Looks great guys:

We have the front here: The front will be here soon.

51712355791 L & 51712355798 R

http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2014-Cooper-F56-S-3_Door-B48A20A/Lighting/Headlights/





And the rears Here 51712285495 & 51712285496

http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2014-Cooper-F56-S-3_Door-B48A20A/Lighting/Tail_Lights/






They look very close to the same quality and set up as the Factory black lines on the Gen 2 R56+ models. See are pics for what the back sides look like.


Here is the trim tool sets , which are helpful to the rear. Also great for interior trim removals and other small jobs.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/Trim_Tool_Schwaben/




Thanks

 

Itchy
Can you give a quick tutorial on replacing the fronts?
Palleez.

 

I got mine from Sewell mini.. Great customer service.. The front just have small clips that hold them on

 

Sorry but not a fan of the "Panda" look.

I'd go with color coding the headlight bezels and blacking out the chrome on the front grill.

 

Here's what is weird.....we plasti dipped the front of both our CM and Paceman, looked great....and I like the black rings on back(of the F56), but the front isn't clicking with me......
Once I get my stripes, I'll see how I feel........

 

Thanks man! Now it just reminds me of that everytime I see the two black rings on the front of Mini...

 

I like Pandas. I like MINIs. I like lamp.

 

Agreed. I'm actually getting my rings color-coded Thunder Gray (just like R99). I'm waiting to see what the JCW grille offering looks like.

Matt

 

Where can you get them color-coded? I have VO and I'd love to have color matched headlight rings.

 

I've got a friend of a friend with a body shop doing it for me.

-Matt

 

I added lamin x 3% tint to my headlights. It's the lightest tint they offer. I think it looks great but I'm still going to black out the headlight rings and the chrome grill.

Plus to them is that they also protect the headlight from dings and chips

 

Here is a photoshop rendering

 

I think the blackline will fit darker color MINIs more subtle.

 

The black ("panda" ) is the clear winner.

Love what you've done with your car. Thanks for sharing so many photos with us.

 

3x as much for a black piece of plastic than the "chrome" version?!
wow!

 

Plastidip folks... 6 bucks a can and peel it off if you don't like it anymore. Or just paint the things yourself, looks like the blackline ones are flat/matte black anyways and you really can't mess that up.

 

They're glossy, so not the same as PD. I have used PD on the rest of my car (belt line, gas cap, hood scoop, black wheel arch trim, rear boot handle) and I would still prefer the glossy rings over PD

 

Lol I just noticed that... Pretty obviously jacked the price up because it's a "black line" piece

 

Just my opinion, of course. But, it's not just because I've always preferred matte finish to gloss...I think that Plasti Dip came out looking better than the glossy OEM black out pieces, and is an almost perfect match to the other body trim, like around the wheel wells (see attached photos).

I applied 6 coats of Plasti Dip (black), followed by 2 coats of Krylon UV-resistant clear acrylic coating (matte, of course) to help with durability. Afterward, the color was a bit lighter than the body trim, so I added a coat of Dupont Teflon protectant. I was very surprised at how well the color and finish of the Plasti Dip blended with the other trim.

In terms of cost: I painted the trim rings surrounding the head- and tail-lights, along with the fuel door, using a little over 1 can of Plasti Dip, which runs about $7 a can. I can't remember what I paid for the Krylon and Dupont (which I bought a few years back), but assume the cost is roughly the same. In comparison, the few sites I've found with the black line OEM parts are running at least $50 per trim piece, so you'd be looking at over $200. Even if you prefer a glossy finish, Plasti Dip has a Glossifier which reportedly works well.

 

Did you sand the chrome rings before spraying?

 

Glossy is definitely the way to go. Just looks better I think.

If your referring to sanding before laying down the plasti dip... then no you do not need to sand the chrome before laying the plasti dip down. Just make sure its clean. And be sure to spray at least 5-6 coats. Because if you dont.. when you go to peel it off its a huge PITA. Took me around an hour to peel the stuff off a few parts of mine.

 

if you want the glossy black look, you could always just rattle can them gloss black.
worst case they look bad and you have to buy the "black line" ones anyway.

i mean the "chrome" ones will just be collecting dust if you bought black to start and at $20 brand new I doubt you'll find someone who wants even slightly used ones.

 

Anyone have an opinion on how the glossy black trim pieces would look on a midnight black metallic Mini?

I'd like to save the hassle of an order and return if I can get an idea if it'd look to gaudy or not.

I've gone back to black for the mirror caps, so the only things nonblack other than the standard chrome bits and the tail bit, are white hood stripes.

Wondering how blacking out the head and taillight trim would make the car look.

 

For the black MINI's I would probably do color matching and have a body shop paint them the correct color to match the car. You don't want 3 different blacks. (body, trim, rings)

 

Can you attach a pic from the front on how the black rings look? I ask as I have a White Silver MC and want to see how "panda" different colors look...I'm worried White Silver and Black Rings will truly be "panda"ish......