Post in constant Update status.  Please come back and check for updates.

A serious issue has come up in the Mini Cooper world.  Mini Cooper Drivers around the U.S. and world have been reporting a strange knocking/rubbing noise coming from the engine compartment for the year 2007+ Mini Cooper.  From the misc dealer repair details it appears to be a issue with the timing chain and tensioner system.  It also appears the without being fixed the car will eventually have a timing chain failure and possible motor destruction.  On a good note BMW/Mini know what the problem is however is failing to come up with or acknowledge a permanent solution.  How many customers issues will it take before BMW/Mini will issue a full recall?  We all hope not many more.  I am in the second generation mini group myself.  Every morning I cross my fingers in hope that when I push the start button the sound of engineering failure doesn’t sing from under my hood!

Is there a Mini Cooper Recall for a Loud Knocking Diesel sound In the Second Generation Mini Cooper?
Not at this time!

Please add a comment at the end stating Your Name  year/model and miles below to be added to the database list if you have a confirmed issue with the timing chain noise.

SIGN THE RECALL MINI COOPER PETITION HERE!

OVER 500 PEOPLE have signed the Petition NOW!

Notify the U.S. Gov of the Issue Here!

Example: John Doe  2008 Cooper S  5000 miles

Information and updates

Years Affected 2007+
Recall Status:  No
Warranty Repair: Yes
Video Clip

Total Users Affected Registered on This site: 500+

1.   Joseph Bejnarowicz  2007 MCS   30k miles
2. Mark McSwain 2008 Clubman S   21k miles
3. Ric Liang 2008 MCS  0k miles happened on arrival
4.  Tim Shackelford 2007 MCS 36K miles
5. Wayne LoPrete 2008 MCS JCW Package 9k miles
6. David Australia 2007 MCS 1500 Miles

Sources:
Mini2
Motoring Alliance
North American Motoring

For years the Mini Cooper world was stuck with either a canned tune or a custom dyno tune.  Now with ALTA‘s new AccessPORT you  get a custom style tune designed specifically for certain aftermarket bolt-on performance parts!

Now the big question the lingers in the back of everyone’s head is “Will we get access to tune our own Mini?”

The Info

Plug and Play (No cutting or  wiring.  just plug into odbII port)
Canned map provides 20-40 Wheel Horsepower
ALTA Custom Tuned Staged Maps give as much as 40whp and 100 ft/lbs Torque
Ability to easily change maps as you upgrade to new parts for your car.
Reset ECU Error Codes
Raise The Rev Limiter
Uninstall and set car back to factory defaults
Live ECU Monitoring
Throttle Position Mapping
Sport Button Alternative Features
A/F Mapping
EGT Limits Raised
Increase Boot pressure
Raise Speed limiter
Increase Torque Limiter
Launch Control
Data Logging
Multi-Map Storage
Easy to Read Bright Screen
Portable (fits in your pocket)
1 year warranty

Model and years:

2007-2010 Cooper S Manual
2009-2010 JCW
Automatic (in development)

For More Information Visit ALTA Performance!

Our Second Part to Give Away is a Grille Badge Holder By Craven Speed!

Mini Cooper speed is going to use the money from advertising on the site to bring you free Mini Cooper parts!

If you see an advertisement that looks interesting please check it out.  You never know some of the ad’s are a great bargain.

How can Mini Cooper Speed Afford this? Well the first round of parts will come out of my own pocket.  Hopefully the  advertisement links will help pay for some of the parts.

I am also xing my fingers that vendors will start to support the diy site movement to help fund the parts we are going to give away.

How do I get free parts? In order to get free Mini Cooper Parts you have to become active on the website.  Basically we are looking for individuals who are interested in writing How-To, DIY, articles.  We are going to draw the names of all the individuals who post informative articles on the website at the end of every two months or 20 articles.  One person in the group will be chosen randomly(name in the hat style) to win the part.  Each user will have there name in the hat for as many articles that they post in that time frame.  So if you post 5 times you will have 5 entries in the hat.  Articles that are post will be approved or denied by the site administrators before it becomes active.  If it is not approved you will get a notification of why and what you need to fix.

