I just purchased a new 08 Mini Cooper Convertible Sidewalk edition, Pepper White. Arrives end of May (Wait is so hard)

I want to put on Bonnet stripes and my dealer for the sidewalk it is done as a dealer add on. Fine. As I peruse this great site , I have found some variations of the standard parallel stripes that I much prefer over them ie viper like stripes etc.

My question is, can the dealer do this or do you have to go to a custom shop to have it done? Can the dealer only do the standard parallel stripes?

Also, is it painted on or is it some type of adhesive after stripes etc

Thanks

 

Dealerships have some variations of stripes, but not many.

Really... even if you stick to the traditional bonnet stripes, get some aftermarket stripes. They're higher quality. And if you decide to try something else, the aftermarket vensdors have a lot more options as well.

Aesthetic Creations

Mighty Stripes

There are other good ones, as well.

 

The dealer stripes are vinyl. I just took off a set from my '05 and they came off really easy. (warmed with a hairdryer and pulled slolwy from the top.) I doubt you could get the dealer to install non-mini stripes, but you could remove and upgrade yourself later perhaps.

 

Most are vinyl stripes. You can put them on yourself or have a shop do it. A custom shop can also make a stripe of your design but that can get expensive.

 

They're almost universally vinyl appliques. Your dealer should have the Viper stripes as an option (that's the stripes, side-by-side, in the center, same place as the scoop). I was torn between those and the sport stripes I got. Checl out Aesthetic creations ( http://www.aestheticreations.net/ ) or Cooper Flags ( http://www.cooperflags.com/2007designs.cfm ) for some more ideas.

 

Thanks for the super fast responses guys. Ive seen a patter on here that I love on a pw. I must have it!!

attached is a pic of them

 

If your going to get a clearbra (highly recommended) you should not have the dealer install the stripes because they will be under the clearbra. Should you ever want to change the stripes you will have to buy another clearbra. If you do them yourself, install the clearbra first and then the stripes.

 

Regarding the dealer options, I've had them do a few things for me.

I'm not sure if it varies by dealership, but here in Toronto (Vaughan West), they'll do the OEM stripes no problem, and I've been able to get them to do custom jobs for me, as well as some pretty wicked stuff for others as well.

They work with 3M, so possibilities are pretty much endless. I'm just in the process of having a custom checkerboard sunroof graphic with perforations made. They took the OEM one (without perforations) and handed it to 3M as a template, and they will create a perforated version just for me. I've also had them do the back bonnet stripes at the dealership as well, but that is a whole other story as they screwed up (but at least if you go dealer-installed, you have someone to blame mistakes on). Anyways, long story short, I've had custom stuff done at the dealership, they use 3M, it may not be the cheapest option, but the quality is good (I've never seen anything from Aesthetic Creations, CooperFlags, etc. though), and there is some security in dealing with them as well.

Patrick

 

Also, some dealers hire people outside the dealership to apply the vinyl - I asked my MA (after reading about it here) and he gave me the name & # of the guy who does their work. I'll be calling him to apply my custom vinyl!

 

As stated, your dealer just subcontracts them-- so save some $$ and either a) do it yourself (just did mine-- pretty easy) or b) get a local shop to do them.

 

One thing to keep in mind: the dealer stripes do not go all the way to the edge of the bonnet (on both ends). If you have the stripes installed by others, you can pretty much request anything.