Last year shortly after getting my JCW and getting heavily involved with this community, I started to mod my car. I bought the JCW suspension and had it installed at Morristown MINI. Shortly there after I came across the Aesthetic Creations website and really liked the look of the Challenge stripes that are used on the MINI Challenge car. They call them Challenged stripes, about half way down on the right http://www.aestheticreations.net/sidestripes.htm

This is a picture of the MINI Challenge car. Notice how the pattern lines up with the A Panel and door and then again with the door and quarter panel. This is the correct way for the graphics to be installed.



I had Morristown MINI do the install. It did not come out right. The stripes were not aligned correctly and their installer put the passenger side on upside down.


They ordered new stripes and a few weeks later re-did them. Not perfect but better.


Then over this summer I was in an accident and the stripes had to come off for the passenger side to to have the paint blended in. They took all the graphics off and ordered a new set for me. Prestige MINI did a very good job with the paint and minor body work but they did not put the stripes on right even after I showed them tons of pics on my iPad.


I told them I was upset and asked for my money back. They gave me a credit which was acceptable. I asked them not to bother putting the upper part of the graphic back on... the part with the # 8.

So Mike at Aesthetic Creation prints up the stripes again for the 4th time and sends them to me (thank you Mike!!!) I bring my car to Sam at Sam's Tinting in Nanuet, NY. Finally some one does a good job for once on the stripes. Why?? They asked me to stay and show them exactly how the pattern needs to be lined up on the car. Thank you Sam!!!

So here is my car all back together. The detail from Phil still looks great. I have not washed it since and the Carbotech Bobcat ceramic pads that I had put on a few weeks ago rock!!! The wheels have not been cleaned since it was detailed over 2 weeks ago!








And the other nice thing is that both sides finally match.

You may get to this part of the thread and think I am nuts... what is this guy talking about. I do not see what the difference is in any of the pictures.

The bottom line is that I wanted them to be lined up properly just like they are on the MINI Challenge car. I printed pictures for the installers and people that have been doing this for 20 years just do not care and do a lousy job. Then the guy down the street from me does a great job and did right by me asking me to stay and help with the install. Its my money I want the job done right. I love this car. I have put a ton of time and money into it. I want it to look awesome... and now it does

-Steve

 

Looks great!!! Hope to see you motoring around Nanuet!

 

Sam's did an awesome job! I have loved this graphic since I first saw it, but DS is a tough paint color to match it to.

A keen eye does pick up the ill way other places "tried" to line them up. and what Sam's did, actually lines up better than the Challenge car in top photo.

Check out the black back half of the 8 ball on yours and the black back half of the 1 ball on the Challenge car and where it meets the challenge decal across the bottom.

 

Unfortunately the devil is in the detail, and with that grid work and the alignment challenges, I'm not surprised they had trouble. I AM surprised they didn't keep at it until it was right. A little planning in advance goes a long way. But you gave them photos and went through it and they still didn't pull it off. I think being there to supervise was the best opportunity to ensure your goals were met. Awesome!

In architecture, you'd be amazed how often the alignment of grids and modular patterns falls apart in construction. It's almost laughable.

I'm glad you persevered!

 

WOW! I remember when you had your accident/got rear-ended. I'm glad to see you got your baby back and it's looking flawless! Anyone with a keen eye can see that the graphic was poorly done in the first pics and like Raven said yours actually look better than the challenge car because the black line around the "ball" comes into the black on the stripe better. Great job! Glad you're happy with it...that's all that matters.

 

-=gRay rAvEn=- Thanks for reading and thanks even more for noticing the differences. Its minor details like this that drive me nuts when things are not done right.

And its crazy that it took 4 times to get some one to do it right.

 

You have no idea how much time and energy it took to finally get this right. I even told the guys at Prestige that I wanted to be there to make sure it was lined up properly. They told me that I was not allowed in the shop area so I said let's do it in the parking lot and they would not go for it.

 

Thanks. I am finally happy with this. Now I just need to make sure box trucks stay away from me while crossing the GW Bridge into NYC.

 

Looks good and I am happy to see you seem to be getting some of your enthusiasm back for MINI!

 

What a hassle... the thread title should be "Challenging Stripes". At least it turned out well.. thanks for the Aesthetic Creations info. I might pull the trigger on the Carrera styled logos...

 

My car

 

Got quite a LOL moment out of that comment. Challenging stripes indeed!!

 

I love seeing cars with more stuff on it than mine. Thanks for posting. And now I am convinced that I will get the head light and tail light rings blacked out instead of body colored.

Do you have a web site that has more pics of your car?

 

My pleasure buddy

I lay low usually. Yeah I absolutely adore the blacked out rings, not so much a body-colour fan. I don't have a website as yet, but I have a friend who'll be taking some professional shots soon, I'll write myself a reminder to PM you the website.

All my blacked-out bits are actually a carbon-fibre-esque wrap, my friend owns a graphic design company here in Australia.

 

Wow both of you guys cars look great. I want to do the challenge side stripes on my R53, but have the white checkers in the stripe be the high intencity yellow they use on school zone signs. When and if I do it I will post some pic's here.

 

onefish2 the challenge"d" stripes look GREAT! i've been really wanting to pull the trigger on this but have backed out everytime..i think i figured out my next mod lol...

etalj, where did you get your other stickers such as "borbet" and "castrol"? I am also trying to emulate the challenge car, it looks amazing!

 

Thanks buddy I have a friend who is a graphic designer, and has done a few jobs on the Challenge cars. I'd tell you to go to him, but I live in Australia

Let me know if you need any help trying to emulate them, I'll try my best.

 

ahh okay. maybe i'll just try and get the stickers done by a sign company or something. anyways thanks for the help and keep up the good work with your mini!

edit: once you get a website up with some pro pics of your car, let me know as well!

 

no probs at all, I will do

Thanks for the compliments

 

Looks awesome, and very unique!

I don't know you if your JCW is your daily driver, but I would recommend Collinite Marque D'elegance Carnauba Paste Wax for the stripes and your car for the winter. The reason I would recommend this wax is the last time I waxed my car was last November, and the paint and stripes still bead. The only downside is it's kind of a pain to put on and a bit pricey.

 

Thanks for the tip, and the compliments, I'll look into it right after work

 

 

Where did you get your side scuttles?

 

I believe those are the JCW scuttles. you can find them at outmotoring or miniusa.com.

 

As promised