Is there a good source of 'space blue' vinyl? i.e. order from the internet or is there a brand and color name that is a good match?

 

Very nice work and clever, too. Awesome job! If you ever made a kit, I'd buy one from you.

 

wow that looks awesome!

 

Wow,

I really have to hand it to you for the ingenuity. Very impressive.

Thanks for providing the template, too. I 've wondered how my PW cabrio would look with checked mirror caps. I think I may have to try this.

 

I took the side graphics and hood stripe off of my sb/s checkmate... I like the cleaner stealth look...

But... this is awesome! I think it adds just the right amount of checks to the car and I could see this working very well on my checkless mate...

 

My checks may come off at some point in time, my cars are always going through some form of evolution! I'm searching for some metallic black vinyl, maybe even reflective metallic black (used to have some somewhere...). Possible also to... no... I'll keep that a surprise.

Best part of this mod is that it's reversible with no damage, just a hair dryer and some time.

 

DixenL2,

I went out and bought some vinyl and tried to copy what you did, but it just didn't turn out right.

Based on your template which goes on the driver's side mirror, the upper left piece should fit under the mirror cap, along the curve. But it doesn't--there is a big gap. The upper pieces seem to fit fine, though.

Also, am I right that there are no checks on the underside of the mirror cap?

I tried enlarging your template slightly, but then the upper pieces seemed too big.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

What worked really well for me was to leave the saran wrap on the mirror, hit it with the laser level, and draw what I wanted. That pile of scraps is trimmings from the eventual pieces that went on the mirror, so you can see there was some hand-fitting involved, but it was "just" a scissors and I had like 2 square feet of vinyl, so I wasn't worried. I would hold a piece next to the mirror, test fit it with the backing on, trim, then fit it. Then move to the next one.

Yes there are checks on the bottom of the mirror too... The piece on the top left of the above pattern fits on the bottom inside edge of the driver's mirror, and I worked out from there. I have a .pdf I can send as well, don't know how to attach it here or I would. PM me an email address and off it goes.

I did do a lot of fitting on the mirror, and actually had some pieces on the mirror when I fit the others. It wasn't super easy, but was pretty straightforward if I took my time. It's a "zen" job, put on some good music (blues, in my case), maybe grab a beer, and spend some quality downtime alone - with your car.

With the curves on the mirror, some of the fitting was difficult. Don't try this in the cold as the vinyl doesn't conform nearly as well, even with a hair dryer the mirror cap is still cod and will stiffen the vinyl.

Hope this helps, and thanks everyone for the compliments. I like how it looks, esp. now that I have an "outside" picture or two!

 

Update: Have had a few questions over the last few months and can answer here:

- That's black vinyl on a silver mirror, not silver on a black, but it can be done either way I suppose. I did this myself since the only checkered mirror caps available were white/black and there's no white outside my car (well, except for the dried crusty salt, that's another story).
- There's a piece missing in the template, it's a big square-ish piece on the bottom. I forgot it when I scanned the pieces in. It's pretty obvious when you install.
- Using the template alone is hard, it helps to have gone through the saran wrap / laser level / cutting process since that primes your mind for where each piece belongs. It was helpful for positioning to install each piece as I unwrapped the wrap from the mirror cap.

The decal material has been on there a year, through some tough weather and 15000 miles or so of driving, and has held up extremely well.

If I were to do it again, I'd use black reflective vinyl just to give that metallic look, and it'd be REALLY unique at night. The downside to that would be a loss of stealth (as if a Mini had that to begin with), and the reflective vinyl is thicker/stiffer, so harder to work.

Maybe I'll have to host a PittStopMini "garage day" and workshop on how to do this... when it's warmer...

 

Very well done

 

OMG. I love it, I will try that next week when I have time and hopefully it will work on mine as well.

 

Glad y'all like this - I'm tempted to redo it in black reflective vinyl this summer... it'd look metallic, and add that extra safety/bling factor too!

 

I am currently undergoing the process of these checkers. Only problem is I don't have a laser leveler so it is a bit tricky. Good thing is the pieces seem to be fitting, I'm doing a rough copy now and will get it all right before I put the proper vinyl on. Hope it works

 

It'll work! Be patient and have some extra vinyl nearby. I had to do a lot of test fitting, but my Mini appreciated the mini love. OK... maybe it was just being alone, fiddling through a project with the blues on the garage stereo. Either way, it was a good time.

Good luck! Post pics when you're done!

 

YES! One mirror down and one to go. Ill do the other one tomorrow night, shame I have work tomorrow. It turned out great, I'm very pleased with my efforts. And I have to agree it takes a lot of test fitting and re-cutting to get it right. I shall post pictures when I am done. For now though ill be driving around with one mirror un-checkered :p

 

Late reply haha but it is finished!

Cant go for too much checkers, the police here are covered in them, ill look like one of them haha.

 

 

VERY nice - looks great and a great pic too! Congratulations!

 

looks amazing..i am going to pick up some vinyl and try it out. I know i have a sign-o-rama around here..

 

jimzbobs: Good luck!

It's warming up around here and I just spent a productive Saturday washing'waxing as well as installing the light bar... my mirrors are still holding up great but I'm considering that reflective vinyl for a replacement...

 

This is such a cool idea! Great job
I have no checkers on my car but I'm actually considering doing something like this...there are a few scratches on my mirror covers that I'd like to cover up!

 

Its a time consuming process but all I did was sit in the garage for countless hours over 3 days, lay back, listen to some tunes and cut stickers.

 

Bump from the dead, but has anyone tried to do this on a R56? I got my hands on a pair of mirror caps for dirt cheap, so I figured I might do it.

 

Should be easy enough to do, you can try the template above but given the R56 mirrors have a different size and curvature, you may want to go the "laser level" route. Even if you PURCHASE a cheap laser level (or "eye it" by using a plumb line or T-square and a flashlight to cast a shadow or something) it should work out great.

It's been a few years and mine are holding up fairly well, a couple stone chips but then again, it's vinyl against an often-pretty-significant headwind... I may re-do it in reflective black, that'd be cool... but it's pretty low on the "mod" list!

Hey - if your mirror caps are spares, you can always lay out the vinyl and cut it using a really sharp Exacto knife / razor knife right ON the mirror cap itself. Yes, it'll score the paint underneath, but the caps are plastic so it's not going to rust and the scores will be invisible (if you "measure twice cut once").

Good luck, post pics when you're done!

 

I was thinking of just cutting out squares and placing them over, but I think that'll end up weird..I think I'll just try use your template first and see how it goes. worst comes to worst, I'll use paper and see how the curvature works out