Davis's Cars - I bought a Honda with a stupid wing
- Thread starter Davis
- 299 comments
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- 195
- Adrien_DC
Man, I can't believe you use those beautiful wheels for the winter!
I have those for the summer on my Cooper SD, can't wait to get them back on again. Word of advice, if I may: they are pretty wide, and the Mini can have trouble with standing water at high speed (aquaplaning), which tends to be accentuated by these wide wheels. I almost found out the hard way... Just be careful especially in the winter,hence why I fitted narrower ones until probably around easter.Anyway lovely car and nice work you're doing! Since I've gotten mine I can't imagine getting rid of it again, so great choice on your part.
- 27,219
- United Kingdom
I don't wish to offend given that you own a set, but I've always hated those wheels. In the UK, they were the default choice for those buying new MINIs without consideration of the car's ride and handling balance - a style choice alone. Virtually every student at my university who had a MINI had those ones fitted.
The Cooper always handled and rode far better on the lightweight 15-inch "pepperpot"-style wheels available as standard. It was telling that the Cooper Cup race series used those wheels too, rather than the much heavier 17-inch daisies.
That said, if you have a Cooper SD then yours is an R56 MINI, which do suit those wheels a little better. For the R53, they're overkill, and certainly preferable to destroying the rather lovely wheels the MC40 comes with as standard on winter roads!
- 195
- Adrien_DC
No offence taken, don't worry. It's indeed a R56, I've never had the chance to try any R53.
To be honest I have had absolutely no issues to report handling wise, handles just as nicely as the regular Cooper S on any other wheel, especially the weird flame spoke every one and their mother seems to fit here in Germany (funny difference to the UK actually). I agree on the standard wheels for the MC40 though, they're even better.
15 inch is no option for the SD, S, and JCW R56, they fit the big brake kit on those as standard, you can't even fit all 16inch wheels.
- 27,219
- United Kingdom
Yeah, I can imagine bigger brakes getting in the way. I've seen a Clubman fitted with the smaller 15" ones before but imagine that was just a regular One, or Cooper, or similar.
- 1,289
- Salt Lake City
- Ferraridude308
A bit of a long story to that. The guy I bought it from said the original owner had those daisies as a winter set of wheels, while they guy I bought it from just used the normal MC40 wheels for winter. Spent some money fixing the MC40 wheels after the winter had bent and chipped them, but left the daisies the way they were. So they're not that beautiful.Man, I can't believe you use those beautiful wheels for the winter!
Thanks! 👍 Really don't want to give mine up too. Hoping to save enough to get a second one on the side, for when this one inevitably becomes expensive to keep running.
Truth.
- 1,289
- Salt Lake City
- Ferraridude308
- 13,818
- Alabama
The center speedo is my biggest gripe with the Mini interior. It was kinda neat at first but it's definitely worn its welcome. I have a similar problem in my Abarth. The speedo and tach are concentric and while the tach is plenty easy to read, the speedo is incredibly hard to read IMO. Maybe I'm just not used to it, but since I bought it, I've just been relying on the digital read out in the center of the info center. As far as ergonomics go, I think the Abarth has the absolute worst window switch placement of any car I've ever been in. They are placed on either side of the gear stick so you can only really lower one window at a time unless you have a passenger.
- 1,289
- Salt Lake City
- Ferraridude308
I've just been relying on the digital read out in the center of the info center. As far as ergonomics go, I think the Abarth has the absolute worst window switch placement of any car I've ever been in. They are placed on either side of the gear stick so you can only really lower one window at a time unless you have a passenger.
I think our cars are more similar than we think... Same placement of window switches, terrible speedos. 
I can barely get both switches with my thumb & pinky stretched as far as they can go. But yeah, I only use the speed readout on the tach. Looked up the Abarth gauge cluster... it looks terribly confusing at speed.
- 1,289
- Salt Lake City
- Ferraridude308
I love having weekdays off, I have the good roads all to myself. 
That's a frozen lake behind the MINI. Once I got out of the deep canyon area the roads cleared up and I was able to really let loose, something that I haven't been able to do in a looooong time. I passed a biker and he gave me the biggest, toothy grin as I'm guessing he watched/heard me round a couple hairpins further up the road as I descended into the clearing.
The MINI is runs great, once it warms up the transmission is crisp and the supercharger is responsive. For anybody wondering I went through Emigration Canyon and then up East Canyon until it was closed... can't wait to get back there in the summer when the snow is finally gone.
Absolutely beautiful today.
That's a frozen lake behind the MINI.
Once I got out of the deep canyon area the roads cleared up and I was able to really let loose, something that I haven't been able to do in a looooong time. I passed a biker and he gave me the biggest, toothy grin as I'm guessing he watched/heard me round a couple hairpins further up the road as I descended into the clearing.The MINI is runs great, once it warms up the transmission is crisp and the supercharger is responsive. For anybody wondering I went through Emigration Canyon and then up East Canyon until it was closed... can't wait to get back there in the summer when the snow is finally gone.
Absolutely beautiful today.
- 27,219
- United Kingdom
Said it before and I'll say it again: Utah is stunning. Very jealous of the roads you have there and the MINI looks like it'd be a hoot on them.I love having weekdays off, I have the good roads all to myself.
- 2,568
- Wonderland
- zyla-corps
- N/A
You don't even need a "tuned" vehicle to have fun on Emigration. Even my bone-stock Reno tore through those roads and I will definitely be revisiting it this summer. The scenery alone is worth half the trip.
