What did you do to your MINI today?

Qisl said:
If you don't mind me plagiarizing you, I may follow suit. I like both the
  • exchange the range for a ton of fun, and
  • bounds about roundabouts, quietly acting out
Apparently a city just north of me has 43 roundabouts, including 4 multilane roundabouts...
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I would be honored to share my designs with anyone who thinks enough of them to want to wear them. I can provide high-res files if you like and I would be happy to resize them and change colors, too. The only problem is that I might have to step away from this forum for a few minutes to prepare the files :)
 
Qisl said:
I've never heard of a traffic rotary. I wonder if the OED says what the origin of that term is. Perhaps an Anglophile has a subscription?
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If you have never heard of rotaries then consider yourself lucky. Rotaries are dangerous when it's the 40mph+ (usually triple lane variety) and the left lane must yield to the right for zipper merging. Totally fine for horse + carriage but terrible for modern day.

There used be be a rotary running under the I-93 in Methuen, MA that's now converted into parclo and intersections.
rotary.webp
 
I’m at the dealership for the window gap, went to the parts department to check the price for the black belt line kit… $844 Canadian plus tax. Wut. Can get it online for around $550 US. That’s around $735 Canadian, but might also incur duties and taxes. The shop.mini.ca site shows it at $750. :cool:
 
SameGuy said:
I’m at the dealership for the window gap, went to the parts department to check the price for the black belt line kit… $844 Canadian plus tax. Wut. Can get it online for around $550 US. That’s around $735 Canadian, but might also incur duties and taxes. The shop.mini.ca site shows it at $750. :cool:
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Electrical tape?
 
insightman said:
I agree the triangle would have been too much--the lightning bolt looks good without the triangle.

Hopefully, MINI won't send you a cease-and-desist letter about adding a yellow accent to a Chili Red SE. I'm guessing the only reason MINI doesn't sell Energetic Yellow mirror caps is to prevent owners of Chili Red and BRG SEs from overriding the company's ban on ordering those color combinations. MINI forgets they stick one or more yellow S's and a yellow MINI-E logo on every SE.

I deleted the fake hood scoop on my SE because MINI's hood scoop (even fake on their ICE cars) was intended to emulate a car with a powerful gas-burning engine that needs more air. When I begged to pay $1,500 for a factory scoop-delete option, MINI's head designer sent me a letter suggesting it was marketing, not his design department, who insisted on the hood scoop. Indeed, none of the electric MINI Cooper cars or car sketches leading to the SE had hood scoops.

I also chose a license plate and license-plate frame that hint my MINI is electric:

View attachment 19523

[Apologies to longtime forum members who have tired of my anti-hood-scoop rants.]
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I’m ashamed to admit I like the scoop (and similarly useless hood bulge) granting that both are ridiculous on a car that’s supposed to eke out as much aero as possible. I’ve wondered though if one could create a clear, smooth cover that would direct air right over it. - a la Ferrari 250 GTO headlight covers.
The other option is to turn it into something useful and duct air to…dunno….
 
Outagas said:
Ok - going to sound super clueless here but what is this “belt line” reference all about?
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MINI dropped the ball here. They decided to replace the chrome trim on some MINI Cooper SEs with black trim--EXCEPT for the chrome trim below the windows, which forms a beltline (sometimes called waistline) around the car.

As a result, the owner of an otherwise all-black MINI has to spend many hundreds of dollars to get the black beltline trim that MINI offers. Alternatively, one can purchase a black-beltline kit with black tape (or use their own electrical tape) to cover the chrome for a much-less expensive (but not as good-looking) chrome-free beltline.
 
inferno10 said:
Just installed a wireless charging pad where the 12v and USB ports are located on the lower dash. I paid around $75 ($68.50 + tax) for it on Amazon.

