A MINI (R53 Cooper S) Adventure
Discussion
More spending, this time in the ‘nice to have’ category. A combination of a 20% eBay code and 41% at Autodoc yesterday meant that a full set of Sachs dampers were too tempting to refuse at £160 for all 4. Top mounts and dust boots ordered too. Hoping that the existing springs are fit to reuse but we’ll see.
Also booked in with 1320mini for a supercharger service and once over. Fingers crossed for a relatively clean bill of health!
Also booked in with 1320mini for a supercharger service and once over. Fingers crossed for a relatively clean bill of health!
£160 is totes barg for all four corners. Good work young man!
I'd agree on the bushes, almost certainly need doing by now. On mine, I swapped the control arm bushings for powerflex ones. It's a design flaw on BMW's of that period that the control arm bolts onto the bulkhead & as a result the bushes take the brunt of road salt & grime & fail reliably, the polybush ones will outlive the car.
I've seen cars poybushed throughout & it can make them harsh for daily use, it's a choice really. And some, like the inner ball joints are so awkward to reach that it's actually easier to drop the subframe to get at them. Two birds with one stone maybe? Subframe spruce up & suspension joint refresh at the same time?
I'd agree on the bushes, almost certainly need doing by now. On mine, I swapped the control arm bushings for powerflex ones. It's a design flaw on BMW's of that period that the control arm bolts onto the bulkhead & as a result the bushes take the brunt of road salt & grime & fail reliably, the polybush ones will outlive the car.
I've seen cars poybushed throughout & it can make them harsh for daily use, it's a choice really. And some, like the inner ball joints are so awkward to reach that it's actually easier to drop the subframe to get at them. Two birds with one stone maybe? Subframe spruce up & suspension joint refresh at the same time?
President Merkin said:
£160 is totes barg for all four corners. Good work young man!
I'd agree on the bushes, almost certainly need doing by now. On mine, I swapped the control arm bushings for powerflex ones. It's a design flaw on BMW's of that period that the control arm bolts onto the bulkhead & as a result the bushes take the brunt of road salt & grime & fail reliably, the polybush ones will outlive the car.
I've seen cars poybushed throughout & it can make them harsh for daily use, it's a choice really. And some, like the inner ball joints are so awkward to reach that it's actually easier to drop the subframe to get at them. Two birds with one stone maybe? Subframe spruce up & suspension joint refresh at the same time?
Agree with all of this. I polybushed my RTABs, and I wish I'd left it at that. I don't recall noticing any real difference when I did mine, but poly should at least last a bit longer.I'd agree on the bushes, almost certainly need doing by now. On mine, I swapped the control arm bushings for powerflex ones. It's a design flaw on BMW's of that period that the control arm bolts onto the bulkhead & as a result the bushes take the brunt of road salt & grime & fail reliably, the polybush ones will outlive the car.
I've seen cars poybushed throughout & it can make them harsh for daily use, it's a choice really. And some, like the inner ball joints are so awkward to reach that it's actually easier to drop the subframe to get at them. Two birds with one stone maybe? Subframe spruce up & suspension joint refresh at the same time?
The control arm bushes were an MOT fail on this a few years ago so I think they were done. There’s no tell-tale excess play in the front wheels anyway.
It would be nice to drop the subframes and do the lot. Maybe a job for next year if it sticks around. I’ve looked in to refreshed/coated steel items and I fully expect the actual underbody needs a bit of treatment and resealing too. For now I think it will just be a straight swap on the struts and ancillaries
It would be nice to drop the subframes and do the lot. Maybe a job for next year if it sticks around. I’ve looked in to refreshed/coated steel items and I fully expect the actual underbody needs a bit of treatment and resealing too. For now I think it will just be a straight swap on the struts and ancillaries
Edited by tallpaul26 on Tuesday 28th March 12:56
tallpaul26 said:
Totally. It’s the slippery slope though. Both front and rear subframes are crusty (to put it mildly) and I expect almost every joint and bush is overdue replacement too…
I’ve found the same….it’s starts with springs and dampers and before I know it, I’m back at the dealers collecting new bolts, rubber mounting bits etc. £160 for four dampers is too cheap to ignore though.Just ‘idly’ (it took ages) priced up complete front and rear refresh - refurb subframes, trailing arms, control arms, links, joints, bushes etc. Safe to say the front could be a bit spendy but the rear looks pretty cheap and relatively quick to do. Plus it would give me the excuse to drop the fuel tanks and see how ugly it is behind them. Scope creep…
We have brakes! Sort of.
Both rear callipers replaced and a fluid change. The fluid was pure filth, but with the previous owner recently changing the rear pads and discs too, at least the back end is sorted for many many miles! This now leaves the front looking ( and feeling ) a bit sad. The pads are disintegrating and the discs have a fair lip to them, plus the callipers look manky.