- 5,905
- West Yorkshire
- Katiegan
- KatieB53
I second this. If I was ever to move to the US, I'd definitely move to Utah.
Ken Block lives in Utah too.
- 1,289
- Salt Lake City
- Ferraridude308
The roads are great in the summer, but they're pretty terrible when the weather turns crappy. They're icy, fairly treacherous, and full of ski/snowboard traffic; as all of my favorite roads lead to some form of ski resort. But, damn, when the snow melts there are few roads that can compete with the ones out here.
Anyways, since I didn't want to deal with all of the above, as I detailed the MINI yesterday, I went out West to the copper mines. There are a couple of really fast, open roads that way, and one of them ends with this mildly technical road with lots of undulations:
1080p for your viewing pleasure!
Used an iPhone mount stuck behind my tach and went for it. It wobbles like hell and ended up falling off at the end of the video.
Anyways, since I didn't want to deal with all of the above, as I detailed the MINI yesterday, I went out West to the copper mines. There are a couple of really fast, open roads that way, and one of them ends with this mildly technical road with lots of undulations:
1080p for your viewing pleasure!
Used an iPhone mount stuck behind my tach and went for it. It wobbles like hell and ended up falling off at the end of the video.
- 1,289
- Salt Lake City
- Ferraridude308
Long post, because I like taking pictures.
Today was full of crap luck. Drove about 20 miles to this insanely fun looking canyon that passes through the western mountains... It's closed until June 1st. So then I drove around the mountains, to check out this abandoned airstrip I read about yesterday. In every picture of it, it was completely open, however the owner of it decided to block off every entrance with concrete barricades.
So then I drove all around Tooele trying to find a way in without any luck. Ended up driving through this abandoned industrial park... graffiti all over the buildings with smashed windows. It was pretty cool and I wanted to explore some more, but I was getting tired and 2 hours had already passed since I first set off. So then I drove past the racetrack and the Salt Lake. About a 100 mile drive in all, but it was better than sitting at home on this lazy Sunday.
What was going to be a day of blasting through an empty canyon and letting loose on an abandoned runway ended up being a relaxing freeway drive through the middle of Utah.
Today was full of crap luck. Drove about 20 miles to this insanely fun looking canyon that passes through the western mountains... It's closed until June 1st. So then I drove around the mountains, to check out this abandoned airstrip I read about yesterday. In every picture of it, it was completely open, however the owner of it decided to block off every entrance with concrete barricades.
So then I drove all around Tooele trying to find a way in without any luck. Ended up driving through this abandoned industrial park... graffiti all over the buildings with smashed windows. It was pretty cool and I wanted to explore some more, but I was getting tired and 2 hours had already passed since I first set off. So then I drove past the racetrack and the Salt Lake. About a 100 mile drive in all, but it was better than sitting at home on this lazy Sunday.
What was going to be a day of blasting through an empty canyon and letting loose on an abandoned runway ended up being a relaxing freeway drive through the middle of Utah.
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- 27,219
- United Kingdom
Great pics. And I know the feeling - I've gone out on more drives than I care to remember where I wanted to go see something but it was shut, then tried to find a twisty road but the traffic was bad, then went somewhere to take photos to find they'd locked the gates... can be frustrating sometimes.
Still, look on the bright side - that 100-miles you did would cost twice in the UK what it does over there thanks to our gas prices...
Still, look on the bright side - that 100-miles you did would cost twice in the UK what it does over there thanks to our gas prices...
- 1,289
- Salt Lake City
- Ferraridude308
I'd probably end up driving an Insight or something.
/badjokes
Finally ordered some things that have been filling up my wishlist for the past month or two:
The more I look at my antenna, the dorkier it seems to me. So I ordered a stubby one that was only 20 dollars. Radio reception isn't great currently, so even if this isn't amazing it's no different from what I already have, but looks a whole lot better.
The Aux jack is a necessity, since I've been planning on upgrading to the Galaxy S5 for some time now, and my dinky Apple iTrip isn't compatible.
According to MINI forums, that intake is the best bang for your buck, and it's about 200 dollars cheaper than the JCW option. Ouch.
I got the smallest pulley upgrade possible. (15%) It gets fairly hot here in the summers, and this size runs the least risk of overheating. It's the most popular modification on R53s, so I figured I'll be pretty safe with it. Ordered it with a kit... I probably could have saved money by buying separately, but this single kit was just so convenient. And I really didn't feel like scouring forums to figure out what size belt I need for the new pulley.
With these I think I'm pretty much done with engine modifications. If I want to go any deeper I need to start messing with the ECU, swapping cams, dealing with $$$$ things. Maybe I'll get a couple of interesting engine trim pieces later on, but with the pulley, intake, and exhaust out of the way there isn't much left to do (relatively) cheaply with noticeable results.
- 27,219
- United Kingdom
Touché
- 4,213
- Puerto Rico
- motortrend
You could do some ECU tuning, that's usually where the other changes really come out, but I would definitely not do anything else like cams
- 1,289
- Salt Lake City
- Ferraridude308
I was looking at the Dinan ECU kit, but I don't know if I should just do a custom tune because I have all of these other parts on it.
My thoughts as well.
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And bad news: Apparently Helix no longer makes intakes, so I'm looking at the DDM Works intake, finished in stainless steel.
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