I was going to order the 3M vinyl online, but remembered I have a friend who's husband owns a local vinyl graphics place. Called them up and they were glad to sell me a few square feet at a price better than online, $35 for a 2'x3' sheet.

I was going to do the boot handle, or the chrome trim, or the A-panels. These all seemed like daunting first tasks. Then I was going to do the down tubes, but I couldn't get them off. The dash panels, however, popped off easy enough. I couldn't get the rubber seal back onto the back of the piece behind the steering wheel, but otherwise it was easy.

Quick shot of the results. You can't make it out in the photo but there are a few flaws and bubbles, hopefully they will wear down in the god awful heat inside the car throughout the summer. If not I should be able to live with them until I'm up for tackling it again. I have about 3 square feet left.

If anyone can tell me how to remove the down tubes, I'd love to tackle that next!

 

to remove the down tubes there are two ways, (although i only know one of them off the top of my head)(also i did this on an auto so it may not be necessary to remove the shift ****)
1. remove shift boot trim and gear ****
2. remove 2 Phillips screws from cup holder bottoms
3. open glove box and remove 2 torx from pillars
4. pull hard on the top of your lower dash panel (under the steering wheel, don't worry it's got two press pins that hold it up on a hinge like the glove box) i usually grab in the arch under the steering column
5. remove 2 torx from driver side pillars
6. lift up the center console and remove foam inserts under pillars
7. work the pillars out

i did this when i fixed my toggle switch panel and it took all of about 15 minutes

 

That's looks great! I'm thinking about doing the same thing to mine. I've wrapped a few flat pieces in the 3M vinyl....but never any parts with lots of curves and contours. How hard what is wrapping all of those dash pieces? Any tips or tricks?? Did you have to use any of the adhesion promoter??

Thanks!!

 

Looks awesome....and hope this link :http://www.redlinegoods.com/MINIdowntubeinst.shtm help you remove the downtubes.

 

Thank you! For anyone else curious, I found this pictorial breakdown:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/faq.php?faq=faq_interior


A few days later I'm running into some problems, it is peeling away from inside the air vent holes. I have to take it off and fix it. Luckily I have enough to re-do the whole thing if need be!

 

no problem

 

I got around to the tubes today. I followed the instructions from MINI2 above, going in through the heated seat toggles and so forth to loosen the center console. However, the downtubes had no foam inserts on the bottoms. Rather, the tubes were flared. This meant I had to get the console far enough back that I could let the tubes fall out through the bottom, no biggie.

Looks much better having them done as well. There is a wrinkle or two, again, which I find can be largely smoothed with a lighter and a credit card. Now that I feel pretty comfortable taking apart the interior of the car, I will probably re-do the whole thing when I have a day to dedicate to getting it perfect. However, it looks good for now. I'll post a picture tomorrow

 

Flared? interesting, they must have changed the design of those in the newer R50's

 

Don't forget to do the steering wheel spoke pieces! I did mine and it really ties it together (I only did the down tubes - my dash pieces are body color).

Looks good!