I'm mulling over the idea of changing the grille on my MCS. I did the customary search, and found this thread, but that's about it.

Before I got a MINI, I thought I'd go for an Aero Grille, but I don't think it looks good with Indi Blue. There's not enough contrast. Now I'm thinking about going chrome.

If anyone out there has a picture of a chrome grille on their MCS, and/or a tale to tell about installing it, I'd appreciate it.

I'm also pondering painting the blue slats white to match the roof and mirrors. Do you guys think that would look good? I've seen black painted grilles on lighter colors (Koolmini), but never a white one. Anybody seen one?

I'm also thinking about the scoop. Paint it white maybe? Has anybody ever seen a chrome scoop? I think that might look cool, a chrome grille and chrome scoop.

What do you guys think?

 

painted mine black & kept the chrome trim
white might look real kool, nobody's done that yet (i think)
seen a white scoop on a red w/white roof.....looked sharp (can't find pic)


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countrym
found this pic for you

 

Thanks dude. That chrome scoop looks nice. I wonder if it would be too much with a chrome grille too.

I can't help noticing that that pic is from New South Wales, Australia. See the "NSW" on the license plate? (I'm half Australian.)

I'm trying to imagine your set-up, except white on IB instead of black on DS. How'd you handle the painting? DIY? Professional? Cost?

 

i thought i had a pic of a red/white "S" with a white hood scoop (can't find it)
$50.00 to paint the scoop (i bought a 2nd scoop so i could switch back if i didn't like it)
and the grille was about $100ish (the bodyshop removed it & painted it, when they fixed the dent it the quarter & hood.....so the price was part of the whole job)
i'm thinking the white grille on the IB/white roof will look real neat (haven't seen that yet)
you'll be the first

 

I'm sure I saw a chrome scoop on ebay, more than once. I think someone is chroming them and selling them, unless it just didn't sell the 1st couple of times.

 

Hi,

Well that was my Australian Mini! Good to see it is getting around without me :smile:

OzMini

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Hey OzMini,
I was home (Campbelltown/Sydney/Liverpool) for 2 weeks in November and I didn't see a single MINI outside of the 2 dealerships I visited. Do you see many on the roads?

 

Here is mine:







The dealer fitted the chrome grille, lower bumper slat and chrome mirror caps before delivery. paid $97.00 for the new chrome grille kit and $123 for the mirror caps. It was around $100 labor for the installation of the grille.


Go and do a search on MINI2.com. there are plenty of topics that cover the installation of the MCS chrome grille.

 

It sure would be nice if somebody could Photoshop a Chilli Red MCS with a white scoop and grill bars. Also with flat black.

Does anybody know the part number and price of the scoop? How about the grill bars? Do tjey come painted or primed? I know that the chrome grill bars are about US$100 for the four bars.

 

Agro,

Yes there appears to be many more Mini's on the road now - it took a while but they have now reached a critical mass of well over 4,000 cars according to my dealer. At this point they become more "familiar" and safer buys for more people. Curiously in my office the women seem to really like and aspire to owning one :smile:

Cheers,
OzMini

 

i knew i had a pic of a red/white top with the hood scoop painted white
too bad the kar is in the back ground, but atleast countrym, you can see what it looks like


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Personaly, I think the idea of a chrome grill on an IB/W MCS is fantastic! IMHO, the chrome strip around the MCS grill serves little visual purpose.....but w/ a chrome grill the unit (trim and slats) pulls together as a more unified whole...especially on a darker-colored MINI. The body-colored grill scheme typically seen on an MCS does lend toward a more aggressive look I suppose, but a chrome grill makes more sense to me and is more Mini-esque. I love the addition of a chrome grill on the MC40 special edition.

As for the scoop...I recommend going w/ the grill first. If you want the scoop to really stand out....you know, like "I have a SCOOP!!!"......then do the chrome. But what I loved about the classic Mini is that visually the Coopers and Ss looked very similar. The only tell-tale sign you were dealing with a more potent car was that one little added letter on the badge. If you like this approach, leave the scoop IB. Its understated.....but its there. That's what I'd do anyway.

 

just ordered my chrome grille for my ib/w mcs. As soon as it arrives, I'll post photos. I opted only to do the hood grille, though. I've seen it on others where the bumper is still body-colored and I think is not even noticable. It looked like a bigger mod than I wanted to do for just a thin slat, with the double-sided tape and all.

 

>>just ordered my chrome grille for my ib/w mcs. As soon as it arrives, I'll post photos. I opted only to do the hood grille, though. I've seen it on others where the bumper is still body-colored and I think is not even noticable. It looked like a bigger mod than I wanted to do for just a thin slat, with the double-sided tape and all.


Get the lower chrome bumper slat because it just doesn't look right with the stock colored one. Trust me. If you are going to add the chrome grille, go the whole 9 yards and do it right.

 

ya know, That's exactly what I did. I called Classic MINI about the status of my order. They said it hadn't shipped yet because their stock was damaged, so I tacked on a lower one, too. I'm doin' the install this weekend. Say did you remove the lower bumper or just carefully pry? I've seen instructions for both and I'm not crazy about taking the bumper off but I also don't want to damage the original painter slat.

 

>>ya know, That's exactly what I did. I called Classic MINI about the status of my order. They said it hadn't shipped yet because their stock was damaged, so I tacked on a lower one, too. I'm doin' the install this weekend. Say did you remove the lower bumper or just carefully pry? I've seen instructions for both and I'm not crazy about taking the bumper off but I also don't want to damage the original painter slat.

If you want to do it right, take off the bumper cover. This is how the dealer does it when they install the lower chrome bumper slat.


Some people have had success prying off the factory slat without taking off the bumper cover but it is riskier as you may scratch the bumper surface, so I would personally take the extra step and take it out.


There are DIY tutorials over at MINI2.com.

Good luck and post pics whn you are done!

 

Just finished! The upper I did a couple of nights ago. I had a devil of a time getting the zip nuts off. In the end I put it back together and added some glue in the nut to help keep things from vibrating free.

The lower I started this morning trying to use the pry method. Well, I gave up pretty quickly and decided that the drop the bumper method was much safer. I did notice one different from the DIY guide from MINI2. 2004 must have added 2 additional philips screws on the underside of the bumper. They are inline with the hex screws. I thought the bottom, in the end, was easier just because of the funny angle needed to do the top.

Glad you suggested doing both. I had just the top for one day until I did the bottom. Though it looked good, it just wasn't complete. :smile:

 

Id be scared to paint the grill white...I imagine that all the bugs and stuff that get stuck to it would just be that much more obvious.

 

Many years ago I had a white car with a white grill and wondered if the grill would look better in black. Not wanting to do anything irreversible, I first covered the grill with masking tape and then painted it. In this way, if I didn't like it I could easily remove the tape, paint an all! As it turned out, black looked great and my paint job still looked good when I sold the car some years later.