So i have union jack mirror caps on my r53 and they are looking pretty faded, any tips on painting them I'm looking to make them pepper white to match my roof. I'm not very good at painting at all so any help is appreciated

 

I thought of doing this on mine......painting a checkerboard pattern. ( they were white)

After looking closely at the " real thing"....

It would be nearly impossible to replicate.... I have seen a vinyl covering for the mirror caps....but received poor reviews...

f you want to paint a solid color...that's a lot easier...just remove with a plastic cap with a removal tool...and paint with a good quality paint.

On line has many videos of painting

I decided to spend the $170.00 for a pair of checkerboard mirror caps..

I know its a lot of money for plastic caps...but IMO.....well worth it !!!

Looks AWESOME !!!!!!!

Good Luck !!!

 

I just want solid white just like my roof, i was thinking about dropping the money on new caps because I do like the union jack caps but I'm trying to upgrade so many parts on my car right now i know the money can be better spent elsewhere

​​​​​​I'll just look up how to paint plastic I guess and order some pepper white paint thanks!

 

you can order the proper color in real automotive paint from here ... I've used them and their products are good ...

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/

they have some instructions for how to do it 'right'

you'll be needing: Paint in base color, clear coat and sand paper ... and maybe some primer

having done some real auto painting, here's what I'd do:

1. Take the mirror caps off (no sense in worrying about over spray on the car as the caps come off easily.

2. PREP .... you must sand the caps. You don't need to remove the old paint but you do need to knock down the 'gloss' of the finish so the new paint can 'bond' to the surface. You are also removing any bumps or imperfections ...

3. PRIME ... if the old paint is not peeling you can paint over it. If you sanded so much that you removed all the paint in spots and went all the way down to plastic, then you will need to prime. {since you are covering union jack which is a multi-color pattern, with a light color ... a couple of primer coats can be a VERY GOOD idea .... cover all the old pattern with a neutral primer like grey ... ARE these even painted? or molded in color .... I'd prime 'em with a GOOD primer.}

4. COLOR ... now you can apply the color according to instructions. Note that the color coat will appear dull .... this is correct. 2 or 3 light coats is best.

5. CLEAR ... next the clear coat is applied over the base color. This is where you get shine and strength .... clear is typically applied heavier than the color .. you want depth. BUT be careful else you get drips, runs and orange peel .... Note that CLEAR is usually applied relatively SOON after the color is applied. Within an hour or so. It is desired that the two products bond to each other while still wet ....

Note the products I recommend will run you $20 a can for the color and $8 each for clear and primer. You should be able to do the two caps with one can of each .... depends on your skill ....


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where are you? I could paint these in an afternoon ....

OPTION .... sometimes you can ask a local body shop to call you when they are gonna be 'shooting' the color you need then prep and prime the caps yourself and when they call you run the caps over and they shoot 'em as they do another job .... it is a long shot, but it may work out for you. ALSO see if there is a high school around that teaches auto body repair. If there is you may be able to get them to shoot the paint and you just pay for materials (I was a helper at a high school where we did a lot of this)


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Truth time: While this paint job is not brain surgery, getting good results with spray paints is something that requires some skill and the odds of a great looking job your first time out are no better than 50/50. Fortunately, white is VERY FORGIVING and imperfections tend to be much less noticeable ... if you were painting black I'd drop your odds to 20% first time out .... it would be wise to paint a couple of test objects first just to get the feel for working with the spray paint.


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I'm pretty sure Pepper White was a body color and you could of course get a body color roof. BUT if you got a white roof with a different body color the roof was ASPEN WHITE - same color as was on the white wheels. This applied all the way thru Gen2 (and possibly beyond). I had white roof on my dark silver 02 and BRG 07 hardtops and have the t/up paint bottle right here: MINI code 899

paint code list from 2008

http://www.sunshineminis.org/forums/...p?f=39&t=16182

and newer lists down in the thread ....

 

I think all pepper white coupes only came with pepper white or black roofs.

If I were going through all of the work, or $$ to pay someone to paint the caps, I would start with new primered caps or used plain caps. The Union Jacks might be some sort of factory wrap/vacuum form graphic and could possibly peel or wrinkle when painted. I've read of this happening when the alloy patina dashes and door panels were repainted.

 

FWIW, I have a set of PW caps that I pulled off a friend's car - coincidentally, to install checkerboard caps. PM me and maybe we can fix your problem.

 

Lol I don't know what made me think pepper white my bad, I figured I'd try white plastidip with glossifier before i did all that and possibly ruined them, they aren't perfect but I think they look pretty good so I'm gonna run with them for a while, maybe peel it and redo it but with primer because it took like 7 coats and in some spots if you look closely you can still see ol English poking through

 

Vinyl wrap! Looks good and it's cheap.

 

not a slam

but why am I not surprised you tried the $10 solution .... while I worried about the right color .....

ERIC seems to have your BEST solution

depending on his $$

 

At least I thought it turned out pretty good

And clearly the roof is not pepper white, I don't know what made me think it was

If anyone has any suggestions on what to do next I'm looking for some good ideas

Ps: I tried the cheap option because honestly I'm pretty cheap, but I'm pretty sold on the white so I may peel it and actually paint it but I'm scared I'll mess it up and plasti dip isn't as permanent if I can find a nice set of aspen white caps that aren't too expensive I'd be all over them Eric's are pepper white and he only mentioned them because I'm stupid and kept saying pepper white

 

Looks good from here. Hyper Blue/Aspen White

 

from the picture ... they look good to me

do they pass the 10 foot test?

Are YOU happy?

what else matters?

*****

if you want a GOOD job, I gave you a path.

If you are happy ..... move on to the next question.

Nice thing about plasti' is, as you said, you can start over quite easily.

 

Looking for Plain White Mirror Caps for my 2015 Mini Cooper S - 2 door. I. have the checkered ones on now - used to love them, but I want to go back to the original white ones (which I no longer have.)
Where can I buy these - having a little trouble finding just White /Aspen White.

Thanks!

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen pre-painted Aspen white mirror caps at ~25 € each from several European vendors in the past, most probably far-east made.
Check ECS Tuning for the correct part numbers first. There could be differences between non-foldable and foldable mirrors though.

This is the 1st gen section btw..