Gang,

I’ve got a ’04 MCS with the fully painted Aero package installed. My front bumper needs replacing, so I found an Aero bumper that was OEM new and painted! Score! The problem is the bumper is painted my color, but the fender area and under lip are painted black to match the black plastic trim found on most Mini’s. Mine is fully painted with no black plastic showing.
I can tell that the bumper had been sprayed first with Dark Silver (my color), then fender areas and lower lip masked off and shot with flat black. I tried using paint thinner to remove the flat black, but as expected, had no luck.
The next move I made was taking it to different paint shops around town for estimates to spot paint the areas. The lowest quote I received was $275 for paint only. That company also said to tack on another $100 for installation.
I’ve already got a reputable shop that will install the bumper and tighten up the rest of the aero kit so I’d like them to do the work, but what other options to I have in order to get this thing painted?! $275 seems like a lot of cash to paint only a few slight areas.
I understand color matching is important, but I believe that for such a small area, this shouldn’t be such a big deal nor that much cash.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

Taking the bumper cover off is pretty simple...alone it can be done in 15 minutes....
Since paint work is mostly prep...it might be cheaper to have the whole bumper resprayed....no masking that way...it will have to be given a bit of a light sanding, prepaint tack, and maybe an primer/isolation layer to makesure the old paint/new paint don't interact...not sure about the price, but since the flat black areas you want sprayed are likely spraypaint...it is a bit of extra work, since a good shop will needed to seal/isolate the layer before adding the color layer....

 

To respray the entire bumper would be more than $275 and the dark silver currently on it matches perfectly.
I wish there was some other way... ?
However, you mention the bumper cover being simple to remove. Is that something that can be done without a floor jack?

 

However, you mention the bumper cover being simple to remove. Is that something that can be done without a floor jack?

Yes.

 

problem is the job is SO small, a shop doesn't want to spend time on it. Been there - seen that - and learned how to shoot paint myself so I'd never be ripped off again.....however, I digress

I understand you to say the new bumper is still off the car and you want to fix the paint then someone else will install it?

Well, you can do it yourself if you are game. These small areas sound very doable with quality 'rattle cans'. Color matching isn't really much of a concern anymore if you go to a reputable source as the color formulas get fed into a computer mixing machine just lke the ones that do house paint at Lowes/Home Despots.

Mask off everything else, prep the areas to be painted (sanding and maybe priming depending on how far you sand) then shoot color and clear.

$70 in materials would cover the basics - that's two rattles of base color and clear each and probably more than is needed.
Find rattle cans and instuctions at
http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint.asp

(For reference, I do a little auto spray work for fun now that I'm retired: the smallest quantity of a metalic base color that I can get from a bulk Sherwin-Williams auto paint store is a pint, which when reduced for spray is a quart but costs - for a good metallic & depending on color - from $65 to $100. Figure that into the body shop costs you are getting... You don't NEED that much but that's what they have to buy unless they are set up to mix very small quantities themselves...and if they ARE, why not charge the higher price ANYWAY? With that quantity I'd have a TON of color left over with nothing to do with it <waste> and probably used some leftover clear I had laying around.... Online suppliers offering rattle cans are set up to mix small quantity.....)

Want additional help along this line PM me - if near Space Coast - bring it over and I'll spray for cost of matierials and two pints of Guiness.

As far as instaling the bumper cover, I've never played with an AERO but the stock cover has two big torx on the front face behind the bonnet, two 10mm (I think size is right, been a while) bolts in each wheel well and 8 self threaders along the bottom edge. I've removed and installed many and no jack is required but getting the front wheels out of the way helps get access to the wheel well bolts. Don't forget to unplug parking lights, side markers, turn signals and temp sensor....

 

That's some great information Capt... I want to buy an aero kit, and install it myself, but the painting was always the drawback. I might have to take up learning to shoot it myself. I don't think a rattle can will give me the finish to match the factory body panels have... or will it?

 

I agree, AK.JCW. Capt's post is right on the money and in fact, my supervisor at work told me his brother took the same path, although he didn't have a Mini. Since I only have a small area to shoot, I'm seriously taking this idea into consideration.
Now I just need to research how to remove/install an aero bumper cover!

 

I suspect that since it is a factory part that it uses the same factory mounting points...even if it does not, the removal is meant to be simple since it is removed to put the car into "service mode". If you park the car with the wheel turned all the way to one side, you can get to fastners in the wheel well, no jacking needed.