anyone who has had their black rocker/wheel arch/bumper outline mouldings painted body color, praticularly in southern california, please tell me how much it cost and if you were happy with how it turned out. you can pm me if you dont want to post it here. thanks

I've seen people mention that it cost anywhere from $450 (if you remove/replace the parts yourself) to $1400 (done for you at the dealer).

Project Managers talk about the 'golden triangle' of Cost, Quality and Time.

- If you want it fast and done right, expect to pay for it.
- If you want it cheap and fast, expect poor quality.
- If you want it cheap and done right, expect it to take a long time.

Id paint them for you if you didnt live in Cali-actually, Ill still do it for you and Ill do it for fairly in-expensive--I am just starting a new Painting/ Airbrushing Company and could benefit from gettin my name out there a little! [img]images/smilies/thumb-up.gif[/img]

Course, you are in Cali, and the shipping of your parts would take some time and money! But it can definately be done- and if you are a DIYer at all, Id def recommend takin the pieces you want painted off yourself! Lemme know if you have Q's or ideas.

JB

anyone have pictures of a mini with this done?

Not my MINI, but have been giving me inspiration to do mine...

I am really interested in this topic and having the plastic trim painted, more info pls

I got it done....it looks fantastic . Expect though, that your rear arches will start to show quite a few stone chips....

I still think it's worth it though - it's my favourite mod...

My Mini2 Gallery has a whole pile of pictures of it...

They will have to remove the arches, skirts and so on and then the process is as follows:

- they use high-fill primer on the 'rippled' surface of the arches, then sand it back
- they repeat the process until the surface is smooth (I think mine has 4 or 5 layers)
- apply a layer of normal primer
- then however many layers of paint they choose to use to make it look good.

points to consider:
- when they remove the arches and skirts, the clips may break - as they are designed to be single use. So you may have to order some more from your dealer. I didn't have to order any luckily...
- there's a good chance the arches will get warped when they are removed. Some painters will reccomend you just buy extra arches, skirts and lower parts of the bumpers and just give them to the painter - that way your car isn't off the road while the parts are getting painted, and they aren't warped. My arches are showing gaps. I plan to use a syringe to put in some form of adhesive to remove them...(still yet to work out what type of glue is best to do this).

If it's done properly, it will look exactly like the rest of the car...if it hasn't been prepped properly (ie. no/not enough high-fill primer), the finish will be dull and won't match...

Oh yeah...if you choose to do it with an aero kit, things are a little different. The aero kit is already smooth, so it wont' require as much prep.

Prices for the work can range from $400 - $1600 - this really depends on the painter, as it's quite labour intensive (lots of sanding and primer application)....Expect it to take anywhere from 3 days to over a week...mine was in for 4 days.

Oh yeah...and if you're thinking of putting on an aero-grille, I highly reccomend colour-coding that as well....see my pics below:

Good luck, I highly reccomend it!

thanks for all the replies...i own a bodyshop and will be doing a set for a local mini owner. i put an aero kit on my car so i already had most of the stuff, minus the wheel arches and i acquired a set of arches so the car doesnt have to be "down" or drive without trim. randy webb told me he paid 1200 for an excellent job on his car, and i am trying to get input on what is a fair price for a goood job. after doing this set, i will then have another set "in stock" to paint for the next car and so on. once we have done one, we will know how much time and material it takes, but for the first one i was looking for some input from people who have had it done. thanks you again for your replies.

Wow, great looking mini Tit. Thanks for the pics.

I am sick of having my checkerboard roof, yes I know, it's crazy, so I am looking for something new to do. I am taking the checkerboard off as we speak, and I might do some white offset stripes on the bonnet/boot.

I was also thinking of doing (either paint or vinyl) the black arches white.........can anyone find any pics of this?? I've been searching with no luck. With my white roof I think it might look good?? What does everyone think?
Thnx
Karen

has anyone tried painting the arches and skirts white?? or with vinyl? I have an '04 IB with white roof, and I was thinking of doing them in white. any pics??

What about a contrasting color. Anyone have pics? I want to do mine white, like my roof.

sorry about the repeated posts...they weren't showing up so I kept trying...

On the idea of contrasting arches:

I've seen pictures of Electric Blue with White Roof, S-Lites and WHITE ARCHES! IMHO, it looked like a victim of 'Pimp my Ride'... it was AWFUL. (I can't find the pics, but I'll keep my eyes open for them).

(I had to come back and soften this statement... I was in a bad mood. The EB w/ white arches is definately NOT MY STYLE... It might be good for you and, if so, I'm all for it being on YOUR CAR. I'm just not much for the look)

I have seen a few people paint the arches black... It looks very sharp and well defined on black cars or on dark silver. The high gloss bumps up the 'quality factor' by a few notches when compared to the stock plastic trim.

I found the EB w/ White Arches pics that I was describing. I do like a lot of the other choices Smurfn made... I'm just not big on the white arches. The 4-light bar on the front is HOT!

http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/gallery_4824.html

I found the dark silver w/ Black arches in this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...painted+archesAnd I found a cool EB MINI with EB arches and a black roof (about half way down this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=16290

I should probably keep anything that starts with "IMHO" to myself, given my (Hopefully soon) Photoshopped MINI dreams...

After getting all the black trim painted I'll have clear bra or whatever the equivalent is on all those surfaces. I saw that kind of treatment on a lot of MINI's this last weekend and unless you're an idiot or extremely **** and love paying for paint jobs galore I'd recommend it. I saw one that (for whatever reason) had the hood (bonnet) treated except for the stripes. Boy could you tell a difference in the chips. It convinced me that it's worth it beyond any doubt.

That's smufn's car...he's a well known Aussie mini2'er....he lives on the central coast of NSW...

The theme is obvious....he's got a whole pile of toy smurfs on the dash too...(as you can see in the first pic) it actually looks quite cool in the flesh..and it is instantly recognisable....

I don't know who owns this other car, but it's a BRG with Black painted arches...check it out (if you own this car, I hope you don't mind me posting it...)....I think it looks sorta cool..