2023 Mini Cooper SE Live Journal & Review

[MarkSasaki]

I don't think that was the one but I will look and get back to you. It powers on with the car.



Ha! Love to hear it! But yea from a dig it's meh, 10-20 and your a cheeky monkey! Lol

Btw what is the offset of your wheel?

Oh yeah... Never from a dig! Wheel specs are:

NM Engineering Rse12

Size: 18x7.5
Offset: +40 mm

Tire size is 215/40R18

The wheels and tires I had on my 2019 Cooper S, I was worried about how they would fit with the SE's extended flare but they are fine. Here was my 2019 Cooper S. The funny thing is, other than the newer OS on the infotainment, and the SE being electric, it feels very at home on the new car. Both cars are Iconic trims. Taught my 13 year old son to drive (first in my truck, then to the manual trans Mini) and he said the SE is boring in comparison. I think I am doing better without a manual than he is.

 

[Wreckless117]

I read this with excitement bc English is my second language your righting was the best on this forum!

Thank you! That is much appreciated!

 

[Wreckless117]

Oh yeah... Never from a dig! Wheel specs are:

NM Engineering Rse12

Size: 18x7.5
Offset: +40 mm

Tire size is 215/40R18

The wheels and tires I had on my 2019 Cooper S, I was worried about how they would fit with the SE's extended flare but they are fine. Here was my 2019 Cooper S. The funny thing is, other than the newer OS on the infotainment, and the SE being electric, it feels very at home on the new car. Both cars are Iconic trims. Taught my 13 year old son to drive (first in my truck, then to the manual trans Mini) and he said the SE is boring in comparison. I think I am doing better without a manual than he is.

View attachment 17768

Thanks! They look great on both cars honestly. I'm probably not getting wheels anytime soon, but I'm thinking of lowering and spacers for the time being. Just looks a bit anemic in stock form...

 

[MarkSasaki]

Thanks! They look great on both cars honestly. I'm probably not getting wheels anytime soon, but I'm thinking of lowering and spacers for the time being. Just looks a bit anemic in stock form...

You will definitely need spacers if you plan on using your stock wheels. Here is a pic of mine before I had the TPMS sensors swapped over. See how inset the rears are?

 

[Rexsio]

Thanks! They look great on both cars honestly. I'm probably not getting wheels anytime soon, but I'm thinking of lowering and spacers for the time being. Just looks a bit anemic in stock form...

If you don’t care about anemic range on SE your bigger and wider tires are going to make a range worse and in IL with snow lowering a SE which is low from a beginning don’t make much sense.

 

[MarkSasaki]

If you don’t care about anemic range on SE your bigger and wider tires are going to make a range worse and in IL with snow lowering a SE which is low from a beginning don’t make much sense.

I lost about 10 miles or range at best guess. For me, it does not matter since the SE is not my only vehicle. But yes, if would definitely hurt if it was my only car. I also live in Southern California, the car will never see snow or temps below 30 degrees F.

 

[rlozano]

I don't think that was the one but I will look and get back to you. It powers on with the car.



Ha! Love to hear it! But yea from a dig it's meh, 10-20 and your a cheeky monkey! Lol

Btw what is the offset of your wheel?

NVM on my previous comment of the FUSE, was looking at the wrong one on the Fuse diagram, it seems it is position 50 the one you used, which is a 5 Amp fuse.

 

[Rexsio]

I lost about 10 miles or range at best guess. For me, it does not matter since the SE is not my only vehicle. But yes, if would definitely hurt if it was my only car.

Are we buying SE to have best range or we try to make them hot rods ? I put on my bull bar with LED lights to express my self to be different and I see with bigger tires SE looks very masculine that s why we modify them.I own different cars to but once I get to I 3 in 2016 I sold 911 and 944 for good to not make my hands dirty .My driving is only 3000-4000 mile a year with SE second car have 5000 a year.

 

[Rexsio]

I lost about 10 miles or range at best guess. For me, it does not matter since the SE is not my only vehicle. But yes, if would definitely hurt if it was my only car. I also live in Southern California, the car will never see snow or temps below 30 degrees F.

I was referring to@ Wreckles117 inIL

 

[Rexsio]

Awesome review and summary of the different aspects of the Cooper SE. Especially as compared with your Golf R. We talked on here a bit about how we both switched from Golf R's, and I'd say you arrived at more or less the same conclusions as I did. Not nearly as fast or good at handling, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have strong suits.