Can’t decide whether to just change the pads for now or go all in on the fronts too. I’m driving past my BMW dealership tomorrow, whether or not they have pads on the shelf may decide things. If I have to order online then things could escalate rapidly!
Both rear callipers replaced and a fluid change. The fluid was pure filth, but with the previous owner recently changing the rear pads and discs too, at least the back end is sorted for many many miles! This now leaves the front looking ( and feeling ) a bit sad. The pads are disintegrating and the discs have a fair lip to them, plus the callipers look manky.
Can’t decide whether to just change the pads for now or go all in on the fronts too. I’m driving past my BMW dealership tomorrow, whether or not they have pads on the shelf may decide things. If I have to order online then things could escalate rapidly!
Turns out BMW didn’t have brake pads and can’t order them. My local motor factors had OEM spec TRW pads so I got those. My pad wear sensor was broken so new one of those too.
The old pads had loads of meat but were breaking up a little on the piston side. Suspect this was due to slightly sticky callipers. They’ve been cleaned up a bit but I think are really fit for the bin. I’ll run these pads for a while then strip them out and see how things are going. Suspect I’ll be fitting new callipers and discs before long though!
Although the old pads had plenty of material, the car hasn’t accumulated many miles recently so are probably a good few years old:
As I had a bit of time after doing the pads, I decided to attacks the headlights with my bargain restoration kit. I think this was about a tenner:
Using my DA polisher made fairly light work of it. I could have taken a bit more care with the sanding steps as there are few bits around the edge not fully touched but for the effort I think the results are pretty good. They actually look better than I could capture on the photos as there was a bit of condensation in the lense after a soggy drive to get pads.
Before (left) and after (right):
The old pads had loads of meat but were breaking up a little on the piston side. Suspect this was due to slightly sticky callipers. They’ve been cleaned up a bit but I think are really fit for the bin. I’ll run these pads for a while then strip them out and see how things are going. Suspect I’ll be fitting new callipers and discs before long though!
Although the old pads had plenty of material, the car hasn’t accumulated many miles recently so are probably a good few years old:
As I had a bit of time after doing the pads, I decided to attacks the headlights with my bargain restoration kit. I think this was about a tenner:
Using my DA polisher made fairly light work of it. I could have taken a bit more care with the sanding steps as there are few bits around the edge not fully touched but for the effort I think the results are pretty good. They actually look better than I could capture on the photos as there was a bit of condensation in the lense after a soggy drive to get pads.
Before (left) and after (right):
Edited by tallpaul26 on Friday 31st March 17:34
Edited by tallpaul26 on Friday 31st March 17:35
Edited by tallpaul26 on Friday 31st March 17:37
C70R said:
I ran Ferodo ds2500 in my R53 on the road, and never once found them wanting. They even stood up to a couple of trackdays before I upgraded. Mine were the R56 calipers, but I think they make them in the R53 fitment too. Whatever you do, don't buy EBC Greenstuff!
Bit in bold was probably the main reason you didn't find them wanting. The standard R53 brakes are utter, utter s
t. amongst the worst I've used in a car with the amount of performance it did.TameRacingDriver said:
C70R said:
I ran Ferodo ds2500 in my R53 on the road, and never once found them wanting. They even stood up to a couple of trackdays before I upgraded. Mine were the R56 calipers, but I think they make them in the R53 fitment too. Whatever you do, don't buy EBC Greenstuff!
Bit in bold was probably the main reason you didn't find them wanting. The standard R53 brakes are utter, utter st. amongst the worst I've used in a car with the amount of performance it did.Quite a satisfying job ticked off today. When I bought the car, it had recently been valeted and some sort of ‘back to black’ trim dye used on all the black plastic outer trims. These type of products are very effective but messy and not particularly long lasting.
17 year old trim definitely needs something to hide the ravages of salt and UV damage but I wanted a better solution, so I turned to GTechniq trim restorer:
To get anywhere near the claimed 2 years of efficacy the plastic needs to be squeaky clean before application. Getting the old product off required a combo of tar remover, APC, IPA and elbow grease, but we got there! Applying C4 is quick and simple, the effort is really all in the prep.
Before and after:
17 year old trim definitely needs something to hide the ravages of salt and UV damage but I wanted a better solution, so I turned to GTechniq trim restorer:
To get anywhere near the claimed 2 years of efficacy the plastic needs to be squeaky clean before application. Getting the old product off required a combo of tar remover, APC, IPA and elbow grease, but we got there! Applying C4 is quick and simple, the effort is really all in the prep.
Before and after:
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