E30 Zone

I recently swapped from an E39 523i to a new-fangled front-wheel drive contrivance that goes by the name of a 2003 Mini Cooper, built by BMW, apparently (albeit in Oxford!)

I was wondering, do any Zoners have one, and would any E30 bits fit it, e.g., BBS cross-spoke or Alpina 16" wheels, etc.?

Oh dear! A bit of a come down from the best car in the world to a MINI! My wife has owned a 2006 Cooper Hatch for the last 8 years. They are a lot less well built than BMW's, for sure. The ride is shocking on the Run Flat tyres and slightly better with the normal tyres I have fitted(17" alloys). I think BBS would look naff on a MINI. What colour is it? Ours is Red and the top coat of lacquer is peeling off everywhere too!

Sorry Dude!

Hehe, well, the old E39 was getting on a bit at 160,000 miles (and in fact, the alternator failed shortly after I sold it, due of all things to leaves clogging up the cooling intake, which I hadn't spotted), and this Mini came up locally for a mere £900 with just 84,000 miles.

It's Chilli Red with white roof and mirrors, and the 5-spoke 16" star alloys. Seems fairly well built to me, and drives nicely. Mine has the 'Chili' pack, so quite a few goodies including air-con, traction control, fading interior lights, sports half-leather seats, etc.

I also have a little lacquer peel on the bonnet (which I intend to fit white stripes to, rather than get it resprayed) and a bit of white chipped off the roof, which I touched in yesterday. Other than that, it's looking very good indeed for a 15 year old car.

I have seen a few Minis fitted with Alpina alloys, and they suit it quite well.

My sister had an r50, and sold it to a good friend of mine, who then rammed it into a curb in the ice. I can confirm that a 14" bottletop will fit, but doesn't turn as it fouls the calipers. (So it doesn't really fit!)

I doubt you'd want to fit bottletop anyway, but they'll need spacers if you do...

Interesting to know - thanks.

Any pictures of a Mini with Alpinas on ?

That looks

I might have asked this before but I've often wondered if the JCW calipers off the earlier 4 stud cars could be adapted to fit an E30.

Quite possibly; I gather the MINI uses 100mm PCD, same as the E30...