I have a 03 Cooper and have sourced some JCW leather downtubes. The downtubes on my 03 are straight at the bottom and have the foam posts in the bottom. The JCW leather tubes are flared at the bottom. I've gotten them installed but my question is, do I need to place the foam inserts into the bottom of the flared JCW leather tubes? Did the later year downtubes have inserts? I've got the foam inserts in the JCW tubes now but the console is about a 1/8" high at the front where the tubes are.
Any help appreciated.

 

The later year downtubes to not have foam inserts. I might try the install without them.

 

Pictures please....

Is your other ride an 80 Spitfire?

 

The older downtubes could be pulled up at out of the console. The later years were flared, and didn't use the foam inserts.