So seeing as my dealer is going to quote me around $3k for the full install for an Aero Kit, I think I am going to do it myself. Or at least attempt.

Here's my plan...
1) Buy a primed Aero Kit

2) Buy factory Hyper Blue paint

3) Paint

4) Install

I'm hoping to put it all in for a grand. And I certainly oversimplified my plan. So a couple of questions, mainly, am I crazy? Has anyone attempted this? and if so, have any tips or tricks or anything that would help me out?

More importantly, can factory match paint be bought at a decent price? Factory direct maybe as opposed to through the dealer?

I have never done anything like this. But I figure with some time, care, and patience it can be done just as well as the dealer could for about $2k less.

Thanks.

 

i had mine installed under $1,500.00, and now they even go cheaper. I do not have time or skills to paint the whole thing and paint is not cheap either. If you have the experience, go experiment it, but in my case it was worth extra 400-500 bucks

 

better off trying to buy a factory painted Hyper blue body kit.

no paint will ever match factory paint exactly. thats why the factory painted aero kit seems like an almost no brainer!

 

Thanks for the quick replies. If I find a factory painted HB aero kit I'll buy it because it is a no-brainer, but I have looked all over the internet and haven't found one. Now I'm sure eventually one will pop up, but in the mean time, when I get the money together I think I might attempt it myself because its easy enough to find a primed aero kit and paint.

 

Call Classic BMW, I beleve they have a few for a cheap price left in stock....

 

er, nvm, they had Indi Blue for $600 bucks.


Just give em a call, they will hook ya up.

Ask for Jayson, hes the best guy there!!

 

Aright thanks, I'll check out Classic. If they can't hook me up, I'll have to do this myself because I'm stubborn

 

you won't find a hb prepainted kit, no way

 

That's what I thought. Now back to my original post. I can get factory paint for about $80-100. That includes clearcoat and rubbing compound.

SO, primed aero kit = ~$800
Paint = ~$100

Looks like I could do it for under a grand. Also, this would allow me some freedom to add some custom work to the paint job. Instead of the sticker mesh jobbies some sort of lettering or design. I don't know. Still thinkin about it.

Anyway, if anyone has any experience painting stuff like this, PM me some tips or post em on here. I may not attempt this for another month or so, but once I do I'll post pics.

 

80-100 bucks for paint? That sounds like sherwin williams paint to me.

80-100 bucks shouldnt even be enough to buy clear, let alone base and clear.

add in the cost of primer, block sanding, and all that prep, then you have to add int he black, unles your going to paint the arches too, and you will need a semigloss clear for those, a different clear.

 

i agree.


shrtstak- anyone can paint the primer and basecoat. it's the clear that's very
tough... tough to get no dust on it, tought to get the right amount of
clear... just enough to get a nice solid wet coat, but not too much that it
would drip.

it's worth letting a body shop do it...unless you're a paint master yourself.

 

Site I found the paint...

http://www.paintscratch.com/

 

also try www.paintworldinc.com

there's other places...but again, let the pro's do it.
painting small pieces is easy...bumpers, etc. is very tough.

 

hey, sherwin willams makes some nice paint, just not MINI worthy..

my vette was painted with SW paint, didnt look too bad at all.

dust isnt an issue it you put like 6 or 7 coats of clear on, then just wetsand them out with 1000 grit, then buff

FYI, a pint of DuPont paint is about $60 bucks, a Pint of PPG is about $70, for a color with some pigment in it

 

looking at paintscratch, i sure hope your not thinking of painting 800 dollars wroht of plastic with a rattle can......

 

Just seems like a waste of money to me to pay a paint shop to do something I could probably do with some time and patience. I wouldn't expect to get it the first time, so I'd probably experiment with some similar surfaces. Don't know what yet. Anyway I posted to get an idea of exactly how hard it would be to do. So far I still think it's doable.

By the way, my car only has 3500 miles on it, so the paint has not had time to fade at all. I assume this will make color matching easier. In my estimation the tough part of color matching is matching fade. Worst thing that could happen is when I finish the painting, it looks like sh*t and I sand it all back to primer and give it to a body shop. Seeing as the paint would only run me, MAX $150 (I think), even if I do it 5 times I'm still saving money compared to having the dealer install.

I have considered color coding the wheel arches. But I don't know, my Mini is my daily driver so we'll see.

Thanks for the help so far everyone.

 

if you havent ever painted exterior panels before, dont think painting stuff with a can of rustolem is the same as painting exterior car parts.


its a whole different ball game. especially when having to two tone it like you will have to do with yours.

 

And no I was looking at the 16oz can and then picking up a disposable sprayer to apply it. The Preval sprayer. Which ran like $80 + clearcoat which was $25 I think. Aright so I underestimated a couple posts ago .

That Preval sprayer is like $5 I think and disposable which is good because I don't feel like splurging on a auto paint gun just for this.

Reason I am thinking about doing this myself is because my budget is tight. Some might say that if I can't afford to do it right, don't do it at all. But when did that ever stop anyone on this site from modding

Any more tips? Keep em coming the more info I have the better.

 

The paint code for hyper blue is A28 or 29 I don't remember I have it written down somewhere. But that site you linked didn't have it listed Ken, thanks though.

 

Get a gun and a book on how to paint.

its the only way it will get done right.

i use a harbor freight 40 dollar touch up gun for this kinda work, its only 20 oz, so it doesnt even hold enough to do one panel on most touch up jobs, but it works.

a halfway decent compressor is around 100 bucks from harbor freight too.

 

well, you're the paint master so im not going to disagree. but when dust goes on, it's a real biatch.

 

lol well, the more clear you add, the less you could fvck up and sand down to the base. just make sure you dont cover up all of the body lines with puddles of clear!

 

crap, that reminds me when my air compressor died...in the middle of
painting my car... well, it was a 1/24 scale Tamiya car but still.

tsssssssssssssssssssssss!!! yeppiee! then BUBBUUU UBBUBububub
bubuuububu!!! oh sh&t! blob drip drip drip.. :impatient

 

hahaha ive done that more than once!

the worst was painting my Lotus F1 car, i messed up the body once, and had to start over with the 3 stage base-mid-clear paint i had on it!!!


as soon as i sprayed clear, it acted like thinner and ran all over the place!

 

Dont forget, you have to add flex agent to the primer, base, and clear. If you don't, you'll have cracks in about a month. So add that to the cost. Just for reference, a good clear like Dupont Imron 500S will run about $40 a quart. You can get cheaper paints, but you get what you pay for. Look in the yellow pages for automotive paint supply stores in your area. This way they can mix your paint if you have the color code.

If you've never painted before, read up on it. It's not as easy as getting a spray bomb can of Rustoleum and painting the old lawn chair. Get a decent gun, don't buy one of the disposable ones, it will look as bad as if you used a can of Krylon. The harbor freight ones will work, add a filter to capture any moisture in the air line, dampen the ground where you're going to paint, helps to keep dust down, and paint at an elevated level. Do not lay the pieces on the ground or on a milk crate, the overspray will kick up any dust that may still be on the ground. Keep them about waist high.

Some of these things I know as I painted cars to pay my way through college. I still paint on the side these days, but it mostly bicycles and motorcycles, easier to work with.