Aloha, I'm thinking of adding aero side skirts and painting the rest of the trim body color. I know BMW recommends European Auto Tech but just looking for options. Who did your car? How do you like finished job?
thanks J

 

mtnbkr,

Aloha and welcome to NAM.

I usually think that the shops the dealership works with do a good job and installation and painting. Check with your MA to find out which shops are being used. I think one is Central. Those shops have lots of experience with MINIs and adding the aero parts and painting.

 

i'd definitely recommend going to somebody who's done this stuff before. that way, they know what pitfalls to avoid.

i had my trim painted body color by european autotech. pretty fair price for excellent work.

seen one done by central and again an excellent job.

not sure of any others with as much experience as these two. price is fairly similar between the two, as i priced mine before taking the plunge. it's not cheap, but i was very satisfied with the final product.

much of the cost was for labor of removing, sanding, and reinstalling the pieces. if you have the time, skill and patience to do it yourself, i believe you can save more than 1/2 the cost.

those two shops are very busy. if they do the whole job, expect not to have your mini for at least 10 days to 2 weeks. in the end though, it'll all be worth it.

and you may wanna consider clear bra/shield/protect your newly-painted pieces, especially the fronts and possibly side skirts. only thing is i dont' think they're standard cuts, and that means you might have to get some custom pieces done which is what i had done. plus i'm in the process of installing some front mudguards to protect my side skirts.

you don't happen to have brg/w mcs now, do you?

 

I believe mtnbkr has a lovely pepper white MCS.


Don't trust your MINI to just any shop! Those places are busy for a reason.
10 days without your MINI? Hey you can borrow mine.
What did I say!

 

yes, pepper white mcs/jcw

kbseto do you mind sharing what you paid and did you install the areo side skirts or leave the stock

I like working on my cas so I thought I would remove and do the install myself but after talking with european autotech they said it woud only save a couple hundred dollars.

I will check with central and see what they have to say.

All the ones I've seen and asked about, european autotech have done and the owners say they are very happy with the work.

any one out there use cental?

thanks again J

 

Hi, mtnbkr! My family has been going to the:

Car Clinic
677-4663

...for years now. They're family owned and operated. Quality results and people. My bro had his Miata body kit and repaint done there. If I were to have my MC repainted/touched up, I'd definitely go there.

Good luck!

 

thanks! eric I will check them out

do you know if they have done any mini's?

J

 

Howzit, J! Unsure if they'd done any. Feel free to mention the Tanaka family, if you wish. Also, feel free to e-mail me (erik_tanaka@hotmail.com) anytime. Have a great time with this!

 

Hi mtnbkr,
Dealer had to paint my roof after they put hole thru it. Work done at Central was very good and I had them install and paint aero side skirts and they did nice job on the painting. (i left wheel arches black). Installation of skirts was issue cause they didn't have all the parts but Central did reinstall quickly while i waited once they got everything. My car was on rush with them and it was there week and half but i'm very satisfied with work.

 

my mini simply had its black trim painted body color all the way around, front to back, side to side. no aero kit or skirts were purchased. simply kept the stock pieces and had them painted.

i paid ~$1200 i think. european autotech did everything, including installing the front black upper and lower grille pieces that normally go on the aero kit.

top notch job. i'd definitely recommend them to anyone or i'd go back to them if i had another job for them to do. and they've definitely done alot of mini's.

on my receipt, i believe installation labor was 1/2 the cost. supplies was actually surprisingly a small portion of the total cost.

i chose to have them do it entirely, cause i wanted it done right and not have my nicely painted pieces on crooked or fall off on me. i have heard it's relatively easy to do, but perhaps just time consuming, which was the other reason i had them do it.

i'll be looking out for your pw jcw with cool trimmings. i definitely think it makes your mini that much sharper-looking than the typical one.

 

I replaced my gas cover with the S gas cap, and I needed the plastic skirt painted IB. Aka @MINI of Hawaii told me they send their stuff off to Central Body & Paint. They did an outstanding job, although I haven't had them do any other work for me.