Hey All,

Just needed a quick vent, and wanted to ask for some opinions. I have a 2011 MCS, Chili Red/Black. Plastidipped all the chrome and swapped out to a black hood scoop. My MINI came with bonnet stripes and they are getting stained by the windshield wiper fluid.

My MA said to bring the car in and they'll see if they can fix the windshield washer nozzles and they would replace the stripes under warranty. So far so good but...

I think I want sport stripes. The car looks great with the bonnet stripes, but since doing the black out, I kinda think the sport stripes would look better on the car... I asked the dealer about switching. They're about 300 bucks installed, but they warned me that:

1. the bonnet stripes MIGHT not come off completely and
2. even tho the car is only about a month old, that the sun/heat of the engine could have faded the paint and I'd still be able to see the where the stripes are...

I'm also thinking that since the wiper fluid seems to be running to the outside of the nozzles that having sport stripes might just solve that problem of the staining even if the nozzle don't get fixed correctly.

So my question is this... should I go for it? Has anyone here swapped stripes? had any of the problems mentioned?

Thanks in advance!

 

Personally, I think you will be OK switching stripes because the original stripes have not been on that long. If it was me I would try it. If there is some difference in the paint, it would probably wax out.

 

I bought my '02 MCS 18 months ago and it had the factory bonnet stripes. I removed them with no issues, polished the paint and applied aftermarket center stripes. No residue left from old stripes and no ghost from old stripes on a car that was 8 years old so I can't see how you would have an issue with a car as new as yours. BTW, newer cars that are base coat / clear coat painted are much more resistant to fading because the clear coat protects the color pigment from oxidation.

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