I used https://www.safetyrestore.com/ to replace the webbing on mine. less expensive.

Thanks. But isn't this a pain? Can you share the steps to do this? I guess you have to connect the webbing to the latches/ends, dismantle existing system, etc.

Just trying to assess whether the safety risks are warranted.

It's a pain to pull the seat belts out of the car.... need to remove a lot of the interior trim/paneling, but then you ship them the hardware and they replace the webbing and ship back. then reinstall and put the car back together. I tried to attach pics here to show...but thats not working.

this is a good video to show how to remove the interior trim.... for the seat belts you don't need to go this far, but it may help. ultimately you need to remove the two side panels and the parts around it that cover the screws. I did more because i was installing other stuff at the same time

Bump and new info.

When dealer parts advisor looks for my VIN, this part does not show as a fit because it was not an option when the car was produced. When he looks just for the part, it says it fits pre and post LCI R56.

OutMotoring says it only fits 11/2012 - 2013 production years. Which I would believe matches the GP2 production years...

So? Take a risk?

It will not match for anything other then 2013 GP as MINI only made it available in the GP. I'd be willing to give it a go in your case but I'd not get worked up if, for some reason, it does not work. I'd highly recommend you have the MINI dealer install (safety and all ) so maybe find out what that will cost you :-)

Thanks, I'm leaning that way (give it a shot). It's so odd that there would be a design change for just the 2000 GP2 units produced during a very short time period. And when I ask vendors they refer to potentially small changes but nothing specific they can point to. Shame I can't reach out to BMW Mini NA to get an answer...

Bottom line, the red seatbelts as found in the GP2 will only work on the post-LCI MINIs. Having a 2008 MINI, they wouldn't work for me, so I ended up sending my seatbelt to https://www.safetyrestore.com as stated above and they replaced the webbing and shipped back to me. I then installed it and no issues. Really, compared to other projects I've taken on, this was relatively simple. I only had the driver's seatbelt replaced just to be a little different.

I can now confirm that the GP2 seat belts will NOT fit a 2012 LCI R56. Not even close.