First post I've made, and it's more of an opinion question.

I just bought a 2003 Mini Cooper (not S) in blue with white roof, white stripes and white mirrors. I originally had the idea of changing everything to black.

But then I stepped back for a second and said, hmmm, most people black out everything, or chrome everything, or body color everything, maybe I should be different.

So, here's what I'm thinking:
- Grills - white
- windshield wiper grills - white
- antenna - white
- rims - blue lip, white spokes, and a single spoke in blue
- trim around windows (chrome right now) - white
- door handles - white (or maybe blue... hmmm)

Anyone see this done before? Opinions?

The rims are currently 19" gun metal grey spokes and silver lip. But, they are in pretty poor shape. I've got winter rims so I figure I'd work on sanding them down and painting (plasti dip?) them over the winter.

Oh, and yeah - hi everyone!

 

post pics of your current setup!
i think going blue/white would be cool! ive suggested it to other members, but they went the "normal" route like you said, and blacked it all out.

fyi, painting plastic is a pita. in my experience hence far, ive found a couple of things to "work": either use plastic specific paint (expensive) and follow instructions to a T, or ive had some success with regular "cheapy" paint, then using a polyurethane spray over it as a protectant / sealant.

ive not used plastidip yet, but if you can get it in white, that would also be a good route. others have done rims, ect with great success. for anything else that is fairly flat, vinyl wrap is your next best friend! ive had great success with that myself, and its super cheap, and if you dont like it, it just comes right off!

good luck, and welcome!

 

Interesting.
What makes MINI a MINI imo is customization!! Have at it!! As long as you are happy, who cares, heck you could start a new trend!!

 

I'll post pics soon. Next weekend I'm having my own little "mini fix" weekend an trying to fix a few things. I bought it used and the person before me must have did something to the front end. The bumper cover is a little loose, only 1 turn signal works and 1 driving light. There's no grill in the bottom.

I've got a truckload of parts on the way though. Halo head lights, k&n cai, new plug wires, led tail lights, new lower grill, new exterior temp sensor, and a few other misc things.

I need to fix the headliner, speed sensor in right rear, front end problems, etc.

I've got a long list of more things I'm gonna do. I just gotta get through a few checks at work. I figure I have the winter to work on it and then show it off next spring.

I think I'll try the plasti dip route for most things. I've heard a lot of good things about it. And it does come in white and blue. So I'm good there. We'll just have to see how well the blue matches.

 

I say yes, yes, yes on the white. There is white plastidip, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

The whole blacked out thing is, as you said very common. I like seeing what people do to their MINIs, but there isn't always a lot of original ideas. It's usually some combination of lowered, giant rims, blacked out, removed emblems, tinted windows.

Someone needs to go against the grain and make one that's lifted, with giant tires, has extra emblems ('paceman' style lettering for other models maybe?) with the windows removed!

I walked past a matte black BMW X6 today (emblems removed, windows tinted, huge rims, etc - paint may have been plastidip.). And then right after that a delivery truck that had been spraypainted black drove past. Startlingly similar looks on the finishes.

 

It's funny, my lawnmower (I race riding lawnmowers) is black on black. I guess it's time to do something new.

I'm going to start taking some before shots of the whole car. I'm going to take it a little slow and put up things a little at a time to document my process. I'll have to create a thread somewhere like a diary of my and my Minis journey.

Tonight, cai! And probably plug wires. Time to pull out the camera and roll up my sleeves.

Hmmm I should probably do plugs and ignition depending on their condition. Darn it. Back to the store for more parts!

 

Ok! So the first "test" subjects have been painted.

I did the front grill and surround, and the grill that's in the bumper (right below the top grill).

I used duplicolor because I could not find a place around me that had plasti dip in white and the glossifier. No where to be found. I was disappointed but decided to move ahead anyways.

The results? First thing I found out, I needed new grills. One is cracked (luckily below some of the trim), it's also missing some of the bolt posts, and they are both pretty pitted. If I really like the way this looks, I'll probably end up buying brand new black grills and painting them again.

Second thing I found out, I have too many flying bugs in my garage. I constantly had to pick a bug off, sand that section down, and paint it again. Ugh. If I do this again, I'm going to spray down the garage for bugs first.

The results? I like it. I'm waiting for the sun to go down a bit to get shots of the whole front end (see my other thread about installing halo lights). I still need to do some other pieces: bumper chrome, head light surround, windshield wiper grills, side marker grills (just ordered white lenses instead of orange), rims maybe and then I have to turn my attention to the back end.

But so far I'm happy with the way it looks. I think it really ties the car together. I'll get pictures up in the next few days and let you guys check it out.

 

And without further ado... the front end of my mini... 1/4 way into the process.

From this position you can see the halo lights, the white grill and all the dirt I haven't had a chance to wash off it. ugh... she needs a bath!

 

Lookin' Good!

 

you bastard! ... just kidding, looks great!

i have a black cms all4 with white top/wheels

i am going to paint the front grills, brake cooler inlets and rear grill white

but you beat me to it!

scott ... wanted to be first!

 

Ha beat ya!

I'm going to do more of the front end tonight. Yay for heated garages.

I've got a list of things to paint that's way too long.

 

i have experience with the "plastic" paints

my 1997 gmc sonoma is all black, except for the front plate mount, it was gray (all 97 sonomas were gray) and i hated it

in 1999, i saw plastic paint in the hardware store so i bought a can of black

followed the directions (wash with soap, wipe down with alcohol, paint several light coats), masked off the front plate bracket and to this day, it still looks great, no chips at all and no touchups since the original painting

i can't think of a better test than the front bumper on a daily driver on chicago/southern wisconsin roads in the winter, and it has survived 13 winters so far

great stuff imho

i just bought a can of white plastic paint, going for the brake cooler ducts first because they are easy to remove

scott

 

Latest change.

Excuse the camera phone shot.... I replaced the orange lenses with white lenses.

 

1st post, so bear with me. Where did you get the "factory" white paint? I've seen it some where online, but now I can't find it. White, white paint doesn't quite seem to match the factory white. Great idea, though. I've been thinking about it, but now, I'm gonna do it, too.

 

Well, I'm using "Super White" paint from someplace... I'd have to check it to make sure what the brand is. I'm going to be redoing everything over the winter with more coats so this is more like a "test"/"base coat" to see how it would look/work out.

I think you could get the white color from here: http://www.automotivetouchup.com/ I haven't checked for white though.

I just ordered some of their indi blue touch up spray cans to do my interior parts.

I'm thinking about having the whole car repainted also (lots of swirls and some scratches) and if I do, I may make the white parts a brighter white. Just to make them stand out better, even the roof and mirrors.

I just got a can of interesting looking white for rims (not plasti-dip) and I'm going to take one of my 19" summer rims (that's damaged) and try painting it white. We'll see how that ends up.