I ponied up $2000 for mine. Waiting for it to come in. Wondering if I'll have to chip in another $300 for the glass, so that I can take the darn brackets off and put on my back window - thus keeping the wiper.

 

^Ah interesting. Damn.

No love for the original Challenge wing?

 

on my way to pick it up

 

Well, damn, lucky you! I haven't heard from my dealer yet. Let us know if it came with the brackets, etc etc etc.

 

I also ponied up the same. Two large. List on it is right around $2500.00.

 

No brackets and no screws (the two on each one shown in the pictures on the previous page that screw the side pieces into the brackets. Worse case scenario is a buy the glass just for the brackets. Wish someone from MINI USA was reading this and would make a phone call so that people could buy the darn things. $300 for a piece of glass I don't need to get two brackets that cost nothing to make.

However, I must say, it is a gorgeous piece. It is really well made. Come on MINI - let me buy the darn brackets without the glass.

 

Hey Muller, happy for you! Could you take a couple of close shots showing the back of the support braces that will flush mount to the window brackets? Don't jump on buying the glass as yet, Mike's Fabrication talked about making some brackets as did Airborne Ranger. Also, I am still not sure that we can't make due by running a narrow bead of double sided tape along both edges of the supports and thereby nailing them down to the surface of the glass. I've already bought some heavy duty automotive 3M tape that will be more than up to the job.

 

Not very good - I will try to get some better shots tomorrow.

 

the flash makes the finish look weird. In reality, these look very nice.

 

Hey Mull: Have you tried it on the car yet? If the supports lay flat onto the glass, I think the tape will be an option. Especially that flat wider section near the bottom of the support legs. Those two narrower ribs above that look like I can lay a strip along that narrow lip and lay the extra width of the tape along the inside of the ribs and they shouldn't even be seen from the outside. If that works, then something to fill the screw holes.

 

My wing came in yesterday to NC. Ships out tomorrow. I should have it Mon or Tues of next week. My dealership talked to a factory guy in the UK. The factory rep said he thinks that at some point in the future (2-3 months) that the window brackets and bolts will be available for purchase without having to buy the wiperless rear glass.

 

That's cool. I can leave it in the box and wait for the screws and brackets. I don't want this expensive work of art tearing loose and smashing all over the highway.

 

KF: I don't see that as being an issue, but hey, it's your bucks. It will be very secure with the roof attachment. I ran the JCW CF wing for a while and those five bolts in the roof will really snug in down nicely. At any rate, I will keep you posted on my end once it gets here next week.

 

Thanks - I've got some feelers out too, so of course I'll post any info I get here.

 

My GP wing came in today. Removal of the OE S wing is straight forward. Pop off the five plastic caps on the underside of the hatch. Remove the five 10mm nuts and take the spoiler off. Be careful when removing the nuts that you don't drop one of them between the hatch window frame. If you do, a small magnet feeler will easily get it out from the ledge. Remove the five white nylon caps off the underside of the GP wing. They are just on there to protect the little locator pins. Once installed I found that the end braces did not lay flat on the rear glass, with the exception of the end tips of the braces. There's about an 1/8th inch between the glass and the support braces. In an earlier post, I mentioned buying some automotive grade 3M tape, used for attaching trim pieces, etc onto cars. Heavy duty stuff and not cheap at $25.00 a roll, but I figured I wanted some good stuff. If you look earlier in this thread you will see pics posted by Muller showing the underside of the support braces. I double stacked the tape near the top portion where is is just a single wall and single stacked the tape at the bottom tip of the brace. The wing is on there tight with no issues. Ideally, if the C channel and bolts ever become available for purchase without having to purchase the rear glass, I will buy them, but if not, it's just fine the way it is. Photos to follow shortly.

 

Here are some pics of the brackets I made out of sheet steel. pretty crude for not having the proper bending tools but will work fine for what they do.





here is the final product with some plasti-dip coating applied to keep the metal directly off the rear glass. some silicone/RTV glazing is all that's needed and you're off to the races. Rich, I'm working on your set now- then I'm hanging up my hand tools everyone else is on their own

 

You da man Tim! The brackets look great! Very talented job in duplicating them! Thanks so much for remembering me. PM me when they are ready to mail out. Also, if you could, get the bolt size to me and I will shop around and see if I can find some that will work. Probably need the overall length, thread type (course/fine) and head size/type. I should be able to find some that will work locally and if need be, I can just paint the heads black like the OE ones. Again, super job Tim!

 

Sorry, double post.

 

Got my parts guy trying to track down those bolts. Tim sent some pics to me earlier. MINI usually uses the same types of bolts multiple times around the car, so I'm hoping we can get the same ones. I think those along with those brackets will be exactly what we're looking for to make sure the side wings don't go anywhere.

 

Anyone else notice the labels on the underside of the spoiler (when removed)? The Italian supplier appears to be "Selmat S.p.A"

At first I thought it would be a clue to a possible aftermarket vendor, but these guys appear to only sell directly to manufacturers:
http://www.selmat.it/?page_id=91

 

Cool, if you get a part # on the screws ship it my way KF!

 

here are some pics of Rich's install. I think the spoiler looks great.

 

another couple of shots

 

I emailed them anyway to see if they would sell the side metal brackets and screws - figured it wouldn't hurt. Then again, I wrote them in English and they are an Italian firm. I probably won't hear back.

 

Yep, I love the look too. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the first photos of the production GP.......me gotta have one! Worth the bucks IMO.