So many folks like the idea of painting the arches and trim body color (or gloss black as Tori and Em have done), I wonder if there is enough market demand for a vendor to offer replacement trim that is already glossy smooth...would save a tremendous amount of labor and cost to paint.

I want credit if this happens

 

Waymotorworks is selling them for the R56 already.

 

Really? Not that I doubt you, but where do you see that?

 

it would be nice to not only have arches like that, but side sills, and lower bumper trim pieces. So they can be painted, without having to pull your car apart to get it done. I would be all over that.

 

that would cost WAYYYYYYYYYYYY too much for the vendors to prep and paint those that you in turn would not save any money then if you were able to take new peices and send them to a good paint shop yourself . butttt the idea is grand and i would love to have some gloss black trim

 

I don't think the idea is to have the vendor smooth out some stock ones, but to get, say, some fiberglass pieces made that would already be smooth. The cost may still be a wash compared to the prep work on the stock pieces.

 

Just learn to do body work and do em yourself. Learn a trade and save some $$$. This is what I plan on doing this winter while my car is sleeping.

 

Not sure if he has updated his website with them but give him a call.

 

I like both sides of this thread, the gloss black buyable ones and the DIY. I have always like being able to do my own work, but for some it is just easier to buy some gloss blacks and pop them on.

 

I want to do it myself ... i just need to know how to do it correctly

 

if i had a R56, the first thing i would do is get those huge out of balance arches painted to body color.

or just go with a black car.

 

If I had the time to learn a new skill, that would be fine. I don't. So I am reliant on others to do things for me at a fair price.

My question is whether there is enough market demand to recoup the start-up costs. The high cost of prepping the trim is exactly why I've considered buying a primed aero kit...parts cost more, but labor costs less (although not nearly enough to balance the parts cost).

If somebody would produce all 14 trim parts in a smooth finish, primed and otherwise prepped for painting, I would be all over that like ugly on an ape.

 

That's what I thought I said in the OP

 

you should get some BlackWow and just keep your stock arches
unpainted.

check with octaneguy where you can get it.

 

Have some...tastes great

But I REALLY like the body color arches look, just too $$ for me to justify right now

 

well, you want someone to do something for you at wat you call "fair price" which kinda sounds to me like "almost free" and you also don't have
the time to do it yourself...

so i think BW is the way to go for now.

 

I never said free...I'm perfectly willing to pay a reasonable rate for quality work. BW is however my option at the moment. Maybe AFTER I win the lottery. Oh wait, Nevada doesn't have a lottery. Darn.

 

I am going to try to shoot one without filling and sanding. I am thinking that the texture will not really be a big problem.

 

It is an interesting concept to have properly smoothed and prepped arches available. I would wonder just how large a market there would be and if one could recoup the labor costs in doing the prep work when offering them for sale at a price point that would entice people. One advantage is that with the availability of rattle cans of automotive paint a fairly competent person could DIY the color coat at home.

 

it's actually not that hard... i would clean it off with paintprep or rubbing alcohol,
spray adhesion promoter (2-3 med coats), flex primer (6-7 med coats),
sand with 1000+ grit to a smooth finish.

then your next step is a base coat (3 light coats), clearcoat (2 wet coats)...
dry, wet sand as necessary, polish, done. the latter part you'll
probably want the bodyshop to do it as they can paint without any dust
getting on the paint, much better air brushes than your rattle can, experience
with polishing, etc..

 

painted arches look awesome. but to get something professionally painted is expensive.
in the end i guess it is worth it. i might end up doing this mod sometime in the future.
for now. im happy with bw. awesome product.

 

yah, i kinda like my arches black... when you paint those arches it makes
the car look like any other car on the road, imho.

but on the R56 i think you have to paint them to bodycolor..otherwise
it just looks too out of balance.

 

Youre telling me!!! It wasnt cheap to do the arches body-color, but the end result is Beautiful and im so glad i did it. I was contimplating this for a long time, and even my bodyshop guy convinced me i should. He said it was a tedious process! Today i get so many compliments on the car on the road, stopped at stoplights etc etc and i think thats due in part to the aerokit with the painted arches. (my pics dont do it justice, i suck at picture taking!) Some ask if i "added a widebody kit" or the best is "Is that a special edition Mini? Ive never seen one like that" well Duhh, cuz ive added a few things to it and i dont want to look like every other Mini on the road, thats why!

I agree with you Ketchen, on a Dark colored car like yours i probably wouldntve done it. It almost blends in fine with the black arches. But on a light color car like mine, it blends much better with the arches painted. Oh yea, and on any R56 too I think the best lookin R56 ive seen was a white one posted here somewhere and he has his arches painted.

 

If the prepped and primed arches were available at a reasonable cost (I'd define reasonable as similar to the cost of the stock parts from a dealership), I'd probably have a set painted gloss black on my car. I like the yellow and black look from the sides, but having the black match the other black (roof, grille, boot handle etc) on the car would be better.
For that to happen, SinMINI's idea of smooth fiberglass (?) primed parts being made by a vendor are MUCH more likely than anyone modifying the stock, textured parts.