I just added the Aerokit side skirts to my DS w/ PS MCS.

Painted the side skirts to match the PS roof & mirrors and checkmate decal I added to both the A panel and rear plate surround.

I really like the concept ...but I'm not 100% sold on it yet.

Comments/opinions ..please.
Peace,
D

 

Interesting look. Definitely distinctive!

 

The checkboard around the license plate is great!

Since you asked for opinions, I'm sorry that my opinion of the contrasting side skirts is not so flattering. It looks like a mis-matched paint mistake more than an intentional tie-in of colors. What the aero side skirts do which the black standard side skirts don't, is to give the car a lower appearance by bringing the paintwork lower to the ground.

Being a lighter, contrasting color does the opposite, and makes the car look higher, although it does hilight the aero skirt and make it stand out (for whatever reason).

A darker paint below with a fade up to lighter could possibly work.

I think it would look nicer if the checkmate pattern didn't just stop at the top of the side skirt, but continued down.

 

Different Strokes For Different FOLKS....!!!

 

On the positive side, I like using the Aero rocker panels with standard front and rear bumpers. I've done that on my car too.

On the negative side, I agree with Tarzan's point about the appearance of the main body panels. I think the contrasting Aero rocker panels move the look of the body panels up rather than down. Personally, I prefer a lower look.

Here's another suggestion. Bring the checkboard design on the front fenders down into the rocker panels. Paint the remainder of the rocker panels DS (body color). Then, seamlessly extend the checkerboard pattern at the front of each rocker panel into a wedge-shaped speed splash that fades into the DS color of the rest of the panel.

 

Thanks f/ the comments.
I kinda agree.....

The problem as I see it.... is as follows...
To match exactly the skirt w/ the DS body color w/o "blending" w/ the DS door and rear qtr pannel ... is tricky.

We've tried the skirts DS already.... and just didn't like the color match... We've tried it several times but the color match was always ..just a bit off :(

I really like the idea of...bringing the checkmate decal down a bit.... and I also like the fade to DS idea.

I truly appreciate the candor....keep it comming

Peace,
D

 

JMO, but I think the reason the PS skirts look like they're "floating" is that there is no tie-in. Now, if the wheel arches were the same color....

 

My sympathy. My '05 MCS is DS too. My Aero rocker panels do match the DS body color. So, I may be lucky. However, before I had the panels painted, I called several paint shops that were recommended by DC-area BMW & MINI dealers. I found one that did a lot of Aero kit work, that said they had coded all the MINI body colors. They sprayed the panels off the car (i.e., without the presence of the car), and they did a really good job of color matching. They got the rough black paint right too around the edges. It was simple for me - I just took the car there for a panel swap once the Aero panels were ready.

However, I have seen Aero panels on other cars that look really off-color.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Hi d-mini-ero, you have " [FONT=comic sans ms,sand]Kosei K1 TS 17"x 17" " installed (@ your website)? Wow!![/FONT]

BTW, it looks unique, just reminded me some mini SUVs though.

 

I agree with the others - the lighter color there 'raises' the car instead of grounding it - just not my taste. I like the side skirts matching the body color best myself. If you don't want to repaint bringing the checks over in dark silver on the light silver might unify it together. Or, perhaps remove the checks on the little panel and instead do a side graphic that incorporates the side skirt - I think that might be good since leaving the 'checkmate' checks and adding more designs on the side would make it rather busy IMHO.

Edit: Your color match issue is unusual - I've had difficult metallic colors perfectly paint matched on kits/add-ons with no blending. Were they the factory painted parts or the shop just not up to par?

 

Personally, I prefer the skirts to be the same color as the body and not the roof. It's not that it looks bad, I just think it would look better.

 

you can paint the wheel arches to silver to and the plastic trim on the front and rear bumper, that would look better if you wanted different look.

 

checker the side skirts? so it looks like those decals people put at the bottom of their cars.

 

I got the factory painted DS aero skirts from Classic and the match looks perfect. I think the price was around $250 each.

 

1st project....
Will prob order some Avery Metalic Vinyl #A7706M.
It's as close as you can get to Dark Silver...
(even though it's called gunmetal on their website).
Gonna cut ... I would assume close to 100 squares.... and try to put "checks".... on both skirts. This surely will be tedious.
We'll see how this comes out.

2nd project....(if necc )
Gonna try to re-shoot the skirts back to DS....
I'll give it one more try....
fingers crossed

And...if it comes to this ....
I'll put the stock skirts back on.... call it a day... sell the aerokit skirts

We'll cross this bridge if/when.... we have to

Thanks for all the suggestions/comments

I appreciate it... alot

Peace,
D

 

i really have hard time understanding why they would have difficulties matching the color.

 

ditto...

It seems that it would be a simple task...

If anyone knows of someone in Long Island, NY that is willing to step up to the plate and take a swing..
I'm listening

BTW....I've used this particular body & fender guy for the last 15 years... and have never had anything but exceptional results.

I'm shocked myself .....

Peace,
D

 

i wish you luck

 

Dennis,
I have to agree with 3cocinas. The skirts as they are don't flow with the rest of the car. If you were to extend the color all the way around by painting the wheel arches the same as the skirts it would look waaaay better.
My $.02

 

looks like primer

 

defintely unique, but also definitely not my cup of tea

 

This is actually becomming fun again...
Yet another idea
whatyathink...lol

Peace,
D

 

The checks and the fade work for me. Now if the base color on the right were only DS.....

 

Getting better! The color of the lower checks don't appear to match the upper checks.

Another idea to try to tie it in more would be to apply some of the checks to those silver mirror caps.

 

I agree with Tarzan, try and put a few checks on the mirror to help tie it together. It looks like it's going to turn out really nice once you get the extra checks put on it and possibly color match them better to the Checkmate checks.