Hi!

I have the JCW Aero Kit on my 07 MCS and it seems there is some plastic that extends down vertically from the bottom of the front Aero Kit bumper, reducing the clearance between the under-chassis and the road by a couple inches. It is about 6 inches back from the front edge of the bumper. It reminds me a bit of a cow catcher, but smaller and it is invisible unless you get down on your hands/knees to see it, for the most part. Anyway, I recently pulled up too far over a parking block and knocked one around pretty good, loosening it. I checked the other side to see how it was supposed to look, and the other one had already fallen off, I found out! So I am assuming they are meant to hang down several inches but I have nothing to compare it to.

So, does anyone know the value (as in, what their job is down there) of those pieces and how I might find out the part numbers if I want to replace them. It LOOKS like they should just snap back on, but there may be more to it than meets the eye. I know there are places to find Mini part numbers but I am having a harder time finding the JCW Aero Kit repair part numbers in particular.

 

They do aerodynamic stuff...not exactly sure what stuff, but it does something with the air flow. A lot of people with the aero kit have damaged, lost, or just removed the pieces (before one of the first two things happens). I'm not sure anyone outside of the designers really know how much of a difference they make, but it seems like no one has noticed much. Supposedly it may help at higher speeds (100+ I guess) but I don't remember if anyone tested the theory.

I believe it's a simple fix and the pieces are available from the dealer, I think they are $15 or so, but I'm not 100% on that.

 

my guess is they lower the drag, to some degree, below the car. I have heard they are relatively cheap at the dealer although im not sure about 15 bucks though. Ive also heard they are designed to be easily replaced because they are pretty obviously fairly easy to break off. Just give your dealer a call, i think its called the front airdam. You could also check on realoem for the part # but im sure if you describe it to the parts person they will know what you are talking about.

 

Thanks to you both. VERY helpful!! I'll investigate!

 

I think this is what you're looking for.
http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/G2.../InvDetail.cfm
very cheap to replace, everyone scrapes them a bit from time to time

 

no n1tr0 he isnt looking for the air dam, they are just two small flaps...i lost one of mine and damn near knocked off the second one...the way that it was explained to me by my MINI dealer and techs is that they were just there as precaution so that u dont damage the body kit itself..ex. driving up a driveway, speedbump, ect....i took the second one off and havent had any problems...my dad got an '08 last week with them and has almost already lost one of his, so surly they werent meant to stay on for good considering the ease it is to rip them off....

 

Please remember to post the part number for those small flaps here if you find out what it is. I also have the JCW aero kit and I will probably need to replace those flaps sometime.

 

ah you're right, I just checked the aero kit pdf, it looks like they're the left & right ram-air lip's or in realoem, deflector lips
looks like part#'s
51110415351 left
51110415352 right

 

One of mine was about off, so i removed it completly and the other as well.I am not an engineer,but i don't believe it serves any purpose ,except its there to make contact with any thing that gets in the way.

 

I think they reduce lift and also provide air circulation to the radiator/intercooler.

 

One of mine just broke... and I've been searching trying to figure out what exactly, it is.

This thread helps make my day a little better. So thanks to all who wrote before me!

 

on some bmws those are used to direct air flow to the brakes to cool them.

 

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You are in the gen 2 area, yes the front bumper is nla. Can you show me what you have and I might be able to come up with a piece from another year and model to mod it to work.

 

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No problem. Yep sometimes they have the same issues. But in this case its a designed part, but what i can do if always use my MINI knowledge and find other OEM parts as work arounds.

 

On the 1st Gen cars that is molded into the Aero Bumper so once you curb it, or bottom out good ( for us with lowers cars ) it is not a replaceable part. I cut mine down shorter when I had the bumper off installing my home made splitter.. It could possibly direct air somewhat sideways to the brakes, or create a vacuum below the engine to pull air down and under the car to help air flow thru the engine bay..

 

Yup, its a badly designed lip on the gen 1 aero kit. I got a spanking new aero front bumper and the first snow storm 80% of it was immediately ripped off (I'm not lowered). I'm just going to trim it flat the next time I'm under there.

 

Note: Different part numbers for R55.
Pretty cheap in either case.