Started a club. Started a podcast. Worked on MotoringFile. Got to do some cool shit.

And, at the end of November, that all comes to an end when I put the F56 up for sale.

I already wrote about this over at donburnside.com. I’m just making it official here. And by official I mean to let you know that I have posted the F56 for sale. If you are interested, hit me up and mention that you read about it here! When, and if, the time comes, for us to be a dual car household again, I seriously doubt that second car with be a MINI. More on that later. At least before…

dbmini.us expires. It has been 20 years. I rarely post here and the archives and really janky and that content is less that ever green unless you happen to be driving a very high mileage R50 or need a hackish way to fix a convertible top. We have had some fun tho, haven’t we?

This will also mark the end of dbmini.us. Well, the end of new content. The domain is set to expire next July and this time, I’m going to let it go. Like I said, 20 years is a good run. And besides, I rarely post, even when I do, it rarely gets read or commented on. The value, for me (and probably for you) is gone.

Not only that, but it is really time for me to stop promoting MINI for free. I’ve been doing this for a very, very, very long time. The last time I benefitted from free promotion for MINI was 2014 for MTTS. Since then, they have ignored any attempts to contact them unless I’m riding on the MotoringFile coattails. That’s a lot of work for zero return.

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:

• Manual transmission
• H/K Stereo
• Needed to be an S
• No sunroof

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!

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:

• Video part 1
• video part 2.

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.

• Blue painters tape
• 3M Window Weld
• 3M Primer
• Suction Cup Clamps
• Cheap foam 1/2″ paint brush. Daubers are overkill unless you have them already
• Straight Edge Razors
• Gloves, nitrile/latex/rubber (dealers choice)

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.

• The Window Weld is nasty stuff. Gloves are necessary, as is covering the Window opening with painters tape. I didn’t do that, now I have little bits of Window Weld on the canvas.
• Pillows are amazingly helpful to keep the glass mostly in place while you setup the clamps.
• Good ventilation is required. Garage door open with a fan would be best.

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!

It’s not very often that a car needs tires and brakes at the same time. In all of my years of driving, I’m 100% sure this is the first time it has ever happened to me. While I didn’t really need tires, as it turns out, I did. Front brakes only this time instead of the full round to save a few bucks. Rears are ok and can be done later.

Due to weather and other circumstances, I went ahead and let Jerry do the front brakes. Usually I would have done this myself, because it is a fairly easy job. I’m now reminded of the other reason I do it myself; to save money. It’s a good thing I had it in the shop for that, as something else happened this week that needed to be repaired.

Because you guys always want to know, the tires are Yokohama YK740 GTX. 60K mile warranty and so far, even with the candy coating still on them, they work really well in wet and dry, have a good ride and are quiet. After a few hundred miles are on them, I’ll try to find a stretch of twisties to try them out on.

Brakes are stock this time around. I’ve been hearing bad things about EBCs that have been recently produced so, to keep things simple and because #notracecar, I stuck to stock.

Fuel pump is stock too. Oh, wait, right, I didn’t tell you about that. I filled up on Monday and had the smell of fuel for a few days. I mentioned it to Jerry and he dropped the tank and pulled the fuel pump. The car didn’t think there was a leak, but there was one. Smaller than a pin hole. New one was sourced and installed the same day. This was warranty work and I’m glad for that. I replaced the low pressure fuel pump in Roxy if you recall. It was some time ago, but I remember the part cost about $200 from the dealer and the installation was pretty straightforward if you had 3 hands. That part for my car has doubled in price and with labor it was over $700 to fix.

Jesus. When did cars get so expensive?

Every little thing that goes wrong with this car causes all manner of error messages, lights and sirens. Every. Time. I start the car. Not helped by the fact that I really don’t like MINI Connected and never use it, but that’s a topic for another day.

Another reason for the anxiety started with my most recent break-down. This is the first time a MINI has left me stranded on the side of the road during the summer with 115 degree temps. And, I was exposed to these delightful temps for the better part of 5 hours. This is something that I really do not want to happen again.

