I've been considering doing this to my PW since before I even ordered it. I'll probably do it in the spring. I love the way every single one of these MINIs looks, even if some of them are a *little* too aggressive for my taste - they still look hot.

Thanks for the clear bra recommendation for the rear arches once they're painted - I would have never thought of that til it was too late!

This is another one that's not MY taste particularly...but the way it's done, I love it! I LOVE the 5-stars! What are those chromey-looking things on the hood?

Really really impressed with some of the creativity around here

 

NICE!!

 

I would have thought the same thing ... until I saw the Smurf mobile. It looks better than I thought it would.

 

Here's the first 2007 I've seen w/ painted arches (and probably much more, given the AC Schnitzer plate on the front of the car)

 

Did you mean to say "chromey things on the roof"? They are the MINI roof-rack mounts.

 

So what do you guys think about my dilemma? I notice some of the cars here that are from outside the US and i like the clean arches without the reflectors. Incase you didn't read my post here is the dilemma:

"My only worry (or current project) is that the Lumma Tuning bumper doesnt have spots on the fenders for the side reflectors (since over in Germany and UK they dont require them) so the question is do i just go without them and be "Euro" spec (since its not required by law in Texas to have them) or do i try and find a way to mod some lights (thinking about mounting some LEDs) into the fender arches."

I already started pricing out new moldings and the aero kit side skirts. And im going to look around for a shop to do the work.

 

Do you have any pics of the bumper?

 

I havent purchased it yet but here are some pictures from the website




What do you guys think? I dont think there is a US version thats different than that so im preparing to just get the non reflector moldings and then decide whether i want to put LEDs in them or not. I am going to use this bumper in conjection with Aero kit side skirts but im leaving the rear bumper stock

 

Don't know how strict they are in TX, but here in CA I know of people that got pulled over because they blacked out their reflectors. On the other hand, it may not be as obvious if you put on the cleaner trim.

 

I don't think it would be an issue during most of the year, but there might be a problem during the annual inspection.

 

Ive had other cars in the past (Toyota Mr2 Turbo, Ford Probe GT) that i bought the euro front and rear lights that didnt have reflectors and always passed inspection. Thats why i was thinking of doing like 2 LEDs on each corner cause they would be small and you would barely see them when they were off, but at night they would light up like stock. I just want to decide before i go drilling into a brand new bumper.

 

Never Mind hahaha

 

so new bumper trim is $300 alone front/rear
new arches is another $300?
and rocker covers?

i'm thinking if you gotta buy the whole set to send out and get painted sounds like it would get expensive quick.

$30 worth of new clips sounds better and better, lol...even if the car's out of commission for a day or two.

How do the bumper trim come off? Clips? Just yank them off or what?
is there a how to thread with each individual one on how it's removed, which can be yanked off which has to be unscrewd off...etc.

 

I wanted to switch from the standard door sills (rocker covers) to the aero sills, so the $500 was worth it to me and I considered it an upgrade. If you want to buy the stock MCS sills, they are $80-100 each, I think.

The other 12 parts cost me $300 to buy new at the dealership, but I sold all of my stock pieces (plus the 2 stock door sills that I took off) for $300 after I completed the project, so I came out pretty even on the deal in my book. I keep most of my stock take-offs when doing upgrades, but I can't ever imagine going back to the stock arches.

Most of the stock arch pieces are attached by spring loaded clips (carefully compress the clips if you can and remove or just yank 'em off). It's pretty obvious once you start poking around and, since I had a spare set in my hands, I knew exactly where the clips were hiding. The stock side-sills are a 'grip it and rip it' proposition... the clips are completely hidden and you just have to grab ahold and pull as hard as you can.

The painting of my arches took the bodyshop a full week of work (well over 20 hours of labor + dry time) and a week of sick-time when the technician got sick and was in the hospital, so I would have been without my car for 2 weeks had I not done it this way.

The car would have been driveable... ugly, but driveable (except for the red/orange side reflectors).

Unless you have the time and equipment to do the work yourself (and do it right), this is definately not a cheap mod. It does, however, completely change the look of the car and I love it on the lighter colors.

 

Let me ask a question, guys... those arches that you had painted - the ones ya'll painted - were they the rough black sills that are on standard bodies, or smoother? (Mine, standard on '02, had rather rough, grainy, sills. I don' see this as being able to sand down and paint..)

Nice look, however, all of 'em! I'm tempted!

 

Sent my trim/arches to the body shop and then left for vacation. I was gone for 10 days. Trim was done when I got back, but since I got back mid-week, I had to wait until the weekend to install. Had to drive my car without trim for a couple of days. You're right ... it was ugly.

 

My '05 trim was the rough, textured, black plastic trim. It definitely wasn't smooth. This is why you should get a good body shop to do the work. It is VERY labor intensive.

 

I'll ditto the 'very labor intensive' comment, above.

As I said before, the prep/sand/prime/paint took over 20 hours of labor to complete (at a very well known bodyshop - high end work). It's not for the faint of heart.

One body shop owner quoted 3-4 hours of work to paint the arches. He showed the textured plastic to his painter and they quickly called me back to cancel the bid... it would have shut down his one-man paintshop for the week and backed up all of his other work...

If (that's a big IF) you can find someone to do the work, it isn't gonna be cheap to have it done right.

 

Just got this back from the shop. I had the arches matched on my Pure Silver convertible, so this was a no brainer for me. I also had Nuway (I highly recommend them) color match my JCW aero wing.



The pictures don't really do it justice. I think it looks really good in person.

 

I paid $1400 to have the trim/aero kit painted and the wing painted/installed. This is one case where you definitely get what you pay for.

 

I think it looks really good in the pictures!! Nice job!!

 

That's beautiful! I haven't been a big fan of the JCW wing, but that works! Very nice!

That's definately a 'stealable' idea! I bet it would look HOT in PW!

 

I like that wing too, luckly they make it in white already to match my white roof.

 

Thanks, steal away. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, so I was a bit nervous. I think Pepper White would look great!

 

Do the oval-ish inserts in the 'legs' of the spoiler pop out? I think I'd leave 'em black on my PW... The problem with mods is that I've never got enough $$$ to do 'em all! :D