All about MINI MINI Acronyms

General Acronyms
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Last update 5/11/15

ABS Also know as Anti-Lock Brakes When ABS equipped brakes are depressed hard - like in a panic stop - the ABS system pumps the brakes several times per second. ABS helps you maintain control of the vehicle by stopping in a straight line. ABS is very effective at braking in adverse weather conditions like ice, snow or rain.

With ABS, sensors measure the speed at which the wheels are turning. If this decreases rapidly, the electronic steering system reports blocking danger. The pressure of the hydraulics is reduced immediately and then raised to just under the blocking threshold. The process can be repeated several times per second, and you can notice it by the pulsation on the brake pedal.

To improve ABS, MINI places a sensor on every single wheel. The advantage of 4 sensors is the higher regulation precision. By sensing 4 individual rpm's of the wheels, the braking power on the rear axle can be adjusted with a great deal more sensitivity.

MINIs four wheel-speed sensors are in constant contact with all four wheels, providing greater accuracy than systems that use just three sensors. Each sensor carries accurate feedback from a specific wheel independently. A three-sensor system provides an average wheel-speed figure for rear wheels. This average reading can be inaccurate when one side of the car is on dry pavement and the other is on ice.

Some ABS systems pulsate as little as four times a second, while MINIs ABS pulsates 12 - 15 times per second. The pulsation represents a cycle in which pressure is first released from a particular wheel that has begun to lock and then allowed to resume. The faster the cycle, the closer you are to achieving maximum braking efficiency.

MINIs ABS also provides "yaw control," which keeps the car's back end from swinging to the side, by providing the proper balance between maximum braking and stability when one side of the car is on ice and the other is on dry pavement.

MINIs ABS works with other active safety elements to provide accurate steering, balanced handling and Automatic Stability Control + Traction, which ensures wheels always maintain optimum contact with the road. In fact, the wheel-speed sensors that detect and prevent brakes from locking are also used in BMINIs ASC+T to detect and prevent wheels from spinning.

While ABS can usually shorten braking distances on wet and icy roads, there are some limitations in other conditions. It may actually take longer to brake on loose stones or fresh snow because they cannot build up in front of the wheels as they would when the wheels are locked.

ASC + T Automatic Stability Control + Traction is a suspension control system that reduces engine output, until the vehicle can move or acceleration can take place, without the wheels spinning.

This happens regardless of how the driver is using the accelerator. If the reduction in acceleration is not enough, each drive wheel is braked individually until both wheels have optimum traction. Braking is under control of the MINI pioneered Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) system.

Intelligent regulation systems prevent the vehicle from swerving when accelerating on a loose surface, insuring that directional stability is reliably maintained.

If a wheel threatens to spin, the wheel brake is applied or else the system intervenes to regulate the engine management accordingly. Only so much throttle is applied to insure lateral stability, even if the accelerator is fully depressed.

An integrated engine drag torque regulation system stops the drive wheels from blocking if the driver suddenly removes his foot from the accelerator.

The system can be switched off if you desire.

CBC Cornering Brake Control is a further development and expansion of the anti-lock braking systems (ABS) for braking on curves. CBC works together with ABS to counter over-steer when going around corners fast. CBC guarantees optimum distribution of brake power in corners, keeping the car on track even if the brakes are applied suddenly when cornering.

Here's how it works:

Using the revolutions of the wheel, CBC regulates the pressure in the different wheel brake cylinders so that wheels operate separately and brake optimally. In this way the system intervenes early and the driver is unaware of it.

In addition, the physically-dependent over-steering while braking on curves is compensated. CBC counteracts these tendencies by modulating brake action at individual wheels in a precise way; for instance, it can cause brake pressure at the outside front wheel to build up more rapidly than at the other wheels.

The result is significantly safer and gentler braking. The vehicle remains safe on track at all times. Even during abrupt braking maneuvers, the vehicle remains stable.

DSC Dynamic Stability Control is a suspension control system which goes beyond the single components of Anti-lock Brake System (ABS), Cornering Brake Control (CBC) and Automatic Stability Control + Traction (ASC + T).

The steering wheel movement, vehicle speed, transverse acceleration and yaw are all used by DSC to register imminent instability when cornering. DSC then intervenes via the engine management system, reducing drive torque and activating wheel brakes when necessary to keep the vehicle stable. These events occur within milliseconds.

DSC is, in fact, a further development of the ABS and ASC+T slip control systems.

While ASC + T analyzes the longitudinal forces occurring in straight-ahead operation, DSC additionally registers and analyses lateral dynamic forces.

When cornering at high speeds, DSC counters unstable vehicle states such as oversteering (rear of car brakes into a slide towards the outside of the curve) or understeering (front of car pushes towards the outside of the curve).

The DSC feature can provide maximum stability when cornering.

With DSC there is a significant reduction in the risk of skidding.

Justa "justa" Mini Cooper, not an S or a JCW

EBD or Electronic Brakeforce Distribution controls the distribution of the hydraulic braking force between the front and rear wheels, ensuring the optimum braking power distribution between axles at all times and under different load conditions. If the car's rear axle is under heavy loading, a higher braking force than normal can be safely applied to the rear wheels, greatly improving the vehicle's braking abilities. The EBD mechanism is automatically activated under average braking pressure, long before the ABS would be required.

NVH Noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), also known as noise and vibration (N&V), is the study and modification of the noise and vibration characteristics of vehicles, particularly cars and trucks. While noise and vibration can be readily measured, Harshness is a subjective quality, and is measured either via "jury" evaluations, or with analytical tools that provide results reflecting human subjective impressions. These latter tools belong to the field known as "psychoacoustics."

Interior NVH deals with noise and vibration experienced by the occupants of the cabin, while exterior NVH is largely concerned with the noise radiated by the vehicle, and includes drive-by noise testing.

NVH is mostly engineering, but often objective measurements fail to predict or correlate well with the subjective impression on human observers. This is partly because the human body has its own frequency response, e.g. the ear's response at moderate noise levels is approximated by A-weighting, but this does not mean that two noises with the same A-weighted level are equally disturbing. The field of psychoacoustics is partly concerned with this correlation.

RFT - Run Flat Tires

Color Acronyms
This page of MINI Paint colors has been moved here.
Detailing Acronyms
Detailing Acronyms

Column 1	Column 2
Acronym	Meaning
BG	Banana Gloss
BW	Black Wow
DP	Detailers Paradise
MF	MicroFiber
OG	OctaneGuy
OMGTFC	Oh My God That's Frickin Clean
PC	Porter Cable
PCDA	Ported Cable Dual Action
QD	Quick Detailer
RO	Random Orbiter
DISO	Dealer Installed Swirls Option
LC	Lake Country polishing pads
OCD	Obsessive Compulsive Detailer
SOCW	Griot's Spray On Car Wash
DD	Daily Driver (not direct drive polishers)
BOFS	Griot's Best of Show wax

Tuning Acronyms
Tuning Acronyms
Event Acronyms
Event Acronyms

AMVIV - A MINI Vacation In Vegas

M&M - Mickey And MINIs

MITM - MINIs In The Mountains

MME - Mini Meets East

MMW - Mini Meets West

MoM - Mid-Ohio Motoring

MOT - MINIs On Top

MotM - MINIs on the Mac

MOTD - MINIs On The Dragon

MSSD - MINIs Slay The Sleeping Dragon

MTTS - MINI Takes the States