2009 R56 Mini Cooper S Fun Car Build

As she sits today:


I picked up a 2009 Cooper S 6 Speed Manual picked up super dirt cheap off a friend that was going to trade it in... Having lost the sports car battle with the wife's Mercedes C300 DD, i needed something fun and stick shift to compliment my 2015 Tacoma 6" gas guzzler build (I will be updating the in a couple days when complete on my build page!!)... I also have a weird thing for Mini Coopers since I was a little kid and would play Midtown Madness 2 on PC like crazy. When I was 12 I made my dad go to a dealership to see one of the first released ones in 02... I also had posters and models of them but kind of lost track of that dream..... So I picked it up March 2, 2019 with 131,000 highway miles and all maintenance records!!! He owned the car since 16,000miles. Most of the major maintenance was covered under the 120,000 mile ext warranty (basically 9/10 of the common R56 issues were all addressed around 100,000 miles). Here was when I got it home!!



3/3/19 The original stripes had to go first thing first day. They were cracked weathered discolored and a pain to get off. Lots of rock chips as the car saw 500 miles a week highway. No more of that!! Need to really get this paint to shine. I also had Picked up these wheels and tires 2 months ago up in Wisconsin when I found a great deal on 5 Kosei K4R wheels with Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R tires since I knew I was eventually getting this car (or another Cooper S). Setup had 500 miles on it.


plastidipped ALL the chrome on the whole car with the exception of the door handles. plastifdipped mirrors grey for now

3/6 Lights yellowed out with duplicolor chromecast, Front EZ Lip Pro installed.



4/5/19 BSH Oil Catch Can install and seafoam the PCV

10/2/19 - K&N Typhoon Intake installed - LOVE the Turbo Sounds


10/8/19 - Installed some more new parts:
-New Brake pads, Sensors, and Rotors
-New Valve Cover/Gasket
-H&R 1.4" Lowering Springs
-Oil change
Poke-ball Shift Knob cover by my sister

Pix of the new Stance!! Love the ride!!



Current Mods:
Kosei K4R wheels with Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R
H&R 1.4" Lowering Springs
BSH Catch Can
K&N Typhoon Intake
Plastiderppp and yellowed lights
Powerstop Evolution Pads and Rotors
updated PCV valve cover from ECS Tuning
EZ Lip Pro

Budget build about complete! Stay Tuned for more!! Doing some body work and may wrap whole car! Installing a Turbo Muffler delete tube this week.

 

Very nice. One of my best friends has a Clubman S with some mods and it's a riot. Does pretty well in autoX too. Kind of want one myself after spending time around his car...

 

They are a blast! I am loving it. Lot of haters for sure but they are fun cars with an extremely frantic powerband! Catch Can and new valve cover/gasket going on this week and currently looking at larger intercoolers . R56 gen cars can be had extremely cheap cause of all the common issue... That being said I recommend one if you find one you know the history of.

 

Updated!

 

Still rockin and loving this little car!!! I will be beginning to track the car so did some minor little preventative things to increase the durability as these little BMW turbo engines cook all the plastic and rubber goods under the hood.... replaced the coolant reservoir and lines, turbo inlet tubing with a straight through turbo muffler delete, vinyl bombed the roof and mirrors... and she still passed emissions so I am good for 3 more years of fun Looking at getting a tune in the near future but man is this thing a blast as a 3rd car!!

 

Update?

 

I actually sold the car to a friend that has since put 3,000 happy miles on it!..... and purchased a new 2020 Subaru WRX STI I am modestly building! Spats Skirts Lip, bunch of Badges, and vinyl 35% tint, plastidipped stock wheels bronze, Rally armor mudflaps, F1 brakelight, and Remark Muffler delete 4" tips! 1600 miles so far!!

 

Nice!

Still running the stock OEM summer tires? Plan on running winter tires?

 

So for right now I am on the summer tires. I drive the Tacoma still mostly to be honest to keep the STI nice. I will probably eventually get a lighter 18x9.5 setup with an all season (Michelin A/S 3) but I am not sure yet! I figure keep the salt and crud off the STI for now.... but man do i really want to take it ice racing

 

Just got back from visiting my in-laws in VA and told them that I would buy their 2017 R56 when they are ready to sell (they are 75&76 and it's not the most comfortable car for my MIL). It has about 56k miles and they bought it new. Not sure of the issues that you mention but I'll do some research before they hopefully let me take it off their hands. They said they may also give it to my son once he turns 16 (~8 months).

Stumbled upon this thread while doing research--bummer you sold the Mini but the Suby is a fun one as well--dad had both WRx and STi back in the day.