If you were to take a road trip, what would be in your "essential tools" bag for potential repairs to your MINI Cooper S R56? An example would be a 14mm Thin-Wall Spark Plug Socket that BMW/MINIs use. Thanks!
I don't carry much for tools.. Socket/breaker bar for my non-stock wheels, jumper cables, quart of oil, tire pressure gauge, and when I have extra space some duct tape and wire (and most important.. a credit card). Also pack a small first aid kit and a towel.
While I don't own an R56, my R53 survives on the OEM tool kit and my AAA card. Extra tools not required.
No spare in an R52 so I include Griot's tire fluffing kit w/compressor which also holds some extra detailing goodies esp. glass cleaning, couple of shop rags, extra qt of oil and a reasonable supply of barrel aged refreshment.
I have a small tool kit I carry to the Dragon every year but its really to help others out. All the techs and tools I would ever need are at the Dragon. Eric from HELIX and Chad from Detroit Tuned. If those two can't fix it its a long tow truck ride home. :frown2: As for non Dragon trips I carry a Phone and a credit card, because that's all you really need. :ihih:
I'll add to Dave O.s list. Way from Way Motor Works is there also so between Dave's list and mine if those guys can't fix it then you really screwed it up.
For my R53, I had this in terms of tools: oil tire pressure gauge torque wrench and socket for my wheels (I used racing style studs and lug nuts, so I was more careful than most about lug nut torque and checked at every fillup) Slime/air-compressor and a tire plug kit because I ditched the runflats The supercharger belt tool and a belt (cause I was running a 16% pulley) torx and hex wrenches (metric) A small socket set (metric) an adjustable wrench (crescent) and a pair of channel-locks A flathead and phillips screwdriver A multi-tool (leatherman style) that had an assortment of blades and needlenose pliers extra fuses I was on my 4th clutch slave cylinder, so I carried a spare tucked in one of the boot compartments, just in case I was somewhere like MOTD where I was several hours from a MINI dealer. Think about issues common to your particular car and consider spares. jumper cables a tow strap (which was never used on the MINI, but that I used several times on other cars) Ice scraper a folding camp shovel 25" or so of duct tape, rolled on itself to make it smaller assorted trash bags and zip-lock bags (handy to have for storage or making a drop-cloth for when you have to change a tire in the rain/mud) FRS radios for caravans. I also carried things like water, granola bars, road flares, emergency blankets, first-aid kit, emergency cash (at least $25 in cash, including several one dollar bills + a bag of misc change for feeding parking meeters / soda machines) I did a full write-up of the kit on my local MINI board: http://www.metroplexmini.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12971 It's amazing how infrequently I used the tools for my MINI, but how often I relied on the stuff in the bag for others. Over my 7 years of MINI ownership, I must have jump started a dozen cars, used the tow strap to pull 3 or 4 cars off of the road (or off of ice), bandaged countless boo-boos and loaned out my spare FRS radios at every club drive I went on. The most used item for myself was the emergency cash (great for those wonderful little local restaurants who take cash only and you are used to living off of plastic) and the granola bars/water.
A man after my own heart! Check out the top left corner of my pic... you will see small bottles of Zaino Z6 (detailing spray), 303 aerospace treatment and window cleaner, along with a handfull of clean microfibers. This leads back to a point that got buried in my earlier post... think about issues that are unique to you and to your car. My car had a clutch slave issue (I had to replace it about every 20k miles), so I carried a spare. My wife is a diabetic, so I always have a couple rolls of glucose tablets handy... one in the glove box and one in my emergency bag for when she used the ones in the glove box and didn't replace them like she should have ). I never had to use the spare clutch slave myself, but it did get used at MOTD one time. I can remember being at the spaghetti dinner and seeing Nathan talking to a guy and pointing at me. I sauntered over to see what was up (I'm used to pointing and laughing, but rarely pointing only) and he had blown his clutch slave and was trying to figure out how to get someone to pick up a part for him in Nashville on their way to the Dragon. Nathan and I had discussed my constant swapping of the clutch slave and he knew I had started carrying the spare. I sold the poor guy the part at cost and his car was back on the road later that night (thanks to a quick install and bleed from one of the vendors).
Always carry microfiber towels, Stones glass cleaner & quick detailer to clean off bird bombs. Nice comprehensive kit agranger. Much like the one I carried in my LBC cars. We are lucky our modern MINIs don't need pare fuel pumps, plugs, cap, rotor, wires or a roll of wire, connectors & tape. These days a cell phone, AAA gold card & Mastercard have me covered.
My Clubman has a fair amount of space under the floor in the back. I carry: A fire extinguisher. It's the first thing that I see when I open the trunk flap. A 180 piece tool set, it is in a flat blow molded case so it doesn't really take up much space. It has just about any tool I might need to fix the MINI. An OBD2 reader, In case I get a check engine light. A Bentley manual. Slime kit and 12v air compressor. Jumper cables Tire pressure gauge Quart of oil, purchased when the car was new, never needed. A couple of bright LED flashlights A small plastic tarp. First aid kit A detail kit made up of Griot's spray on car wash, and microfiber towels. Blankets Moist towelettes OEM jack and tool kit
:cornut: AR10(ess. a 30cal AR15), 1911 in 45acp, night vision, Ham radio, compass, Kevlar vest with 'chicken plate', rain/cold gear, and 3 days rations. Only the essentials.:lol::lol::arf::wink::yikes:opcorn:: Jason