I finally got my black grille and boot handle on. Still haven't got the lower front grille on, mainly coz I couldn't work out how to get the old one off without a chisel. And I still have to put the yellow tinted rally lights back on.
The 1st pic also shows the new roof stripes from Aesthetic Creations. Love them! And the new(ish) wheels too.



Top center on the rear window is my ACTUAL SIZE sticker. You can't really see it due to shadow.

 

Your car looks great! I love the stripes

 

Looks cool! What method did you use to black out the grille? HAve you put many miles on it yet? I definitely like the look of the chrome surround with the black slats - nicer than the aero grille in my opinion!

Planning to do the black grilles on my LY MCSC - probably with vinyl. Very interested in how yours works out.

_Dave_

 

Thanks for the comments so far.

Ame0ba, I bought a used EB grille and had it painted black, then swapped it for my yellow one. It was a pain in the neck due to the OEM rally lights being rivetted on, and preventing the grille from coming off. I had to drill out the rivets, and haven't reapplied them yet.

 

nice ride dude

like the meshing of the scoop

 

Looks great! I especially like the two tone color stripes.....different...haven't seen anybody else do that...

Donna
02' CR/W MCS (gone to MINI heaven)
05' Cool Blue MCSC "Ariel"

 

Lovin the two tone ride!!! Definitely a hot lookin' car!

 

Nice man!

 

Very nice! I'm doing the same grille deal on my CR. Still looking for a lower grill slat in jet black, though.

I think you would have to remove the bumper cover to get at that other piece.

 

Post pics when you get it installed

 

I have the lower slat in black as well, and yes, as far as I can tell, that's what I have to do. Maybe this weekend.

 

Thanks for all the comments. After I get the lower slat on, the next thing is a product that is supposed to be available around June. Coloured tyre paint. Yellow tyres.
Then I'll be about done.

 

.... what'sa "boot handle"

 

I pick up my black grill at the body shop tomorrow, installing on a yellow '02 MC. Have been looking for a boot handle on eBay for weeks...

I guess great minds think alike!!

Great ride!

 

i came accross this same problem, so i had my lower grille painted on the kar
removed the front plate and taped it up......had it painted

 

Argo, the black boot handle looks great on your kar

 

The day of delivery I added the black grill and boot handle. Both were purchased on ebay.

 

Very nice. I'd seen that last year on a CR\B MINI and loved it. I didn't think about the simplest option (finding one that's painted black), so I opted for the carbon fibre scoop. I'm still looking for a CF bonnet piece. Anyone know where I can find one?

 

Andrew,

I couldn't get your pictures to download, but I'm sure it turned out great. I had the upper and lower grill, headlihts rings and the boot handle painted black on my 05 Liguid Yellow MC last week. I picked it up on Thursday and it look so cool. It was a real project for the body shop. They actually pulled the parts off the car and had to sand the chrome off the plastic and then use a special primer and repaint the parts. After the paint cures for a couple of weeks I'm going to have clear mask material put on them. They can be chipped now that they are painted. Attached are some pictures of how the front turned out.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

If you havent broken the glue off the back of the bumper from other grill installs, you will need to remove the bumper. I had already changed grills for my bumper install, so i just pryed it off from the outside.

I did mine in vinyl after i found that my painted ones chipped far too easily. Vinyl works just as well

I did this a long time ago, but seems to be catching on now

 

Onasled...boot handle is the handle that opens the boot. That's trunk to non-MINI Yanks.

RallyMINI, I recall reading something like that a while ago.

Jayme, that look great! Looks like a totally different car! I like the blacked out chrome around the headlights.

I had looked for a black grille for sale but had no luck. The scoop is a factory black one I got from someone on MINI2 who has a black MCS and wanted a CF scoop. I've had the grille and handle for months, just never got round to getting them painted. They were supposed to be on the car for AMVIV but there was a delay at the painters.

The problem I have with painting the yellow one on the car is that I want to be able to go back to stock. If MINI ever makes a hardtop in metallic burnt tangerine, I'm going to need the black grille, scoop and boot handle on it.

The roof stripes are (at the moment) unique, I believe. I had Mike from Aesthetic Creations install them at AMVIV. These lines line up with the black bonnet stripes, so from directly in front of the car, they look like a continuous line, except for the windscreen of course.

The day they were going on, I had a brainflash that it was too late to do of having yellow lines down the middle of the car, one solid and one dotted, like the "overtaking allowed in 1 direction" lines in the middle of a road. If anyone wants to do that, I'd really like to see how it looks.

 

I just did the aero grill install and I was able to just pull the stock bumper grill off. Started in the center using a screwdriver to lift the edge, got my finger under it and just started popping out the tabs. It was VERY easy.

 

Yes, this is a possibility. Its held on by clips and what looks like glue from a hot-glue gun(pretty pliable, bond is easy to break).

 

Last night, I removed the bumper and swapped out the lower slat. Less than an hour all up. Thanks to Mark (SmoothIsQwik) for the bumper removal instructions.

 

It all looks great!!! I really like your MINI, great color combos and the mesh in the scoop is a nice touch...should have come like that from the factory in my opinion