The issues I have, besides the nanny screen this car has, is the fact that this is a 2013 MINI Cooper with 80,093 (as of 8/20/2018) miles on the odometer. We all know that I have officially entered the danger zone for this make and model of car. While I have an extended warranty that will remove the sting of a major repair like something going wrong with the top, or the inevitable turbo failure, there still exists that possibility that this could happen and leave me stranded in hot weather, in the middle of the Sonoran desert or both. That is something that is truly making me crazy.

What’s the fix? Getting into something newer would do it, but as I’m stuck with Hank for another year or two, I have some time to plan. Which brings me to the other point I made on the show; I think it’s time to leave the MINI brand.

That last part hurts and it hurts a lot. And this will be a topic for ongoing discussion I am sure. The short version is that I can no longer afford to buy a new MINI and can no longer afford to support care and feeding of a late model MINI. And, I really don’t have the time for all of the care and feeding the older cars require.

I’m looking for a replacement for Roxy. I want a car that I can put 300K miles on, drive for 10 years and only have to worry about wear and tear items. I no longer want a car where trim pieces come off in the car wash. Where mirrors fall off. Where interior bits fall off. Where very expensive mechanical failures are not the exception, but the norm. I love the car and I love the brand, but neither of those things love me back. To that end, I am pretty sure it’s time to move on.

Change my mind. Comments are open below. Comments on Facebook will be ignored (it’s a new thing I’m going to be posting about on the nerd blog later this week.)

Now that I am part of this club, are there hats?

Luckily, it wasn’t anything too major. Turns out, the fuel filter housing was cracked and caused all of the fuel remaining in the tank to not be available to the engine, rendering me, essentially, out of gas. Of course, I feared the worst; turbo failure. Because 2013 R59. I am glad to not be part of that club right now.

Otherwise, besides coming up on needing brakes and tires soon-ish, and not being able to drive with the top down because I’m a sissy and can’t handle that when the temps are over 110, this has been a blast to drive!

The Automatic Transmission

I am so conflicted by this, still and daily. While my daily commute is made slightly easier by the automatic transmission, and my feet are much happier, it’s truly horrible for my daily commute. The throttle response is nightmarishly slow. Turning on sport mode goes the wrong way, and makes the car too twitchy. Next time, get the manual. Or don’t drive in traffic every day.

Carrying Things

So far, as expected, I have had no issues carrying anything that I need to carry. The weekly shop? No sweat. Costco? Done. Sure, I can’t haul a Christmas Tree on the roof or carry any small furnishings from Ikea, but for normal use, it’s completely useable.

Carrying Bikes

Sure, daily stuff works great. Carrying bikes has been a challenge, but I’ve got it figured out. What I need to do is get the MNIDoMore trailer system and bike rack, but installed that is going to cost more than I paid for my bike. I’ll keep using the janky-ass Amazon rack for the time being. I might have issus with the tandem, but that is going to be an experiment for another time.

First Dealer Visit

This is planned for the next week to have a new battery installed and have the Navigation activated. Can’t say I’m pleased that I need to have a dealer install the battery or I have to own some Snap-On tool to reset things. I know it’s the future and all that, but there are certain repairs that I can and enjoying on cars. This that I am actually able to accomplish due to tool requirements keeps getting shorter and I think it sucks.

Driving around town and running errands, this car is great. Road trips have been fun as well. If there was a way to improve the throttle response, that would make owning this MINI, or any R5X MINI with the automatic, so much better. That is the biggest downfall of this car and it really sours the experience. But I started with a normally aspirated R50 with a manual. Roxy didn’t know how to spell throttle response.

Going to try to make some events this year. I’m hoping to get to San Diego for Southwest MINI Fest. I know that drive in Hank already and it’s fun! San Diego County is made for drop-tops! And, plans are in the works to try to make a good chunk of the Eastern side of #mtts2018. I’m doing my best gang, but no guarantees.