With the fury of a million blazing suns, I hate the stock jack in my Cooper!

The good news is that the ABS-based tire pressure warning system actually works. It told me that I was low on the right-front tire on my way to lunch. I had wondered if I had a leak somewhere, and it turned out that I did.

I parked, and found it was a much bigger leak than it had been--I could hear it, and the tire was bulging noticeably at the bottom.

I met my friend for lunch, then came back to the car in the parking lot. The tire was completely flat. I called my favorite local tire and suspension shop and they said that I could bring the tire in to be repaired. So all I had to do was put the spare on the right-rear, then put the right-rear wheel on the right-front. I am not sure that the difference in diameter matters to the car, but I know that in some cars it does, so I was going to be safe.

So I loosened up the lug-nuts, and dropped the spare tire out of its compartment. (Hurray for spare tires!) Then I tried to jack the car up.

Emphasis on "TRIED". It didn't work--the jack slipped three different times, and on two of them it chewed up and gouged my black panel under the car (I would call it the "rocker panel" or "rocker cover" on my other car).

I called MINI Roadside Assistance, and was told that it would be 45 minutes for someone to show up. So instead, I walked over to the shop on the other side of the parking lot and asked if they plugged tires. They did, so they loaned me a jack (and a guy to work it!) and took the wheel off. They found the leak, plugged it, filled it up again, and put it back on the car for me. In about 15 minutes, for only $20.

I'm happy with the garage. I'm very unhappy indeed about the jack! I think I will have to resort to carrying a scissors-type jack from a junkyard car (lots of Hondas have them), or maybe get a cheap little floor jack to put in the back of the MINI. Either way, I am less than thrilled.

Bonus round: While the wheel was off, I noticed that the rotor had one very deep groove out near the outer edge. No idea where it could have come from; I'm not exactly very hard on my brakes and I haven't heard any squealing or grinding noises from that corner.

Arrgh!!!

 

Question, does your car have the jack blocks?
Should there be jack blocks?

 

Yes, it does. And I put the metal part into the jack block.

The base of the jack slid on the tarmac of the parking lot I was in.

 

Trust me- I have had very similar experiences with the stock jack... but instead of digging into the side skirts, it dug into my paint :'( :'( :'( The next day I went out and bought a nice floor jack and haven't looked back since.

 

Did you talk to the dealer about the paint damage? What did they say?

 

Nope, I never did. You think they'd do anything about it? I assumed they would say "you can't prove it" and turn me away.

 

Here's a picture of what I did to my nice stock 9500-mile Justa:



The jack block is visible below the rocker panel. There is some plastic hanging down from the bottom of the panel; the screw on the jack did that. The gouges in the plastic are from the top of the jack.

Next Wednesday is when he goes to the dealer.

 

i have side skirts on mine. did you have to buy a specific type of floor jack?

 

I took Fenimore in to Stevens Creek MINI this morning. They had a rep from MINI there for another issue, so they had him look at the damage caused by the jack.

His verdict was: The jack was working as designed, it was not a flaw or manufacturing defect. HOWEVER, they will cover the rocker panel replacement. So he will be going back to undamaged condition!!

The rotor groove looks as if something got stuck in between the pad and rotor for a bit before it worked its way out; the wear is not exactly normal but is small enough that it will not cause problems.

They're doing the service campaign on the coolant temp sensor, and there's an oil leak they're fixing. And replacing the sun visor mirror covers, of course.

It won't be done until tomorrow, so I keep the Justa auto (ugh, not my cup of tea!) until then.

 

Great to hear! I am considering talking to them about it now!

 

I had a gash in a tire along a stretch of road with nothing but a national cemetery more miles . It was getting dark. I pulled over and found that the lug nuts were on so tight that I couldn't budge them. I had help from 2 large men and together we couldn't budge any of the lug nuts. We tried for an hour. It took a trip to a garage, and a very helpful man who came with a 3 foot breaker bar and a socket.
That worked. The next day, I bought a Gorilla lug wrench, which extends to give better leverage. I loosened each lug nut, and then shortened the extension and tightened each by hand. Some character at Mini had rotated my tires, and must have used a pneumatic wrench set far too high!

Another time, I had a puncture, and had loosened the lug nuts, set the jack properly and began cranking. The nylon center part chipped its ears, broke off, and I had to hold it together with one hand while cranking with the other.

I brought it to Mini, and they replaced it.

Not a good piece of equipment.

 

the countryman jack works well, so well i bought a second one for tire rotations

scott