So I'm going to try to prep my rear hatch for a vinyl stripe and decided to debadge the MINI emblem. The "prep" is to fill the two holes... left from the badge.



I got some mesh and plan on epoxying that behind and then the bondo will have something to bond to. Does that sound like a good plan? If so, how do I remove the inside panel? I removed the bolts and two rubber things by the glass - am I going to have to just break the plastic clips that I can just see behind and order new ones?



And last question - vinyl dude says he may not be able to striped all the way down the valence... The stripe is 17" wide so I get the issue, but is it time to find a new vinyl dude? I can't see ending this stripe above the valence.

 

I'd end the stripe at the bottom of the hatch before ending it at the valance on the bumper with the valance being body colored. The OE sport stripes end at the hatch and actually look pretty good. I'd expect a good vinyl guy to be able to apply the stripe to the valance if that's what you want.

Was going to suggest the GP splitter as an alternative to the valance, but then you'd have to do something with the non-S exhaust.

 

Agreed on everything. Going to check with another vinyl dude this week. If worse comes to worse and everyone balks about the valance, I could wrap it in carbon fiber or black. If they can wrap a car, they can wrap a valance. I've seen this valance in black on a light colored MINI somewhere around here...

 

Both are mods I have done or working on myself. Having done the vinyl down the bumper covers I can say it's not an easy task but totally doable. Must use masking tape as a guide on either side/middle if sport stripes to lay them down correctly. If you don't use the tape as a guide they can come out crooked. I also used a hair dryer to soften the stripes some make them go where I wanted them to. Be careful not to use too much heat since it can distort the vinyl stripe's surface leaving a ruddy finish.


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Reason why bumpers are not as easy as one would think is that the bumpers are slightly curved from L to R and top is not perfectly flat so vinyl will have a tendency to flare outwards when going down the face of it.


As far a plugging up the holes goes....unless it's perfectly flat, and I mean PERFECT any imperfections under the vinyl will be visibly magnified ten fold on the surface of the stripe. The best way would be to fill weld, grind, sand, prime and repaint....


Possible alternative to covering filled holes on black stripes would be to just put two black shiny plugs in there from an Aubuchon Hardware store....

 

gRay rAvEn - glad you chimed in. Yeah, there's just no way I would try to stripe it myself for all the reasons you stated. I'll get these holes filled and I just hope that I can find the right vinyl dude.

Bonded in some mesh after pulling the inside panel. Only broke 2 clips.



Getting back there to bond the mesh wasn't easy - there's bracing in the way and you have to reach in from the side a few inches to secure it... But got it done and then closed the hatch and got one coat of bondo on. Almost, but the left hole needs a second shot. I pushed it a little too far. Read your post about imperfections magnifying under vinyl and I'll address this in the second coat.

 

Second coat finished. Removed two stickers from my rear glass to clean it up.
Do I really need to prime and paint this? Keep in mind I won't be changing my mind - the front stripe is painted.





It's nice and smooth...

 

Looks like you've got exposed metal around those holes. If you don't want them rusting out you need to get some primer on that.If you're covering the area up with a stripe and don't care what it looks like underneath just mask off everywhere around the area and hit 'em with a quick spray of primer and paint from a rattle can.

Edit: exposed metal around the left hole, rather.

 

That Bondo will shrink/pop. I was hoping you were not planning on hitting the OE paint with sand paper. The correct way would been to have welded plugs and ground it smooth..

(which, since you have sanded the paint.. personally, I'd go back and do it right..)

I only know this from doing things like this on the back of VW Golfs... Wiper deletes and badge removals...

Slamming the trunk closed.. and rattles from the road will knock things loose..

 

Nicely done !

What was used to secure the back webbing to the hatch, JB Weld ?

I would think if back was secure enough and it was primed painted, the hole not being that big you might be ok. But prime/paint is a definite must do.

 

oem paint in a rattle can be had from Way Motor Works....or least he used to sell it.

 

If not you can get matched paint from automotivetouchup.com

danjreed makes a really good point... If you know someone with a welder it wouldn't take much to close up those two holes.

 

Correct, vinyl can go all the way.

About the badge shaving, I recommend going the welding plug route. Reason for this, are several. I personally don't like bondo. It will shrink/expand different then the surrounding areas. It cracks, and overall creates more headache than anything else- even in tiny holes such as these. Your climate, closing the hatch (and even side doors), and even overall road shenanigans will play in effect. Fiberglass would be better. DEFINITLY prep the bare metal (including inside).

 

Been thinking about the bondo and how it will hold up to the change in cabin pressures while opening and closing the doors ect.

The MINI like many other cars have built in "flap areas" to vent compressed air as boot and doors are closed. This could potentially be an issue for a plug material such as this.

 

Took it to a body shop for an estimate on a couple of things... long story short, he took a look at the bondo and he thought it would likely do fine with the vinyl over top of it. I'm looking at this as an inexpensive experiment to see how it holds up - if it shrinks, cracks I can always peel that small section of vinyl and start over.

I do want the boot handle in PW and run the stripe right over it. Buying one new from MINI is ridiculous - over $200 and it's just primed to be painted. The body shop could sand my chrome one and paint it for $125, but he doesn't recommend painting over chrome.

I would love to just swap my chrome boot handle for someone's PW so if you hear of anyone who just LOVES chrome, let me know.

I'm going to find a rattle can of PW and get that area covered very soon... Thanks for the sources on that.

 

I have a boot handle in PW. Just pay for the shipping and its yours.

 

I knew if I put this out there, something would turn up! Very nice of you, BMC - thank you!

I'll pm you my info tonight some time.

 

Here's where you guys get a good laugh. I clearly should have taped this off differently... But I was able to sand down the hard edges, will get some 400-500 grit sandpaper and get it prepped for paint.

I ordered a can of PW from automotive touch-up (thanks gRay rAvEn) and a can of high gloss clear coat. When I paint it, I'm planning on taping off the rear glass from the belt line up, removing the boot handle and taping off below and then give my self a 15" wide area to spray in.

I'll take any direction on the proper way to finish this off...

 

Looks like your doing a good job! If you ever need paint. Just go to any automotive parts store that deals with paint. They can color match your car and put it in a rattle can for you.. all for about $23. Just make sure you scuff the area where you will be clearing also. Then you can blend in. good luck!

 

Found my vinyl dude! He'll be able to stripe it down to the bottom of the valance, no problem. He took a good look at the bondo job and is suggesting to wet sand and not paint. If my rattle can job is less than perfect (which is likely!) then it will show through the vinyl.

 

Not sure why you couldn't wet sand the paint just like you're going to wet sand the primer, but regardless the vinyl should keep moisture away from the primer so I'd expect that to be fine. Glad to hear you found a guy who will do the job you wanted. When do we get pics?

 

You know, I may just try it anyway. You're right - I could wet sand any issues and I think I'd feel better knowing that it's fully painted underneath the stripe. And I did pay for the paint and clear coat (arrived today on my birthday as if on cue ) so I may as well use it.

My PW boot handle (care of BMC_Kid ) should be here tomorrow. So I'm hoping to get that on after I paint it this weekend and I should be able to get it to the vinyl dude by the middle of next week.

 

Looking forward to seeing the finished project.

 

Thanks to grueinthebox, I went ahead and started spraying tonight.

 

After 2 coats of PW from automotivetouchup...

 

Wish I could rename this thread, "good reasons to go to a body shop". Everything actually looked swell after my third coat of clear. But something happened with the fourth coat that gave it a matte finish. At this point, I'm just hoping to just smooth it out with 1500 and 2000 grit black and call it a day...