Love the mods you've done so far. Including the badge removal on the rear, leaving only the S. I did the same thing on mine, admittedly inspired by the R haha.

One thing to keep in mind, tires make a big difference. Mine came with 16" wheels and Hankook summer tires. I thought going to 17" and all season performance tires (Cont DWS06) would be a good changeover and not cause any loss in handling. Boy was I wrong. The summer 16" wheel/tire combo was definitely much tighter in handling. The all seasons feel very floaty and unresponsive in comparison. Not sure how, but is the truth :/ ...Hopefully lowering tightens it back up to acceptable.

All season tires in IL no help use summer tires for summer and winter tires in your location any bigger tires no help in cold climates .

 

[MarkSasaki]

Are we buying SE to have best range or we try to make them hot rods ? I put on my bull bar with LED lights to express my self to be different and I see with bigger tires SE looks very masculine that s why we modify them.I own different cars to but once I get to I 3 in 2016 I sold 911 and 944 for good to not make my hands dirty .My driving is only 3000-4000 mile a year with SE second car have 5000 a year.

For the SE, not really a hot rod but I am the type of person that cannot leave anything alone. The only real performance modifications to the SE that can be improved is handling. The stock Goodyears were horrible and the suspension was something easily improved with good coilovers. But in reality, as I said, I cannot leave anything alone, my truck is lifted with bigger tires, the Mini is lowered with aftermarket suspension, wheels and tires. My previous gas cars were modified, some were turbo’s, some were supercharged, others had built engines or a combo of all of the above. Driving a stock car to me is boring. Plus, I like them to look like the way I want them to look. Cars are a hobby to me, so why not?

 

[OYSTR]

Hey sorry for the late response!

Yep routed along headliner down to side of door to into glovebox/footwell area.

There's a good grounding bolt under the carpet/door trim, so have to take those pieces off, but easy to find after that.

I hate suction cups, so I usually just use the regular mount and take off the cups, and then use 3M VHB double sided tape. Keeps it nice and tight. Just make sure to use some alcohol to clean both surfaces to make sure it bonds well.

Let me know if you need anything else!

View attachment 17762View attachment 17763View attachment 17764

I’m going to be using a 3M sticky mount for my Escort detector as well but wanted to tap the RJ11 power cable into the mirror (or other available power). Has anyone done this or know if there are available power connectors to take this at the mirror/ACC assembly?

Hey sorry for the late response!

Yep routed along headliner down to side of door to into glovebox/footwell area.

There's a good grounding bolt under the carpet/door trim, so have to take those pieces off, but easy to find after that.

I hate suction cups, so I usually just use the regular mount and take off the cups, and then use 3M VHB double sided tape. Keeps it nice and tight. Just make sure to use some alcohol to clean both surfaces to make sure it bonds well.

Let me know if you need anything else!

View attachment 17762View attachment 17763View attachment 17764

I’m going to be using a 3M sticky mount for my Escort detector as well but wanted to tap the RJ11 power cable into the mirror (or other available power). Has anyone done this or know if there are available power connectors to take this at the mirror/ACC assembly? Might also be putting the FitCamX in at some point in the future so prefer not to use the power port it uses.

 

[Wreckless117]

For the SE, not really a hot rod but I am the type of person that cannot leave anything alone. The only real performance modifications to the SE that can be improved is handling. The stock Goodyears were horrible and the suspension was something easily improved with good coilovers. But in reality, as I said, I cannot leave anything alone, my truck is lifted with bigger tires, the Mini is lowered with aftermarket suspension, wheels and tires. My previous gas cars were modified, some were turbo’s, some were supercharged, others had built engines or a combo of all of the above. Driving a stock car to me is boring. Plus, I like them to look like the way I want them to look. Cars are a hobby to me, so why not?

Same here. But your not thinking big enough, who says more power can't be had? ;-)

Reason I'm not dumping money into things like wheels at the moment is that I'm doing a bunch of work mapping out the high voltage electrical system. Key to the dark side lies within controlling the inverter. I'm also working with someone with programming knowledge with Tesla's as I'm terrible with coding, which obviously would be required to override the stock inverter. But I'm not stopping there, once I get the system cracked the long term plan would be to transplant a Tesla plaid motor up front, get that operational, and then make it Awd. I'll get wheels at that point :-D

Gonna take a few years, but by then I'll have another daily and this car will be retired into project land.

I’m going to be using a 3M sticky mount for my Escort detector as well but wanted to tap the RJ11 power cable into the mirror (or other available power). Has anyone done this or know if there are available power connectors to take this at the mirror/ACC assembly?

