R53 Most liked posts in thread: New 04 MCS owner

Milltek exhaust are awesome on any R53. The sound even better and deeper after you drive a thousand miles and the exhaust carbon builds up in the piping.

I have had one on my car for 10 years and it’s awesome.

Oh and MINI does not have one brand that does it all when it comes to upgrades. I think this is a good thing as you get to pick the best from sources. No one really does everything for the MINI.

 

If you can stand the ride with RFT no reason to replace them now. From what I understand the latest generation of RFT are much better than what originally came on a MINI.

As far as mushrooming goes I installed Ireland Engineering fixed camber plates on my R53. It kept my strut towers from mushrooming.

I'm also not a fan of lowered MINI's. I did lower mine & it made an already low car too low.

Welcome to M/A....

 

RFT are awesome to do burn outs on. Real tires will completely change how your feels when driving in a good way.

As for lowing springs the only ones I would consider are Swift Springs.
https://www.greeneperformance.com/collections/mini-oem-performance-parts/products/swift-spec-r-lowering-springs-mini

The next step is quality coil-overs starting in the $1,700 range and up.
https://www.greeneperformance.com/collections/mini-oem-performance-parts/products/bc-racing-coilovers-with-swift-springs-and-custom-revalve

Anything lower priced are complete crap for real driving and are just for that “Parking lot STANCE” crowd. A.k.a. Slammed cars that can’t go over small speed bumps.

 

Good call on the resonated Milltek. You will be very happy with it.

The only thing I would add while the exhaust is off is a short shifter. Since the exhaust is out of the way you can remove the center heat shield and access the bottom of the shift easily and instal it in 5-10 minutes.

The two popular ones are below:
Greene Performance version. (6 set screws)
https://www.greeneperformance.com/collections/mini-oem-performance-parts/products/mini-cooper-s-r52-r53-02-08-and-r56-cooper-s-07-13-short-shifter

Helix version
http://store.helix13.com/helix-short-shift-kit/?fullSite=1

 

have some washers handy to lower the rear mounting points, as in most cases (both of mine) the tips will be rattling against the rear bumper. And adding a small hose clamp to the rear hangers to provide an arrest for the system to keep from sliding from side to side in the hangers also helps a lot to keep things in place and away from the bumper plastic.

One thing I ran into when swapping mine was that the hanger rubber in the center and rear was ripped. You may want to inspect those parts before you rip it all off and then realize you should order some new exhaust hangers. The rear inside ones are usually ok unless the car ran as a one-ball mod, which will put extra strain on the remaining hanger, plus, the actual hanger metal prong on the car may be bent where the remaining ball was attached. All that slowed my install quite a bit, especially the missing hanger on the passenger side ($45). Oh, and then there can be corroded bolts on the old system - have a cut-off wheel handy. I needed to destroy a nut with a dremel cutoff wheel to separate the original system from the cat.

But if all is well with hangers and rubber mounts and bolts, it won't take very too long to install.

 

I posted that earlier in this thread post #34

washers under the rear interior hangers do it all. doesn't take much to get the tips 1/4" down - like two normal screw washers. The outside rubber donuts will stretch and come down with it.

 

Very sharp R53 and Welcome to Motoring Alliance !!

 

would have been my first steps, too!

nice car. I am not a fan of lowering springs. Bought one of my Minis with such springs and they were horrible, one was broken (as in 2 pieces, clunk clunk on every pavement seam crossing), the other destroyed the front shock tower. Shocks to go with them are expensive, so in the end I decided to do it right and put coilovers on the car. Haven't had an issue since.

 

Interesting experience, but completely different from mine. I have two cars with Milltek systems, bought about the same time early last year. One with resonator, the other with just the pipe. The resonated version is quieter than the bone stock system we pulled from our Florida low mile Mini. Now with the resonator in place, my dark silver car is quietest Mini I have ever driven, and it lost all the fun pops and burbles. I think I heard it pop once. It is now the most boring exhaust, which is why I ordered the pipe to replace the resonator for tooling around town. May keep the resonator for longer cross country trips, but for the handful of miles I usually drive each year, I want my full helping of pops and burbles, otherwise I can just buy a Camry.

My son's car has the non-resonated version and it's quite nice, no drone, just some pops and bangs, enough to have him think he would not want to drive that in his college town where the cops prey on imports while straight pipe pickups can roam with impunity. Even without resonator, that system is nothing close to the noise the Megan Racing exhaust makes (with resonator) on my blue Mini. On that car, I just have to think of taking back the gas pedal a tiny bit and there's a big old pop and burble. When revving above 2500 it is just way too loud for long 70+mph highway travel, and eventually I may just put another Milltek (non-resonated) under that car, unless I sell it and get a Subaru... decisions to make this year.

 

Long live the R53 and welcome to MA

 

That's a great condition for an r53. Congrats!

 

Welcome to M/A!

Nice looking S! I had H&R lowering springs but the ride was really severe and I changed them out for TSW lowering springs. I have tracked my '06 S with them and the ride is smooth and the car still looks lowered. I'm very happy with them and they fit the bill for a 73 year old guy who just wants a sporty, fast, comfy ride.