Here is my wife's winter car




And here is MY summer car

 

Welcome!

 

Nice, Welcome!

 

Nice combination. Welcome to the site.

 

Thanks!

Now that I have found this site my wife is going to have to hide my wallet...

 

^lol welcome! Nice clubbie, crazy how much of a difference the wheels made on the entire car. What color is that? Since you're new, here is a little JCW aero for you to feast on in a similar color.

 

The colour is Nigthfire Red (more of a burgundy)

As for the wheels, I saved a buck and only bought black ones for my side, not hers :-)
(kidding)

Like the JCW. Any ideas on the rear trim/bumper color? I'm thinking of making a change.

 

I am one of the guys who don't like the Clubman rear themes. Especially the silver on a non-silver car.The black isn't as bad but still don't liek it. Of course when I bought my car it had the silver lol. One of the best improvements for me was getting rid of it. The lower C pillars and top of the rear bumper were paint-matched, and the upper C pillars were painted jet black to match the front pillars and just all around window section. It looks SO MUCH better.

 

Now THATs what I am thinking.

I thought immediately about the upper C pillars.

What I dislike most thought is probably the bumper. I could live with the upper and lower pillars if the bumper was matched, or maybe black uppers, paint matched bumper, and leave just the tail light panels, but yours looks great with it all done.

 

Man those colour matched parts look a hundred times better. Also nice M Coupe

 

Massive improvement!

Have you condsidered blacking out the belt line so the lack of chrome on the pillars will be less noticeable?

 

^ Thanks guys. I am going to buy a set of of corner chrome moldings from the front pillars and see if I can shape them and trim them to size. When I pulled one of them off they were pretty pliable so hopefully it should work out just fine.

Here you go wayer. Almost makes me want to paint my Clubbie your color. It looks really sharp. The amber-deleting always works nicely on any Red for some reason. Also, if you end up painting any part of your car, take advantage and paint other stuff you may have wanted. I had the side skirts painted ala JCW and it really makes the car look "fuller", really great mod.

 

Thanks! Is that photoshopped?

Regarding the side skirts, I'm resisting the temptation to change too much or even go in the JCW direction. Instead, I want to see how much I can accomplish using what I have. For instance, the black rims with red rimstripe in my first post really works with the stock black flares/sideskirts in my opinion.

That visual mod was way too easy. For the small amount of effort (I needed a second set of rims anyway summer/winter) and seems to give a huge visual result.

Since it is my wife's car, I want to be careful not to change things that she likes.

One idea I have is to paint over the silver bumper with satin black paint just on the upper silver surface (scratched and needs it anyway). I might add a thin red pinstripe to separate the black from the lower painted part of the bumper, in the same way the red on the rims separates the black tire from the black rim. I think it might tie it together as a package unique to her car.

If so I might leave the silver C pillars, or just leave silver around the lights and paint the uppers gloss black.

As for any suspension mods, again since it is her winter car and I want to take the same approach as above, and only go for the biggest result for the least effort. I've already done tires. They are highest on the list of suspension mods with the biggest result for level of effort, and are are now in place. I think the next and maybe last change there is a rear 19mm adjustable bar that can be backed off in the winter and tightened up in the summer. Beyond those changes, I suspect I am moving into "should have bought an S" category.

 

Well what I meant with the "JCW style" sideskirts is by just painting your stock skirts to emulate the look. You don't have to replace any parts. Sounds kind of weird. Below is a pic so you understand what I mean. Since the stock skirt has a fold in it, the skirt really comes to life after painting.

If you want to experiment with black I would tell you to consider buying a roll of gloss black vinyl. You can easily wrap your upper pillars, and anything else you want. Cheap and reversible.

I wouldn't be too down on the whole S thing. The S really is a great car but so is the non-S and I couldn't be happier with my choice. My experience so far has been rock solid which is what I've wanted. The suspension mods should be more of reinforcing mods because if not it may not be a great winter car. The stiffer the suspension is, the less of a comfort ride you will get. You may also get a lot of the well-known BMW/MINI rattling parts.

 

Nice look! I've been thinking of installing a "checkered vinyl tape stripe" (if you will) on the black plastic rocker in the 1"-1.5" area just below the door along the top of the rocker from the outer edges of each wheel arch (where your paint stops). Haven't found any checkered vinyl rolls to test fit yet...

 

Thanks Mini//m

I understood. The sideskirts are a nice look, and if I decide to paint anything body color, I would include them.

I'm having fun trying to figure out how to make things work better visually with the fewest number of changes. I picked flat black rims because there was so much flat black already. The fact they cam with red rim stripes tied in well with the body color. It is interesting how silver rims really pull out the silver, yet black really pulls out the black and makes it seem like such a different car visually.

We agree that it has too much silver on the back though. I thought it was the upper C pillars that bothered me most, but then I realized it is the silver on the bumper. Even cars with a black bumper cover seem to look better with that area broken up.