# Guide to maintenance



## Belugaaf22 (4 mo ago)

2014 mini cooper base, barely driven at all ( only 35000 miles). What kind of maintenance jobs should I be doing at home other than oil changes and filter changes?


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## Autoputzer (Mar 16, 2014)

Tire rotation (LF > LR > RF > RR > LF for FWD cars). You owner's manual probably doesn't list tire rotation as part of scheduled maintenance. My 2014 5 Series' manual doesn't. Tire rotation is a PIA without a spare tire or a frame lift, though.

A few years ago, BMW of Bubbaville (BMWoB) was remodeling their building. They moved into MINI of Bubbaville (MINIoB) next door. Sharing the customer waiting area with MINI owners, it seemed like every one of them was getting the bad news that their front tires were worn out and needed to be replaced.

I measure my tread depths when I rotate the tires. On my FWD Chevy Cobalt, my front tires wore 36% faster than my rear tires. There were also differences in the left and right wear rates on each axle. I rotated my tires every 5k to 6k miles. After four rotation stints (23k miles) the average wear on each of the four tires only varied by 0.2/32".










Actually, if you have the original tires on the car you should replace them. Spontaneous tire failure rates abruptly go up after tires have been installed over six years. 

You should check and adjust your tire pressures every two or three weeks (more often in the second half of the year when the outside temperatures are falling), and before and after a high-mileage day (road trip).

If your car is like BMW's, it used DOT 4 brake fluid and should be changed after three years and then ever two years after that.

If your car has an AGM (absorbent glass mat) battery and it's the original one, you're due for a new one. Mine got "weak" after 6.5 years, and caused a software glitch. Computers do illogical things when they are supplied insufficient voltage.

With that low annual mileage, cosmetic sunlight damage is a big concern. Keep the paint waxed, and the exposed rubber and unpainted plastic treated. If the car's parked outside during the day, rotate the direction in which it's parked. When I worked, I did that weekly (facing north one week, facing south the next week)

You can maximize the benefit of your effort by waxing the horizontal surfaces (say from the door handles up and the top of the rear bumper) twice as often as the vertical surfaces. The vertical surfaces get a glancing blow from sunlight, and then only during half the time (if the car is rotated). The nose (front axle forward) and side mirrors benefit from frequent waxing to minimize paint damage from bug splats.

Cover the leather steering wheel with a towel when it's parked in sunlight. When I was working, I'd tuck a large towel (bath sheet) over the entire dashboard and steering wheel. I'd put bath sheets over my leather seats, too. I cut white poster board to cover the cargo area cover and top of the back seats.

At some point, the belts will get weak just from age.


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## Belugaaf22 (4 mo ago)

Wow really appreciate the in depth reply! I will definitely keep an eye out for those things. Yeah the main things I was concerned about is mostly wear on any belts or if starters or spark plugs, etc need to be replaced due to wear


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