OK - I want to put the aero kit front bumper cover ONLY on my car. It is available online. Do I...

Order unpainted online and take it to a local body shop? I assume they can paint it so it matches perfectly? Any idea how much it would cost to have them do that?

I will still have black wheel arches - and it looks like some aero kits I see have the black extend on the front bumper cover. That's just painted to look that way, right?

Or should I just get the dealer to do it?

Thanks - and sorry for the dumb questions...

Mark S

 

I ordered just the side skirts from the Aero Package from Classic MINI in Ohio. I got them primed and now they are at a local shop being painted - $200.

Installation looks simple enough so I am not worried at all. From looking at pictures here on NAM...it looks as if the aero kit side skirts have the black molding around them...is this case or is that just paint?

 

The black that meets up with the plastic wheel arches, both on the bumpers and the ends of the side skirts, is paint. Problem is, some (many?) shops have trouble matching the texture. Here's what they look like before painting (pics are lifted from Outmotoring).

 

I forgot to mention ^ that if you buy the parts prepainted ($$$) the black areas will match the plastic arches perfectly.

 

the aero front bumper is painted to look like the plastic from the arches extends into the bumper.

 

Thanks Kurvhugr! The custom motorcycle shop that is painting my side skirts space blue said once they were finished they would match the color of the wheel arches without a problem. It looks like a shade of flat black?

On another note...I wonder why they don't include the honeycomb grill pieces that fit into the ends of the aero kit with the whole package? Are people just not getting that part or are they filling the hole up with something else?

 

I ordered the full kit and those little grills were included. The pic from Outmotoring makes it look like they're included if you order just the side skirts.....maybe you need to ask your vendor about it?

The paint is almost flat black, but that's the easy part. If you want it to look like it matches, it needs to be textured as well. I've read that MINI sells a special paint for it, but I've also read that it's hard to find, and that some dealers even claim you can't get it in the states. When the folks at Classic re-painted part of my kit before they sent it to me (was damaged on the way to their parts dept), I was told the trick is really just technique, that you have to spray the paint from a distance.....or something like that (it's been a while).