I've used mirror taps before, I'm unsure if they make one for the SE. I would imagine there is power up there, but you would have to test the wires to find out which ones to use.

 

[MarkSasaki]

Same here. But your not thinking big enough, who says more power can't be had? ;-)

Reason I'm not dumping money into things like wheels at the moment is that I'm doing a bunch of work mapping out the high voltage electrical system. Key to the dark side lies within controlling the inverter. I'm also working with someone with programming knowledge with Tesla's as I'm terrible with coding, which obviously would be required to override the stock inverter. But I'm not stopping there, once I get the system cracked the long term plan would be to transplant a Tesla plaid motor up front, get that operational, and then make it Awd. I'll get wheels at that point :-D

Gonna take a few years, but by then I'll have another daily and this car will be retired into project land.



I've used mirror taps before, I'm unsure if they make one for the SE. I would imagine there is power up there, but you would have to test the wires to find out which ones to use.

I'm totally with you and yes, I have tried to google if there are ways to easily "tune" an electric car. I do not have the background for even attempting that myself, I can design, fabricate, cnc or manual machine anything but that programming stuff is not in my wheel house. My only conclusion so far would be to go aftermarket. There are a good few companies out there selling EV motor controllers. At this point, the little SE is just a shell to do with as you please, rear drive, all wheel drive can be fabricated, add more batteries and adjust for weight balance etc.

 

[Wreckless117]

I'm totally with you and yes, I have tried to google if there are ways to easily "tune" an electric car. I do not have the background for even attempting that myself, I can design, fabricate, cnc or manual machine anything but that programming stuff is not in my wheel house. My only conclusion so far would be to go aftermarket. There are a good few companies out there selling EV motor controllers. At this point, the little SE is just a shell to do with as you please, rear drive, all wheel drive can be fabricated, add more batteries and adjust for weight balance etc.

We're just starting in the next era of hot rods. The future is electric, and modding/tuning isn't going anywhere! Exciting time to be in for sure.

 

[insightman]

But I'm not stopping there, once I get the system cracked the long term plan would be to transplant a Tesla plaid motor up front, get that operational, and then make it Awd.

It won't be easy to fit a Tesla battery into your SE--especially along with AWD. A Tesla motor with the SE battery is probably a 30-mile range proposition.

 

[rlozano]

Thanks for the help, just mounted the Radar detector, I did uses mirror mount since also have a dashcamera that piggy backs for the power source, used the same ground under the carper, very easy.

 

[Wreckless117]

It won't be easy to fit a Tesla battery into your SE--especially along with AWD. A Tesla motor with the SE battery is probably a 30-mile range proposition.

I'm obviously still working on the logistics, but I'm not too concerned about range at that point, as it would be purely a leisure/strip car. I'd be happy if I can achieve 60-80 miles and easily run sub 10s, goal would be breaking into the 8s tho which I think is entirely plausible with plaids already doing that.

Everything behind the front seats will be deleted and would incorporate a partial cage. Batteries and placement is still being worked out, as again, I'm just starting to draw up my game plan and getting measurements and prints put together. This won't be going down for a couple years, but the electric bug has bitten me hard and I've fallen for the mini platform again and think it would be perfect to do an awd conversion.

 

[Carsten Haase]

Same here. But your not thinking big enough, who says more power can't be had? ;-)

But I'm not stopping there, once I get the system cracked the long term plan would be to transplant a Tesla plaid motor up front, get that operational, and then make it Awd.

Maybe not obvious to someone used to ICE tuning but the biggest power limit for the SE is the battery's peak current output.

Each cell has a maximum current/power (C rate) it can output so small battery packs with less cells are limited to less power. Adding a 2nd motor will not increase total power since the battery's peak output would still be the same and would need to be divided between the two motors (each motor limited at half power)

The only way to a faster SE is either with a much larger battery pack, an upgraded pack with high C-rate cells, or gamble with life of the current pack by pushing the cells to a higher C rate.

 

[Wreckless117]

Maybe not obvious to someone used to ICE tuning but the biggest power limit for the SE is the battery's peak current output.

Each cell has a maximum current/power (C rate) it can output so small battery packs with less cells are limited to less power. Adding a 2nd motor will not increase total power since the battery's peak output would still be the same and would need to be divided between the two motors (each motor limited at half power)

The only way to a faster SE is either with a much larger battery pack, an upgraded pack with high C-rate cells, or gamble with life of the current pack by pushing the cells to a higher C rate.

This is correct :-D