I've been meaning to try this in Photoshop for a while, but never got around to taking a picture of my car to work with. Well, slow day at work and find a nice photo from user Rubyred3 of a PW/B R53 that will work perfectly. (Hopefully he/she doesn't mind.)

The thought is to smooth out the nose by:
1. removing the MINI badge

2. filling the seams around the scoop

3. smoothing over the foglight holes and indentations

I definitely like de-badging and filling in around the scoop, but maybe deleting the foglight area makes it too bland. What do you think?

BEFORE:


AFTER:

 

NICE!!

How about try eliminating the lower part of the upper grill too?

 

I stared at both pics for a few mins, then concluded that the "smoothed out" pic looks more "innocent"...like a bada$$ MCS in training.

 

I like the before better?

 

My 2 cents: the before is much better.

 

The new, improved car looks a lot easier to wax.

 

search smooth scoop...i started a thread about this already.

 

i like it though

 

I like the scoop and the badge but im not sure about the foglights area

 

I really like the way that the shaved bumper looks. I'm not too excited about the scoop though.

 

Instead of shaving the fog lights you could turn them into brake duct cooling vents...here is a link...

here on NAM-
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=100617

and where to buy them-
http://www.waymotorworks.com/Home/ta...3/Default.aspx

 

here is the link to my thread if you need more info...it helped me alot...pricing etc...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t=smooth+scoop

 

I like the brake ducts and was impressed by msfitoy's install thread. They would be a better use for the space than just being smoothed over. They are way too complicated a mod for me to consider, though. (As is smoothing things out, I wanted to see how it would look.)

As for being easier to wax - amen! - that's why I debadged my boot.

As for smoothing over the thin middle grill - it has been done in real life, and I think it looks great. There was a NAM user, drdrumanbass (aka Samtrak?)who did it. I found this photo. With painted trim and headlight surrounds, debadging, and painted aero grille, it's got to be one of the cleanest R53 noses around.



Thanks for taking a look everybody. If any of you are good friends with a body shop, feel free to try this out for real!

 

Cool thread. Thanks.

When I have money to burn I'll have a metal scoop made and smoothed into the hood. While I'm at it I'll have them make me a nice metal version of an aero grille, too. And maybe they could handle a brake-duct installation as long as I'm there...

 

Your welcome...I would do this as well if I only had the money...maybe in the future hmmm...

 

If I had THAT kind of $$ I might consider a Z8, or Z06 Vette, or Viper, or Ford GT, or...

 

deleted....wrong post...sorry

 

damn..
looks alot better than i thought..
badgeless- smooth scoop

 

Same here...

 

Check out the link in my signature- Made the modifications when the car was new...

 

Very nice aero bumper. Out of curiosity, what did it cost to have the middle grille smoothed over?