Where do I sign up to add articles?
You can sign up by registering here!
Register Here!

Oxybluecoop is an active member on the Motoring Alliance mini forum and we are proud to have one of his diy how-to’s for the Mini Cooper on our site.
Check out the winning post: How to Seafoam your Mini Coooper
If you are interested in winning free  parts check out: Free Mini Cooper Parts

The Free giveaways are made possible by you supporting our advertisers.
Thanks again everyone and we are already in the process of getting the next prize ready!

An anonymous source has leaked photos of the MINI R60.

Just yesterday the manufacture release a new video of the crossover.  I dont know what has me tripping out more.  The AWD Mini Cooper or the psychodelic video BMW/MINI released!

It also apears that it is decorated with the “All4″ all-wheel-drive logo!

Hopefully we will have yet another enjoyable line of Mini’s to play in!  AWD gets me a bit excited .

The Stig is the race driver on the BBC show Top Gear. Hi is a mysterious that no one ever gets to see his name or his face on the tv show. The Stig is generally responsible for taking out all of the cool cars on Top Gear and demonstrating what laptimes the cars are capable of.

Alta Performance has done it again.  They have updated and released a whole new turbo inlet pipe for the R56 Mini Cooper.
Specifications:

CNC Aluminum
Mandrel Bent
Red Wrinkle or Black Wrinkle Colors
Matches New Alta Intakes!

Alta Performance was kind enough to even provide the dyno graphs showing a full 10whp increase!

Check out the great pictures dyno graphs below.

Check out the Alta Mini Cooper Turbo Inlet Pipes at

Alta Performance

This new kit looks very well made as with all the products that Mini Mania has come out with.  I am excited to see how a fully installed unit looks.

Description:
This is a five piece Quad light bar kit.
Includes:
Left and right brackets
Two center brackets
One radius bracket that matches the grill curve perfectly.

According to Mini Mania “They mount to the bumper support using the Mini Cooper factory bolts. There is NO DRILLING or removal of any bumper parts required to install. They are finished in black powder coat. Grill must be trimmed. Center clamp bracket shown in picture 2. Comes with complete instructions and grill template.”

Check Out the bracket Kit by clicking the link below.
Mini Cooper R56 Convertible Quad Light Bracket Kit

Up until this point I have been a strong believer in AAA as an insurance company. However today I had received a major let down. I have learned that AAA is utilizing the most unsecured reporting agency in the industry. The scariest part is that I actually have a file on hand at ChoicePoint! Please read below. I am going to write about my experiences as they happen hopefully I can somehow or another remove myself from the dreaded company that cant seem to get a grasp on security practices.

I recently applied for a new insurance policy through AAA for my Mini Cooper.  All went fine and I have my new car insured.  However through my AAA insurance I was also offered Renters Insurance.  This in turn would give me a discount on my car insurance.  Too my surprise I received a letter that I am either being declined my renters insurance or having it restricted.  The letter appears to be a standard credit check and it came back declined.  Copy of the letter is below.

Now this would not come to me as a surprise at all if I had bad/poor credit.  However my credit reports from all three major Credit Reporting Agencies are clean and clear.  I did just buy a new 2009 Mini Cooper after all and a brand new 2009 Nissan Versa .  Damn I love Mini!

Ok now to find out about this Choice Point Services company claiming to be a Credit Report Agency.  I have previously heard of a Choice Point Services however I was xing my fingers that it wasnt the company that is the laughing joke in all of the IT security professionals. This letter scared the crap out of me especially seeing that I am in the IT security field and have actually joked about ChoicePoint being hacked and loosing 100k+ worth of private information. Anyways, I called the number on the letter to figure out how to get a copy of my credit report.  However it is late and I received the automated computerized prompts.  I went through the system and I was informed that I can do it over the phone.  The Wonderful Choice Point Services computerized operator told me it would only be 8 min to complete the process.  I started going through the process and it asked for my Social Security Number.  At that point I stopped.  I don’t know if this is the company I had joked about and I am certainly not providing my Social Security Number to go into their computerized database.  At this point I was notified that I can send the request through the Choice Point Services Website.

