While others are removing their chrome and looking stealthy, I'm going the opposite direction... there are so many ways to express yourself with a MINI! My R56's interior was darned dull. Brushed aluminum. Black. Endless plastic. I envied the earlier MINIs with colorlines and chrome packages... so.... here we go!

Domed center console flag by Aesthetic Creations, Start button and chrome kit by GoMotoring, and red dash pieces by Krylon. It's bright and beautiful and just what I wanted!

 

I really like the red dash. Looks great!

 

I've been thinking of doing my dash in red... did you sand down the silver paint on the dash first or just shoot it?

 

how did u paint it ? on the car or off. and if off how did you take them off. N also do you know how to take of the molding(refering to the chrome) i want to paint my...still debating between yellow or gold.

 

I tried wrapping those pieces with vinyl but failed. When the car would get hot, the vinyl would peel up from the edges. I tried three times and then gave it up. I hit these with some primer that my son had, (for plastic) then used Krylon 'Fusion' because it is for plastic. Then, when satisfied, I used a Krylon gloss clear coat. The pieces come off pretty easily. Here's how to do it:

For the one behind the steering wheel, you use the lever on the lower left of the steering wheel to release the wheel so that you can pull your steering wheel down and forward. Then, using a Torx screwdriver, remove the two screws holding the tach down. They are sort of behind the tach. Careful not to drop the screw down into the dash! Then grab the plastic piece in the arch of the steering wheel and pull. It takes quite a bit of pulling to snap it out, but that's how you do it.

For the one that is the 'secret compartment' cover... there are two Torx screws underneath, so open it up and locate the screws on the back of the faceplate. After removing those, use a plain flat screwdriver to push into the slots on the front edge of the face plate, and push against the tabs there, freeing them one at a time. When the front edge is free, it slides away from you and off of the other tabs at the back.

The Torx sizes needed are T27 and T15. I don't remember which piece takes which size, but those are the two you need.

I sanded first but only because there had been a little surface pulled up from repeated peeling of the vinyl. Don't think you really need to. I also used blue tape to mask the back off. It was quite easy to do. The red color is slightly oranger than the actual Chili Red car color but since it is inside, it doesn't really show.

I didn't remove the chrome because there was no need to, I had just added it on recently.

Hope this helps! Glad you like it!

 

Joanie - looks very sharp and from the pics looks like you
did a pretty good job. Nice youification of your Mini.

 

I have to agree with the above, nice youification

 

Just ordered a UJ today for my center dash

 

I've never seen "dash centers" like that before... where do you find them?

 

AestheticCreations

 

That link doesn't work.

 

It wasn't a link, it was just the company name..
Here is a link
http://www.aesthetic-creations.com

 

Winnie looks "mavaaaalaaaassssssss" Joanie

 

That looks great.......applause


-Steven

 

Lakersguy, we are in trouble! No playoffs this year. I am sick about it. Sorry to go off topic.

 

rans THAT sucks!!