones show the GP, as you can see its a short softish plastic airdam which is screwed to the lower bumper finisher , so easy and cheap to replace.
The height is around 3 inches as the ruler shows and this is the lowest part of the car.
The dirty picture is a standard 'S' its about 4.5" , but does go down to around 4 inches at the centre of the car.
The GP handles speed bumps surprising well, I'd even be so bold as to say it better than my old 'S' but maybe I'm being more careful

Nice one Stu.

Personally I'd be tempted to take it off but I assume it has be put there for a reason.

[snid]

If you GP owners can avoid driving them in the snow, I'd really try to do so... The front air dam on my Cooper was somewhere around 3.5" off the ground (it's been raised up a bit since I added camber plates) and that would get bashed by clumps of snow regularly. I cannot imagine anything lower lasting long. And with that extra paneling on the underside of the car, there's more to break. It just doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

Oh yeah, those extra "flaps" on the sides of the front shin spoiler look awfully familiar to this Cooper owner. They're not identical to the Cooper bits, but close.

[pbraun]

Quote: Originally Posted by Paul Mullett (original)

You can sit in the front... But I'M keeping the keys!

Outstanding, Stu !

Congratulations and enjoy it all !

[Goonery]

Quote: Originally Posted by pbraun (original)

Outstanding, Stu !

Congratulations and enjoy it all !

One of my favourite passtimes is propping up a bar somewhere

[Hyper Active]

Congratulations Stu , looks very nice .

I see you've pulled a good looking bird in it already .

[SoggyCornFlakes]

Great stuff Stu - cant wait to see it in the flesh at Cotswolds

[Goonery]

the spoiler just nudges the antenna when the tail gate is open , its not a big issue, but I'm looking for a nice stubby bee sting one in carbon fibre or red or silver, or black. anyone got any ideas?

[GBMINI]

I have a "special edition" red one from CravenSpeed that hopefully will suit the GP ... ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!
http://www.cravenspeed.com/index.php?productID=27

[Chief_Charlie]

Quote: Originally Posted by GBMINI (original)

I have a "special edition" red one from CravenSpeed that hopefully will suit the GP ... ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!
http://www.cravenspeed.com/index.php?productID=27

How close to Chili Red is the Craven?
May be a moot point since the web page says "black only"

[Jim Ray]

I am pretty hot for that shift well cover. I was thinking that would go with the boy racer image of the GP.

[Goonery]

Quote: Originally Posted by GBMINI (original)

I have a "special edition" red one from CravenSpeed that hopefully will suit the GP ... ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!
http://www.cravenspeed.com/index.php?productID=27

Batteries not included I take it

seriously though, the Black one might do the job. Are they available from auto stores over there, if so I'll pick one up next month

[GBMINI]

Stu,
There were numbers of people in the past that bought the "shorty" Honda S2000 antenna for their MINI - but I don't think you'll find the CravenSpeed part in any store.

Batteries?


Charlie,
You'll see the color match next week