The URL I was given over the phone for the website is consumerdisclosure.com

I fired up firefox and headed directly to the website and check it out.  It was a damn surprise I hit a SSL security alert.  If you want to see it for yourself click the link above or See Pic below

Now wouldn’t you think that a company handling sensitive material would be able to properly install and use a website SSL security certificate!  Not Choice Point Services I guess.  If you look close at the error it shows that the certificate is for a completely different website.

www.choicetrust.com

Lets head over to that site and see what its about.  Now it shows that we are on a choice point website and that it is owned by Lexis Nexis.  We can now do a check on both site using nslookup to see who owns the domains/website.

Both domains show

 Registrant:ChoicePoint Asset Company
ChoicePoint Inc
1000 Alderman Drive .
Alpharetta, GA 30005 US
Administrative Contact:LexisNexis
Lexis Nexis
9333 Springboro Pike
Miamisburg, Ohio 45342 US

This now tells me that Choice Point Asset Company is the owner and Lexis Nexis is only an Administrator. My worst nightmare has just happened! I am in the ChoicePoint insecure system! I also thought Lexis Nexis owned Choice Point! Dang this company is all over the place.
I decided to dig up some more information on Choice Point. Holy crap they are a deceptive company that has more that has had several major security leaks of personal information that where above and beyond what I had even heard of.
I dont want any of my information ever held with them! Damnit! They already have me!
Check out the wikipedia article on Choice Point Services! I posted a couple of big things below. But dang this is a bad company! Please look at the wiki on ChoicePoint Services!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChoicePoint

Maintains more than 17 billion records of individuals and businesses, which it sells to an estimated 100,000 clients, including 7,000 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

In January 2000, the ChoicePoint Services came under fire for misusing private data from government sources.

The State of Pennsylvania terminated a contract with ChoicePoint, alleging that the firm had illegally sold citizens’ personal information to unauthorized individuals.

The company was once again in the media spotlight in 2005 following a security breach at ChoicePoint when identity thieves stole the personal data of at least 163,000 Americans.[2]

Ok now I know its the real Choice Point Services company that has had several major security issues. It is very scary as a consumer that I personally ran into a major security issue and a lot of misinformation just from looking around on the internet for a few minutes. I am now curious to what they have on file for me.
I will keep everyone up to date as my adventure progresses. I am going to bite my lip and request my information. As far as AAA insurance goes please feel free to contact them and tell them how you feel about sharing your insurance information with a company like ChoicePoint.

]]> http://www.minicooperspeed.com/caution-choice-point-services-the-unsecurity-company-used-by-aaa/feed/ 1 http://www.minicooperspeed.com/mini-cooper-r56-jcw-turbocharger-info/ http://www.minicooperspeed.com/mini-cooper-r56-jcw-turbocharger-info/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:12:21 +0000 MC Speed http://www.minicooperspeed.com/?p=50 Mini Cooper S Stock Turbocharger Info:

K03

Rumored 37mm Compressor Wheel

2007 + Mini Cooper S stock turbo Pictures

Hybrid may be possible if you do a K04 wheel and upgrading the internals aka thrust bearings, shaft, and larger turbine and compressor wheels. It was noted on the North American Motoring Forum that the k04 can go up to a 5mm wheel.

Stock Cooper S Turbo-Charger Pictures

Mini Cooper S JCW TurboCharger info:

Rumored to have a K03/K04 Hybrid

Rumored 41mm Compressor Wheel
20psi max
2mm larger Inlet

Mini JCW Compressor Map

Mini Cooper JCW Borgwarner OEM Turbo Pictures