Hello!

I have never bought a body kit for a car and I want the aero kit badly.

I have an 03 Electric Blue and am concerned about color matching issues? If I were to buy an Electric Blue kit the color wouldnt match merely from the age of the paint alone. What am I to do? Suggestions?

Thanks.

 

I have an 02 EB that had the aero kit added shortly after it was purchased. Even though the paint on the car hadn't had time to change, the match on the aero kit wasn't perfect. (The aero paint is just a little darker.) It's not something the average person would notice, but if you are a perfectionist, you may not be happy with the color match. On the other hand, the nice thing about EB is that it can change it's tone so much depending on the lighting. I think EB's look better than any other color when they have the aero kit. There is one picture in my gallery where you can see the front wheel arch on my EB, if you want to take a look. It's really something you will only notice up close and personal, though.

 

I think the original poster is assuming that the aero kit for his car is available pre-painted, which I doubt.

 

I know they are in the UK, and if that is where it is coming from it's possible.

 

The Aero kits once upon a time came from MINI painted to match, and often the paint was perfect. If the paint isnt a direct match then the paint on the rest of the car most likely requires some good buffing.

Your going to have to have the Aero Kit painted by someone in your area, unless you have come across a used kit already painted your color.

 

Well looks like I will be keeping the stock kit! Time to shell out some cash for the m7 grilles! Does anyone know if there is a cheaper alternative to the Ultimate grilles by M7? $400 for three pieces of coated mesh is expensive.

 

Home depot, ebay, any random mesh that you can paint yourself then cut to fit.

 

Aero kit grilles, for the top and center? The center grille (small one on the bumper) does take some modification to fi it to the standard Cooper and S bumpers.

 

Ive got a buddy w/ a M7 Lower grill, brand new in the box, never used. I think he wants like $150 for it, and that coupled with the aero grills would look pretty good!

PM me if you want.

 

Thanks for the opportunity! I would take you up on it but I might just fab my own set up I was just curious if anyone has taken it upon themselves to fab one up.

 

I have a JCW Aero Kit lower grille if you need it. Let me know if you're interested, we can work out a price.

 

Do you have any pix of your car (with the JCW aero kit)??? I'd like to see them!

 

Did you see the close up head on picture in my gallery? It's just a regular aero kit, not a JCW, by the way...

 

No, I didn't realize. Are these aero kits still available? Like the JCW? Thanks!

 

Check Outmotoring.
They have the Aero kit in 3 sections that you can buy what you want, front, back, side skirts.
Take a deep breath before you look at price.
Watch NAM Marketplace.
There was a complete kit for sale last month.

 

I have a EB/EB 05 S' with the "Aero kit" There was no "JCW" body kit aviable for 1st gen MINI's . Seems like everyone calls it a "JCW" kit ???
For a short time you could get red,black,white factory pre-painted kits,but they never had Eletric Blue ,that would have been nice.
If you what the kit your going to have to find a good body shop/painter to match the color. You can usualy get close , 99% wouldn't notice the differance ,
100% is hard to do. Electric Blue changes so much with lighting conditions and angles that it is hard to see color changes on the Aero kit.
I have the M7 grills all the way around. Yes they are pricey $$$ , but absolutly top notch costruction. Welded heavy gauge steel and powder coated. There made for M7 by GrillCraft under cotract , so there's no other supplier other than M7.
Very durable and great rad./AC protection. I was one FWY late at night , SUV in next lane swerved and cliped a trash can, spun it around into my front bumper. Bumper was cracked an split really bad , had to be replaced of course.
Only slightly dented lower M7 grill , when it was removed for new bumper a good wack with my hand on the back and it popped back to it's orginal shap.
Still on the car today.
Hope the info. helped , Scott

 

Thanks for the leads. I found the "Aero Kit" on Minimotoring. It's $1500+ I spoke with a couple of bodyshop owners and they've said the same thing. The paint will change after it is exposed to the sun rays and the environment, so it will not match the newly painted parts exactly in all light. They both advised that paint on the body above the area where the aero kit is installed has to be "blended", so that the slight difference in hue on the kit is not noticeable. That pretty much means a whole lot of paint work, since the aero kit wraps around the car.

I still would love to see the aero kit installed on an EB MINI....

 

i also want the factory aero kit for my 2006 royal grey R53. i was thinking the other day about the paint matching, since my car is 5 years old and has never been garaged (though washed very often and it still looks brand new). the newly painted aero kit will not match whatsoever. since mine is a metallic color, will that be hard to match? should i just get my entire car repainted? i wonder how much that would be. haha!

 

I had the aero kit installed and painted the arches almost two years ago. the car is an 06. The bodyshop did a great job in color matching the paint. it's hyperblue so it doesn't change as much as the electric blue does but a good body shop should be able to match it. Unless you live out in the desert and the paint is badly faded.

 

The paint match part is "sometimes" an illusion. Once mounted the kit pieces are on different angles where it meets up to the existing body ( flat meets up to a vertical etc. ) of the car so you will see a different shade of color even if you paint it all at the same time... Light is hitting it at different angles..

Best to stand back 10' or so and look at the whole thing and not one small section...

 

This is especially true for certain colors like Electric Blue.