Overall, the install succeeded, but I encountered three issues:
  • On the new wiring harness, the part that the old lighter/12V plug inserts into to wouldn't accept the connector from the Mini. The plug orientation matched, just it was a wee bit too small to accept the power plug from the Mini. I'm guessing the fitting shrank after being formed or they didn't size the plug correctly (you get what you pay for). I ended up using an exacto knife to trim away a bit of the inner wall from the connector on the wiring harness to make it more accepting of the plug. After some shaving and some forceful persuasion, I was able to finally shove the power plug into the new harness.
  • My '23 SE had two USB ports: one USB-C port, and one USB-A port. However, the removable rectangular portion that transferred to the new panel only contained the USB-C portion; the USB-A port was a completely separate connector. I haven't used either port yet, so I just taped up the USB-A port and shoved it into the void, while the USB-C port went into the new panel (though it only went in "upside-down" with the battery facing downward). I didn't want to risk ruining the panel trying to cut open a hole for the USB-A port, so I'm actually down 1 USB port after the install. Hopefully the USB-C port is the one that does data transfer as well, otherwise I'll need to pull open the panel again if I ever need to access the USB-A port for software updates in the future.
  • One other thing was that I didn't bother trying to transfer was the existing 12V/lighter socket, which the new housing had a space for. Instead, I bought a replacement socket from eBay and used that instead, leaving the old 12V unplugged and hidden behind the new housing. One problem was that the housing didn't have any place for the clips from the 12V socket to secure into, so it would just slide out. To fix this, I just shoved a ziptie through some notches at the back of the socket to "lock" it into place and wrapped a little bit of electrical tape around the outer diameter of the socket to fill in some tolerance and prevent rattling.

Here's what the finished install looks like:
View attachment 19528 View attachment 19529

Another thing I did today was use BimmerCode for the first time to unlock the acoustic pedestrian warning toggle. I got a little worried after seeing all the warnings in the app regarding the coding process, but everything went fine. Now I can toggle the warning sound on/off with one of my shortcut buttons!
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That is one very sweet looking mod. Would love that or maybe convert the trough under the armrest to a charging pad (which I thought actually was a charger in some trim levels)

Re BimmerCode- what’s the interface with the car - a Bluetooth OBD module? Would love to shorten or even silence the cacophony of bings and bongs on power up…
 
Outagas said:
Re BimmerCode- what’s the interface with the car - a Bluetooth OBD module?
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Bimmercode works with an Android phone/tablet or iPhone/iPad connected to a Bluetooth OBDII module. There's some kind of wired iPhone option, too, but that's more expensive.
 
KiwiRob said:
I don't understand why MINI has folding mirrors when they don't fold when the car is locked.
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The mirrors can be folded by pressing the appropriate switch on the driver's door (before you get out) or by long-pressing the lock button on the key fob (which will also roll up windows and close the sunroof).
 
And with a BimmerCode, one can set them to fold with Comfort Access Convenient-closing using either the fob or the outside door handle button. I use the outside button, I never fumble for the fob in my pocket.
 
Had to stifle a laugh when I saw first these mirrors fold.

Bit like rolling a grapefruit onto its side for all the space it saves us…..:D
 
Outagas said:
Had to stifle a laugh when I saw first these mirrors fold.

Bit like rolling a grapefruit onto its side for all the space it saves us…..:D
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Around here car thieves walk down streets looking for cars that do not have their mirrors folded! Needless to say mine are folded all the time!
 
For sure - my biggest concern is my paint getting keyed or doors dinged.

When she’s all washed and waxed that Chili Red is a most glorious, striking colour - it feels like you can see it from blocks away, set off against the black roof and pillars. My avatar doesn’t do it justice.

Just the thing some cretin would mess up - either carelessly or purposely. :(
 
SameGuy said:
And with a BimmerCode, one can set them to fold with Comfort Access Convenient-closing using either the fob or the outside door handle button. I use the outside button, I never fumble for the fob in my pocket.
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Do you remember where this option is in Bimmercode? I'd love to have my mirrors autofold
 
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