Considering that I will have JCW aero kit included in my delivery of the car, I am still in a dilemma if I should just tell my MA to cancel the JCW aero kit order and do it on my own.

Reasons:
1) VDC center will not give me back the OEM sides and front/back bumper
2) THey will only paint the JCW aero kit where it is supposed to be painted
3) $2250 painted and installed price is fair from what I know.

Now, with my intention of wanting the arches painted as well as the plastic trim along the aerokit, do those plastic trim come off apart from the main bumper along with the arches? Im finding out that the arches are held in with clips or something. How about front and back portion of the side skirt of JCW aeros. From looking at pictures, those are not painted but left with exposed plastic.

This is phto of Mozza's car. Hope he doesnt mind> (Mozza, if you it off cuz of the red arrows i put on your pic, let me know, ill take it down)



See where the arrows are pointing? Esp the front side of side skirt. I assume they are plastic or do not come painted. Can you take that off along with all the plastic pieces for painting at a bodyshop?

 

Yep all the plastic is held on by little clips that break off. You'll need to get new ones from your dealer in order to reattach the pieces after painting. Good luck with the mod, I've been told by several people already that it really sets the car off.

 

i have the JCW Aero kit on my Mini S, it's w/o a doubt the best option I purchased for my Mini.

As far as the plastic bits your referring to, they do look like they come off, yet the sides look like they require the entire side piece to come off, not just the little plastic pieces at the front and back of each side (as you point to in your arrow). Those plastic pieces on the side actually run the entire length of the side ...you just can't see it in the photo.

I personally don't care for the painted arches and trim. I like that it's plastic, seems like those areas are prone to rock chips, and door dings. Plus the black edge (of the plastic) really seems to trim the car nicely.

 

Check http://www.minspeed.net/products.php?cat=23&nav=20

They offer painting of the trim items you are talking about. And do it, it looks great!

 

No the plastic piece that runs up each side and along the bottom of the skirt does indeed come off separately. They all do as I said about 2 posts above.

 

they come off seperately from the painted portion, yet it's one long piece of plastic not two. anyway, it does seem like it would be fairly easy to remove.

 

Thanks guy!!!! Regarding the long lower side skirt plastic piece.... maybe since my car is astro black.. you cant tell?? hheheh i guess ill figure a way out to take it off...

If it that much work, should I just buy the JCW aero at morristown mini and just take that to the shop and have them just paint everything i wanted.. could be cheaper down the road...

 

You may have to take off the front bumper to make it easier for you to take them off.

Why take them off? Because of two things:
- you might break the tabs off
- easier to move the tabs on the back side so you can release or push the tabs in place when installing.
- it was a pain getting them on with the bumper OFF the car. It will be a nightmare with PAINTED trim and the trim ON the car.


-start by moving the felt inner fender well (remove one plastic screw rivet, careful here don't strip it), look behind the turn signal, you'll see the screw and plastic rivet. The plastic rivet holds the trim together. Carefully remove the rivet and disconnect the trim where they join. ALL PUSH RIVETS ARE REUSEABLE
-you'll need to partially remove the turn signal trim to get behind to the 1 one screw, turn the wheel to give you more work room
-5-6 screws hold the bumper on 2 on the sides by the turn signals and several screws across the front
-several reusable plastic push rivets along the bottom, 2 at the sides by the turn signals and across the front behind the grille.
-remove the main grille by removing the push rivets across the top, carefully pry it and with a long screw driver, you'll see skinny U shaped thingies on either end, push them to the side (they are clips) and you should be able to pry the main grille off.
-Watch out for the air temp sensor wiring and fog light wiring when you dismount the bumper. You only have about 4-6 inches of wire length before you pull and break something.
-the bottom will pose the biggest problem for you since there isn't enough working room. I believe there are 2-3 torx screws under there. Use a ratchet w/ short extension and torx bit.

It was very easy. I started at 7:30 on a Sunday night, finished about 9:00 working without dismounting instructions.

Tools you'll need
-a flat blade screwdriver, the sharper the better for the push rivets
-a torx bit T-20
-a floor jack, not much room under the front air dam. You'll be working with the Aero kit which sits lower OR a torx bit on rachet with short extension

It was 2 out of 10 where 10 is the hardest (engine change) and 1 being the easiest (oil change)

 

SmokeM: Thanks so much!!!

You guys give me courage to "just do it". I decided to order the JCW aero kit separately through Morristown MINI or Minspeed. So i told me MA to cancel the JCW aero add on as option from VDC.

Peter from Minspeed said he can get all the parts and paint them and ship it over to my place.

I dont know any local shops that I trust or know them by their work quality (in SOCAL) Everyone i talked to said "we'll do it.. dont worry" But a lot of shops have not done simple plastic trim to nice glossy paint conversion( i dont think many cars have this much plastic trim to pain.. lol. Ones i can think of is 1st gen Honda Element with massive amount of Plastic everywhere)

I think the trick is 2 coats of flex primer + oem paint is the trick.... the plastic parts need to give a little bend esp around the bumper area....

 

No problem and good luck. My paint job came out pretty good. There was some orange peel I need to knock down but mostly everything is nice and shiney and matches. I spent about 200 for paint/primer, 40 dollars for the HVLP gun and I already had a 30 gal compressor. I highly recommend the 3m Perfect it 3000 line of extra cut compound and swirl remover. Outstanding shine in less time. Its alot of hard work but, now, I can correct any mistakes myself and repair any scratches, dings, etc...without having to go to the body shop. There is nothing like seeing a dull piece of bumper become as shiney as the rest of the car that you've done yourself But, you rich fellas are lucky too. Nothing like walking up to your car and seeing perfection without having to lift a finger

 

Unless you insist on having the arches painted, I would just let the factory do it.

I just posted a post about me buying, painting and installing a JCW aero kit.

Since your car is already black, I don't think it's going to make that much of a difference whether you paint it or not.

The price from the factory is a great price. I've been in the bodyshop business for 25 years and still spent the better part of the day installing the kit. (Granted, I'm running a full blown bodyshop with 6 employees so it's a little hectic)

Installing the kit isn't difficult, it's more time consuming especially when you're trying to answer the phone every 30 seconds.

Here's the post and some pics...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...45#post2396845

 

Just for the record, you need plastic adhesion promoter, don't worry about "flex agent".

Flex agent is almost an old wives tale...

The reason I say that is because flex agent is meant to allow you to "flex" say a bumper for instance DURING installation. Depending on the brand, flex agent evaporates 12-24 hours after being sprayed.

The point is, you can't "flex" wheel arches enough to break the paint. Bumper covers flex a lot in comparison to what you can do with wheel arches.

Not meant to be a flame, just trying to help.

Mark

 

No flame suit here Thank for the correction i terminology. I really do want the arches painted so for me, i think it i better for me let the bodyshop do every painting and i just spend my whole saturday installing everything. I work 5-6 days a week so I dont have the luxury to let my car sit at the bodyshop so this is the best route for me I believe.

As far as the arches, They are very cheap from the dealer.
51 772 751 317 front left
51 772 751 318 front right
51 772 751 321 rear left
51 772 751 322 rear right

They all come with necessary clips for snapping them in.

So my plan is to have all the parts with JCW aero kit parts and drop it off at a shop. Hopefully i can get all those painted near $1000-1200 or less...