Interior/Exterior Interior and exterior modifications for Cooper (R50), Cabrio (R52), and Cooper S (R53) MINIs.

Interior/Exterior Aero kit or not?

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Old Nov 3, 2003 | 08:58 PM
  #1  
Kuneman's Avatar
Kuneman
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From: Australia
Hey everyone,

Aero kits? Are they worth all the money? In Australia they are $4,500 fully installed and I just want to know whether its worth saving a little longer and buy the kit or whether I can do with out it?
 
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Old Nov 3, 2003 | 09:08 PM
  #2  
Yucca Patrol's Avatar
Yucca Patrol
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From: Burning-Ham Alabama
For the cost of installing the aero kit which is just a cosmetic alteration, you could save a lot of money to improve actual performance.

That being said, the Aero kit looks fantastic, especially on some colors such as electric blue
 
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Old Nov 3, 2003 | 09:23 PM
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Hey I been looking in the gallery and it looks like some cars have like partial Aero kits on their car, like front and back scurts but not the side scurts?
Is that right? When you go to the dealer are you able to ask for not the whole aero kit but just parts of it? What are the price differences instead of the whole kit?
 
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Old Nov 3, 2003 | 09:25 PM
  #4  
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From: Mililani, Hawaii
>>Hey everyone,
>>
>>Aero kits? Are they worth all the money? In Australia they are $4,500 fully installed and I just want to know whether its worth saving a little longer and buy the kit or whether I can do with out it?

You can buy the kit from the dealership or other sources discounted from the retail $1299 price.
In the US if you are a member of the BMW car club you get a discount on parts 10-15%.

Then you get your own body shop to install and paint the kit on your MINI or do part of the work yourself.

Or you buy just the parts of the aerokit that you like, just the front bumper and side skirts and skip the rear bumper for example. Paint the wheel arches. Your choice.

The aerokit installed makes an MC look like an MCS. Just check out the MINIs in the Italian Job there were two MCs and one MCS but they looked close.

 
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Old Nov 3, 2003 | 11:45 PM
  #5  
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From: Australia
Is the Aero kit easy to damage when going over bumps and stuff, because Sydney doesnt have very good roads in some places with lots of potholes and speedhumps? If i went over a speedhump would the scurts of the aero kit touch?

 
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Old Nov 4, 2003 | 12:56 AM
  #6  
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minihune
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From: Mililani, Hawaii
>>Is the Aero kit easy to damage when going over bumps and stuff, because Sydney doesnt have very good roads in some places with lots of potholes and speedhumps? If i went over a speedhump would the scurts of the aero kit touch?

The aerokit parts are about as durable as the regular bumpers and skirts. They are made of plastic and are painted. They can be scraped against anything high enough under the car. For me, my 1" lowered car scrapes the driveway and the concrete stops at the front of parking spaces. If speedhumps are the same as speedbumps in the road then usually those are not a problem except if you go over them too fast so just take it easy on any terrain that is not flat.

If you lower your car by adding springs or coil overs then it will be worse since the car rides lower.

Durability of the aerokit is not usually a problem unless you run into objects so be careful driving and parking.

If your roads are rough with many potholes then I would not recommend lowering your car. Maybe stay away from very light weight rims and consider tires with sidewalls that are 50 series or 55 series instead of 40 or 45 series.

 
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Old Nov 4, 2003 | 01:42 PM
  #7  
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the aero kits are worth the money imo. :smile:
 
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Old Nov 7, 2003 | 01:30 PM
  #8  
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From: Austin,Texas
Worth Every Dime!
I changed my leather to leatherette, said no to the onboard computer and heated seats and HK sterio and I totally broke even on the cost of the kit and installation!


 
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Old Nov 7, 2003 | 06:38 PM
  #9  
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i think too that its a matter of how traditional you are with the mini.
the aero kit looses the traditional chrome parts so some people
prefer the stock bumper...

i was never a real mini freak so i went with the aero kit, but
if i was to get the regular mini, i think id keep all the chrome parts
on there and perhaps even add more, like the mirros, etc.
 
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Old Nov 8, 2003 | 07:56 AM
  #10  
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>>i think too that its a matter of how traditional you are with the mini.
>>the aero kit looses the traditional chrome parts so some people
>>prefer the stock bumper...
>>


not true you can always have keep the chrome check this out

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t=2&page=1

custom job of course


 
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Old Nov 8, 2003 | 01:07 PM
  #11  
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>custom job of course

yaah...humm..not sure if im a fan of those lines with the chrome.
not too many normal users would go so far as to get custom work done
to get the chrome back. they would just keep the factory bumper.
 
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Old Nov 12, 2003 | 01:49 PM
  #12  
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why would you not want to customize your car?? I saw you have rims, that is a customization... or is it. you wouldn't want to do any type of body work or body modification?? Not trying to be an ***, just curious
 
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Old Nov 12, 2003 | 02:37 PM
  #13  
sndwave's Avatar
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The stock aero package is nothing more than cosmetic and gives no true aerodynamics to the car, but makes my MCS look awesome IMO.

I had it installed as an option on my 02 MCS when it was bought. It wears very well as far as road things go. Pot holes, rocks and other things on the road that may take it out is something every driver has to deal with. It does not sit so low that the standard curb will break it.

And I’ve crashed tested mine – didn’t hold up well, but what would hitting a stationary object at 35 MPH.



 
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Old Nov 12, 2003 | 02:49 PM
  #14  
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didn't you get cut off, and forced up a curb or somethin??
 
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Old Nov 12, 2003 | 02:52 PM
  #15  
kenchan's Avatar
kenchan
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>>why would you not want to customize your car?? I saw you have rims, that is a customization... or is it. you wouldn't want to do any type of body work or body modification?? Not trying to be an ***, just curious

well, on this car, i wanna keep it as factory as possible since ive done lots of
mods on my other cars and the cars that ive sold. the wheels that i got are
actually my winterset and just got something cheap that looked good. id be
using the R90's if it didn't snow here in chi-town. :smile:
 
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Old Nov 12, 2003 | 02:53 PM
  #16  
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From: In the Tube
>>didn't you get cut off, and forced up a curb or somethin??

Close. I was too close to someone who applied way more breaks than needed and I did an evasive maneuver to avoid hitting his van full of kids.

Totally my fault to be so close.




 
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