Finally my winter/early spring project is close to completion :smile:. Yesterday with help from 2 of our local club members I installed new gloss black wheel arches and bumper trim along with 05 side skirts kindly donated by my local dealer . They were first painted black then given the Pure Silver treatment on the upper part leaving the bottom 'strip' and ends black so they blend nicely with the arches . Somehow I ended up with 2 right front bumper pieces instead of a RIGHT and LEFT so as soon as I get the new left front piece back from the body shop and clear bra it I'll install all three pieces at the same time and the project will be complete .

Installing the wheel arches was fairly straightforward however the side skirts were a little more challenging. Removing some of the old clips was a PITA . We used various tools and all we did for a while was send small plastic bits flying across my buddy's driveway .

For rock protection, I applied bulk 3M clear bra to both side skirts and the front bumper pieces . Later I may add it to a couple of the arches.

What do you guys think? :smile: More pictures to come ...

 

That looks great! Good Idea. I think I like that better than the areo kit skirts. Can you post a pic from the side? I wonder how it would look whithout clear coating the black plastic.

 

Looks sweet. I like how it came out a lot. I was looking forward to the pics as I was following your other thread....

Hey can you show us a pic of your roof? It looks a little different than your average checkerboard unless there is some odd reflection I am seeing in the picture.

Chris

 

Sure! :smile: Here are pictures of the roof graphic which was custom made by Cooper Flags:

 

Clean set up, very nice!

 

Nice!

 

The arches look great. Nice job!

 

Looks sharp!

I, too, am in the midst of having my wheel arches painted black.

I, too, have a silver Mini (DS, not PS).

However, I was not so fancy with having the body color added to the rockers . As soon as I get it cleaned up I'll snap a few pics.

 

Sweeeet!!

Excellent Job- I really like the look... I also like the roof graphic (I put one on too). :smile:

- - Michael

 

I think painted arches look super, but if I were to do it, I'd definitely have to go with the 3M clear bra for protection, too. My trim has taken a good bit of punishment over the year (some predictable, some weird) and, imo, a painted surface just wouldn't hold up w/o some help.

 

Thanks everyone for the compliments! :smile:

Ya, my commute to work is 50 miles roundtrip, with about 90% of those highway miles including the worst stretch of road ever - I95 through downtown Richmond . Plus with all of the new construction going on in my area, I just knew I had to get the 3M clear bra . I may end up doing some of the arches too but at least the front end and side skirts will be protected...

 

Here are a few pictures of the tops of the side skirts with the JCW sills (just got new ones which will replace these old ones). I honestly wanted the background to be black (ie black on black) but the painter decided to paint the tops silver which is fine because I think they look good , better than I originally thought:

 

Painting project is now complete! Exterior mods:

- Cooper Flags checkerboard roof (silver, black, red)
- Cooper Flags checkerboard bonnet stripes (black)
- Cooper Flags checkerboard boot stripes (black)
- Painted hood scoop (silver and black)
- Painted wheel arches and front/rear bumper trim (black)
- Painted stock MCS side skirts (silver and black)
- 3M clear bra installed on front bumper trim pieces and side skirts
- 3M clear bra pre-cut kit for front bumper
- 3M clear bra pre-cut kit for hood, grille, mirrors
- New PPG windshield (stupid dump truck! )
- New front bumper side marker lights
- New headlight passenger side
- New Pure Silver paint for hood, grille, bumper
- One River City MINIs decal (NAM sticker coming soon )

Pictures of the front:

 

Pictures of the rear:

 

Your black painted trim looks very good, much nicer than I thought it would, very sharp. What type of paint was used for the black trim?

 

Fantastic job!
Now for the bottom line question ... how much did it cost to have your wheel arches painted?

 

$392 to have all wheel arches, side skirts, and bumper trim painted gloss black (painting only)


Later I added Pure Silver to the side skirts which ran me another $186

Adding black paint to the hood scoop cost me $62

 

Sorry to drag this up from the dead, but I would hope you could help me. I can figure out how to get the arches and sills taken off of the car, but how does the bumper trim come off in the front and the back? Is it molded into the bumper or is it actually a separate piece attached to the bumper??? I want to head to my dealer and get all the parts at once, but I want to make sure I get the right stuff...

Front bumper trim
rear bumper trim
side sills
front arch
front arch rear
rear arch

any idea on how many clips I should purchase from the dealer when I am there? It seems like 7/arch, but I have no idea with the side sills and bumpers. I've been searching all morning but can't seem to find a 'how-to' on this either!!

Thanks in advance!

 

wow, that's a huge difference from matt to glossy (front bumper
show it all) looks cool.

 

Looks great! Where did you get the Arches from?

 

I'm looking to do the same to my Cooper!!!! How much did this cost you in the end?

 

Simply Beautiful...